I've been writing - intermittently - on the topic of the Israeli atrocities in Palestine for a while now. And I know a lot of what I write pisses people off. Because I don't think every Jew in the world is responsible for the actions of Netanyahu and his government.

I've given up on keeping track of all the hospitals, schools and places of worship the IDF have attacked, levelled, bombed, whatever in Palestine. And I know that sounds really flippant. I'm sorry. But I've had to give up keeping track. Others are better suited and better set up to do that.

But I want to say a few things:

1. This man (in Manchester) did not have a gun. That limited the carnage. And the amount of paperwork and investigation and after action reviews and all the rest those police will go through now is almost unimaginable to our US colleagues. This will be used as a training exercise for years (probably from about five years out, to give the chance to the initial investigation to finish up) and students will use it to learn how to better respond to an incident like this. Not to mention counselling for the officers involved in this event.
2. No place of worship deserves or earns the right to be attacked like this. People on their way to prayer should not be targets for terrorism. And yeah - I'm saying this as someone who has very very mixed feelings about the IRA bombing campaign in the UK. I can't outright condemn it...

Why am I outlining these two points?

I think the first point speaks to itself. Guns are not part of the culture in Ireland or in Britain in the same way they are in the US and honestly, this colours how we respond to police violence. And it limits the deaths. If nothing else, a knife just takes longer to kill numbers than a gun will.

The comment about a place of worship?

Because I am seeing a horrible part of the internet coming out with "serves them right" ,"pay them back", etc, etc. The Jewish world wide community is not a monolith. No more than the US population or the Irish diaspora are monoliths. Murdering Jews in Britain does nothing for the people of Palestine. Nothing. And honestly, murdering anyone on their way to a religious service, particularly on a solemn occasion like Yom Kippur. Comparing the occasions in one religion to another is always a dangerous thing to do, but the closest similarity I can find in Christianity is Lent and Good Friday. Good Friday in particular. (And that's with my limted understanding of Yom Kippur)

Can you imagine the outrage if anyone was attacked on the way to church on Good Friday? If there was an attack on a church on Good Friday?

I firmly believe in any person's right to celebrate their spirituality as they wish as long as it doesn't impact the wider public. I don't think I have any hope of overturning my countries reliance on Catholic holidays as our public holidays - and honestly, I don't necessarily want to tackle that, cos the government would probably just take away the Catholic holidays and not bloody well replace them!

But people should be able to worship and practice their spirituality in peace.

I don't care if that means gathering in a special community building, built and paid for by the community. Or in your living room. Or in your garden. Whatever.

This isn't just an attack on Jews. This is an attack on anyone who doesn't practice the "official" or "mainstream" religion of where they live.

I don't want to minimise the pain that all Jewish communities must be feeling right now. But I also want people to sit up and take fucking notice.

Once a line has been crossed, it's a lot easier for someone else to cross it again. That works for good and for bad.

The first child murdered in a war is a nationwide tragedy. The 10,000th? A statistic. To those who don't know them.

The first place of worship attacked? (Whether in the US, or Britain, or Palestine) A tragedy. The 100th? Another news day.

There are things I won't debate - the rights of one type of person to exist vs another. We all exist in this world. We all interact with each other. And in every spiritual group or community, there is a massive spread of radicals and conformists, pacifists and those prone to violence, the deeply religious and the cultural practitioner... That's true in Palestine, that's true in Israel, that's true of Jews, of Christians, of Muslims, of pagans, of whatever brand of human you care to think of.

I don't even know what to advise you to do right now. But I know I want you to think.

Think critically about what is going on in the world around you.

We have proof that there are people in this world ready to take action to help those who need it. The Sumud flotilla is a perfect example of this. I think all vessels have been intercepted at this point, but bloody hell, they tried. And they've inspired multiple other flotillas to try and get aid to Gaza.

Collective punishment is a war crime. But it's being used in Palestine, it's use in Syria, it's used against Jews, it's used against Muslims. It's the key component amongst most of the terrorism we're seeing right now.

"I don't like gays, so I'm going to attack a nightclub"

"I think Jews are all responsible for what's happening in Palestine,I don't like Jews, so I'm going to attack a synagogue"

"I don't like Muslims, so I'm going to shoot up a mosque"

"I don't like Christians, so I'm going to strike a church"

(If you don't think a good nightclub is a place of worship for some gay people - you need to get out more)

This is hate. This is violence.

This has no part in any spiritual movement or organisation.

All I can currently offer the people of Palestine are my thoughts and prayers and my will to continue to talk about their plight.

All I can offer the Jews in Manchester are my thoughts and prayers and my will to continue to talk about what has happened here.

These two events are not equal. And I'm not making them equal. But they're both part of the same problem. Just at different ends of the scale.

I don't think I've ever paid this much attention to Yom Kippur in my life, but I will be using today to think. I hope you get the chance to do the same.

Bríd libh

Órlagh

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