Israel, Palestine and How We Talk About Violence

Shortly before NFL's Week 5, violence in Palestine and Israel captured the world's attention, including the attention of NFL teams. What does their response tell us about discussions of violence?

Early on October 7, Hamas destroyed the barriers separating the southern portion of the Gaza Strip from Southern Israel, attacking the town of Sderot and killing hundreds and kidnapping others. This act revived the fighting between Israel and Palestine in what, at the moment I’m writing this, looks like a death toll of 1,300 Palestinians and Israelis.

A number of organizations, including the NFL and the Minnesota Vikings, tweeted out support for the state of Israel, with the Vikings stating that “they stand in solidarity with the people of Israel”

This was common among NFL teams, who similarly tweeted out support for Ukraine after Russia’s invasion and even provided material aid to Ukrainians. What solidarity with Israel means in a significant sense is unclear, though the NFL’s previous forays into political matters like Ukraine and police violence often resulted in funding for related causes.

But it also signifies the complete dominance of Israel in the Western discourse surrounding the conflict, without any pause for thought on the re-emergence of violence in the region.

This weekend, I traveled to Birmingham, Alabama for a friend’s wedding. It’s not lost on me that I’m writing about modern-day apartheid while in the literal shadow of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, located within and along the A.G. Gaston Motel, the de facto headquarters of the Birmingham Civil Rights Movement.

It’s perhaps a sign of my comfort and privilege that I didn’t consider the elegiac coincidence of traveling from Minneapolis – the locus of the 2020 uprisings – to Birmingham, the spiritual home of the Civil Rights Movement.

The museum is closed. It is Indigenous People’s Day after all.

The irony is seemingly lost on the Vikings.

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