In June 1967, after quickly defeating Egypt, Jordan and Syria in what has come to be known as the Six-Day War, Israel began a military and economic occupation of the Palestinian territories — the West Bank of the Jordan River and the Gaza Strip. What began as a temporary occupation in the hope of trading the territories for a lasting peace agreement turned into a permanent arrangement, with Israel controlling every aspect of Palestinian life in the name of security.

What we see 57 years later is a state that uses violence to maintain the brutal occupation of 2.7 million Palestinians who yearn for independence; to turn Gaza into an open-air prison camp; to condone the extra-judicial execution of would-be terrorists; to confiscate Palestinian land and demolish Palestinian homes; to maintain an apartheid system that treats Palestinian citizens of Israel as second-class citizens by law; to suppress free speech and intimidate both Palestinians and Israelis who oppose its shameful behavior; and even as we write this, to commit a genocidal slaughter of more than 30,000 Palestinians — mostly women and children — in Gaza. Jews have shown themselves to be just like everyone else — just as smart and just as stupid, just as kind and just as brutal, just as clear-sighted and just as blind.

We are heartbroken by the death and destruction wrought upon our Palestinian brothers and sisters by relentless Israeli bombing. We are appalled by the disdain for Palestinian life and culture on the part of the current Israeli government and its Israeli and American supporters. We are furious that our government continues to underwrite the occupation of the West Bank and to support the annihilation of Gaza and its people with money, munitions and misguided policies.

But we are also grieving and mourning our loss — the death of a dream, a hope — that a “Jewish state” would learn from 2,000 years of Jewish suffering never to become an oppressor itself but would live hard-won Jewish values of compassion and justice. We grew up believing the myth, dropping pennies into Jewish National Fund charity boxes to plant trees in Israel, performing Israeli songs and dances at summer camps, raising funds to buy an ambulance for Israel after terrorist bombings. The myth has now turned to ashes in the mouth, and we regret our naivete.

Consider the following:

First, most Palestinians are not members of Hamas or Hezbollah — they are simply human beings like us who want decent lives for their children.

Second, both Israelis and Palestinians are suffering from mass trauma, which renders them incapable of empathizing with each other. If there is to be an end to the bloodshed with a negotiated solution, we must all demand that our government stop funding and defending Israel’s war on Gaza and occupation of the West Bank and start acting as a neutral mediator.

Third, legitimate criticism of Israeli policies and actions is not anti-semitism, any more than criticism of United States policies and actions is anti-American.

Fourth, Israel is not to be equated with Judaism, which survived the destruction of the second Jewish commonwealth by the Romans in the year 70 and thrived for more than 1,800 years before the state came into existence. In accepting the Academy Award for best international feature, “The Zone of Interest,” writer-director Jonathan Glazer condemned the perverted version of Judaism espoused by the settler movement, the ultra-Orthodox and the current government of the state of Israel and denounced the fact that Judaism and the Holocaust are “being hijacked by an occupation that has led to conflict for so many innocent people, whether the victims of Oct. 7 in Israel or the ongoing attack in Gaza.”

Finally, the Oct. 7 massacre of Israeli civilians by Hamas was the most horrific catastrophe to befall the Jewish people since the Holocaust. It is impossible for someone who has never experienced an event like genocide or war or other forms of extreme violence to understand what it means to have one’s world totally destroyed. And yet, our Jewish tradition teaches that we are never justified in using the sins of others to excuse our own sins.

Dov Taylor is rabbi of Chavurat Ki-tov: A Gathering for Jewish Life and Learning in Woodstock and rabbi emeritus at Makom Solel Lakeside in Highland Park, Ill. Judith Taylor is a writer, visual artist and teacher.