How To Understand Israel (in 60 Days or Less)

Modern Minorities

“Israel’s very similar to the US - it's super complicated.”

We're all shocked and saddened by the attack on Israel - and as of this episode, war with Hamas. Officials and aid groups warn of a worsening humanitarian crisis, where escalating violence has already killed thousands of people and wounded and displaced many others. And that's a longer conversation that we're not going to have on this podcast. We pray for peace, and encourage you to reach out to the people in your respective communities to check in. But we know many of you want to know how you can help.

The internet - particularly social media - is awash with misinformation, so it's especially important to verify that your contributions are going to organizations that are legitimate as well as effective. The Federal Trade Commission recommends searching charities' names alongside "complaint," "review," "rating" and "scam" to see if any red flags come up. You can also run a search on websites like like CharityWatch.org and CharityNavigator.org

Beyond that, we're just a podcast. So we decided to re-air an earlier Quarantined Comics conversation about the graphic memoir “How To Understand Israel in 60 Days.” - the 2007 comic by Jewish American cartoonist Sarah Glidden which chronicles Sarah's birthright trip back to Israel. As you can imagine, it’s a loaded story that had us out of our depth, one of our close Jewish friends Jon Kriner joined to give his take, reflecting on his own experiences in Israel. Exactly the kind of conversation we want to have on Modern Minorities, which felt appropriate in this moment. This comic is relevant but distant to the ongoing crisis unfolding in the Middle East. While war and peace are not easy things to resolve, listening, learning, and reading with an open heart and mind is. We definitely encourage you to check out “How To Understand Israel in 60 Days.” by Sarah Glidden wherever you get your favorite books. But most of all, we hope for peace - as our thoughts are with the people of Israel and Gaza.

LEARN MORE

• NPR: How to help humanitarian efforts in Israel and Gaza - npr.org/2023/10/13/1205235922/help-israel-gaza-humanitarian-organizations
• How To Understand Israel (in 60 Days or Less): goodreads.com/book/show/7941986-how-to-understand-israel-in-60-days-or-less
• Sarah Glideen (author): https://authorsunbound.com/sarah-glidden
• Quarantined Comics: qtdcomics.com

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