With trepidation…

Threading the needle, the mind wants to hear
Threading the needle is difficult to bear.

These say they’re protesting to get out of the cesspool
These say they’re defending their homes, lives and schools
These say the Nakba destroyed their way of life
These say Independence protected them from the murderer’s knife
These say their leaders are murderous, treacherous tools
These say their leaders are terrorist, murderous fools
These say the protests are peaceful, hopeful and good
These say if only, such gatherings would
These say of bullets, not proportional, not fair
These say explosives, are here and are there
These say of the Embassy move, ill fated, a war crime
These say the Embassy move, a blessing, its time
These say the dead will be remembered as martyrs
These say the dead are make peace a non-starter
These say that Israel is our historic Jewish homeland
These say Palestine’s ours, you must understand
These say there’s one evil and only one truth
These say you’re crazy, stop drinking vermouth
These say their leaders just want it all to erupt
These say their leaders are evil, corrupt
These say bystanders are the worst kind of Jew
These say you’re naive, and self-hating too
These say Palestinians are no partner for peace
These say stop pursuing a favorable press release
These say truth’s eternal but flexible too
These say you stopped looking, ‘cause your reality’s askew
These say the deaths are breaking my heart
These say, heartbreak? How about disgust and anger to start
These say your tactics are cynical and evil
These say your tactics are crazy, that’s clinical

Threading the needle between these opposite sides
Is a catch-22, a task that derides
The fervor and certitude, the facts and emotions
That inflame hatred and passion across all the oceans

Who dares to speak up, when each side’s zealots act out
No one wants to hear the two truths this is about
Two peoples still struggle for the same piece of land
It’s complex. It’s nuanced. A lighter touch it demands

If you give up your zealots and I’ll decry mine
And together we’ll talk, and it won’t be benign
We will argue with passion, seeking a sane middle ground
And the silent majority just might come around

Let’s do it for
These ones and those ones who hate the hatred and death
Who want security and freedom, and take a clean healthy breath

And even
These ones and those ones who fight us tooth and nail
Because peace, they all agree, should readily fail

I love you, dear Israel, with my heart, mind and soul
Let’s work this together, with ample self-control
We see you Palestinians, we honor your pain
Let’s both step back, work this out, no more death once again

Yes, I’m in AIPAC, and ARZA, and T’ruah too
I’m in Israel so often, more than many of you
My love for this country is firm as a tree
So let’s not throw labels or slogans at you or at me

Instead,
Let’s rise above all this bloodshed and seek a new way
Else both peoples and this conflict will keep killing day by day.