Intelligencer - The War in Gaza and New York

At workplaces and in restaurants, on university campuses and in playgrounds, over Instagram and along lampposts, the war in Gaza has shifted something in the psyche of New York. Family members are confronting the vast distance between one another’s sense of justice. Friend-group chats that were once warm and boisterous are turning bitter and quiet. Some of our largest cultural institutions have been riven by accusations of intolerance and censorship. At the office, co-workers leave meetings frustrated and unheard, and high-profile statements of support for Palestinian rights have led to swift dismissals. Swastikas have been found graffitied on buildings. More than 11,000 Palestinians and 1,200 Israelis have been killed since October 7. This horror has been refracted, here, into vigils and protests and moving gestures of support — as well as acrimonious arguments over who is to be feared and who is in danger. There is a pervasive sense that everyone is hurting, aggrieved, and misunderstood and no longer pretending to share a common reality.

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