by Jen Greenstein

As an elementary school social worker, doing my taxes this year involves a horrifying cognitive dissonance. How can it be that my tax money, earned from supporting students in Seattle, is funding the 2,000-ton bombs dropping on schools, hospitals, refugee camps, and homes in Gaza?

Over the past four months, the Israeli military has killed more than 12,000 children in Gaza. Israel’s offensive has orphaned or separated over 17,000 children from their families. In early February, Sen. Patty Murray, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, voted to send the Israeli military an additional $14.1 billion — even after the International Court of Justice investigated Israel for plausibly committing genocide and ordered Israel to take immediate steps to protect civilians in Gaza. How can my country do this in my name, as a Jew? And how can it be that Sen. Murray — a self-professed “mom in tennis shoes,” grandmother, and former preschool teacher — is signing the check?