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The Same Crime, different Punishment.
As soon as Passover was over, I started walking over to Stop’n Shop to buy a frozen pizza. The truth is, it took nearly the whole holiday to finish leftovers from the seder, and I loved my mom’s brisket and sweet potatoes. But I was ready for some chametz. As I got to the parking lot, Shalzed called.
“Did you hear that Israel passed a law giving the death penalty for Palestinian terrorists, while exempting Israelis?” he asked.
“I heard.” There had been lots of talk about it at shul.
“So the same crime gets different punishments depending on who does it?” Shalzed asked.
Or try another
Why Shalzed?
Shalzed came from a war-torn planet believing our system of human rights held the keys to peace not only here, but across the galaxy. He’s shocked to discover that we still have violence and injustice- and human rights are often used to stoke hatred and perpetuate conflict rather than create understanding.
The UN Human Rights Council has condemned Israel more than all the rest of the world combined- and the situation in the Middle East has only gotten worse.
NGO’s spend hundreds of millions of dollars naming and shaming human rights violators- and it hasn’t brought progress.
In his stories, rather than condemn and moralize, Shalzed uses human rights as a shared language of common values to help people appreciate the perspectives of those they disagree with. He thinks using human rights in this way will finally do some good.
Who is Behind This?
Shalzed is written by Shlomo Levin, who holds a Master’s in International Law and Human Rights from the United Nations University for Peace.
He created Shalzed because human rights are so often used to condemn and divide, rather than seek understanding. Have a question, or disagreement? You can reach him via email: shlomo@hrhaggadah.com