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How a Letter From Jewish Clergy Undermines Israel and Harms Jews
Hamas leader and Oct. 7 pogrom mastermind Yahya Sinwar addressing a rally in Gaza. Photo: Reuters/braheem Abu Mustafa
This week, a group of American rabbis, cantors, and student clergy, under the banner of an organization called T’ruah, wrote a letter to President Joe Biden expressing their distress over the ongoing conflict enveloping Israelis and Palestinians alike.
Citing the verse from scripture, “God is close to the brokenhearted; those crushed in spirit, God delivers” (Psalms 34:19), the group called for an immediate ceasefire and urged the American administration to leverage its global leadership to halt the hostilities.
According to them, “A ceasefire is the only reliable, proven means for securing the release of the remaining hostages and ensuring the provision of desperately needed humanitarian relief to Gaza. Lives hang in the balance.”
At face value, T’ruah’s appeal seems to indicate a deep yearning for peace and the alleviation of suffering. But on closer scrutiny, the letter reveals a profound disconnect from the complex realities on the ground and the intricacies of truly achieving lasting peace and security for everyone involved.
The letter from T’ruah fails to acknowledge the necessity of confronting aggression with strength — so that there can be a peaceful future for Israel and the Palestinians. War, with all its ugliness and tragedy, was never Israel’s desire, nor is it welcomed by Israel’s supporters across the globe. But the premature cessation of hostilities, particularly if it is driven by external pressures that are devoid of any kind of nuanced understanding of the security dynamics, just risks emboldening Hamas and sowing the seeds of future turmoil, in which death and destruction will inevitably exceed the current horror.
Truthfully, I wish that was it. I wish this was just a letter written by bunch of naïve peace-seekers trying to shift the needle against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. Wouldn’t it be great if the letter was merely a misguided but heartfelt attempt by T’ruah to be true to their humanitarian ideals? The problem is that it isn’t.
Instead, the authors reveal that their stance — despite it being couched in religious language and the platitudes of religious piety — is nothing less than an attack on Israel, on its people, and on its right to defend itself against an existential threat.
How can they claim that their “hearts are broken by the deaths of over 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza — the majority of whom are women and children who bear no responsibility for Hamas’s crimes”? Really? As they well know, the Gaza casualty numbers are provided by the Hamas-run “health ministry” — which, to be clear, is not a reliable source by any stretch of the imagination. And by simply trotting out the mindless mantra that “the majority” of those who have died in Gaza are women and children, T’ruah has demonstrated that it has become nothing more than a propaganda tool for Hamas.
In any event, even if all this were true (and there is strong reason to believe it is not), how many of the “30,000” dead are Hamas combatants — including, tragically, women and young teenagers bearing arms for this evil terrorist outfit? And how many women and children have died because Hamas has cynically used them as human shields? Of course, T’ruah makes no mention of this.
And how is it that T’ruah has not called for President Biden’s administration to use “the full force of America’s leverage and global leadership” to get Hamas to lay down its arms, so that the people of Gaza can begin charting a path towards normalcy and rebuilding? The cause of Gaza’s devastation is not Israel — it is Hamas, which has cynically engineered this crisis so that international sympathy is focused on Gaza, which has been shattered and destroyed as a direct consequence of the October 7th Hamas massacre in Israel.
But it gets even worse. The concluding segment of T’ruah’s letter targets the actions and policies of the Israeli government, and criticizes settlers in the West Bank, accusing them of deliberately escalating violence and of attempting to ethnically cleanse Palestinians. Inexplicably, the letter goes on to call for actions against Israel’s government, and against organizations and individuals that T’ruah accuses of promoting violence.
These calls are ludicrous and one-sided, and they stand out in a letter in which is there no call for the true sources of the conflict, namely Hamas, Iran, and Qatar, to be sanctioned — or even called out — for their endless bloodlust. With this omission, T’ruah has revealed its hand; the signatories to the letter, notwithstanding their attempt to occupy the high moral ground, are no more than political and ideological allies of diehard antisemites and those who wish to see Israel perish.
In stark contrast to the positions outlined in T’ruah’s letter stands the wisdom of the Shem Mishmuel, who offers a timeless perspective on the essence of a genuine rhetorical contribution. In the Shem Mishmuel’s commentary to Parshat Vayikra, he delves into the spiritual significance of contributions to the Mishkan, and Moses’ unique role in this process.
The Midrash Tanhuma on Vayikra tells us that Moses never had the chance to donate anything material to the Mishkan, and that this upset him very much. The Midrash opens with a conversation between God and Moses, in which God tells Moses that because his spoken words are uncontaminated by material desires or concerns, they are considered the ultimate gift towards the Mishkan’s construction. Moses instructing the workers to build the Mishkan was the greatest contribution of all — greater than all the gold and silver, and all precious jewels donated by everyone else.
The Shem Mishmuel finds this idea that the purity of words used by a leader represents the pinnacle of leadership to be exceptionally significant. Moses was above material distractions, so he wasn’t required to contribute physical objects — his words were the purest gift he could give. But had Moses’ words contained even a smidgen of personal interest, they would have been totally devalued.
Which leads us to the question: where does the line between genuine advocacy for peace and the purity of intention stand in the context of T’ruah’s letter? Simply put: had T’ruah’s letter been entirely focused on humanitarian concerns for Israelis and Palestinians, one might have concluded that the signatories had nothing but the purest motives. But by engaging in political attacks and unfounded mudslinging, the letter betrays a nasty streak that disqualifies its authors from saying anything. Only a physical contribution can count. Unless they are in the field, fighting alongside the IDF, or volunteering their time and resources for the welfare of those in Israel they claim to represent, their words have no value whatsoever.
In applying the Shem Mishmuel’s insights to the present conflict, it becomes evident that any call for peace by those who wish to lead must be grounded in a realistic appraisal of the situation, and the avoidance of personal agenda-driven, mean-spirited attacks on ideological adversaries. As we navigate these turbulent and troubling times, the leadership style we need is that of Moses. We certainly don’t need the vacuous clichés and empty words of those who seek to make a name for themselves as contributors to the cause, but whose contribution is destructive and unhelpful.
Instead of betraying their faith and their people, I would urge the T’ruah activists to strive for a lasting resolution — grounded in a realistic set of proposals untarnished by political vendettas and virtue signaling, and that will ensure the well-being of all those who are suffering from the effects of the current war.
The author is a rabbi in Beverly Hills, California.
The post How a Letter From Jewish Clergy Undermines Israel and Harms Jews first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Nears 10 Million Population Milestone, More Than One-Fifth of Country Is Arab, Data Show
Israeli national flags flutter near office towers at a business park also housing high tech companies, at Ofer Park in Petah Tikva, Israel, Aug. 27, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News — As Israel prepares to celebrate its 76th Independence Day, the nation’s population stands at a staggering 9.9 million, marking a remarkable increase from the 806,000 people recorded at the establishment of the state in May 1948.
This growth signifies a more than 12-fold expansion in the population over the past seven decades.
Presently, 73.2 percent of Israel’s residents identify as Jewish, while 21.1 percent are Arab.
According to data released by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) on Thursday, Israel’s population comprises 7,247,000 Jews (73.2 percent), 2,089,000 Arabs (21.1 percent), and the remainder (5.7 percent) belong to other specified groups. Over the past year, the population has grown by 189,000 individuals, marking a 1.9 percent increase since the last Independence Day. During this period, approximately 196,000 births were recorded, alongside the arrival of about 37,000 new immigrants, while approximately 60,000 individuals passed away.
Furthermore, as of the end of 2022, approximately 45 percent of the global Jewish population resided in Israel.
Israel’s demographic profile reflects a youthful population, with approximately 28 percent under the age of 14 and around 12 percent aged 65 and above. Looking ahead, projections based on CBS data indicate that by 2030, Israel’s population is expected to reach 11.1 million, rising to 13.2 million by 2040. On the occasion of Israel’s 100th Independence Day in 2048, the population is forecasted to reach 15.2 million.
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Biden Says US Will Withhold Weapons From Israel if It Launches Major Military Offensive in Rafah
US President Joe Biden addresses rising levels of antisemitism, during a speech at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Annual Days of Remembrance ceremony, at the US Capitol building in Washington, DC, US, May 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
US President Joe Biden on Wednesday publicly warned Israel for the first time that the US would stop supplying it weapons if Israeli forces launch a major military offensive in Rafah, a refugee-packed city and the Hamas terror group’s last stronghold in Gaza.
“I made it clear that if they go into Rafah … I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities — that deal with that problem,” Biden said in an interview with CNN.
Biden‘s comments represent his strongest public language to date in his effort to deter an Israeli assault on Rafah while underscoring a growing rift between the US and its strongest ally in the Middle East.
Biden said US weapons used by Israel have killed civilians in Gaza.
“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” he said when asked about 2,000-pound bombs sent to Israel.
Hamas terrorists have been embedding themselves in the civilian population in Gaza and using civilian sites — such as hospitals — as command and operational centers.
Still, a senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Washington had carefully reviewed the delivery of weapons that might be used in Rafah and as a result paused a shipment consisting of 1,800 2,000-pound (907-kg) bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs.
Israel‘s UN ambassador, Gilad Erdan, earlier this week called Washington’s decision to delay shipments “very disappointing” although he did not believe the US would stop supplying arms to Israel.
Hamas, which rules Gaza, started the ongoing war with its Oct. 7 invasion of southern Israel, where Hamas terrorists murdered 1,200 people and abducted 252 others as hostages. Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and incapacitating Hamas to the point that the Palestinian terror group can no longer pose a major threat to the Israeli people from Gaza.
Israel this week attacked Rafah, where more than one million Palestinians have sought refuge, but Biden said he did not consider Israel’s strikes a full-scale invasion because they have not struck “population centers.” Israeli officials have said Hamas battalions are holed up in Rafah,
The Biden interview was released hours after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin acknowledged publicly Biden’s decision last week to hold up the delivery of thousands of heavy bombs was taken out of concern for Rafah, where Washington opposes a major Israeli invasion without sufficient civilian safeguards.
The United States is by far the biggest supplier of weapons to Israel, and it accelerated deliveries after the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks.
In 2016, the US and Israeli governments signed a third 10-year Memorandum of Understanding that provides $38 billion in military aid over the 10 years, $33 billion in grants to buy military equipment and $5 billion for missile defense system. Last month, congress approved $26 billion in additional funding for Israel.
Biden said the US would continue to provide defensive weapons to Israel, including for its Iron Dome air defense system.
“We’re going to continue to make sure Israel is secure in terms of Iron Dome and their ability to respond to attacks that came out of the Middle East recently,” he said. “But it’s, it’s just wrong. We’re not going to — we’re not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells.”
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US Paused Weapons Shipment to Israel Over Rafah Operation Concerns, Pentagon Chief Confirms
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin testifies before a House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee hearing on US President Joe Biden’s proposed budget request for the Department of Defense on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, US, April 17, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ken Cedeno
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Wednesday confirmed that the Biden administration halted the delivery of high payload munitions to Israel due to concerns over a possible Israeli military offensive in the Gaza city of Rafah.
“We’ve been very clear … from the beginning that Israel shouldn’t launch a major attack in Rafah without accounting for and protecting the civilians in that battle space,” Austin testified during a hearing of the US Senate Appropriations Committee.
According to US officials, the weapons delivery in question was supposed to contain 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs. Austin said on Wednesday that the US paused “one shipment of high payload munitions” without elaborating on the size or number of munitions.
Austin was the first senior Biden administration official to publicly outline a possible shift in US policy on arming Israel. The US is a close ally of Israel and its biggest arms supplier.
The paused delivery was the first time the US held up a weapons shipment for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.
Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group that rules Gaza, launched the ongoing war when it invaded southern Israel on Oct. 7, murdering 1,200 people and abducting 252 others as hostages. Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and incapacitating Hamas to the point that it can longer pose a major threat to the Israeli people from neighboring Gaza, a Palestinian enclave home to over 2 million people.
The US has been consistently supplying Israel with weapons since October. However, under heavy pressure from Democrats and progressive activists to oppose Israel’s war effort, President Joe Biden has adopted an increasingly critical posture toward the Jewish state. That transition peaked last month, when Biden threatened to pull back support for Israel due to the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Austin argued on Wednesday that Israel didn’t need large bombs in a dense urban setting like Rafah.
A “small-diameter bomb, which is a precision weapon, it’s very useful in a dense, built-up environment … but maybe not so much a 2,000-pound bomb that could create a lot of collateral damage,” Austin said.
“We’ve not made a final determination on how to proceed with that shipment,” he added.
The US has sought to pressure Israel to forgo a significant military operation in Rafah, citing the potential for civilian casualties; Jerusalem has countered that a ground offensive is necessary to eliminate Hamas’ remaining battalions in the southern Gaza city.
Experts have told The Algemeiner that Israel must operate in Rafah, which Israeli officials have described as Hamas’ last bastion in Gaza, if the Jewish state wishes to achieve its war objective of eliminating the threat posed by the Palestinian terrorist group.
Israel this week began limited operations in Rafah, but it remains unclear when and if a full-scale military offensive will take place. Israeli forces have sent leaflets and other forms of messages to civilians in Gaza, urging them to evacuate to a humanitarian safe zone.
Austin stressed that US support for Israel is “ironclad.”
“We’re going to continue to do what’s necessary to ensure that Israel has the means to defend itself,” Austin said. “But that said, we are currently reviewing some near-term security assistance shipments in the context of unfolding events in Rafah.”
Republican lawmakers lambasted Austin and the Biden administration for the decision.
“If we stop weapons necessary to destroy the enemies of the State of Israel at a time of great peril, we will pay a price,” said US Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who argued Washington shouldn’t second-guess how Israel waged a war against Islamist terrorists committed to its destruction. “This is obscene. It is absurd. Give Israel what they need.”
Reps. Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Mike Rogers (R-AL) — the chairmen of the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services committees, respectively — also slammed the Biden administration’s move.
“We are appalled that the administration paused crucial arms shipments to Israel. Withholding arms to Israel weakens Israel’s deterrence against Iran and its proxies like Hamas and Hezbollah,” the lawmakers said in a statement. “At a time when Israel continues to negotiate in good faith to secure the release of hostages, including American citizens, the administration’s shortsighted, strategic error calls into question its ‘unshakeable commitment’ as an ally. The administration must allow these arms shipments to move forward to uphold the United States’ commitment to Israel’s security and ensure that Israel can defend itself and defeat Hamas.”
Israeli officials have reportedly expressed “deep frustration” with the Biden administration over the weapons shipment pause. However, IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said on Wednesday that the allies will resolve such issues “behind closed doors,” adding that coordination between the US and Israel has reached “a scope without precedent, I think, in history.”
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