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Jewish Professor’s Book Explaining the Truth About the Gaza War Is Much Needed
November 2023: An Israeli soldier helps to provide incubators to Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza. Photo: Screenshot
Thane Rosenbaum’s new book is a breath of fresh air amid the stench of antisemitic slander perpetrated by Jew-hating mobs.
Rosenbaum is a professor at Touro College, a noted interviewer and lecturer, columnist for The Jewish Journal, and author of many books, including the newly-released, Beyond Proportionality: Israel’s Just War in Gaza.
Rosenbaum goes through both the logic and the legalese to demonstrate that Israel is not committing a genocide, and that those who make such erroneous claims are divided into people who do so simply to harm Israel, those who don’t know what the term means, or those creating an alternative definition of the word to try to attack Israel.
Rosenbaum also makes clear that it is a tragedy that Palestinian noncombatants are killed, but that it is difficult to avoid this when Hamas is fighting in civilian areas and using human shields. He also notes there is a possibility that in individual instances, Israel or any country in any war may commit individual war crimes that should be investigated to determine what took place. But Israel never purposefully attacks civilians, as opposed to Hamas, whose primary policy is to target innocent women, children, and men.
Rosenbaum also notes that Hamas has given no figure of how many of its “fighters” or terrorists have been killed, but the ratio of combatant to non-combatant deaths indicates anything but a genocide. He also talks of a friendship with the late Jewish CBS reporter Bob Simon. Rosenbaum recounts that Simon could not tolerate the killing of Palestinian children, which no person of good conscience wants to occur. Asked how to avoid casualties when children are deliberately placed in harm’s way by terrorists, Simon told Rosenbaum he didn’t know how that could be done.
The same is true if you watched as many debates as I have since October 7. When some people say Israel had a right to respond to October 7 but has gone too far, they are often asked what combatant to non-combatant ratio would have been acceptable. Usually, they have no answer. The alternative, as Rosenbaum notes, is that by not seeking to defeat Hamas, Israel would be saying that the Hamas blueprint of murdering and raping civilians, and also taking hostages, should be repeated all over the world — because it worked.
In order to win a war, quite often you kill more people than the other side has killed. This has been true since the beginning of war, and does not mean a war is genocide. Rosenbaum correctly points out that rather than playing with “house” money, Hamas is playing with Qatari and Iranian money, and while Israel makes sure nearly every Israeli home has a bomb shelter, Hamas does not allow its citizens to seek protection in tunnels, claiming most absurdly that it is the UN’s responsibility to provide protection.
He also correctly notes that virtually nothing has been done to stop the spread of antisemitic vitriol on college campuses, which has been fueled by professors who talk about intersectionality and the oppressor vs. oppressed mentality.
One of the important points Rosenbaum makes (which you will never see on Joe Rogan or Piers Morgan’s shows) is that Professor Salman al Dayah, the former dean of the faculty of Sharia law at the Islamic University of Gaza, issued a fatwa, or religious edict, against Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack for “violating Islamic principles governing jihad.” Why his voice has not been amplified, or there have not been many others like him is tragic.
But the anti-Israel movement seeks to take away all agency from Hamas and Palestinians, and blame Israel and Prime Minister Netanyahu for everything negative that has occurred. In his most sober moment, Rosenbaum writes: “I think it is high time for Israel to stop apologizing for fighting a war in self-defense. It has to stop listening to people who have never been to war, like Joe Biden, Antony Blinken and Barack Obama, who have no understanding about the Middle East where Jews have always faced murderous enemies.”
Rosenbaum’s book is a crucial read at this time, and while many who need to read it may not, if at least some can, it will be extremely worthwhile in the asymmetrical battle Israel and Jews face against blood libels and lies geared to turning the world into Jew haters.
The author is a writer based in New York.
The post Jewish Professor’s Book Explaining the Truth About the Gaza War Is Much Needed first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Rubio Heads to Israel Amid Tensions Among US Middle East Allies
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to members of the media, before departing for Israel at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, US, September 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Nathan Howard/Pool
US President Donald Trump’s top diplomat, Marco Rubio headed to Israel on Saturday, amid tensions with fellow US allies in the Middle East over Israel’s strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar and expansion of settlements in the West Bank.
Speaking to reporters before departure, Rubio reiterated that the US and President Donald Trump were not happy about the strikes.
Rubio said the US relationship with Israel would not be affected, but that he would discuss with the Israelis how the strike would affect Trump’s desire to secure the return of all the hostages held by Hamas, get rid of the terrorists and end the Gaza war.
“What’s happened, has happened,” he said. “We’re gonna meet with them. We’re gonna talk about what the future holds,” he said.
“There are still 48 hostages that deserve to be released immediately, all at once. And there is still the hard work ahead once this ends, of rebuilding Gaza in a way that provides people the quality of life that they all want.”
Rubio said it had yet to be determined who would do that, who would pay for it and who would be in charge of the process.
After Israel, Rubio is due to join Trump’s planned visit to Britain next week.
Hamas still holds 48 hostages, and Qatar has been one of the mediators, along with the US, trying to secure a ceasefire deal that would include the captives’ release.
On Tuesday, Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with an airstrike on Doha. US officials described it as a unilateral escalation that did not serve American or Israeli interests.
The strike on the territory of a close US ally sparked broad condemnation from other Arab states and derailed ceasefire and hostage talks brokered by Qatar.
On Friday, Rubio met with Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani at the White House, underscoring competing interests in the region that Rubio will seek to balance on his trip. Later that day, US President Donald Trump held dinner with the prime minister in New York.
Rubio’s trip comes ahead of high-level meetings at the United Nations in New York later this month. Countries including France and Britain are expected to recognize Palestinian statehood, a move opposed by Israel.
Washington says such recognition would bolster Hamas and Rubio has suggested the move could spur the annexation of the West Bank sought by hardline members of the Israeli government.
ON Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed an agreement to push ahead with a settlement expansion plan that would cut across West Bank land that the Palestinians seek for a state. Last week, the United Arab Emirates warned that this would cross a red line and undermine the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords that normalized UAE-Israel relations in 2020.
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Netanyahu Posts Message Appearing to Confirm Hamas Leaders Survived Doha Strike
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a Plenum session of the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, in Jerusalem, June 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – In a statement posted to social media on Saturday evening, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the Qatar-based leadership of Hamas, reiterating that the jihadist group had to regard for the lives of Gazans and represented an obstacle to ending the war and releasing the Israelis it held hostage.
The wording of Netanyahu’s message appeared to confirm that the strike targeting the Hamas leaders in Doha was not crowned with success.
“The Hamas terrorists chiefs living in Qatar don’t care about the people in Gaza,” wrote Netanyahu. “They blocked all ceasefire attempts in order to endlessly drag out the war.” He added that “Getting rid of them would rid the main obstacle to releasing all our hostages and ending the war.”
Israel is yet to officially comment on the result of the strike, which has incurred widespread international criticism.
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Trump Hosts Qatari Prime Minister After Israeli Attack in Doha
Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani attends an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, following an Israeli attack on Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, at UN headquarters in New York City, US, Sept. 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
US President Donald Trump held dinner with the Qatari prime minister in New York on Friday, days after US ally Israel attacked Hamas leaders in Doha.
Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with an attack in Qatar on Tuesday, a strike that risked derailing US-backed efforts to broker a truce in Gaza and end the nearly two-year-old conflict. The attack was widely condemned in the Middle East and beyond as an act that could escalate tensions in a region already on edge.
Trump expressed annoyance about the strike in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and sought to assure the Qataris that such attacks would not happen again.
Trump and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani were joined by a top Trump adviser, US special envoy Steve Witkoff.
“Great dinner with POTUS. Just ended,” Qatar’s deputy chief of mission, Hamah Al-Muftah, said on X.
The White House confirmed the dinner had taken place but offered no details.
The session followed an hour-long meeting that al-Thani had at the White House on Friday with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
A source briefed on the meeting said they discussed Qatar’s future as a mediator in the region and defense cooperation in the wake of the Israeli strikes against Hamas in Doha.
Trump said he was unhappy with Israel’s strike, which he described as a unilateral action that did not advance US or Israeli interests.
Washington counts Qatar as a strong Gulf ally. Qatar has been a main mediator in long-running negotiations for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and for a post-conflict plan for the territory.
Al-Thani blamed Israel on Tuesday for trying to sabotage chances for peace but said Qatar would not be deterred from its role as mediator.