Israel’s opening entry into Rafah in Gaza coincided with International Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah). Israel’s plans and the Biden administration’s response should be understood in light of history and its lessons.

Before the Rafah operation, Israel closed down Al Jazeera, the ostensibly independent media outlet that is, in fact, wholly owned by the government of Qatar. Then, having worked for weeks to establish a temporary refuge outside the Rafah corridor for Gazan civilians, Israel began alerting Palestinians to move to safer quarters — by phone, email, text, loudspeaker, and leaflets — with maps and routes defined. This is in line with its previous efforts to minimize civilian casualties.

John Spencer, chair of urban warfare studies at West Point, wrote, “Israel has done more to prevent civilian casualties in war than any military in history — above and beyond what international law requires and more than the U.S. did in its wars in Iraq & Afghanistan.”

As the bombing began, the White House released President Joe Biden’s statement, mourning “the six million Jews who were killed by the Nazis during one of the darkest chapters in human history” and recommitting to “heeding the lessons of the Shoah and realizing the responsibility of ‘Never Again.’”

But as events unfold, the administration’s actions belie the president’s words and the “lessons of the Shoah” appear unlearned. The crucial first lesson is that “Never Again” is a pledge that Israel will defend the Jewish people.

The government of Israel articulated three goals after the Hamas-induced pogrom of October 7: to eliminate Hamas’ military and governing capabilities, to secure Israel’s borders and thus its people, and to rescue any surviving Israeli hostages. The rescue of Gaza civilians from their terrorist overlords would be a byproduct.

For the US, the articulated goal has become to negotiate a ceasefire with Iranian-sponsored, Qatar-financed terrorist Hamas, perhaps forgetting that there was a “ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas until October 6.

Elevating American goals above Israel’s goals misses the first lesson entirely. Israel is an independent, free, and democratic country with a first-class, ethical military. Its ability to make military and political decisions should be respected by its principal ally and others.

But Washington is adamant.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan — with exactly no military background — opined, “A major ground operation [in Rafah] would be a mistake. … [T]he key goals Israel wants to achieve in Rafah can be done by other means.”

He declined to specify the means.

Israel declined to substitute Sullivan’s judgment for its own.

The Biden administration then denounced the closure of Al Jazeera. White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said, “We believe in freedom of the press. It is critically important, and the United States supports the critically important work journalists around the world do. That includes those who are reporting on the conflict in Gaza. … [F]reedom of the press is important.”

Yes, it is. But the “journalist” tag can be — and has been — misused by propagandists and terrorists, including on October 7. While media outlets may not have been aware of their freelancers’ freelancing with Hamas, the free movement of Al Jazeera “journalists” can expose Israeli military information to Al Jazeera’s owners and thus to others. It should be noted that there have been closures and restrictions on Al Jazeera in countries including Australia, Bahrain, India, Kuwait, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Syria, Tunisia, Ukraine, the UAE, the UK, and the United States.

The administration’s insistence that humanitarian considerations trump military reality is a mistake with larger ramifications. Trying to “protect” civilians in the middle of the battle actually prolongs the war and increases casualties. But Biden demanded supplies, built a $320-million pier off the Gaza shore (taxpayer money and US service personnel), and failed until this week to recognize publicly that Hamas was stealing aid that entered Gaza. Taking the mantle of “guardian of Palestinian civilians” in the middle of a war for Israel’s current and future security fails to heed the lesson of “Never Again.” It is a publicity stunt at Israel’s expense.

The UN noted in August 2023 (well before Israel’s entry into Gaza) that 35 million people were on “the edge” of famine in seven countries: Afghanistan, Haiti, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Yemen, and Ethiopia. It later changed the number to 98.8 million people facing famine in nine countries, adding Syria and the Democratic Republic of Congo to the list.

The administration has contributed to international aid organizations, certainly, but has done nothing directly to alleviate conditions for those 98.8 million people at the level it is advocating for the Palestinians — and only the Palestinians.

President Biden has been rhetorically good on Israel’s security requirements since October 7, and the coordination of Israel’s defense against Iranian attack was excellent. But its undermining of Israel’s decision-making is a mockery of the “mourning” on Yom HaShoah, as is his recent decision to withhold arms from Israel unless it does what Biden wants.

That’s not the lesson Biden — and certainly Israel — should take away from Yom HaShoah.

Shoshana Bryen is Senior Director of The Jewish Policy Center.  An earlier version of this piece appeared at American Thinker.

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Chapter 19 of Leviticus, known as Kedoshim, includes a range of laws that concern ethical standards that were relevant back then and today.

It starts with respecting one’s parents and then goes on to talk about the importance of giving charity and helping the poor and the indigent. It also includes such basic ethical rules as don’t steal, don’t deceive, don’t lie, don’t oppress your neighbor, etc. ( Leviticus 19:2-18).

However, interspersed in this collection are ritual laws, and the repeated refrain “Be Holy because I am holy,” “I am your God,” or “ I am your God who took you out of Egypt.”

To the modern skeptical mind, they seem out of place. We are so used to thinking of morality and ethics as being divorced from concepts of God, that these ritual-based commands seem to be irrelevant to many people. Yet the Bible is based upon the principle that humans are fallible, changeable, and unreliable, and are often not the best judges of good and bad. Greek philosophical culture, on the other hand, thought that logic alone could determine what was right or wrong. The Torah established the concept of Divine Authority as a safeguard against overweening human arrogance.

The anthropologist Margaret Mead discovered that there is a universal pattern that explains all this strange connection between morality and ritual. The ancient world was concerned with order. Each culture was regulated in its own way. The Torah, too, is concerned with order, a holistic approach to life that includes the spiritual as well as the physical. It is a template of the complete life, in which one finds room for a way of life that connects with God through ritual and behavior.

In our case, the universal sacrificial system that once dominated our ritual life soon fell away. Instead, we have focused on the laws that make up what is called halacha — how we behave day-to-day and how all our actions should be predicated on forethought, consideration, and a value system.

An ethical system predicated on a ritual one, however irksome, adds a level of spirituality to our daily lives. If religious behavior does not improve one’s morality or behavior towards others, it is failing. Holiness in the Torah means being better — not automatically through birth, but rather what we do, and how we behave.

When we say be holy because God is holy, we’re not describing God. We may disagree as to what is good and what is bad, what is fair and what is not, and whether there is a God and to what extent God controls our lives. But, in the end, we should live a life of consideration and respect for ourselves as well as for the rest of humanity.

The author is a writer and rabbi, currently based in New York.

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Macklemore performed his new anti-Israel song live for the first time on Wednesday night during a concert in Wellington, New Zealand, where he also led the sold-out crowd in chanting, “Free, free Palestine.”

The Seattle-based rapper, whose real name is Benjamin Hammond Haggerty, performed Hind’s Hall at his first of two Wellington shows in the TSB Arena.

In the song, which was released a day earlier, the Grammy winner expresses solidarity with anti-Israel activists demonstrating at colleges and universities across the US, criticizes US support for Israel, and denounces the Jewish state’s military actions in its ongoing war against Hamas terrorists controlling the Gaza Strip. The war was launched in response to the deadly Hamas attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7.

Images of the Palestinian flag were projected across the stadium in Wellington as Macklemore performed Hind’s Hall. Later in the concert, the rapper allegedly called for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, The Guardian reported. The music video for Hind’s Hall also played on a screen behind the stage while Macklemore rapped the track’s lyrics on Wednesday night.

He told the audience: “I stand here today and every day forward for the rest of my life in solidarity with the people of Palestine, with an open heart, in the belief that our collective liberation is at stake — that we all deserve freedom in this life of ours.”

Macklemore said on Tuesday that all proceeds from Hind’s Hall will be donated to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). The UN agency responsible for Palestinian refugees had 19 of its employees allegedly participate in the Hamas terrorist attacks on Oct. 7. UNRWA has also been accused in the past of providing Palestinian schools with textbooks that incite antisemitism, terrorism, and anti-Israel sentiments.

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