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‘We were broken to see what we saw’: US rabbis visit Israel during wartime
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Wearing army-green helmets and bulletproof vests, the group of American rabbis and community leaders stood next to the ruins of a building at Kibbutz Be’eri as Cantor Luis Cattan chanted El Maleh Rachamim, the traditional Jewish prayer for the dead, for “all those who were murdered in Israel and beyond.”
The group then collectively said the Mourner’s Kaddish and walked silently back to their bus.
So ended the first day of a three-day solidarity mission to Israel, which brought the group through the ravaged communities of southern Israel, to a volunteer center in Jerusalem and back home. One of multiple such missions taking place this week — another was organized by New York’s UJA-Federation — the goal of the trip was to expose the participants to the horrors of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, provide them with opportunities to give back to the country and help them articulate a message to bring back to their communities.
“I hear over and over again American Jews saying there are no words,” said Rabbi Neil Zuckerman of New York City’s Park Avenue Synagogue. “I think there are a lot of words, actually. And I think being here gives us some words that need to be spoken about what’s happening here, the moral clarity that’s here, both the pain and the incredible acts of unity that we see.”
Cantor Luis Cattan sings a prayer for the dead at Kibbutz Be’eri on a mission of Conservative Jewish leaders to Israel on Oct. 30, 2023. (Screenshot)
The group of 34 consisted of 19 Americans and 15 more Israeli counterparts and support staff, and was organized by the Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center, a complex that serves as the home base of Conservative Judaism in Israel. It ran from Monday to Wednesday. The goal, said Fuchsberg CEO Stephen Daniel Arnoff, was to help “our colleagues from North America have a firsthand, very human experience of this horrible time in our world.”
After landing at Ben Gurion Airport on Monday, the participants first traveled to Ofakim, a southern Israeli city that also suffered the Hamas invasion, where they visited the home of Rachel Edri, who became an Israeli folk hero after stymying terrorists by offering them cookies. From there, the group went to Be’eri, where attackers killed more than 100 people.
They were the first civilian group since the massacre, aside from journalists, to tour the site, where homes are burnt and blood and knives still line the floor. They ended the day at Camp Shura, a military base that has transformed into a facility for identifying the bodies of those killed in the invasion.
“What I saw and experienced yesterday is imprinted in me for the rest of my life,” said Rabbi Marc Soloway of Congregation Bonai Shalom in Boulder, Colorado. Arnoff said, “We were broken to see what we saw and the difficult but natural response was to say the prayer for the dead.”
Tuesday was spent volunteering at a relief center in Jerusalem and meeting with families directly impacted by Oct. 7 and Israel’s ensuing war on Hamas in Gaza. Those included Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin, whose son Hersh Goldberg-Polin is held hostage by Hamas, along with about 240 others. The couple have become two of the leading faces of the movement demanding the hostages’ freedom, which has galvanized Jewish communities across the United States and beyond. Before they spoke to the delegation, Goldberg-Polin’s parents had made the reverse trip — returning to Israel after a short stint advocating for their son in New York City.
“I am in shock, walking through the world without my heart,” Goldberg told the group. She and Polin described the horror of not knowing whether Hersh is still alive, after he was last seen in a video lifting himself up with his own strength into the rear of a Hamas pickup truck on its way back to Gaza — after he had lost one his arms in a grenade attack that killed 18 of 29 people who were crammed alongside him in a roadside bomb shelter.
“We are not convinced that the Israeli government is putting the hostages front and center,” Polin said. “They are talking about war and victory, but they are not talking about the hostages. It is critical even in Israel that we are not forsaking the 239 hostages. The biggest moral victory that this country needs now is to see 239 hostages returning to their families.”
Goldberg described herself as a naturally shy person who has become incapable of feeling emotions such as nervousness or fear when thrust onto the public stage to push for her son’s release. But she said that small gestures still make a difference. “It actually helps, receiving the one-line message on Whatsapp,” she said.
The final day of the trip was about “resilience and inspiration” for “clergy and communal leaders to go back home, representing tens of thousands of people who are frozen with fear and don’t know what they can do to help,” said Arnoff. “Now, they can go back and explain what they saw, what they witnessed.”
The solidarity mission is part of Fuchsberg’s broader efforts to respond to the crisis. It has also turned its Jerusalem campus into a sanctuary for 200 evacuated families from Israel’s south and north, living in dorms generally reserved for students on the Conservative gap-year program Nativ. It has also opened its synagogue for young Israelis of all stripes to sing and pray together.
“I came here because it’s home and I needed to come home and really give the message to everyone here who is struggling, who have lost people ,who are hurting — you’re not alone, we are with you,” said Rabbi Annie Lewis of the Shaare Torah congregation in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
A personal moment for Zuckerman came when he was able to give a quick hug to his son, who is serving in the IDF in Gaza. He compared the experience of being a pulpit rabbi now to how he felt at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Whatever we were planning on doing this fall with our communities, we’ve pivoted,” said Zuckerman. “This is very much a marathon, not a sprint.”
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The post ‘We were broken to see what we saw’: US rabbis visit Israel during wartime appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Orthodox Rabbinical Conference Slams German University for Canceling Lecture by Israeli Historian Benny Morris
Israeli historian Benny Morris in 2024. Photo: Screenshot
The Orthodox Rabbinical Conference of Germany, an influential association of orthodox rabbis, lambasted the University of Leipzig for canceling a lecture by Israeli historian Benny Morris following anti-Israel student protests described by the school as “understandable, but frightening in nature.”
The Cologne-based group said on Wednesday that it was “shameful to see how quickly an academic institution in Germany is now caving in to aggressive anti-Israeli and antisemitic activism,” German media reported. Instead, the association continued, it is necessary to “resolutely defend the freedom of teaching and science.”
According to the rabbinical conference, young people must be taught to engage with each other at educational institutions rather than shut out opposing views in order to fulfill the post-Nazi promise of “never again.” However, it continued, submitting to aggressive activists rather than protecting constitutional rights is an “alarming signal” and a threat to a free, democratic society.
Morris, one of Israel’s leading public intellectuals, was scheduled to deliver a lecture about extremism and the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, in which the Jewish state secured its independence, at the university on Thursday as part of a lecture series on antisemitism.
However, the school released a statement this past Friday announcing that it had canceled the planned event, citing protests over the lecture and what it described as security concerns.
“Our invitation to Prof. Morris was motivated by the desire to talk about his earlier work, which has had a profound impact on historical research, the university said in its statement. “Unfortunately, Prof. Morris has recently expressed views in interviews and discussions that can be read as offensive and even racist. This has led to understandable, but frightening in nature, protests from individual student groups.”
The University of Leipzig did not elaborate on any specific comments by Morris, whose works include the seminal study The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, first published in 1988, and made a point of noting it did not endorse the historian’s views.
“In principle, inviting speakers to the university does not necessarily mean that we agree with their views, and we firmly distance ourselves from Prof. Morris’ controversial statements,” the school said. “The purpose of the event with him was to engage critically, not to endorse his theses or later statements. In our opinion, science thrives through the exchange of diverse ideas, including those that are challenging or uncomfortable. We trust that our students are able to engage constructively and critically with the guest speaker.”
Various groups including Students for Palestine Leipzig had called for the lecture to be canceled, arguing Morris — who has expressed political opinions associated with both the left and the right — held “deeply racist” views against Palestinians.
“Together with security concerns, the above points mean that Prof. Benny Morris’ lecture will not take place,” the university stated.
Morris, 75, told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that the decision to cancel the lecture was “disgraceful, especially since it resulted from fear of potential violence by students. It is sheer cowardice and appeasement.”
Despite canceling Morris’ lecture, the University of Leipzig expressed concern about the increased efforts to boycott and marginalize Israeli scholars because they are from the world’s lone Jewish state.
“Regardless of this case, we want to express our concern that a double standard is being established that is being applied to Israeli scholars, who are increasingly marginalized and excluded from events under the pretext of political differences of opinion, while other voices are given unhindered access to the university,” the university said. “This applies, for example, in Leipzig to events by colleagues who are close to the BDS movement, which is classified as a suspected extremist case in Germany. We are far from establishing a culture of cancellations, but the possibility should remain open to be able to discuss difficult and critical voices from both sides in a tough manner.”
The Algemeiner has reported extensively on wide-ranging efforts across academia to exclude Israeli scholars and institutions in accordance with the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to isolate Israel from the international community as a step toward its eventual elimination.
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Australia Backs UN Resolution Calling for Israel to Pull Out From Gaza, West Bank in Major Policy Shift
Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong during Question Time in the Senate chamber at Parliament House in Canberra, Nov. 28, 2024. Photo: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas via Reuters Connect
Australia on Tuesday voted in favor of a UN General Assembly resolution calling on Israel to withdraw from the West Bank and Gaza, breaking a two-decade pattern of opposing such a measure.
The resolution passed by a vote of 157-8 vote, with Israel and the United States voting no and seven abstentions.
In the measure, the General Assembly called for a two-state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict “based on the pre-1967 borders,” as well as a peace conference in New York next year, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, to advance diplomatic efforts in making the two-state solution a reality.
The resolution characterized Israel as an “occupying power,” demanding the Jewish state end its presence in Gaza, the West Bank, and eastern Jerusalem — areas described as “Occupied Palestinian Territory.” It also called on the UN to recognize the “inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, primarily the right to self-determination and the right to their independent state.”
Australia has not voted for such a measure at the UN since 2001. However, Australia’s Ambassador to the UN James Larsen and a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Penny Wong both said in statements that Tuesday’s vote was meant to work toward peace in the Middle East and a two-state solution. Wong previously called on Israel to “exercise restraint” on Oct. 7, 2023, the day of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s invasion of and massacre across southern Israel.
Australian Opposition Leader Peter Dutton blasted the government’s decision to support the UN resolution, accusing Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of “selling out” the Jewish community and “abandoning Israel” for electoral purposes.
“The best we can do for peace in the Middle East is defeat Hamas and Hezbollah and make sure their proxy in Iran does not strike with nuclear weapons, or through the Houthis, or others they are finding because innocent women and children are losing their lives,” he told reporters in Sydney.
The vote came amid already flaring tensions between Israel and Australia.
On Monday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar summoned Australia’s Ambassador to Israel, Ralph King, for an official reprimand following Canberra’s decision not to grant Israel’s former Justice Minister, Ayelet Shaked, a visa to enter the country last month.
Saar charged that the decision to prohibit Shaked from visiting Australia was based on “baseless blood libels spread by the pro-Palestinian lobby.”
Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke explained that his decision to refuse Shaked’s visa application was rooted in concerns that she would “seriously undermine social cohesion” by speaking about the war in the Middle East, noting her past comments about Palestinians.
Meanwhile, antisemitism in Australia has surged following Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught, amid the ensuing war in Gaza.
Antisemitism in Australia quadrupled to record levels over the past year, with Australian Jews experiencing more than 2,000 antisemitic incidents between October 2023 and September 2024, according to a new report published by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), an organization that advocates upholding the civil rights of the country’s some 120,000 Jewish citizens. In many cases, antisemitic incidents were fueled by anti-Israel animus.
Daniel Aghion, president of ECAJ, lambasted Australia’s latest UN vote in comments reported by the Sydney Morning Herald.
“This is a shameless pursuit of a domestic political agenda that puts [the ruling Labor Party’s] aspirations in vulnerable seats ahead of historic and principled support for a democratic ally,” he said, referring to Australia’s upcoming elections this spring. “For some time now, this government has been chipping away at bipartisan support for Israel and a negotiated end to the conflict. After this latest significant shift, there is very little left.”
David Taragin is a writer based in New York.
The post Australia Backs UN Resolution Calling for Israel to Pull Out From Gaza, West Bank in Major Policy Shift first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘Deplorable Blood Libel’: Amnesty International Under Fire for Accusing Israel of Genocide in Gaza
Israeli soldiers operate in the Gaza Strip amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in this handout picture released on March 5, 2024. Photo: Israel Defense Forces/Handout via REUTERS
Amnesty International accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza during its war against the Hamas terrorist group, in a report published Thursday that Jerusalem denounced as an “antisemitic blood libel” based on lies.
The report, which was almost 300 pages, claimed Israel aimed to systematically destroy Palestinian communities in Gaza by launching lethal strikes, dismantling infrastructure, and obstructing humanitarian aid, including food and medicine. The allegations framed Israel’s military campaign as unjustifiable, even in light of Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre, in which 1,200 Israelis were murdered and more than 250 others were taken hostage into Gaza last year.
“Our damning findings must serve as a wake-up call to the international community: this is genocide. It must stop now,” Amnesty International chief Agnès Callamard said in the report.
Israel responded by saying the report was “entirely false.”
“The deplorable and fanatical organization Amnesty International has once again produced a fabricated report that is entirely false and based on lies,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Amnesty Israel, the organization’s local chapter, distanced itself from the report, stating that while the devastation in Gaza had reached “catastrophic proportions,” it did not meet the legal definition of genocide.
Members of the branch criticized the global office for reaching what they described as a “predetermined conclusion.”
Amnesty International’s report outlined numerous recommendations urging the international community to exert intense pressure on Israel — including the immediate halt of all military aid to the country — but failed to make any mention of pressuring Hamas to release the hostages.
The Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry has said that 44,000 Palestinians have been killed. These figures do not distinguish between combatants and civilians. The Israel Defense Forces estimates that approximately 19,000 Hamas operatives have been killed, suggesting a combatant-to-civilian casualty ratio that is far lower than in other recent conflicts, such as those in Afghanistan and against Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria.
Watchdog group NGO Monitor accused Amnesty International of publishing the report as part of a bid to strengthen the lawfare efforts led by South Africa and its allies before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), as well as the “pathological propaganda of UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese and other political actors.”
“Amnesty’s report and recommendations … are not a credible, unbiased, carefully considered analysis of the complex circumstances inherent in the Gaza conflict,” the group said.
Other critics of the report argued Amnesty’s bar for declaring genocide was misguided, noting widely recognized historical examples of genocide such as the Holocaust for comparison.
There are six million reasons why @amnesty is wrong, and a million of them were children.
— Mark Goldfeder (@MarkGoldfeder) December 5, 2024
NGO Monitor’s legal adviser, Anne Herzberg, accused Amnesty of fabricating a definition of genocide tailored exclusively to Israel.
“It’s not surprising that Amnesty invented a definition for genocide because they did the exact same thing when it came to apartheid,” Herzberg told The Algemeiner.
The report’s dishonesty was particularly egregious, she said, because it failed to disclose this redefinition until page 101 — a point most readers are unlikely to reach.
“They know almost no one is going to get that far into the report to notice that they say that,” Herzberg said, adding that the main purpose of the report isn’t accuracy but propaganda.
She alleged that Amnesty International had predetermined its conclusion months before, with some members of its Israel branch confirming this.
“They decided months ago they wanted to write a genocide report and then cobbled together some made up allegations in order to fit that definition because the point is to demonize Israel,” Herzberg said.
She noted that the organization had in the past expressed opposition to Israel’s existence as a Jewish state, and as such all of its actions should be viewed within that ideological context.
Amnesty’s selective omissions, which included downplaying or ignoring evidence of Hamas’s operations in areas targeted by Israeli strikes, were designed “to paint a picture of Israeli malevolence.”
Herzberg highlighted that Amnesty’s website described the Oct. 7 massacre as “Israel’s offensive,” a framing she said underscores the organization’s bias. “That just gives you a flavor of what this organization is about,” she concluded.
The post ‘Deplorable Blood Libel’: Amnesty International Under Fire for Accusing Israel of Genocide in Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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