Rabbi Arik Ascherman makes a Jewish religious appeal against the Gaza policy:
I understand the tactical reasons behind why many [Israeli protesting Netanyahu’s war policies] have chosen to place the focus of protests on concern for fellow Jews. But now, when people are dying of hunger because of Israeli policy, this is no longer an option.The current war on civilians in Gaza is by far the longest war Israel has ever had. Israel’s war with Lebanon in 1982 lasted essentially three months before an armistice was reached. Israeli forces stayed in Lebanon until 1985. (And they are currently back there now.)
All people of conscience must say clearly and publicly that they oppose causing more suffering and death for Gazan children and other non-combatants. Jewish tradition teaches that there is a red line on what is permitted even when it comes to self-defense: Tractate Sanhedrin forbids us from killing innocent people, even if it is to save our own lives. …
In oppressive dictatorships, people risk their lives to oppose policy. In Israel, that is rarely the case. And as Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel taught us, "in a free society some are guilty, but all are responsible."
We Israelis are all responsible for what our government is doing. Jews living abroad with any sense of connection to Israel and with the Jewish people also share responsibility. What can we citizens do in the face of a government that won't change its policies even when there are thousands of Israelis in the street protesting each week? (2)
The fact that Israel has been able to keep its wars short has worked to its advantage, particular with the United States, its most important ally and chief enabler. In a relative short war, Israel’s hasbara (propaganda) operation can flood the zone with Israel’s preferred narrative: It’s all the fault of whatever Arab group is being attacked; The Israeli Defense Forces are the most moral army in the history of the world; the IDF takes elaborate precautions to minimize civilian casualties, the problem is that that The Enemy is all over the place in civilian areas; endless references to the Holocaust; stigmatizing any criticism of its military operations, no matter how brutal or criminal, as antisemitism.
Israel has had a long history of good relations to the US, at least since President Eisenhower made Israel back off its attempt along with Britain and France to seize the Suez Canal from Egypt in 1956. And that attempt lasted nine days. And, of course, the Six Day War of 1967 was a model operation from Israel’s viewpoint, and it let them begin what has been a long and continuing expansion of their territory beyond its legal borders.
The current war that very quickly developed into the ongoing and intensive war on Gaza civilians – with the Nakba efforts also extending to the West Bank at a deadly but lower-intensity level –spread the conflict to Lebanon, Syria, and even to direct conflict with Iran. John Mearsheimer recently commented that the Trump 2.0 regime is now involved with Israel in yet another “forever war,” this one with Iran.
And Benjamin Netanyahu’s authoritarian arrogance has put about as ugly a face on the whole operation as one could have imagined. Even Amiram Levin, a former deputy director of Israel’s military intelligence agency Mossad, is saying Israel’s current war on Palestinians “is is a crime, this is genocide." This appears to be a turnaround from his public position in May, 2023, months before the Hamas attack of October 7 that year, when he was advocating something very much like what is now happening:
In a tweet on April 11, 2023, Levin wrote:
“Allow them a port, an airport and a beach riviera.The headline on that report refers to Levin as a “liberal Israeli icon.” It reports further:
But also, flatten every neighborhood from which rockets are fired towards our towns, [rockets] which are meant to kill tens and hundreds of peaceful citizens.
Four years, four operations, same results, it’s time to change the equation.” [emphasis in original]
Levin is suggesting a wild “carrot and stick” approach. Gaza has been under strict blockade since 2007, which includes the sea off its coast. Gaza also can’t use its former airport which operated from 1998 to 2001, because Israel destroyed it. So Levin says Israel should allow loosening the siege in some respects while also promising to “flatten every neighborhood,” This is Levin’s supposed balance – offer a carrot, and commit a genocidal war crime with no hesitation. (3)
Levin is an influential figure on the Israeli left, but this is far from the first time he has uttered such an outrageous call to genocide. In 2017, he threatened to “tear the Palestinians apart” and “toss them across the Jordan” – he said that the Palestinians “deserved the occupation” and that “next time we’ll fight here, they will not remain, we will toss them across the Jordan.”And this guy is a liberal icon for Israelis? I suppose it’s a good thing that his genocidal sentiments have moderated in the last couple of years. But that’s a grim reflection on the state of Israeli politics.
Levin is also on record for saying that “most of these [Palestinian] people are born to die anyway, we just need to help them to it.”
This is all a very long way from the iconic, triumphal celebration of the Six Day War that has defined US attitudes toward Israel for decades. And from the image that Israel has carefully promoted of itself as a tolerant liberal democracy, aka, “the only democracy in the Middle East.” Of course, Netanyahu continues to push hard to remove democratic rule of law even within Israel itself.
The current negative impression of Israel’s action in the US is strongest among Democrats, while the Republicans including Trump embrace the Christian Zionist support for Israel and its territorial expansion policies and the current war on Palestinian civilians.
Whether this critical trend towards Israeli policies will continue remains to be seen. But the picture the world has seen of Israel since October 2023 will make the previous permissive consensus much harder to reconstruct.
Amos Harel writes currently:
On Friday, Yedioth Ahronoth published correspondent Nahum Barnea's analysis, based on what appears to be a conversation with a senior military official – perhaps no one is more senior than him. The crisis between the chief of staff and the government is real. Unless a cease-fire and hostage deal are reached, the crisis will worsen and might reach the point where the chief of staff will ponder whether to continue his term. "Zamir has one bullet in the chamber," wrote Barnea.Eric Alterman, a longtime observer of the topic, thinks the impression the current war has made on American Jews is likely to be deep and lasting:
The remarks were published against the backdrop of the pressure by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to occupy all of the Gaza Strip and pursue the campaign of destruction, death and deportation. Netanyahu has been flirting with these demands for a long time, and has not blocked them despite the reservations of the army, which is worried by the moral consequences of the deeds and severe erosion of the soldiers' motivation and abilities.
Anyone who has encountered the glazed-over look in the eyes of conscript combat troops going on leave after some time in Gaza knows what this is about, and the state of many reservists is no better. (4)
To describe Benjamin Netanyahu’s government as a “nightmare” for liberal American Jews would be to badly understate the case. Its behavior is likely worse than any of us previously could have imagined. Netanyahu and his extremist Cabinet have put Israel in what Rabbi Jill Jacobs told me is “the worst position it’s ever been, morally and ethically.” Even Jacobs, who heads T’ruah, a rabbinic human rights organization, may be understating the case. This government is responsible for what is quite possibly the worst self-inflicted catastrophe for the Jewish people in their entire history. [my emphasis] (5)This is a current report on the “catastrophic” humanitarian crisis in Gaza being deliberately imposed by Netanyahu’s government with the full support of Peace President Trump. (6)
Notes:
(1) Professor Bartov: Making Life Impossible in Gaza Is a Deliberate Strategy of Slow-Moving Genocide. ECPS Brussels YouTube channel 08/02/2025. <https://youtu.be/BdnnfQokTCc?si=QzfBjWb82cmknvRn> (Accessed: 2025-02-08).
(2) Ascherman, Arik (2025): If Israelis and Jews Don't Act Now, We're Complicit: Here's How to Stop Gaza's Starvation. Haaretz 07/30/2025. <https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2025-07-30/ty-article-opinion/.premium/if-israelis-and-jews-dont-act-now-were-complicit-heres-how-to-stop-gazas-starvation/00000198-5658-d669-a99d-7effd80a0000?gift=49d6d38dc1d3421f8dbe420f2aef2293> (Accessed: 2025-02-08).
(3) Ofir, Jonathan (2023): Liberal Israeli icon calls to raze Gaza neighborhoods. Mondoweiss 05/23/2023. <https://mondoweiss.net/2023/05/liberal-israeli-icon-calls-to-raze-gaza-neighborhoods/> (Accessed: 2025-03-08).
(4) Harel, Amos (2025): As Netanyahu and Hamas Bide Time, Israeli Hostages and Gaza's People Are Left to Starve. Haaretz 08/03/2025. <https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-08-03/ty-article/.premium/as-netanyahu-and-hamas-bide-time-israeli-hostages-and-gazas-people-are-left-to-starve/00000198-6bed-d12c-a9b8-7bed5c550000?gift=f7e48ea62452450fac88a3c0f0572a80> (Accessed: 2025-02-08).
(5) Alterman, Eric (2025): American Jews’ Support for Israel Is Near Its Breaking Point. Eric’s Substack 030/08/2025. <https://altercation.substack.com/p/american-jews-support-for-israel> (Accessed: 2025-03-08).
(6) U.S. Journalist Shares What He Saw in Gaza: “People Are Starving Right Now”. Amanpour and Company YouTube channel 08/02/2025. <https://youtu.be/qZB5pBJVXBw?si=vhf4QYQN5wHUNxx2> (Accessed: 2025-03-08).
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