My dad messaged me yesterday morning, a little after 8am. “How do we,” he asked, “as reasonable, caring, intelligent Jews – who totally support the principle of Israel as the only Jewish state in the world – find a way to condemn Netanyahu and his supporters and show our revulsion at the senseless slaughter, in a way that makes a difference?” A big question to start the day.
As time has passed, we have both watched in horror as Israel’s response to the murder and maiming of more than 1,200 Israeli civilians, and the taking of 251 hostages on 7 October 2023 has become increasingly disproportionate: indefensible. “Even those who support Israel now find it impossible to accept the barbarity of it all,” my dad wrote. I agree. So seemingly do Israel’s closest diplomatic allies. On Monday (19 May) night, Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron, and Mark Carney issued a joint statement calling on Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to “stop its military operations in Gaza and immediately allow humanitarian aid to enter”. Enough. “The level of human suffering in Gaza is intolerable,” they stated, unable to look on as the population of Gaza starves, while members of the Israeli government use “abhorrent language” detailing how the destruction of the territory will force Palestinians civilians out. The next day the Israeli ambassador was summoned to the Foreign Office, as the Foreign Secretary David Lammy suspended trade talks with Israel.
To be clear, Israel has the right to exist, and the right to defend itself against the brutal terrorism of Hamas. But the Israeli government’s actions are achieving nothing, other than death and destruction, and sowing hatred of Israel and Jews. Worse, this is being done largely so that Netanyahu can stay in office. When this war ends, he will likely lose power. I always have more respect for even those who hold views I vehemently oppose, so long as they are genuine in their beliefs. How can anyone authorise the bombing of schools, killing of dozens of civilians – including children – in a single day, simply to remain in office? I have lost patience with IDF spokespeople insisting there is “no shortage” of food in Gaza, when doctors and dozens more on the ground can see this with their own eyes. Foreign journalists are not allowed to freely operate in Gaza – reports are impossible to verify for certain – but the mounting evidence is overwhelming.
There is growing unease amongst British Jewry. When last month (16 April), 36 members of the Board of Deputies, Britain’s largest Jewish representative body, published an open letter in the Financial Times, a Jewish friend whose family were murdered in the Holocaust got in touch. “The letter,” she said. “Hallelujah!” This was the opportunity so many wanted “to at least have a conversation”. The signatories, representing about 10 per cent of the Board of Deputies, explained they were writing “out of love for Israel and deep concern for its future”. The last 19 months of war has shown the “most successful way of bringing the hostages home and creating a lasting peace is through diplomacy”, they said. The return of fighting, on the other hand, risked the “killing of 15 paramedics and their burial in a mass grave” being seen as “normal”. It is impossible to “turn a blind eye or remain silent” at this.
There is an old adage: where there are two Jews, there are three opinions. I do not claim to speak for others. Within 24 hours of the open letter being published in the FT, the president of the Board of Deputies, Phil Rosenberg, wrote a forceful op-ed, arguing that in no uncertain terms did it represent the views of UK Jews. Rosenberg argued that the letter “barely mentioned” Hamas and appeared to lay the blame for the continuing war “squarely on the Israeli Government”. In one way he is right: the war could end if Hamas released all the remaining hostages. That would truly force Netanyahu to show his hand. No further fighting could be justified in this scenario.
But I do not believe this is about blame. The actions of Hamas on 7 October started this war. And their actions could end it. But Israel is a democracy. It must hold itself to a higher standard than homicidal terrorists. The actions now being taken by Netanyahu’s government are beyond anything we believe as Jews and as human beings.
I – and other Jews I speak with – have a genuine fear that in condemning Israel’s actions, it gives fuel to those who genuinely oppose Israel and Jews in general. Those who are not Jewish are often puzzled why so many Jews, some of whom have never even set foot on Israeli soil, feel such an affinity with the country. It’s complicated. I have spent time in Israel. As a not-quite-secular, but not a religious Jew, it is a unique place. There is something very different, unsettling even, about being in the one place where you are not in a minority. Where you know that, if need be, you will be protected. The State of Israel is inextricably linked to the Holocaust and the very nearly successful attempt to wipe Jews from the Earth. A land of their own ensures there is one place they can be safe. That’s why so many Jews want to protect it. And why, when peace-loving Jewish men, women and children were slaughtered in their homes on kibbutzim on October 2023, it was so agonising.
The signatories to the FT letter are subject to the Board of Deputies complaints procedures – a process which should end soon. One has been suspended from her role. Days after this was announced, 30 rabbis expressed their support for those deputies, saying they, too, were “horrified by the Israeli government’s relaunch of attacks against Gaza” and reminding Israel’s leaders of “the core Jewish teaching that war can never be waged for revenge or expansion”. On Sunday (18 May) the Reform and Liberal branches of Judaism announced they would be uniting to form Progressive Judaism. That brings together about 30 per cent of Britain’s Jews, with the aim of increasing the diversity of Jewish voices heard in public – on a number of topics. The group told me it shared the diplomatic calls “for the immediate and unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza and for the protection of all civilians”.
Rosenberg from the Board of Deputies has urged Jews to “remember that unity is strength” and that “division serves only our enemies”. But I cannot agree with this in good conscience. The Jewish people know more than anyone how damaging collective silence can be. The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. I know that whatever I write will not make a difference. I’m sorry Dad. How could it? What can any individual possible say or do to stop the killing and see the hostages returned? British Jews are not a monolith. But I know there are others who feel what my father and I feel, too. Who are ashamed of what the current Israeli government is doing. And who want to say: “Not in my name.”
[See more: Being Jewish now]
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