2
2
1
And there was the same reaction by Jewish organizations and leaders. Everyone supported the military campaign. Israel had no choice. It had to defend itself. If you dared to criticize the campaign you were a traitor to our people.
And we "turned off our TV" by closing our ears to the devastating reports of human rights organizations in Israel and around the world issued before the war, during the war and till today about the unbearable suffering in Gaza, detailed reports by credible organization such B'tselem, Gisha, Shovrim Shtika, The Association for Civil rights in Israel, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and others.
We "turned off our TV" by the vilification of the Judge Goldstone and our concerted effort to squash the report.
Despite the efforts of our leaders to close our ears and hearts to the humanity of men, women and children in Gaza, for many Jews and for many Americans of all faiths, the Gaza assault marked a turning point in our relationship to Israel. Many Americans who were deeply supportive of Israel simply couldn't justify this action. It raised disturbing questions about Israeli policy, questions that remain unanswered.
It was a turning point for me, too. During the war I was devastated.
How could I support this brutal assault? What could I do as a rabbi to stop the carnage, to express my opposition to this devastating military attack. I was much too silent. Like other liberal rabbis I signed statements in favor of a mutual ceasefire but I didn't raise my voice in moral outrage against the assault.
Why were we so silent?
We were so silent out of fear that if we expressed our opposition to the Israeli military operation we would be targeted as traitors by members of our community. Many rabbis are legitimately afraid of losing our rabbinic positions.
Someone told me that a Passover Seder he raised the question of the Gaza assault. It was hard to do, there were many there who supported the Operation and he was afraid. He thought to himself what will I tell my Palestinian friends? Will I tell them that I was a afraid to raise the question of their suffering because some folk may be upset by me doing so?
In June of this year, 10 rabbis came together to break the silence and created Taanit Tzedek Jewish Fast for Gaza. Within a few weeks Taanit Tzedek Jewish Fast for Gaza garnered the support of 300 people, including rabbis, ministers, imams, cantors and rabbinical students.
Our call is simple:
Do not stand idly by when your neighbor's blood is being spilled (Leviticus 19:16).
"As Jews, people of many faiths and people of conscience, we can no longer stand idly by Israel's collective punishment of the Palestinian people in Gaza.
Since Hamas' electoral victory in January 2006, Israel has subjected the Gaza Strip to an increasingly intolerable blockade that restricts Gaza's ability to import food, fuel and other essential materials, and to export finished products. As a result, the Gazan economy has completely collapsed. Most of Gaza's industrial plants have been forced to close, further contributing to already high levels of unemployment and poverty and rising levels of childhood malnutrition.
On three things the world stands: on justice, on truth, and on peace (Mishnah Avot 1:18).
From this we learn that justice, truth and peace are interdependent and irrevocably intertwined. Thus we cannot separate our call for justice in Gaza from the painful truth of this conflict and the ongoing tragedy of war in this tortured region. We condemn Hamas' deliberate targeting of Israeli civilians. Out of the same ethical commitments we also condemn the use of much greater violence by the Israeli government, causing many more deaths of Palestinian civilians. Since the end of Israel's recent military campaign, the severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza has grown all the more dire."
