After the abortive meeting between interfaith leaders and Rep. Davids in late January, we decided the next step would be a public assembly of interfaith voices. It took place yesterday at Prairie Baptist Church in Prairie Village. Here are my remarks.
Since the collapse the Oslo process in the early 2000s, Israel has been ruling the Palestinian territories under its control as the victor of a war - expanding its control of the West Bank and strangling Gaza under a suffocating blockade, punctuated by periodic assaults, known cynically as “mowing the grass.” Over these decades Israel has shown no interest or concern for the human rights or dignity of those who have the misfortune of living under its control, and no one, least of all Israel’s main patron the United States, has taken any steps to control it or protect the Palestinians.Israel was established in the aftermath of genocide as a safe haven for Jews. What it has become is a far-right, militarized ethno state motivated by fear, trauma and a constant diet of propaganda to destroy, in the name of self-defense, those whose misfortune it is to live in the land that we see as ours alone. The attacks on Oct 7 were brutal and indefensible, but the current brutal retaliatory war on the civilian population of Gaza, the use of starvation as a weapon of war, the grotesque and indefensible violence that is being done in the name of Jews everywhere – I say no, and I am not alone.
I'm a rabbi who since the 1980s has supported efforts at peace and coexistence between Israeli Jews and Palestinians. But as time has gone on it has become clear that the only thing Israel wants is for Palestinians to disappear. Soon after the attack on October 7 I signed the Rabbis for Ceasefire statement, and I repeat that call today: an immediate, permanent ceasefire with return of all captives and the immediate opening of robust humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian population in Gaza. None of the many, necessary conversations about what happens next can take place until there is an end to the violence, which we call for today – right now.
My understanding of the Jewish religion is that it values peace and the preservation of human life. “Seek peace and pursue it,” we are told. Under the precept of pikuah nefesh, human life is held as so sacred that every ritual obligation or religious commandment is breakable if human life is at stake. Yet the people who purport to represent us, to lead us, the people who teach us these values, support actions that are in direct contradiction to these values, actions that are leading to the death of tens of thousands of civilians, of children, of the destruction of Gaza’s infrastructure, of the use of starvation as a weapon -- this is not just unacceptable, it’s horrifying. It’s a hillul hashem - a desecration of God’s name. Leaders of the mainstream Jewish community will have to reckon with the choices they have made here. But that too is a discussion for another day. But today we say – this is not the path forward! Join us in calling for an end to this killing! Right now!
The absence of Palestinian voices in mainstream discourse often makes this seem like an internal Jewish conversation. But we have to remember who is suffering here, and who is dying. I know that the only way through the darkness is together, which is why I stand in solidarity with my Palestinian brothers and sisters and call for an immediate end to this horrific war.
We call on our political leaders to stand up for the human rights and dignity - the very lives - of Palestinians in Gaza. We call on Israel to stop its genocidal assault on the civilian population of Gaza. We call on Jews and anyone who cares about forging a more peaceful world to join us in calling for the end of arms sales to Israel, the end of diplomatic protection of Israel, the end of Israel’s military dictatorship over the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. This is the only way that we can work toward a world where never again really means never again – to anyone.
Barukh atah Adonai, oseh ha-shalom. Blessed are you, Adonai, maker of peace.
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