Exerpt from post by Rabbi Menachem Creditor
I'm a
progressive US faith leader. I'm a Zionist in Berkeley, CA. I'm a Jew in
the world, worried for my family. So here is my response to those
criticizing Israel this week.
To those who suggest that Prime
Minister Netanyahu is over-reacting to the missiles, I offer this
response which I have now shared regularly at campus and communal
conversations:
Israel is treating wounded Palestinians during this
conflict, risking Israeli lives in surgical strikes to destroy
weapons-smuggling tunnels created with building materials Israel allowed
into Gaza for infrastructure projects to benefit Palestinian society.
Just for a moment, consider the deaths that would result from Israel
wishing harm on Palestinian civilians. In just the last 48 hours, Israel
has allowed over 10 tons of goods into Gaza. During the past weeks,
Israel has agreed to two humanitarian cease-fires. In the first hours of
those ceasefires, Hamas rained down over 70 missiles onto Israel
civilians.
I ask: What do Israel's enraged critics truly desire?
How is it possible to hear indignant claims of human rights violations
in the context of Syrians slaughtered by the hundreds of thousands,
state-sanctioned terrorism around the globe, and young immigrants
treated like chattel by the US and other? Israel is doing its best,
sacrificing its own children to preserve the lives of Palestinians.
I
also ask, regarding the world's seemingly acceptance of Hamas' tactics
as the only remaining option left for a desperate leadership:
Were
Hamas to truly lead its people forward to a life of stability and
peace, wouldn't it use building materials for schools instead of
smuggling tunnels? Wouldn't Hamas stop stockpiling weapons in mosques
and transporting them in UN ambulances? Wouldn't Hamas stop firing
missiles from civilian population centers if it valued Palestinian lives
as much as Israel does? If Israel weren't so concerned for Palestinian
lives, wouldn't it respond to Hamas' horrific decisions in kind?
I
ask the enraged critics of Israel's defensive responses to Hamas: Would
you have us not respond to this monstrosity? Do you think it's not
worth losing the PR battle to retain our humanity and save as many lives
as possible? What country would stand by when thousands of terrorist
missiles assault its citizens? I, a Jew, have lost 20 of my sons in the
last three days, because I will not lose my humanity and stage a
careless ground war in Gaza that would cause mass casualties. Though I
fight monsters, I will not become one.
My response has changed
these last few weeks, in which three Jewish teens were murdered by Arab
terrorists and Palestinians celebrated by distributing sweets to
children and an Arab teen was murdered by Jewish terrorists and the
Jewish world condemned the hatred. I am done trying to apologetically
explain Jewish morality. I am done apologizing for my own Jewish
existence.
Some will call this needless hyperbole. But, having
watched in this last week anti-Semitic "die-ins" in Boston, violent
assaults against Jews in Los Angeles and Antwerp, and an almost pogrom
at a synagogue in Paris, I'm done mincing my own words.
We will do what we must to protect our people. We have that right. We are not less deserving of life and quiet than anyone else.
No more apologies.
Follow Rabbi Menachem Creditor on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/rabbicreditor
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