A Moral and Strategic Tragedy for Israel

Washington, DC – J Street is deeply disturbed by the humanitarian situation in Gaza. As reported in the New York Times, Israeli military officials have warned that “immediate steps were needed” to ensure aid can be delivered “fast enough to prevent starvation.” The latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification report indicates that 470,000 people in Gaza are now facing catastrophic hunger as the entire population is grappling with acute food insecurity. News reports on the situation are frightening, and time is running out.

In response to these developments, J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami issued the following statement:

“As the images and reports from Gaza grow increasingly dire, the moral outrage in the American Jewish community is growing. Anger is building at the Netanyahu government for blocking all food, medicine and other necessities under the false pretense that this advances the security of the Jewish State.

As President of the Union for Reform Judaism Rabbi Rick Jacobs wrote in the Washington Post this week, ‘Israel must not help Hamas by sacrificing its own morality.’

As Jews and as Americans, we know there can be no moral or strategic justification for blocking humanitarian supplies from millions of desperate civilians. Our people’s history and our values compel us to speak out. This cannot be what the Jewish State comes to stand for in the 21st century.

Reports that the Israeli government may soon change course offer some hope, but such action must be significant and immediate to meet the scale of this man-made crisis.

The generations that follow us will be right to ask where we were as Gaza was leveled, why we did not speak out and why we did not do what we could to stop it.

This is first and foremost a human tragedy for families in Gaza of unfathomable proportions. It’s also a moral and strategic tragedy for Israel. Security experts are united in their belief that a policy of deprivation does nothing to end the war or free the hostages. Only a negotiated agreement to end the war will bring the remaining hostages home and ensure that necessary aid flows to Gaza.

It is also painfully clear that not only is this unethical course of action not making Israel any safer, it is increasing its isolation globally and costing Israel the support of ever-growing numbers of Jews around the world who cannot fathom how using starvation as a weapon of war can be justified in modern times.

Flattening Gaza and displacing more than two million people will be a moral stain not just on the State of Israel but on the Jewish people. A stain that will not be easily erased.

We stand with Israeli hostage families, ceasefire advocates and former security officials in speaking out against this appalling policy. We urge current security officials, who have acknowledged the catastrophic risks privately in background conversations, to increase internal pressure and to speak out publicly. There is still time to prevent this man-made catastrophe from growing worse.”