Reflections on a Visit to Sderot and the War in Gaza by RHR-NA Executive Director Rabbi Brian Walt

Two months ago as part of a human rights trip to Israel, I led a group of Americans on a visit to Sderot. As our bus entered the area within the range of rockets, I explained what participants should do in case of an attack - "find the nearest bomb shelter, follow others, if you don't find a shelter, lie down and cover your head with your hands, you have 20 seconds to respond." The fear in our group was palpable. Then we all realized that this is what the people of Sderot and other Israeli towns live with every day. This was the reason we had come to Sderot: to express our solidarity with its residents and our concern for their security. They and all the people of Israel deserve security.

We are now three weeks into a war with the official goal of providing that security. Yet rocket attacks, less frequent, are still being launched and in fact, more Israelis have been killed in the past three weeks than were killed in the past four years of rocket attacks. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed (half or more of whom were women and children). The level of suffering in Gaza is horrifying.

All this has not tempered the overwhelming support for the war in Israel, by the American Congress, and by mainstream American Jewish organizations. As a rabbi deeply committed to the security of Israel, to the prophetic vision on which Israel is founded, and to the centrality of justice, compassion and peace in Judaism, I believe that this war is nothing less than a disaster. It is a disaster for the residents of Sderot, for the people of Israel and for all who care about Judaism and the Jewish values of compassion and justice. How will this war bring Israel security? For three weeks Israel's army has sown hatred that endangers Israel's long-term security. How many suicide bombers and guerillas have been created by the suffering on the Palestinian side?

And why is there so little empathy for the suffering of the Palestinians? What about the Jewish teaching that one who kills a single human being kills a whole world, and that all human beings are created in the image of God? This teaching, which is regarded by many as the most important teaching of our tradition, is not that only Jews or Israelis, or any other national or ethnic group, are created in the image of God. Judaism insists that all human beings are created in God's image and that every human life is of infinite value. This includes Palestinians. The silence about this in Israel and the United States is shocking.
This war started on the Sabbath of Hannukah, a day on which the prophetic reading is from Zechariah - "not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit." On the Sabbath when we celebrate the Maccabean rebellion against the Greek empire, Jews read a passage that cautions us against a belief in military power and military solutions. The passage warns us against relying on power and military force to solve conflicts.

The consensus among American politicians and the American Jewish community is that Hamas is to blame for the war and that Israel had no choice. Both these claims are false. The war is not the fault of Hamas; it is the fault of both Israel and Hamas. Firing rockets was not the only way that Hamas had to respond to the Israeli blockade, and war was not the only way Israel had to respond to the attacks on its civilians. Maybe Israel "had to do something" but the war is not the "something" that had to be done. What should have been done was direct negotiation with Hamas. Instead, Israel, with the support of the international community, blockaded Gaza and refused to talk to the Hamas government.

How can one make peace with Hamas, an organization that wants to destroy Israel? It is by no means easy, but one makes peace with one's enemies, not with one's friends. There have been openings for negotiation. Hamas has on several occasions offered Israel a long-term truce. Israel has not responded to these offers.

Those who support this war claim that no country would accept attacks on its civilians by a neighboring country. But would any country allow itself to be surrounded by another, the movement of all its citizens controlled by another, and its food, supplies of fuel and basic necessities controlled by another?

I support the sacred work of Israeli human rights organizations that have spoken out about the abuses in this war, but I can't join those in my community and others who have unconditionally supported the war. It is because I care deeply about Israel and its future that I am firmly opposed to the war. I grieve the attacks that my own people have suffered from rockets from Gaza, and I grieve the suffering that Israel, the Jewish state, has inflicted on the people of Gaza.

Thankfully there is talk of an imminent truce. The war will probably end before the inauguration of President Obama. I hope that he will take courageous leadership to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As a Jew I will urge him to take bold steps, pushing both Israel and the Palestinians to make painful sacrifices for peace. It is only the resolution of the conflict that can provide security for the people in Sderot and all the people, Israelis and Palestinians, who have killed one another for far too long.