On Shabbos morning, the IDF began airdropping aid to Gaza and announced humanitarian pauses to facilitate the delivery of additional assistance to the strip. Much of the coverage in frum media has been critical, portraying this as a concession to Hamas. We have reached an inflection point. We must express gratitude for the mesiras nefesh of those fighting to defend Eretz Yisrael and support those who valiantly defend the land. Still, we must also, once and for all, stop the mindless parroting of talking points and make a sincere and honest cheshbon hanefesh of where this is all heading.
For months, Bibi Netanyahu claimed that victory over Hamas was imminent. First, it was securing and holding the Philidelphi corridor, then it was defeating the last Hamas stronghold in Rafah, and then it was only because Biden held back on bunker buster bombs. Now Israel holds the corridor, Rafah, and the bombs, and has had virtual free rein to act as it wishes for months, yet Hamas has not capitulated, and the remaining hostages remain in captivity.
Instead, Israel has held the civilian population of Gaza under dire circumstances. The rationale for these extreme measures was that Hamas siphons the UN food distribution and then sells it to fund their terror. Yet, a recent US government analysis concluded that there is no evidence to support the existence of such theft. An Israeli military source confirmed the findings, stating that there is no hard evidence to support such claims. (There is some evidence that aid from smaller groups was stolen and looted, but not from the main UN distribution centers.)
The IDF and the world argue over the definition of starvation and famine in Gaza. Still, the undeniable reality is that immense suffering among the civilian population in Gaza, and as frum yidden, we cannot ignore it all. We cannot claim that all Arabs are terrorists and at the same time vacation in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. We cannot scream that they all want to murder us and then take emergency evacuation flights through Egypt and Jordan when the need arises. We cannot deny the aid that Israel received from multiple Arab and Muslim countries in intercepting Iranian missiles shot at Israel’s cities, towns, and army bases.
The world is shown constant pictures of babies, women, and children harmed in Gaza. Every day brings increasingly harrowing images. Even if war is necessary, the reality of it remains harrowing, and in this case, the question of necessity must be raised. Who is deciding on the value of the targets versus the collateral damage to the population? How are these decisions made, and on what moral value system? Rachamanim bnei rachmanin should demand answers and accountability. As yidden, we should never be totally numb and indifferent to images of women, children, and non-combatants who are missing limbs, buried under rubble, burned beyond recognition due to a battle that we are waging.
Israel was successful in Lebanon and Iran by diminishing the threat from Hezbollah and the Iranian military. It did not destroy the threat or the local civilian population. It achieved its goals by striking a balance between force and moderation. We need to ask where the war in Gaza is heading, and at what cost both physically and morally.
Last week, an American citizen from Florida was murdered in the West Bank. This was not the first time an American was killed or a Palestinian village was set alight by marauding settlers. Additionally, a church in Gaza was shelled, and the town of Taybeh was violently attacked. Pro-Israel stalwarts like Ambassador Mike Huckabee called the settler actions terrorism and demanded accountability. Former Congressman Matt Gaetz blasted Israeli inaction on settler violence on his popular show. When friends like Gaetz and Huckabee publicly criticize you, we know we have a problem.
We have seen young frum Israelis singing “may your village burn.” We saw a video of Israelis singing that hateful song as Iranian missiles landed on an Arab Israeli village, killing a mother and her two daughters. We saw a mob of frum yidden in Brooklyn chasing and pelting an innocent woman accompanied by a police officer while yelling mavas laaravim.
We need to seriously ask ourselves what has become of us. Do we ever demand accountability, or do we allow Ben Gvir and Smotrich to define our values for us? The actions of the IDF and the Israeli government affect Jews the world over. People associate Israel with Judaism—a moral stain on Israel results in an inevitable disparagement of Yiddishkeit. Furthermore, we all suffer the consequences of antisemitism when war is not conducted appropriately.
We do ourselves a terrible disservice when we dismiss all criticism as antisemitic or fake news. Of course, some information is inaccurate and used for propaganda purposes, but not all of it is. We harm ourselves when we cannot face reality and claim that all uncomfortable news is either untrue or reflexively justified. We blame our enemies for being brainwashed for their cause, but the next time you jump to defend some apparent atrocity, stop for a moment and ask yourselves, how do you know what you are saying is true? Are you evaluating the information, or are you just emotionally repeating the talking points that have been fed to you?
Signed,
A.S.
The views expressed in this letter are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of YWN. Have an opinion you would like to share? Send it to us for review.
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36 Responses
אמר רבי יהושע בן לוי כל שהוא רחמן על אכזרים לסוף נעשה אכזר על רחמנים’.
Sounds like Btzelem is now sending mail to Yeshiva World. Amazing! And no, you should not be vacationing in Dubai or Abu Dhabi.
Buddy, you packin’ an extra chromosome???
>>>We need to seriously ask ourselves what has become of us. Do we ever demand accountability, or do we allow Ben Gvir and Smotrich to define our values for us?
Some of the points raised here have merit, some do not. I’m focusing specifically on this one because the author himself is clearly very influenced by the anti-Israel media and it clearly defines his values for him. I do not know anyone who identifies with Ben Gvir. Accusing the frum world at large of doing so is very similar to all the other accusations here.
Thank you. I couldn’t agree more. We’ve got some cheshbon hanefesh to do.
You are absolutely right! Looks like we’ve forgotten who we are and what our mission is.
Wow. You’ve been won over by the media. So sad that you’ve joined all of those brainwashed people
um…these “innocent” Gazans voted for Hamas to be in charge, and they are mostly all part of Hamas or EXTREMELY supportive of Hamas. Where do you think Hamas gets “soldiers” from? The answer is all the “innocent” Palestinians. Additionally all these “innocent” Palestinians would murder you if they got the opportunity to, and you want to let them live??!?
WHAT IN THE WORLD???
HAS YWN BECOME AN ANTI SEMITIC SITE ???
HOW DISCUSTING TO HAVE THIS SHMUTZ ON YOUR SITE.
Midrash Tanchuma, parshat Metsora, chapter 1:
Rabbi Elazar taught:
Whoever grants mercy to the cruel, will eventually inflict cruelty on the merciful.
All true. We are not them. What would the Chafetz Chaim say?
Hey buddy, Ever heard of Jihad? Most Muslims are taught to give their lives to kill YOU & many do give their lives to kill jews & other infadels.
However, the thing you must understand is that any Muslim who wants to live peacefully can choose to live in Abu Dhabi, In Jordan, In Egypt or any other area of the vast Middle East. Those who chose to live in the tinderbox called Gaza are FAR from peaceful citizens. They are there for one reason only & its called Jihad.
Giving them food is just feeding the next Hitler. And you call that Rachmanus?? Whos side are you on anyhow?
How about we get our hostages back before you start complaining there’s not enough food for the terrorist families
Additionally, all the pictures were disproven because of disease, in another country and even AI pictures. Another point to ponder is why are all the adults in Gaza 100% HEALTHY?????? So to A.S stop watching CNN and MSNBC where they lie to you and get FACTUAL news.
(P.S is Biden still “as sharp as a tack” and “sharpest I’ve ever seen”?)
The biggest problem implicit in this letter is its interchangeable use of “we” and Israel. We are Jews. Israel is anti-Jewish. What Israel does is in the name of Zionism, not Judaism. That should be clear to all. That is the key.
Of course, you rightly point out that the idolatrous “Religious Zionists” – and certainly also the garden variety heretic Zionists – should absolutely not be setting hashkafos/outlook for any Jews.
Please don’t take the bait and respond to this. The content is obviously ludicrous for so many reasons it’s not worth beginning. Someone trying to quicken a slow news day.
A.S., while your post seems to be a well-meaning humanitarian plea directed at the ‘starvation’ in Gaza, you lose credibility when you start weaving settler violence, Brooklyn violence, etc., to paint a broad picture of ‘right wing’ Jews as being callous, bloodthirsty, imbeciles who parrot poorly sourced opinions as facts instead of being open minded, intelligent, and reflective such as yourself.
You need to start with a single truth: Eisav Soneh Es Yaakov. Matt Gaetz and Mike Huckabee are not our friends. Neither is Trump. While we appreciate their support when we have it, we need to recognize that they are our friends only so long as we serve their purposes. We work with them and support them because hishtadlus requires that, but we should never mistake their words & actions for true loyalty and true friendship. We learned this hard lesson 85 years ago in Europe and I challenge you to provide evidence that things have changed. The world respects Jews when the following 2 factors exist: 1) We don’t try to mix & mingle with them. We are a nation alone. Respectful, but separate. 2) We stand up for ourselves and our rights and don’t try to be the nicest and friendliest nation in the world int he hopes that they will maybe like us.
Reports of ‘settler violence’, mass starvation, and the like cannot be relied upon because they often come from sources who hate Jews or from self hating Jews. Over the past few days we saw the truth about the NY Times article of the malnourished child. And we saw the BBC’s internal directions on how to cover Gaza in a negative light on Israel. Are all of the stories fabrications? No, but how do you know what is and what isn’t? Should settlers attack Arabs in Yehuda & Shomron? Not unless it is in self defense which I think it often is. Are they wrong when they do it not out of self defense? Yes, but are you claiming that you know with any certainty that those situations are any more than a small minority?
Back to Gaza, you need to remember we are fighting a war against bloodthirsty killers, rapists, and baby burners. In the Middle East, when you show weakness, your enemies attack. When you show strength, they are deterred. ALLOWING aid into Gaza doesn’t show weakness, but bending over backwards to ensure it is well distributed and doing your own airdrops and setting up humanitarian pauses does show weakness. Your ethnocentrism is getting in the way of your understanding of the dynamics of the long history of conflict in that region. And world opinion will not matter. You can never make them happy. Canada, France, and the UK are being overrun and out-bred by Islam and the trend will continue. Their support for a Palestinian state has no grounds in logic or morality, and their simultaneous condemnation of Hamas rings hollow. We’ll need to start weaning ourselves off of them (and of the US). I truly believe we are facing tumultuous times ahead which require our deep emunah in Hashem that he will protect us as the sheep among the 70 wolves. And they ARE wolves.
From a moral & legal perspective, we are under no obligation to feed our enemies. While the Geneva convention bans deliberate starvation of civilians (i.e, stopping aid), starvation brought about due to siege is not banned. Yes, we are rachmonim, but showing rachmanus to your enemies in the hope that in some way it will help your effort is delusional. You are dealing with a population that willingly harbors and supports terrorist and terrorism. They have been brainwashed like Nazi Germany and the only way to defeat them is to break them. Is every single person in Gaza a terrorist or a supporter of terrorism? No, but can you honestly say you know what % is?
On your criticism of how the war has been fought, do you think you have better information than the Israeli government, military, & intelligence? Do you think Bibi and others in the government (I’m no lover of the secular State of Israel by the way) don’t feel the pain of the hostages and the pain of families of fallen soldiers? They are facing external & internal pressure on a scale you could not imagine. Do they make mistakes? Of course, they’re human. Are they trying their best in a difficult situation? I believe so. So what makes you think you have all of the answers? Do you have real experience in warfighting, and in warfighting in that part of the world? It sounds arrogant to simultaneously criticize Israel for not doing enough for the people of Gaza while ‘demanding answers’ and criticizing their prosecution of this unwanted war as if you would have done this any better yourself. Did they think Rafah was the last stronghold? And the Philadelphi corridor? Yes, but facts on the ground change and your strategy and tactics need to change with them. On so many levels, it’s naive to compare the situation in Lebanon and Iran to the situation in Gaza. My personal view on it would be to say ‘to hell with it’ and just conquer the territory and control it.
You accuse others of parroting talking points as if you yourself have some broad view of all of the sources which allows you to evaluate and judge. How do you know what % of the data you actually have? Does reading the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times or Foreign Affairs make you more knowledgeable on the subject than someone who gets most of his news on Jewish news sites? Do other people have 10% and you have 75%? Or can it be that they have 50% and you have 60%? And is that 10% advantage coming from reliable sources or from agenda-driven enemies.
I’m sure you’re a fine and wonderful Jew and a lover of klal yisrael, and your post shows you are a rachaman, but it sounds like you haven’t thought this through and you are letting your emotions and compassion for human suffering get in the way of your clarity on the issue.
“Signed,
A.S.” (Achmed Solemani)
I AGREE WITH THIS LETTER 100 PERCENT!!!! except fpr th point about flying to/through egypt or uae – those arabs are clearly much more peaceful than the ones in gaza, however your general point is still true that we shouldn’t just swallow ben gvir the rasha’s propaganda… and even though it may be true that the average gazan does want to kill yidden (ayin shom october 7), that didnt come out of nowhere, what would you feel like if israel has been bombing your country on and off your entire life and now you are of age to join the fighting….
the issue here is very simple, the medina is run by zionists – that means jews who dont keep the torah or make desicions based on halacha, that is the very reason the gedolim of 100 years ago (exceot r kook) were so anti the medina being establsihed…. the brisker rav famously said that making such a medina will only lead to the goyim of the world hating us even more if we need to defend ourselves… no we see how right he was…
threres no simple answer to the current matziv, but one thing is certain , we shouldnt be identifying with reshaim such as smotritz and ben gvir and the other tziyonim who disregard halacha, go on har habayis, and want to throw every yeshiva bochur in jail!!!
WAKE UP and realize that this same “idf” that wants to murder arabs would love to throw you in jail and even worse…. FRUM YIDDEN are not meant to be cheerleaders for the idf.
the only aytza at this point is to daven
p.s. why do most of u people on this site use fake user names? do you even hold of what your saying or are you stam saying shtusim…..
This feels like a troll post. On the rare chance that it is not, and is a genuine frum Jew who somehow got entangled to secular anti Jew talking points:
Our morality is completely determined by the Torah. Only the Torah tells us what is moral and good, and what is immoral and bad. Our Torah recognizes the potential and existence of war, and
1. Does not differentiate between civilian and combatant
2. Requires us to fight and kill enemies until their defeat
3. Requires us to remove all churches and other a”z from Eretz Israel
4. Sees all of EY as Jewish land, and prohibits handing any of it over.
5. Finally, while we do err on the side of rachmanus, it’s only in edge cases. When fighting a bloodthirsty feral enemy, rachmanus is not praiseworthy and even forbidden under the maxim of “he who is merciful to the cruel will be cruel to the merciful”
I recommend that you learn some seforim on the matter, like Mishne Torah Laws of Kings and Wars, Torat HaMelech, and just learn Navi with meforshim.
ואם לא תשלים עמך ועשתה עמך מלחמה — Scripture tells you that if it does not make peace with you it will in the end make war against you (attack you) — if you leave it alone and go away (Sifrei Devarim 200:4).
וצרת עליה THEN THOU SHALT BESIEGE IT — This implies that you are entitled even to starve it out, to make it suffer thirst and to kill it (the inhabitants) by mortal diseases (Sifrei Devarim 200:5).
editors: self hating jews’ rhetoric has no place on a frum site. please remove!
The State of so-called “Israel” should never have existed.
Its only ever been problems for Jews due to it.
Thank you, letter writer. This is something I’ve felt for days but am afraid to share with those who refuse to see reality.
You totally missed the point of the article. of course Israel has a right to invade Gaza. The problem is now that furthering the war does much more harm than good.
At this point you have to realise that Hamas will always be there. They have too many people to recruit from. And to continue a war, you have to have a really strong reason for doing so as many people are starving and dying. Soldiers are dying and hostages are held in sub-human conditions. At this point it’s time to bring the hostages home, heal the rift between Jews in Israel, lower the antisemitism across the world and ask yourself if a foreign army surrounded a Jewish community, be it Lakewood, Brooklyn, Five-towns, Monsey< Baltimore or any other one. And they placed food distribution centers, do you think the food would be distributed evenly? or maybe just maybe there are starving innocent kids in Gaza.
Wow. So much misunderstanding in a few paragraphs.
1- for all Intents and purposes Hamas has been neutralized – for now. It’s not currently capable of executing meaningful attacks.
2- despite claims of starvation all the adults in Gaza seem to be well fed or even fat. When starving children are shown in the media. These invariably turned out to be children with terrible medical conditions who are being treated in Israeli hospitals. People who love Jews and people who love Israel have long since recognized how the so-called Palestinians and their media advocates pose photographs that are lies. This has been going on for decades.
3- your calling the area the West Bank which is the phrase used by people who say it is occupied territory and must be given to the Palestinians is telling. You do not use the Jewish phrase, but rather the phrase used by those who seek the destruction of the Jewish state.
4- we are told that if someone is coming to kill you, to kill him first. This is not like rebuilding Europe after World War II. This would be like rebuilding Germany during World War II when we were still fighting against them. No serious or rational person would consider rebuilding our enemies while they are actively trying to kill us. The lack of logic is quite frankly shocking.
5- no one said all Arabs want to kill all Jews. Again, no serious person says this. However, pulls reliably show that the so-called Palestinians want the destruction of Israel and want a one state solution with no Jews within its borders. Poles have consistently chillness that the vast majority of so-called Palestinians desire this for decades. To ignore it as you do is disturbing.
Yes. Why is people realizing that the world is gray such a chiddush?
Nothing in the Torah is black and white, why do so many live their lives as no one on the other side can have a valid point.
The point of this article is quite clear.
Yes, it does matter how a country that bills itself as a Jewish state and whose government is filled with frum yidden and frum parties wage war (BTW Gafni recently said he doesn’t know what the point of continuing to fight in Gaza is).
Yes, it does matter how that fight affects all of us in our attitudes towards others. Those that misquote chazal above are helping to show the depth of the problem.
Being merachem on an achzur is irrelevant to the discussion of intentionally cutting off food to a civilian population. It is not an issue of being merachem but an issue of acting like an achzur against babies and children.
On a purely utilitarian argument the Israeli policy is wrongheaded because it has cost Israel almost all its allies. Look at the news this week and recognize the disaster. Hooray for us that there are about three people John Spencer, Douglas Murray and Mosab Yousef that still support us.
Argument One: All starvation of fake, staged propaganda. The IDF is the most moral army in the world.
Argument Two: Everyone in Gaza is Hamas because of an election that took place before babies and children could even vote. Because “everyone” is Hamas cutting off food to civilians is ok. Arguing otherwise is merachem al hachzarim.
Both arguments are flawed but how in the world do so many make these two contradictory arguments at the same time?!?!
@Letsgetthisright
Very well said and broken down.
I’m shocked how half the people commenting here really sympathize with the Gazans… Absolutely shocking… All you people concerned about “starving” Gazans- Tell me… Do you happen to support a 2 state solution as well?? Something tells me Yes. Which is as scary as it is sad.
A.S.- Do you also object to the mitzvah of mechiyas amalek?? How can the Torah possibly tell us to do something so cruel?!?!
What you have to realize is that morals are not defined by your own perspectives and hashkafos. Morals are defined by God. God said to wipe out Amalek. That means it’s not an immoral or inappropriate course of action to kill them. Similarly, God said being gay is an abomination and one gets put to death for acting upon it.– But how could that be?!?! Aren’t we supposed to be rachmanim to the gay people and be more “accepting”?!?!
The answer is obviously, no. Your personal inclination to be accepting to gay people matters not. Hashem says put them to death. Hashem knows better than you. The creation doesn’t know better than his creator. Hashem created the entire concept of morality. We don’t know better than Him, and if we have difficulties with torah hashkafos, that doesn’t mean we are right and the Torah is wrong. It means we need to work on ourselves and talk to chachamim to better understand the Torah. Stop putting your own thoughts, emotions and svaros before the Torah. You’re biases are twisting you up like a pretzel.
(Also, it may be beneficial to stop following fake News… :))
Not worth debating. Just like talking to neturei kartanicks. You can’t reason with certain people no matter how nonsensical they are.
Not worth debating. Just like talking to neturei kartanicks. You can’t reason with certain people .
“Eisav soneh es yaakov”, “all goyim hate us”, “they all want to shmad us” is not an excuse to deflect all self introspection. It doesn’t absolve us of responsibility for erroneous actions.
It is Assur to have Rachmonus on Sonei Yisroel
the chareidim have become pacifists, liberals, and weakeners of klal yisroel
this is not the Torah of Hashem.
kol hakavod to the writer of this post! its not often nowadays to see someone who actually uses their brain instead of just swallowing whats been repeated into your ears a million times!
jsut to highlight the issue – there is an unfortunately popular bumper sticker i’ve seen on many cars in israel recently showing an idf soldier in a bulldozer and its says in hebrew “raze gaza to the floor” – that is the ben gvir garbage on full display, this is not our hashkafa!!!
that said i dont know if rachmanim bnei rachmanim is the correct quote here or not,