Breaking the Silence on Gaza Right Now

"In a free society, some are guilty, but all are responsible." — Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

When Israel's Own Security Leaders Speak

Before we examine the moral crisis unfolding in Gaza, we must listen to voices that cannot be dismissed as anti-Israeli or antisemitic—the voices of Israel's own security establishment. These are not peaceniks or outside agitators; these are the architects and guardians of Israeli security itself.

Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who led Israel through the 2006 Lebanon War, asks: "What is it if not a war crime? How can a serious person representing the Israeli government... spell it out in such an explicit manner that we should starve Gaza, that there should be no supply of basic, fundamental humanitarian needs?"

Olmert declared: "The government of Israel is currently waging a war without purpose, without goals or clear planning and with no chances of success. Never since its establishment has the State of Israel waged such a war."

These are not the words that AIPAC can disregard as the enemy—these are the words of someone who has bled for Israel's security and now watches in horror as that very security apparatus is misused.

When Yoav Gallant, Netanyahu's own Defense Minister until he was fired in November 2024, told hostage families that "We don't have any more rivals, any more enemies that we can even kill right now, because they're all dead. We killed all of them... I did my job," and that military objectives were complete while Netanyahu was blocking ceasefire for political reasons, we must ask: whose agenda is really being served?

When 40+ Israeli Military Intelligence Officers sign a letter calling their government's actions in Gaza "clearly illegal," and 250+ former Mossad members, including three former directors, publish an open letter calling for an end to the Gaza war, we are witnessing something unprecedented: Israel's own guardians crying out against the Netanyahu government.

Perhaps most telling is Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the IDF's Chief Spokesperson, who stated publicly: "This business of destroying Hamas, making Hamas disappear, it's simply throwing sand in the eyes of the public."

These voices demonstrate that opposition to current Gaza operations comes not from antisemitism or anti-Israeli bias, but from within Israel's own conscience.

The Voice of a Jewish American with Family in Israel

"I am a Jewish American. My parents were from Argentina. I have family in Israel. I grieve for the civilians—including children—killed on October 7th. I believe Hamas is a sociopathic death cult that cynically hides behind children. And yet—what Israel is doing now cannot be defended.

"Right now in Gaza, children are starving. Two million people are surviving on one meal every two or three days. Beyond the many thousands of unarmed souls already obliterated by bombs and shooting, hundreds now are dying of starvation, and there are signs of prolonged starvation are showing up in urine samples—ketones, clear markers of malnutrition- in thousands of others."

This is not abstract political rhetoric. These are medical facts observed by healthcare workers on the ground.

The Torah says, 'Do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor' (Leviticus 19:16). \

Rambam taught that saving a single life overrides nearly every other commandment.

Starvation is not a tool of justice. It is a tool of cruelty

The Cycle of Violence: Insights from Amira Hass

Israeli journalist Amira Hass, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, who has spent decades covering the occupied territories, asks the hard questions that cut through political rhetoric: "If failure to stop the dispossession and land grab is the correct criterion for choosing a tactic or strategy, the same must apply to armed struggle. Why, then, should it receive a sweeping exemption from the judgment of history?"

She observes that "The land seizure has only accelerated since October 7 and the beginning of the war in Gaza. The only ones trying to stop it are groups of volunteers who accompany the Palestinian farmers and shepherds to their lands." Many of these volunteers, she notes, are Israeli.

Hass challenges us to think beyond simplistic narratives: "The right to armed struggle isn't more sacred than their lives." She asks why courage and resources aren't channeled toward "a popular initiative to protect Palestinian land and the dozens of communities that are subject to constant terrorism by settlers."

Her words echo the Buddhist teaching that violence begets violence, that "The community we knew in the Gaza Strip has been wiped out... It will take decades to rebuild the Gaza Strip." She forces us to confront whether any political objective can justify such suffering.

Voices of Peace from the Heart of Tragedy

The most powerful voices for peace often come from those who have suffered the greatest losses. These are the voices we must amplify—Israeli families who lost loved ones to Hamas violence yet refuse to let their grief become a weapon against innocent Palestinians.

Neta Heiman-Mina, whose mother was taken hostage, reflects: "Those who didn't think they [the Palestinians] deserve a fair life, who thought that we can rule over another people for so many years and it wouldn't backfire – they were wrong... If they had listened to Women Wage Peace... we wouldn't be in a situation where my mother is in Gaza in the hands of monsters."

She continues with remarkable moral clarity: "The belief that the solution must be a diplomatic one hasn't been undermined; it has grown stronger. Because this time I have been personally affected."

Yaacov Godo, whose son Tom was murdered protecting his family in their safe room, delivered a eulogy that indicted not Hamas alone, but the broader system: "The fingers that pulled the trigger and murdered... were the loyal and determined emissaries of the accursed, messianic and corrupt government [of Israel]... At these very moments, a violent rampage of Jewish, messianic terrorism is being waged to ethnically cleanse and kill [Palestinian residents in] villages and communities around the West Bank."

Godo asks the question that haunts every parent: "My son, Tom, was in the safe room for 25 hours, under attack... Where was the army?" Yet his anger is directed not at all Palestinians, but at the systems that failed his son: "I don't think that acts of revenge should be carried out against all Palestinians, or against all Gazans... As much as I am mourning Tom – he was murdered by Hamas, and I believe that they were emissaries of Israel's government, whether they knew it or not."

Yotam Kipnis, speaking at his father's funeral, declared: "Do not write my father's name on a missile, he wouldn't have wanted that... Dad never forgot that innocent people live in Gaza, stuck between the rock of the Israeli government and the hard place that is the Hamas dictatorship. Hamas is the enemy. Not the Palestinians."

Maoz Inon, whose parents were killed by Hamas, speaks with the moral authority that only such profound loss can provide: "Hamas killed my parents, but Israel's war is not the answer. We need to break the cycle of violence... Revenge is not going to bring my parents back to life... Today, I am crying for everyone, every single human being suffering because of this bloody cycle."

The Medical Reality: Children as Collateral Damage

Recent reports from summer 2025 document a humanitarian catastrophe that defies medical ethics. Healthcare workers report unprecedented numbers of unarmed civilians—including children—killed while seeking food or medical aid. Malnutrition rates among children have reached crisis levels, with medical indicators of starvation appearing in routine urine tests.

As physicians, we took an oath: "First, do no harm."

What could be more contrary to our calling than the systematic starvation of children? What could be more tragic than bombing hospitals, shooting those seeking food, allowing preventable deaths from malnutrition?

The Buddhist teacher Pema Chödrön reminds us: "Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equals."

Confronting Our Moral Contradictions

We must be unflinchingly honest about several truths:

First, antisemitism is real. There are voices on the radical left who celebrate violence against Israeli civilians simply because they are Jewish. This is not anti-Zionism; it is antisemitism, and it fuels the very militant nationalism that perpetuates this cycle.

As Naomi Klein observes: "When Israeli Jews are killed in their homes and it is celebrated by people who claim to be anti-racists and anti-fascists, that is experienced as antisemitism by a great many Jews. And antisemitism (besides being hateful) is the rocket fuel of militant Zionism."

Second, there are double standards. Some critics apply moral standards to Israel that they would never apply to other nations facing security challenges. This hypocrisy undermines legitimate criticism and provides cover for those who would commit war crimes.

Third, being pro-Jewish and pro-Israel does not mean unconditional support for Netanyahu and Smotrich. Despite what Loomer, Stefanik, Fetterman, and AIPAC would have us believe, loving Jewish people and supporting Israel's right to exist does not require supporting every action of any particular government.

The settler violence in the West Bank, documented by Israeli peace activists, represents a betrayal of Jewish values, not their fulfillment.

As Martin Buber wrote, we must choose "I-Thou, not I-It—to see every human as a sacred presence, not an object to be managed."

The Paradox of Our Shared Humanity

Here lies perhaps the deepest tragedy: 99% of Israeli Jews, if they were physicians suddenly transported to a cosmopolitan city and caring for injured children, would tend to those children with compassion regardless of their background. Similarly, 99% of Palestinians would show the same compassion to Israeli children in need.

We are trapped in political structures that bring out our worst rather than our best. The same hands that could heal are forced to hold weapons. The same hearts that could embrace are taught to hate.

Imagine, for a moment, if all Gazans and West Bank Palestinians converted to Judaism tomorrow—would the IDF realize it was now attacking fellow Jews?

If all Israeli Jews converted to Islam, would Hamas recognize it was now attacking fellow Muslims?

The absurdity of such a thought experiment reveals the delusion and ignorance of the perception of our separateness.

As the Dalai Lama teaches: "Peace does not mean an absence of conflicts; differences will always be there. Peace means solving them through dialogue, education, and humane ways."

A Call to Action

We must not be silent. As Dr. King said during Vietnam, "silence now is betrayal." Hannah Arendt warned that evil becomes possible when people stop thinking, stop seeing.

We must oppose the carte blanche use of US taxpayer money to purchase weapons that Israel uses against unarmed civilians, including children. This is not anti-Israeli; it is pro-accountability.

We must demand that injured Palestinians seeking food and medical aid be allowed to come to the United States. If AIPAC and Laura Loomer truly believe these children are guilty until proven innocent, let them look into the eyes, in person, of starving, mutilated children and make that judgment themselves.

As physicians and healers, we must remember our calling. In the words of Reinhold Niebuhr: "Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore, we are saved by love."

Practically, we can:

• Support organizations like IfNotNow that advocate for Jewish values of justice and peace

• Contact our elected officials to demand accountability in military aid

• Advocate for humanitarian corridors and medical aid

• Amplify the voices of Israeli and Palestinian peace activists who refuse to let their grief become weapons

  
  

We must declare unequivocally: Supporting Jewish human beings does not require supporting the current Israeli government's actions. Supporting Palestinian human dignity does not require supporting Hamas.

"I want my Israeli cousins to be safe and sound. I want the children of Gaza/West Bank to live and be safe and sound. I don't accept that one has to die for the other to live. That is a lie."

Martin Luther King Jr. reminded us that "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

That bending requires our hands, our voices, our refusal to accept that children must die for adults' political goals.

In the words of Matthieu Ricard: "Altruism is the force that can truly change the world."

The path forward lies not in choosing sides in an ancient conflict, but in choosing sides with the children—all the children—whose only crime was being born into a world where adults have forgotten how to see each other's humanity.

All human beings are more similar than they are different.

This is a moment of moral reckoning. We are called not just to pray—but to act.