(RNS) — A rabbinic human rights organization has signed on to a statement calling for an end to offensive military aid to Israel in light of the country’s continued blocking of humanitarian aid to the ravaged Gaza Strip.
The group, T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, made clear it does not favor an end to all military aid. It still supports defensive military aid to Israel, such as the Iron Dome, the missile shields that intercept short-range rockets.
But at this time, it is opposed to further offensive weapons such as those decimating the Gaza Strip, where to date more than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed with bombs and munitions that have helped to flatten the enclave and left tens of thousands homeless.
“Offensive weapons are keeping the war going, causing horrific damage to Palestinians,” Rabbi Jill Jacobs, T’ruah’s chief executive, told RNS. “It’s not keeping Israelis safe, certainly not getting the hostages back.”
On Oct. 13, the Biden administration warned Israel that if it continued blocking humanitarian aid it would constitute violations of international law and could amount to war crimes. It gave Israel 30 days to increase the amount of aid allowed to enter Gaza. But that deadline came and went last week and the Biden administration did not follow up on its threat.
Last week, eight aid agencies, including OXFAM, Save the Children and Refugees International, issued a joint statement saying Israel had failed to comply with both the U.S. demands and the obligations under international law to facilitate adequate aid to Gaza. A United Nations-backed panel warned last week that famine was imminent in the northern Gaza Strip.
Now, organized gangs appear to be stealing most of the aid Israel allows into the enclave, possibly with the passive protection of the Israel Defense Forces, the Washington Post reported.
Palestinians line up for food in Rafah, Gaza Strip, on March 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
Joining T’ruah’s statement were Americans for Peace Now and J Street, the liberal American Jewish organization dedicated to a two-state solution. The three, in addition to others, are part of the Progressive Israel Network.
J Street’s statement said it favors withholding “certain” offensive arms transfers. The organization, whose “pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy” stance reflects the position of most American Jews, issued a statement Monday (Nov. 18), calling on U.S. senators to vote for a resolution of disapproval on arms sales to Israel.
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The resolution was filed by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who is Jewish. On Monday, in an op-ed in the The Washington Post, Sanders said the U.S. government “must stop blatantly violating the law with regard to arms sales to Israel.”
The war in Gaza began in response to the Oct. 27, 2023, Hamas attack inside Israel that killed about 1,200 people and took 250 hostages.
T’ruah and J Street have supported Israel’s right to defend itself in this war, and for months into the 14-month conflict, the groups only called for a negotiated cease-fire, unlike some other groups on the left, such as Jewish Voice for Peace or If Not Now, which called for an immediate cease-fire with no conditions and an end to U.S. military aid. These latter groups refer to the war as a genocide, a word that neither T’ruah nor J Street have used.
In her statement, Jacobs cited Israel’s former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, who was fired by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this month. Gallant said there was no reason for Israel to remain in Gaza and that it had achieved its objectives.
“I fear we are staying there just because there is a desire to be there,” Gallant was quoted as saying.
Jacobs, whose group T’ruah includes about 2,300 U.S. rabbis, said the recent statement was consistent with the organization’s ongoing support for following international law.
“One piece of U.S. law is that countries can’t block humanitarian aid,” Jacobs said. “There shouldn’t be a double standard for Israel.”
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