80 Rabbis Fault Senator Van Hollen for Clear Thinking and Compassion

In a recent letter addressed to Senator Chris Van Hollen, 80 rabbis in Maryland wrote that they are “aghast” at how the senator, in a speech he gave on the senate floor, held Israel accountable for the humanitarian disaster in Gaza. They wrote, “In our eyes, the culprit for the crisis is not Israel–it is indisputably Hamas and the tragic war they began on October 7.” That assertion, however, begs a question. When did this war really “begin”?

A different view is that the Oct. 7 attack was the terrible but unsurprising result of an experiment: What would happen if Israel, with the full backing of the United States, caged two million human beings in an open-air prison for 16 years; imposed a siege that restricts food, water, medicine, electricity, and travel; reacted to nonviolent protests with sniper fire; and bombed the population (“mowing the grass”) every few years? Now we know the answer.

Today, that concentration camp has become a death camp. We witness the slaughter of civilians and destruction of hospitals, universities, homes, places of worship, and utilities in Gaza by Israel–as the United States provides weapons, funding, and diplomatic cover at the United Nations. This crime can only proceed if we convince ourselves that Gazans are not really human beings, and that their only motive is Jew-hatred, pure and simple. But many Jews, especially youth, reject that notion.

A 2021 poll by the nonpartisan Jewish Electorate Institute found that younger Jews were far more likely to support sharp criticisms of Israel than their elders, including the assertion that Israel was (in 2021) committing genocide against Palestinians. A quarter of all respondents, regardless of age, agreed that Israel is an “apartheid state,” while 22 percent were not sure.

That youthful skepticism has given rise to organizations like Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), which “doesn’t just oppose the war; it challenges the link between Jewish identity and support for Israel,” wrote Noah Hurowitz, in the New York Intelligencer (Nov. 27, 2023). Led by Jews, JVP “rebukes arguments from some pro-Israel voices who expand the definition of 'antisemitism' to include virtually all criticism of Israel. For its part, JVP says it is intolerable that Israel is destroying Gaza in the supposed interest of their safety as Jews. ‘Not in our name,’ is its rallying cry; its most pressing demand: ‘Cease-fire now.’”

Another Jewish peace organization, IfNowNow, asserts that Israel’s “system of violence deprives all Palestinians of civil, political, and economic rights.” The group wrote (Oct. 13, 2023), “We refuse to let our grief be used to justify the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. We must act to stop a second Nakba. Our leaders must step up—stop the war and demand de-escalation now.”

Both JVP and IfNotNow are leading nonviolent civil disobedience actions across the United States. For example, on March 7, members of IfNotNow blocked a major intersection in Boston for 45 minutes, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. On Jan. 9 in New York, Rabbis for Ceasefire led more than 30 rabbis and rabbinical students in a protest at the United Nations calling for a cease-fire in Gaza. And in Israel, supporters of Rabbis for Human Rights gathered at Ashdod port “to demand more humanitarian aid enter Gaza to handle the catastrophic starvation, for an end to the bloodshed, and for the release of the remaining hostages.” They were led by “Yotam Kipnis, whose parents were both murdered by Hamas in Be'eri on the 7th October. In the face of such suffering and grief, Yotam's ability to hold on to his humanity is a true inspiration,” as Rabbis for Human Rights reports on their Facebook page.

“Even Destroying Hamas Won’t Make Israel Safer,” is the title of a recent (Feb. 26) “Beinart Notebook” video (12 minutes). Peter Beinart is a professor at City University of New York and editor-at-large, Jewish Currents. It’s worth reviewing the history of Israeli oppression, and of Palestinian resistance (both violent and nonviolent resistance). Might we even begin to read Palestinian authors, such as The Hundred Year’s War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi?

Here in Maryland, the letter signed by 80 rabbis reveals an all-too-human fantasy–that absolute security can be achieved on this Earth. These religious leaders imagine that the violent resistance of an oppressed people (as spearheaded currently by Hamas) can be totally extinguished by war. And then Israeli state violence–in the form of walls, razor wire, checkpoints, and 24-7 surveillance of millions of people–will make Israel a safe haven for Jews. How well did that plan work on October 7?

The dangerous fallacy of achieving absolute security is upheld by the authors of the letter. The total number of signatories, 80 rabbis in Maryland, seems impressive. Most of the world, however, gives credence to a different voice, the recorded voice of Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl “who is trying to get to safety in a car with her aunt, her uncle, and her five young cousins,” as related by Senator Van Hollen in his speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate. “The car was hit by [Israeli] tank fire, and all who were with Hind in the car died. She was severely injured. And she got on a phone to try to call for help. And there are recordings of her calls for help, as her family members lie dead around her in the car. … The last [words] on the phone call she made to paramedics who were unable to reach her were, quote, ‘Come and take me.’ She was killed.”

The point of repeating Van Hollen’s telling of that story is not to pit Palestinian suffering against Israeli suffering, or to portray the Israeli military as being crueler than the Hamas militia. The point is to hope that these 80 rabbis will grasp a hard truth that is slowly, slowly dawning on the human race: “Our suffering does not excuse our destructive behavior. Our need for security does not justify apartheid or war. The end of violence must begin with me.” These religious leaders do not yet understand that every Israeli child will be safe in her bed when every Palestinian child is safe in her bed. We are, as it’s written in Genesis, all brothers and sisters.

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Steven Sellers Lapham, writing his own opinion, is a board member of Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East. He lives in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

UPDATES –
MARCH 19, 2024: Please check out an online letter – in support of Senator Van Hollen – that's gathering the signature of Jews living in Maryland.
MARCH 26, 2024: Baltimore Jewish Times reports on the letter, which has gathered 400+ signatories.

"An Open Letter in Support of Senator Van Hollen’s Efforts Regarding Gaza."

"We are Maryland Jews across the political and religious spectrum, and many of us are members of synagogues whose clergy recently signed a letter criticizing Senator Chris Van Hollen for his efforts to support human rights in Gaza. These clergy, who use their titles and respected positions in the Jewish community to express their personal views, claiming they 'lead and represent tens of thousands of congregants,' do not speak for us.

We welcome the Senator’s dedication to stopping the killing and starvation of Palestinians following his visit to the Rafah crossing in January, and we support his effort as part of a group of senators pressing the Biden administration to condition U.S. military aid to Israel in compliance with the Foreign Assistance Act.

On October 7th, 1,200 Israelis - including hundreds of civilians - were killed in an attack organized by Hamas. Many of us were personally affected by these brutal murders. In the months since October 7th, over 30,000 Palestinians - including thousands of civilians - have been killed in Israel’s campaign of destruction in Gaza. Some of us and many of our neighbors are only one or two steps removed from people who have lost loved ones these past four months.

Israel’s horrific military assault on all life in Gaza, including using starvation as a weapon of war and the destruction of the healthcare system, is a violation of international law, human rights, and fundamental human dignity. This unconstrained and indiscriminate violence will not and cannot lead to safety for anyone anywhere, not Palestinians, not Israelis, and not Jews worldwide. There is no safety for Jews to be found in the dispossession and destruction of Palestinians. The Israeli government’s war on Palestinians in Gaza must end now.

We call on the U.S. government to do everything in its power to pressure Israel to bring about an immediate permanent ceasefire, the return of all hostages and political prisoners, the provision of the humanitarian aid Gaza needs immediately to survive, and an end to U.S. military aid which is used for violations of international law.

Our moral duty as Jews, residents of the United States, and human beings is to oppose the destruction of Palestinian society in Gaza, not to stand by as those who claim to speak and act on our behalf pursue a disastrous course. We thank Senator Van Hollen for his brave stance and urge him to continue speaking out against Israel’s atrocities and for peace, justice, and equality for Palestinians and Israelis." [Read the Letter, posted here.]

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Main Citations:

The letter signed by 80 rabbis as of Mach 18, 2024, in Maryland, https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bZB_bmTBMn0k4aTIO0FTBASru3gKMko6IADK1AhnyI8/edit

The rabbis’ letter is discussed in a March 11th article in Jewish Insider, https://jewishinsider.com/2024/03/maryland-rabbis-urge-van-hollen-to-change-course-on-israel-rhetoric/

Senator Van Hollen gave a speech about foreign aid and oversight on February 9, 2024, https://www.c-span.org/video/?533486-5/sen-van-hollen-foreign-aid-oversight.

"Hostilities in the Gaza Strip and Israel - reported impact, 9 February 2024 at 22:00," https://reliefweb.int/report/o...

"Hostilities in the Gaza Strip and Israel | Flash Update #115 (09 Feb 2024),"https://www.ochaopt.org/conten...

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