LOS ANGELES (Press Release) — We, American rabbis and cantors across denominations, declare our continued support for the State of Israel – and its people – as it enters this important phase of its five-month campaign to rescue the hostages and eradicate Hamas.
We recognize that Israel continues to fight a just war, a war that it did not want, and did not initiate.
We believe that calls for a “bilateral ceasefire” are tantamount to an Israeli surrender. Hamas is a terrorist group with ties to the Islamic Republic of Iran and Qatar, so one must ask: with whom would Israel sign a “bilateral” ceasefire? And who will enforce it?
We recall that Israel did have a ceasefire with Hamas on October 6, the day before they invaded Israel.
1) Conditioning U.S. military aid to Israel is mistaken and immoral.
2) The suffering of Palestinians in Gaza is tragic and fully the fault of Hamas.
3) Israel does everything within its power to protect innocent civilians, including allowing in aid, despite knowing that much of it is stolen from Gazans by Hamas.
4) Israel must end Hamas’s reign over Gaza in order to protect human life.
5) Every single one of the remaining Israeli hostages, including six American citizens, must be returned.
6) The death of even one innocent civilian in Gaza is tragic, but the Gaza Health Ministry is not a reliable source for civilian death counts. Notably, Israel estimates that 13,000
Hamas operatives have been killed since its incursion began at the end of October.
7) Klal Yisrael and ahavat Yisrael are our paramount values. The use of Torah within the rabbinic community should only be used to defend and protect – never to endanger – Jewish and Israeli lives.
With the approach of Purim, we recall the heroic efforts of Esther and Mordecai, who risked their lives to prevent our people’s annihilation at the hand of Haman in ancient Persia more than 2300 years ago. In this respect, ancient Persia is one and the same as modern day Iran.
Today, Israel will similarly protect its citizens from future attacks – including the threat of another October 7th attack, which Hamas promises to perpetrate if given the chance. By eliminating Hamas’ control of Gaza, Israel will also protect its citizens against the danger of constant rocket attacks, like the thousands that have been launched into Israeli communities since 2007.
As in the Purim story in which the Jews prevailed against the evil Haman, Israel and the Jewish people today will prevail over the evil of Hamas.
AM YISRAEL CHAI Bring Them Home – NOW!
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RabbisUNITED is a non-denominational Rabbinic division of StandWithUs, with hundreds of members dedicated to supporting a safe and secure State of Israel, the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people.