By Sean Elo-Rivera
Times of San Diego
SAN DIEGO — I often do not sleep. But more and more, I cannot sleep. I cannot close my eyes without seeing emaciated infants, starving children, and parents holding the lifeless bodies of their babies.
It has to stop.
662 nights ago, I was awake not because of war, but because of my own 6-week-old baby boy. I rocked him gently and listened to the horrific reports of Israeli babies being butchered by Hamas. I was terrified — haunted by the reality that the most precious thing in my life could be brutalized simply for being a Jew.
And within days, those reports were joined by images of children in Gaza killed by bombs. I read those stories with my son in my arms — days turning to weeks, then months — broken by the thought that anyone could justify the killing of babies.
I don’t know how I would have processed the tragedies of Oct. 7, 2023, and its aftermath if I weren’t a new parent. As much as I’ve always cared about human rights, nothing prepared me for the overwhelming, all-consuming love of being a father. It’s reshaped everything — then and now.
Babies are perfect. They are pure. And every one of them — everywhere — is deserving of love, care, and protection. It’s that belief, more than any other, that drives me to speak out again today.
I am still terrified by the violence inflicted by Hamas. I am still enraged by the rise in antisemitism — across the political spectrum and here in San Diego. I continue to struggle with the disregard of the feelings and fears of Jews by people who are otherwise unimpeachable in their demand for respect for all people. I still fiercely protect my Jewish son and hold space for the fear felt in my community.
But I am more horrified than ever by the atrocities being carried out by the war criminals in the Netanyahu government.
More enraged by the silence, inaction, and complicity of world leaders — particularly those in this country, in both parties.
More alarmed by how collective punishment has been normalized, and how the suffering of civilians — especially children — has been erased.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed. Millions are displaced. Entire families are gone. Children buried under rubble. Mothers starving. Aid blocked. Babies and children are dying from starvation. Hope crushed.
It is a humanitarian catastrophe. And it is getting worse by the day.
To be Jewish is to inherit a history of unimaginable pain — but also a mandate for justice. To me, “never again” must mean never again for anyone.
Never again for Jews, never again for Palestinians, never again for the people of Sudan, never again for the Druze. Never again for anyone, anywhere.
Atrocities do not undo atrocities. Brutality does not cancel out brutality. Dehumanization is not the antidote to dehumanization.
As a Jew, whose ancestors spent hundreds of years fleeing persecution, I have a stake in Israel. As an American and elected official, I have a stake in who my government chooses to support and fund. As a human and a father, I have a stake in humanity.
So again, I call for an end to this war. Again, I continue to unequivocally condemn the violence committed by Hamas — and also call for the release of all hostages. Again, I call for full humanitarian access and an end to the siege. Again, I call for a future rooted in justice, dignity, and safety — for Palestinians and Israelis alike.
The geopolitics of the Middle East may be complicated, but human decency is not. Innocent people should not be killed.
Not by bullets. Not by bombs. Not by starvation.
The Israeli government is a threat not only to basic human rights and the Palestinian people, but to the safety of Jews around the world. And while antisemitism is rising, it is not antisemitic to call out Netanyahu and his radical right-wing extremists.
The truth is being spoken — loudly and more and more often — by Israelis themselves.
Prominent politicians and former military leaders have condemned the violence and suffering being imposed on Palestinian civilians.
In Tel Aviv, protestors are holding photos of children who have been starved to death by the Israeli government. They refused to be silent. They called on us all “to refuse the starvation, to refuse the killing, to refuse the annihilation.”
Earlier this week, for the first time, two prominent Israeli human rights groups released a report accusing the Israeli government of genocide.
I stand with those who are voicing their moral outrage and am taken to my knees by the sight of the babies who are starving.
As a Jew, as a father, as an elected official, as a human being — I refuse to look away. And I refuse to stop speaking out.
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Sean Elo-Rivera represents San Diego’s Ninth Council District and served three terms as City Council President. This opinion piece appeared initially in Times of San Diego with which San Diego Jewish World trades stories.
Thank you Jerry, Clayton and Dan. 💯 He and Sara Jacobs are two peas in a pod!
An ‘as a Jew’ moment
As such, and perhaps more than in any other moment in the history of the modern state, this is the quintessential “as a Jew” moment, when many of those who are Jewish or who can claim some association with the Jewish people have come out of the woodwork to condemn Israel, alongside others who have been bashing it nonstop for years.
Those engaging in these arguments speak as if they have the moral high ground that Israel has conceded because of its wartime conduct. The emotional appeals about hunger in Gaza, with some Jews arguing that nothing—not the Palestinian crimes committed on Oct. 7, the necessity to ensure that doesn’t happen again or the possibility of Hamas’s revival—can justify the situation are supposedly rooted in the values of Jewish tradition and faith that the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is allegedly betraying.
These claims are false, despicable and dangerous.
The notion that Israel’s determination to continue the war until Hamas is eradicated and all hostages are released is not merely wrongheaded. It is itself immoral. Simply put, the responsibility for the suffering of the side that started the war and seeks to continue it in order to kill more Jews and destroy the one Jewish state on the planet belongs to Hamas—and its foreign enablers and fellow travelers—not to Israel.
War remains, as it has always been: sheer hell. The only moral way to end this one is with Hamas’s surrender of control of every inch of Gaza and freedom for all of the hostages. Those who deviate from those demands are doing great harm to both sides in this war to feel good about themselves and to stay in sync with liberal political fashion. And that’s not merely wrong, but deeply, deeply immoral.
Sean is a Shonda, a disgrace, for San Diego.
His solution is Israel should cease to ever defend itself, even exist. The war continues because hypersensitive leftists, like him, continue giving oxygen to the evil Islamists like Hamas began, continues and plan to bring to his son in San Diego someday.
Islamists do not lose a second of sleep if Palestinian children or Palestinian human suffering happens. Every dead Palestinian is a Holy martyr for them, nothing more.
Criticism, yes, proposed solutions for Israel except death…he has none.
He has not an once of pain for the hostages. His gospel is the absolute truth of whatever Hamas reports. Israel did not want this war. Hamas did.
Elected thinkers like Sean bring nothing but ridicule to San Diego. He is a San Diego Shonda.
Another Jew hating on Israel with no better solution. I don’t think Israel wants Palestinian babies starving, or worse, buried under rubble. But you come with no alternate solution. Is your solution to stop the war? Then what? What happens to the hostages? Do you think Hamas will just let them go? What happens to Hamas? Do you think they just go away? It is foolish to think this war can end this way. All you would be doing is condemning another future 1000 Israelis to their eventual death by Hamas and also killing the remaining hostages as well as any possibility of long term peace. Stop blaming Israel for this. If you want the suffering to stop, the entire Arab community, including all My solution would be Palestinians should say, let us take passage into Egypt or Jordan and Israel can rid the area of Hamas and then Gaza can be rebuilt into a state for Palestinians who want peace. Palestinians who don’t let hundreds of millions of dollars to be spent on terror tunnels, but on factories and businesses and hotels even. For Israel to just walk away is similar to saying, well the US lost enough soldiers and killed enough Germans at Normandy why don’t we let them have a break and let’s send them food. As a Jew I would be dead and the rest of you would be speaking German. Unfortunately, war has consequences. Consequences seen in every war in the history of man. Israel is not committing genocide and anyone who says this has no concept of the word and really delegitimizes its true horror. If Israel wanted to commit genocide, why continuously provide aid (never reported by anti-Israel news media)? Why drop leaflets to them them know they are bombing a building? Just go flatten the place in one week and let time forget it all. Genocide is happening but it is against the Jews. Look at the numbers. Palestinians have grown in population about 10,000% over the decades while the Jewish population continues to dwindle. These are numbers easily seen and undisputed. There are genocides happening in our world but no one cares because it is not Jews doing it. So shame on people for using this word in this war. Shame on people for bad mouthing Israel without a better solution. Shame on people for forgetting about the hostages. Shame on people for treating Israel in a way no single other country or empire has ever been treated in a war. Shame on the media for its absolute knowledge they are not reporting the truth and do it anyway. Shame on every non-Jew for idly standing by while this happens. You think you would have liked to act differently during the holocaust but you see you would have not and just assumed the human ashes falling were nothing you should concern yourself with. Israel did not want this war but unfortunately war is what we have. Hamas or the Arab countries and Palestinians could end this but choose not to. I have given you my solution. Anyone else?