Blood Libel

There is often hesitation in speaking out, for it is never certain whether words will make a difference. Yet silence in the face of falsehood and distortion is, in its own way, a form of complicity.

Thus comes a final appeal—echoing the call of the prophet Isaiah to awaken perception and recognize the truth: “Hear, you deaf; look, you blind, that you may see.”

In recent weeks, numerous posts on social media and online platforms—directly or indirectly—have accused the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of indiscriminately shooting Gazan civilians at close range and deliberately starving the population.

These are grave allegations. I see them as a modern blood libel against the Jewish people and the sole Jewish state—echoing dangerous historical falsehoods such as the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and medieval myths of ritual murder, all too familiar in European history.

Some of the sources cited are demonstrably unreliable. For example, Anthony Aguilar, a former US special forces soldier and contractor, claimed to have witnessed IDF war crimes near the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Soon after, GHF presented evidence that Aguilar had falsified documents and fabricated his account, noting that he had been terminated for misconduct—not resigned voluntarily, as he claimed.

Similarly, The New York Times recently issued a major correction to its story on starvation in Gaza, admitting to inaccuracies, misrepresentations, and the use of misleading images and unreliable sources.

No military force in history has taken greater measures to preserve human life during conflict than the IDF—even at the cost of its own soldiers. It has issued evacuation warnings, facilitated civilian relocations, sent targeted text alerts, and taken extraordinary precautions to avoid civilian casualties, even while facing an enemy that uses civilians as human shields.

The IDF is also contending with more than 300 miles of tunnel infrastructure—longer than the ski trails of France’s vast Three Valleys resort—constructed with billions of dollars originally intended for Gaza’s civilian development. Instead, these resources were diverted to create one of the most formidable underground war machines in modern history, far surpassing even North Korea’s infiltration tunnels, which now seem like little more than a novice’s playground by comparison.

Tragic errors are an inevitable reality of war, stemming from factors such as mistaken identity, nighttime misjudgments, or incidents of friendly fire—further compounded by the pervasive presence of booby-trapped civilian infrastructure. Such incidents are subject to rigorous investigation. The allegation that the IDF deliberately targets children or civilians at aid distribution points is baseless slander, failing both moral scrutiny and factual examination.

Regarding claims of “starvation,” Gaza is not devoid of food. Israel delivers thousands of aid trucks every week and continues to supply water and electricity—despite the territory being governed by Hamas, a terrorist organization elected by its own population. History offers no precedent to a military conflict in which one side consistently provided aid and sustenance to a hostile entity bent on its destruction. Yet Israel and the IDF have been held to this higher standard, expected to support an enclave controlled by an enemy committed to the eradication of the Jewish state.

Instead of acknowledging this remarkable conduct, many have chosen to perpetuate the false narrative of starvation, often amplifying it with various fabrications. The New York Times’ reluctant correction—largely prompted by the threat of legal action for falsification—revealed that some of the most widely publicized claims of starvation were based on misrepresented cases, including one involving a child with a genetic condition, falsely depicted as malnourished. By certain measures, food availability in Gaza surpasses that of some regions in Italy, Greece, or Poland, not to mention many developing countries. Meanwhile, the catastrophic famine in Yemen, driven by the war waged by the Houthi terrorist group—which has also launched ballistic missiles into Israel for nearly 1.5 years—has claimed over 85,000 children’s lives, yet it has provoked far less outrage than the entirely fabricated claims of hunger in Gaza.

This war is existential for the Jewish state. It was launched on one of the holiest days of the year by forces orchestrated from Tehran (now substantially degraded). Yet I have not seen comparable outrage for the massacre of over 1,200 Israeli civilians—atrocities committed with medieval cruelty: children burned alive, beheadings, mutilation of women and playing ball with severed breasts, mass rape, and murder.

There has been minimal public attention to the crowds in Gaza celebrating the return of the Bibas infants—children who were kidnapped and brutally killed—and similarly limited outrage over the fact that Israel, a country smaller than Piedmont, faced attacks on seven fronts and was compelled to defend its survival.

The accusation of “genocide” is among the most egregious and unfounded charges that can be made. A state engaged in genocide does not issue warnings to civilians, facilitate their evacuation, or commit substantial resources to minimizing harm. The IDF possesses the capability to devastate Gaza—much as the British obliterated Dresden in 1945—yet has instead undertaken extraordinary measures to safeguard civilian lives.

Israel’s conduct is nowhere near the definition of genocide coined by Raphael Lemkin in 1939 to describe the deliberate destruction of a nation. Lemkin himself narrowly escaped Poland; most of Polish Jewry did not. Their population was reduced from 3.3 million in 1939 to just over 300,000 in 1945—a true and horrifying example of genocide.

To accuse Israel of such a crime is not only a falsehood but also a dangerous trivialization of the term itself.

And yet—where is the outrage for the Kurds killed thousands across the Middle East? For the hundreds of thousands of Sudanese slaughtered in civil war? For the millions of Uyghurs imprisoned in re-education camps? For the thousands of Druzes massacred before the IDF intervened in Syria? Or for the hostages still held in Hamas’s tunnels, in scenes chillingly reminiscent of Nazi camps?

Where is the outrage for the terror and brutality Hamas inflicts on its own people—executing, lynching, stealing aid, and using civilians as human shields? If you truly cared about the people of Gaza, you would be calling for the defeat of Hamas. Choosing instead to demonize the only Jewish state—a functioning democracy—and its army shows that concern for Gazans was never the real motivation.

As the renowned author Vasily Grossman observed in his epic novel Life and Fate: “Tell me what you accuse Jews of—I will tell you what you are guilty of.”

The Jewish state has become a mirror reflecting the resentments and hypocrisies of others. Onto it, people project their own failures, ignoring its democratic values, its global humanitarian contributions, and its technological and medical achievements—attained while fighting daily for survival against openly genocidal enemies who do not hide their ultimate aims.

The Jewish people have endured centuries of slander and blood libels—and we shall endure this as well.

Yet I ask you, one final time, to confront the facts, engage earnestly with moral truths, and choose to stand where justice and truth truly reside.