Cruelty in the Knesset

Today, in Israel’s Knesset, we witnessed a repeat of a scene straight out of the Bible.

Almost.

Soon, however, the famine grows worse and the family needs food. When Jacob suggests that they return to Egypt, Judah gently reminds him that this simply is not possible if Benjamin does not join them: “The man warned us that, ‘You will not see my face if your brother is not with you.’ If you agree to send our brother with us, we will descend and purchase food for you. But if you don’t send him, we cannot go down, as the man said to us, ‘You will not see my face if your brother is not with you’… Send the boy with me, and we will get up and go; we will live and not die – we, you, and our children. I will be responsible for him, from my hand you can demand him. If I do not bring him back and have him stand before you, I will have sinned against you forever.” (Bereshit 43:3-9)

Jacob’s policy was, according to Judah, unreasonable and unconscionable. If the brothers had listened to Jacob, Simeon would remain imprisoned forever, and they would all risk starvation and death. Yet Judah did not yell. Judah did not scream. Judah calmly yet passionately explained the situation to his father, and took steps to alleviate his father’s anxiety.

Judah demonstrated the values of compassion and leadership, as he took responsibility and reassured his devastated father. When he later confronted Joseph, he displayed these same two qualities, rising to the challenge and putting his own life on the line to protect his younger brother. He embodied the qualities we expect from a leader, and as a result, Jacob later blessed him that “the scepter shall not depart from Judah.” (Bereshit 49: 10)

This is the model we expect from a Jewish leader. These are the values that we demand from Jewish leadership.

This was not what we saw in the Knesset today.

Earlier today, a man named Yehuda Cohen addressed a meeting of the Knesset’s Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee. Cohen, much like Jacob of old, is the father of 20-year-old Nimrod Cohen, who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nahal Oz by Hamas on October 7th . He spoke about his disappointment in the Netanyahu government, saying that their policies are responsible for his son’s continued imprisonment, as well as for the deaths of hundreds of soldiers. He then threatened to go back to the International Criminal Court to tell its judges that Prime Minister Netanyahu “is responsible not only for war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza, but also against Israeli soldiers, by lengthening a war without reason for more than a year… If these arrest warrants will make Netanyahu abandon his personal interests so he will make a deal up to the last hostage, then I will do that.”

We can disagree with this statement. We can think that Yehuda Cohen is absolutely wrong by issuing this threat. We can certainly challenge his assertion that Netanyahu is responsible for war crimes against anyone – Palestinians or Israelis.

What we cannot do is lose our compassion, and fail to remember that Yehuda Cohen has been living a nightmare for 465 days. We cannot ignore the reality that the country’s leadership on the day his son was snatched from him is still in power; and whether or not they bear direct responsibility, they need to accept that his anger and grief are understandable. Who would not feel as he does if they were in his place?

Eliyahu Revivo – a religious member of Knesset from the Likud party – lost his composure completely, and absolutely screamed at the poor father of Nimrod Cohen: “Continue with your contemptible words, you’re keeping your son in the dungeons of Hamas ISIS for many more years!” MK Revivo – a man whose power imbalance with Yehuda Cohen is obvious, a man who sits in the Knesset and answers to the voters of Israel, a man who is part of the government which is responsible for the protection of Israel’s children – decided to lash out at the father of a 20-year-old hostage.

It was the inverse of Judah’s response to his father. Jacob was advocating a policy that would bring ruin to the family… but Judah understood that a bereaved father deserves compassion, not a stern lecture. And MK Revivo, whose likely thinks that he represents Jewish values in his Likud party, just showed us the face of cruelty and dismissiveness and the idea that he who has the power and who yells the loudest gets his way.

Jewish leaders dare not embody heartlessness and cruelty, yet Revivo did just that. Whether his sentiments are correct or mistaken is completely besides the point; he has an absolute responsibility to speak to the downtrodden with tenderness and sympathy, even as he explains why he disagrees with the ideas and policies that were expressed.

Revivo wears a kippah, and those who dress like religious Jews have an added responsibility to demonstrate sympathy and empathy, as our compassionate Torah demands. Revivo should remove his kippah until he begs Yehuda Cohen – and the rest of us – for forgiveness.