The Blogs: My Son, War Criminal

“This shows I’ve made it” my son wrote sarcastically to our family when seeing social media posts claiming he was “an active participant in the ethnic cleansing of Gaza” and that he “participa[ted] in…the ongoing genocide in Gaza,” which “constitute war crimes.” Doctor? Lawyer? Businessman? All possible titles I imagined my son could attain in his life. War Criminal? Nope, not on my bingo card of his possible lifetime achievements, yet he’s “made it!”

I’ve written previously about his service as a lone soldier in the IDF, his response to Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, and him serving over 100 days in Gaza in the early stages of this war. Following his release from military service in March, he returned to the U.S. and has done considerable speaking to synagogues, JCCs, and other groups about his service in general, and what he saw and experienced during this war, especially on October 7.

A few weeks ago, he traveled to several universities in upstate NY at the invitation of campus pro-Israel groups to speak directly to college students. Speaking to this audience he knows is particularly important considering the viral rise of antisemitism, especially on college campuses over the past year, and it is crucial for young adults to hear directly from someone they can relate to and who can provide a first-hand account of what he experienced and why it is so important to stand up for Jews and Israel.

It should be no surprise that the most vocal opposition to him visiting any of these campuses to speak was at Cornell University – those Ivy League schools have really shown us that they are tops! The quotes from the social media posts referenced above asserting he is a war criminal for participating in ethnic cleansing and genocide in Gaza were made before he ever stepped foot on Cornell’s campus. They were made before he showed those at his presentation a video retrieved from a home security camera of his team rescuing families in Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, and before he showed a video, released by the IDF, of his battalion uncovering a weapons depot hidden in tunnels below and inside a mosque in Gaza City, and before he told stories of encountering Gazan civilians in Khan Younis, providing them with food and water, and directing them to safe humanitarian zones.

As we know these days, and especially with anything relating to Israel, facts simply do not matter. To many, facts and truths are whatever they want them to be. Terms like ‘war criminal’ and ‘genocide’ have been used against Israel and the IDF for years, but never more so than the past 13+ months, without regard to objective facts, or common sense, or evidence belying those accusations. So, without regard to any specific facts and simply because he served in the IDF, in Gaza, during the current conflict, according to these elite Ivy Leaguers, my son is a war criminal.

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accurately stated at the United Nations General Assembly in September, the UN is a” swamp of antisemitic bile,” and “it should surprise no one that the prosecutor at the ICC, one of the UN’s affiliated organs” has now issued arrest warrants for him and ex-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant charging them as war criminals.

It is likewise not surprising when groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine or other keffiyeh-clad protesters label IDF soldiers as war criminals. But it is surprising, and downright disgusting, when we hear and see these same accusations levied by Jews, as was done in these posts by Cornell’s chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace.

JVPCORNELL Instagram

Throughout this past year of previously unimaginable events, tragedies and revelations of people’s attitudes towards Israel and Jews, the most troubling and disheartening is what we’ve learned about those Jews who are not simply turning their backs on their brethren but are affirmatively joining the opposition and the fight to undermine and destroy their own people. And what’s the icing on the cake? These people have the chutzpah (so they must be Jewish!) to do this with a smug air of superiority as the real, good Jews invoking Judaic ideals such as ‘tikkun olam,’ as if they are only trying to repair the world, and saving Palestinian lives because, “each of us was created b’tselem elohim, in the image of G-d,” as is written on the JVP homepage. Give me a break.

To be clear, I am not disparaging the many, many Jews that identify as “liberal” or “left” or those who, like a huge percentage of Israelis, are not fans of Netanyahu, or his extreme right-wing government, and want the war to end and have the hostages returned home. Many of us want nothing more than for the killing to end, on all sides, and for there to be a peaceful resolution to this age-old conflict. Jewish Voice for Peace supporters, though, are different. And they are dangerous. As I wrote above, they are affirmatively joining the fight against the State of Israel and against the Jewish people.

A group that defines Zionism as, “an expansionist project seeking the maximum amount of land for Israel through cleansing Palestinian and Lebanese peoples, and willing to commit unimaginable horrors [to] achieve this goal,” is not advocating for a change of Israeli policy; but rather, advocating for a world with no Israel. A group whose homepage describing the fighting in Gaza and Lebanon since October 7 can completely omit the words “terrorist” and “Hezbollah” and only use the word “Hamas” once – as they “mourn” (not even condemn) the killing of Israeli civilians on October 7 (they can’t even bring themselves to mourn the killing of 300+ Israeli soldiers that day!) is not an organization seeking to heal the world or to be taken seriously. And to do this while professing to simply promote Jewish ideals and values gives cover to all antisemites who can simply claim, “how can I be antisemitic if I like and agree with what these Jews are saying?”

JVP supporters might be Jewish, but they are not part of Am Yisrael, the people of Israel. A people that knows we are all responsible for one another – be it in Amsterdam, Montreal, New York or Israel. A people that knows that if we don’t stand up for ourselves, nobody else will. A people that praises and elevates those willing to fight for our survival, not condemn them as war criminals. And a people who knows those attacking Israel on seven fronts are not seeking policy change in Israel or the return of a parcel of disputed territory, but rather are seeking an end to the existence of a Jewish, democratic State of Israel. Period.

So, as I try to process the idea that there is a 750,000-member group of Jews (according to the JVP website) that considers my son to be a war criminal, at least I take solace in this: since nearly everything written on their site are distorted, incorrect, upside-down misrepresentations of the truth, when someone is labeled a war criminal by them, I and so many, many others know the opposite must be true. My son is not a war criminal; but rather, a war hero.