We Jews must stand up to protect Palestinians

As the government gears up to intensify its intentional mass killing and starvation of Palestinian civilians, Israel’s true friends are those standing up to protect Palestinians.

Israel’s mass killing and starvation of Palestinian civilians is intentional. Characterizing the carnage as unintentional is participation in militaristic Newspeak that enables the government to continue massacring the Gazan population.

An “unintentional killing” happens by accident. Engaging in the same behavior day after day for two years, while repeatedly witnessing the expected results (tens of thousands of dead and starving civilians) is not an accident. No one is surprised that with every new day Palestinian civilians are bombed to death, starve, or are gunned down seeking aid. You can argue that the government’s ultimate goal is not the extermination of civilians but something else, like defeating Hamas, or more likely, staying in power through perpetual war so as to continue dismantling what’s left of Israeli democracy, but that does not make the killing and starvation unintentional. It is delusional and deceitful to present these atrocities as a series of accidents.

The government’s disinformation campaign regarding its forced starvation of the civilian population has unfortunately gained much traction in the Jewish world. But the simple fact that proves Israel’s responsibility for the starvation is not even in dispute: It is Israel’s official policy to prevent the UN from distributing aid as it successfully did during the ceasefire when it prevented starvation. The direct result of dismantling the UN aid system is the starvation of the Palestinian population. Therefore, Israel is responsible for blocking the aid and starving the population.

Another particularly absurd claim is that Hamas is responsible for the starvation because it refuses to release the hostages and capitulate. This claim, which has also gained a lot of traction, is identical to the one made by parts of the “Left” that Israel was responsible for October 7th because of the occupation. The shared claim of these two camps, which allegedly oppose each other but in reality are mutually reinforcing, is nothing more than a demagogic attempt to deny the agency and responsibility of armed forces perpetrating crimes against humanity.

The true patriots and friends of Israel are those standing up to protect Palestinians. Whether they’re calling for sanctions, an arms embargo, diplomatic isolation or the recognition of a Palestinian state, these are the people who are faithful to the humanity and well-being of the civilian population of Israel-Palestine. They are our true allies.

Calling Israel’s intentional killing and starvation of the Gazan civilian population “genocide” is not slander. It is not yet clear whether the consensus among experts will be that Israel’s crimes answer to the definition of genocide in international law. But even if not, Israel’s actions in Gaza are worse than some recognized acts of genocide which involved fewer victims. If you’re lost in legalisms and rhetorical strategies attempting to deny that Israel is committing genocide, you’re playing into the government’s hand.

Support for the extermination and starvation of civilians in Gaza is support for what Hamas is doing to the hostages and what they did on October 7th. The same logic, the same strategies of dehumanization, the same militaristic Newspeak, and the same inhumanity characterize the torture of the hostages, October 7th and Israel’s war on Gazan civilians.

As a society supporting this war, we must recognize ourselves as Hamas supporters. If that seems absurd to you, because they are animals motivated only by hate while we are victims, you prove my point. The people who justify, support and execute the treatment of the hostages and the atrocities on October 7th think exactly the same thing about you. And as the State of Israel intentionally kills and starves tens of thousands of civilians, including countless children, their (false) claim is as good as yours.

In fact, neither they nor we are animals motivated only by hate. We are humans in a cloud of fear and suffering who have fallen victim to the demagoguery, militarism and racism which leads to the complete dehumanization and destruction of the other.  We must wake up to the manipulations and irrational distortions fueling our society’s support for these crimes against humanity. Only then will we – the civilian population of Israel-Palestine – cease cooperating with the Israeli government and Hamas in the annihilation of our humanity.