We Will Not Be SilentAn Open Letter to the Chief Rabbis of the world from the group "Jews Against Genocide"
מכתב פתוח לרבנים הראשיים בקהילות העולם - בעת הזו מנהיגים רוחניים מהעולם
היהודי חייבים לבחור בין יהדות אמיתית לנאמנות עיוורת לציונות הישראלית.
We, Jews Against Genocide, a coalition of concerned Jews in Israel and
across the world, respectfully call upon you to take a clear ethical
stand against the criminal policies and actions of the State of Israel.
In their war upon the besieged people and children of Gaza, Israel’s
Heads of State have transgressed the fundamental boundaries of both
Jewish morality and humanist ethics.
"Humanity owes this vow to
those hundreds of thousands who, without any fault on their part,
sometimes only because of their nationality or race, have been consigned
to death or to a slow decline."
In his Christmas Speech of
1942, Pope Pius XII addressed these words to a waiting world. In 27
pages of writing, they were his only reference to the systematic
extermination of Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe. He chose to avoid a
direct condemnation of Nazi atrocities, and in doing so he betrayed the
hopes of all those, Catholic or otherwise, who anticipated a message of
clear moral guidance from the most powerful spiritual leader in Europe,
that would call on all Christians to intervene, to save the Jews and to
resist the horrors of Nazi occupation.
Do not stand aside
now as Pius XII did that day, obscuring the question of culpability in a
foil of generalised regret for universal human tragedy. Do not
normalize the atrocities and crimes of a militarised nation which is
willing to obliterate houses, lives, entire neighbourhoods and
communities in an indiscriminate and disproportionat
e offensive against a battered and ghettoised populace, to preserve a feeble illusion of Jewish supremacy.
How much longer can we avoid recognizing and condemning Israel’s
relentless assault on the Palestinian people? How much longer can we
hide behind semantic arguments, in order to preserve the inviolable
singularity of the Jewish Shoah? Call it what you will - ethnocide,
sociocide - Israel’s systematic onslaught on the people of Palestine is a
crime against humanity and against Jewish values, and no amount of
disputation can justify our failure to act.
How much longer
can we exclude ourselves from the growing international Jewish voice for
peace and resolution, telling ourselves that “extremism” is not the
way? We , Jews against Genocide, believe there is nothing extreme about
demanding life, dignity and peace for a people brutalised and exhausted
by decades of institutionalised state terrorism.
How much longer will you allow the State of Israel to perpetrate these
terrors in the name of a mythical Jewish unity, as self-appointed and
unelected champions of the Jewish people?
It is time we felt deeply the weight of our obligation to serve and represent real Jewish values, assuming our responsibilities and moral integrity as people who are commanded to love their neighbours.
It is time our commitment to the contentment of the community stopped
overriding our commitment to truth and justice, to the basic Jewish
principles of mercy, compassion and loving-kindness.
Jewish spiritual leaders owe their communities something greater than
that. They owe them the guidance and encouragement to follow a path of
reason and mercy in dark and vicious times.
The children of
Gaza are dying. Hospitals are crammed with limbless people and burned
babies, both in Gaza and in other parts of Palestine, and running out of
basic supplies such as medications and disposables. No drinking water
runs in the taps of Gaza and electricity is scarce. The maimed victims
have no homes to return to, and the Jewish world stands aside.
This is the time in the history of the State of Israel when the
spiritual leaders of the Jewish world must choose between real Judaism
and blind loyalty to Israeli Zionism.
Yours Sincerely,
Jews Against Genocide Lear more about Jews Against Genocide on their Facebook page here:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jews-Against-Genocide/694634937278932?sk=info Photo credit Michael Nigro
March of the Dead, Bryant Park to Israeli Consulate, NYC
July 31, 2014
