Rabbi Brant Rosen, writing in the Chicago Tribune:
Since the [Goldstone] report’s publication, the UN and commission chair Judge Richard Goldstone have been vilified and disparaged, by both the Israeli government and American Jewish leaders. There has been little consideration of the actual findings, or the fact that Israel refused to cooperate with the commission, or conduct its own investigation.
As a rabbi, this grieves me deeply. For, painful as it is for us to admit, Israel’s behavior in Gaza has consistently betrayed our shared Jewish ethical legacy.
This was true before the war, when the Israeli blockade denied Palestinians basic necessities; it was true during the war, when Israel responded with disproportionate force to Hamas rockets; and it has been true since the war, as Israel has deepened the blockade, preventing Gazans from rebuilding their homes. As a result of Israeli actions, some 60 percent of Gazans don’t have continual access to water and face near-daily power outages of up to 10 hours at a time, while hundreds of thousands are dependent on foreign aid agencies for food.
A humanitarian crisis of this magnitude demands a response from within the Jewish faith community — and knee-jerk rejection of any and all criticism of Israel won’t change the facts. It will only distance us from a just and peaceful solution to this conflict.
