Israeli rabbis tell Netanyahu that Israel has a right to bomb Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza

Yesterday, Israeli right-wing journalist Amit Segal shared a letter from 45 influential Israeli rabbis (initial list), addressed to “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu May His Light Shine, the heads of state and security apparatus,” explicitly affirming the right of the state to bomb the Al-Shifa’ hospital in Gaza – the main hospital in the strip.

The Israeli military has made an allegation that Hamas is using both Shifa and Al Quds hospitals as bases and has warned both institutions to evacuate before an expected attack. The allegations cannot be verified, and regardless, an attack on healthcare facilities is prohibited under international law. If Israel does bomb Shifa it won’t be the first time. The hospital was attacked on July 28, 2014, and at the time, it was the fourth hospital Israel bombed during that onslaught.

But now, the rabbis are assuring Israel’s leaders that such a war crime would be OK by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Here’s what they say about the Shifa hospital: 

“It is necessary to clarify, that also when the enemy hides behind a “human shield”, as with the information about the terrorist headquarters at the Shifa hospital in Gaza – there is no halachic [Jewish religious law] or moral prohibition, nor a legal one, for bombing the enemy after sufficient warning. And if under such action innocent blood will be spilled, the guilt will be solely on the heads of the cruel [Hamas] murderers and their supporters”.

There are several notable rabbis among the list of signatories who have advocated for the killing of “enemy babies” in the past. Rabbis Yitzhak Shapira and Yosef Elitzur explicitly wrote this in their 2009 book Torat Hamelech (King’s Torah), claiming that such babies can often be in the way of killing the enemy and that their killing is therefore permitted. In addition, they wrote their murder is permitted under the justification that these babies “will grow to harm us.”

One of the authors of Torat Hamelech, Yitzhak Shapira, rabbi of the Od Yosef Hai yeshiva in Yitzhar, is a signatory to yesterday’s letter (the yeshiva was notably recipient of Kushner family fund grants until 2011). Two other rabbis on the list of signatories, Dov Lior (first signatory, former rabbi of Kiryat Arba and spiritual mentor of Itamar Ben-Gvir) and Yitzchak Ginzburg (third signatory, affiliated with Chabad movement) have endorsed the King’s Torah book. 

Israel has targeted dozens of health facilities since October 7. It is not just doing this to Al Shifa and Al Quds – Israel has called for an evacuation of the whole area, including its roughly 24 hospitals. Dr. Mads Gilbert, the Norwegian doctor who has worked repeatedly at the Shifa hospital, referred to the issue on Democracy Now:

“We have heard these claims since 2009. We have twice been threatened to leave Shifa Hospital, in 2009 and 2014, because the Israelis were going to bomb it because it was a command center. Now, I have been working in Shifa for 16 years, 16 years on and off, in very hectic periods, very hectic periods. I’ve been able to walk freely around. I take lots of pictures. I video, film. I’ve been sleeping in the hospital during bombardment. I’ve been all over. I’ve never been restricted, controlled. Nobody has ever controlled my picture and documentation material. So, well, if there is a command center, show us. You have pictures and X-ray films of all Gaza, all the tunnels, everything. So, why is it that these 16 years of threats that Shifa is a command center has not been given any evidence at all that it de facto is? Now, if it was a military command center, I would not work there, because I obey to the Geneva Convention, number one.

Number two, if the Israelis claim that this is a mixed military-civilian target, because obviously it is civilian, with tens of thousands of people gathering there and 2,000 patients being treated — if it is a mixed military-civilian target, the civilian precautions take priority over the military. So, in accordance with the Geneva Convention, you can’t bomb hospitals, unless they have very clear military functions.

So, to me, this is all part of this immense intimidation of the Palestinian people in Gaza. They are threatened with leaflets from the planes and the helicopters. They are threatened by phone calls. They are threatened by, you know, “If you stay in northern Gaza now, we define you as a terrorist.” What is this? 2023, two-and-a-half million — 2.2 million people, civilian, unarmed people being killed, a child killed every 10 minutes. So far today, the number of killed Palestinian children is 3,324, and there are missing 2,062 Palestinian children in Gaza.”

Head of WHO Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus emphasizes: 

“It’s impossible to evacuate hospitals full of patients without endangering their lives. Under International Humanitarian Law, healthcare must always be protected.”

But the rabbis have said it’s OK. Who will Israel listen to?