Anyone morally outraged by the deaths and sufferings of Palestinians in Gaza should understand that political Zionism is a political ideology of “secular” Jews, originating in 19th century Europe. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (a “Hebraized” name he adopted, his Polish surname being “Mileikovsky”) is perhaps today’s most strident political Zionist in the State of Israel.
Although there are some “religious Zionists” who participate in the party politics of the State of Israel, for many “Torah-observant” (Ultra-Orthodox) Jews, such as the Neturei Karta, political Zionism is a betrayal of the religious faith of Judaism. These religious Jews are, therefore, “anti-Zionists”; they support neither the existence of the State of Israel nor the expropriation of the homeland of the Palestinians. They decry the injustices done to the Palestinians since the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. They decry the current atrocities being committed by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF).
Since the start of Israeli military operations in Gaza after 07 October 2023, the Israeli military has “killed”—one should more accurately say, “murdered”—over 45,000 Palestinians in Gaza. This includes men, women, children, and even newborns being treated in pediatric intensive medical care in hospitals. Many wonder how Israelis can tolerate, much less accept, such atrocities.
It is well documented now that the whole of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure has been destroyed—homes, hospitals, schools, universities, mosques, businesses, roads, transportation networks, water and electricity networks, all decimated. More than 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced and rendered entirely dependent on international humanitarian assistance for survival. Yet, basic supplies are woefully inadequate to meet the daily needs of the population as the IDF has blocked delivery of such aid. Furthermore, the IDF has daily forced Palestinians to shift positions as they undergo constant IDF bombardment and artillery assaults leaving death and destruction behind. Countless Palestinians are buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings. Those whose bodies have been recovered are given a hurried burial, often in mass gravesites. Others, massacred in large numbers, are left to lie on the streets without the dignity of proper burial.
Despite reproach from the international community, Netanyahu continues his murderous onslaught throughout Gaza. He supports settler Zionist Jews as they expropriate Palestinian lands in the West Bank. He expands his warfare in southern Lebanon. He continues military strikes in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. Scholars of international law and moral philosophy readily recognize that the atrocities being perpetrated in Gaza and elsewhere in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are violations of international law and morality.
Netanyahu, however, does not recognize the authority of international law and morality as a source of restraint or constraint upon his national security policies or IDF military operations. Furthermore, neither Netanyahu nor his war cabinet recognizes the authority of Judaism’s religious scriptures to constrain and restrain the operations of the IDF. Yet, the rabbinic tradition of “oral law” (halacha) distinguishes between a “war of necessity” and “elective war;” and there are rules governing both. If anyone is serious about applying “Jewish ethics” to an analysis of Israeli military operations in Gaza and elsewhere, this tradition of oral law is relevant to the assessment of Israeli policies.
But, secular Zionist Jews such as Netanyahu dismiss the authority of this moral tradition. Long representing himself to be a secular Jew, Netanyahu pursues his political interests howsoever he identifies them. Yet, he appeals to some parts of the Hebrew Scriptures when he finds it useful to “rationalize” his decisions. Such is his hypocrisy.
Netanyahu called Gaza “the city of evil.” Announcing his military response to Hamas, he stated he would “turn all the places where Hamas is organized and hiding into cities of ruin.” He has lived up to this promise, given the near-total decimation of the Gaza strip. He does not distinguish between civilians and combatant Hamas militia members. Neither does he consider proportionality of means in the military operations therein. Without restraint, Netanyahu has pledged a “total victory” for Israel. He seeks not only the total eradication of Hamas resistance fighters from the whole of Gaza; he insists on “ethnically cleansing” Gaza of all Palestinians. Hence, he refuses all calls for a permanent ceasefire.
According to Israeli historian Ilan Pappé, most political Zionists do not believe the “God” of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob exists. Yet, some do assert that “God” promised them the land that is now called Palestine. According to the narratives of the Torah as they interpret them, Palestine is, for them, “the promised land”—“Eretz Israel” (Greater Israel). To anyone critical of political Zionist rhetoric, this is manifestly illogical.
Netanyahu compares Hamas and the Palestinians to the “Amalekites” who, in the narrative of the Torah, are declared enemies of the “ancient Israelites” (a term historians call a “scholarly construct” without genuine historical referent). According to divine command, the Amalekites were to be wholly exterminated—men, women, children, infants, all “slain by the sword.” The Hebrew word in use in the scriptural text is “herem.” A herem war presupposes that “God” orders the mass slaughter. While he may not say so explicitly, Netanyahu’s pronouncements situate his warmaking in the category of herem. And, he expects that those who know the Hebrew Scriptures will draw the inference that a herem war in Gaza is justified—and that means total extermination of the Palestinians. Yet, Netanyahu cannot say in good faith that “God” has commanded a herem war in Gaza.
After all, Netanyahu does not believe this “God” exists; in which case, to seek total victory in Gaza in a herem war is a mockery of Judaism and Jewish ethics. It is morally reprehensible for Netanyahu to arrogate to himself authority to prosecute a herem war in Gaza. Yet, he does so. In doing so, however, Netanyahu violates the fundamental imperatives of the Torah and Talmud that prohibit murder and theft (of Palestinian lands). He is, indubitably, by intent and act, morally and legally culpable of genocide of Palestinian men, women, children, and infants in Gaza simply because they are a foreign “Other,” Palestinian. Ethnic cleansing and genocide assure, so he thinks, the end of the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Many Jews recall the Nazi genocide of Eastern European Jews. They are unequivocally clear in their refrains of “Never again!” and “Not in my name!” as they protest the atrocities being committed against the Palestinians in Gaza. The crime of genocide and a herem war are both immoral and illegal according to both international law and morality and according to Jewish ethics. Netanyahu betrays the memory of the Holocaust and the millions of Jews who were slaughtered in the death camps of Hitler’s Third Reich. All who have a sense of morality must insist and rebut Netanyahu’s rhetoric: The Hebrew Scriptures do not justify Netanyahu’s herem war against the Palestinians. They do not countenance a genocide in Gaza.
