Gaza

Gaza, Hamas, and the moral weight of war.

Devastation of Gaza

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The devastation of Gaza can still shock and pain me, as a thinking and feeling human being and as a religious Zionist, and pose a collective challenge to Israeli society that demands a coherent answer, without any need to redefine genocide in order to make it fit the horrific impact of this war on the lives of ordinary Gazans.

Is this how we want to wage war, as a nation?

And what does God say??

If the settled law is not enough, if the poseqim have no creative vision for this day, then Elul is here – according to kabbalistic legend, the transcendent king is accessible in the field of the heart’s imagination.

Pray on this then, and hear what our Creator speaks unto your heart.

Reviving the National Court

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When people think “Halakhic State” they usually think Haredistan or settler apartheid state.

How Ever:

If we had a revived National Court (“sanhedrin”), it probably would have authorized the initial strikes against Hamas after Oct 7 as a necessary and legitimate war of self-defense, and required everyone, including Haredim, to serve in the military – but then at some point it would probably have prohibited the continuation of the war with the same tactics, without a clear strategy of self-defense and victory.

There’s something to be said for collectively choosing to be led by a large, diverse body of our nation’s wisest people – and there’s a reason the visibly-religious current leadership does not actively work towards reviving the National Court.

🧐

No Moral Default

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Very happy to see how many people are sharing the Orthodox rabbinic letter on Gaza and the state of religious Zionism today. Not surprised by the knee-jerk backlash they’re all facing in the comments …. But the public sharing itself is important.

People should be confident in the stance that religious Judaism does not recognize moral default.

30 Days

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30 days.

Either come up with a plan for defeating Hamas and rescuing the hostages, or end the war.

Either way, let in as much food, medicine, and baby supplies now, as the combined logistical might of the Israeli military can facilitate.

But it’s been almost two years.

So.

30 days.

I Pulled the Trigger

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I pulled the trigger on the gun.

Whom I shot and why I shot him doesn’t change this fact or its consequences for those affected.

I pulled the trigger on the gun and now his neighbor’s son is starving.

It turns out that gunfire makes it hard to make that bread.

I pulled the trigger on the gun and now his neighbor’s son is starving and wants to shoot me.

I’ll just tell his neighbor’s son whose fault it really is.

Hamas Is Not the Resistance

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Hamas is a fascist organization working with and for fascist states, that ruled Gazans with an iron fist for 17 years and has exploited them as human shields in their insane war against the (problematic, compromised, backsliding but nevertheless) democratic state of Israel.

There’s a reason many of their supporters around the world proudly sieg heil and wave swastika flags in their demonstrations – they’re inspired (!) not just by the Nazis’ antisemitism but by their totalitarian ideology.

“Resistance” my @$$.

Hamas is the enemy of Palestinians, Israelis, and everyone who wants to live a free life from the river to the sea.

They’re not the resistance against colonialism, they’re part of the fascist problem.

Collective Punishment Plays Into Hamas

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Why can’t we be targeted in Gaza like we are in Lebanon?

What is with the collective punishment as a negotiation tactic?

Since when did collective punishment not play into the hands of Hamas, a religious fascist organization that seeks the suffering of Gazans as a tool to manipulate public perception against Israel?

Ethnic Cleansing Is a Bad Idea

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POTUS’s plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza is a very, very bad idea.

It’s immoral, illegal, impractical, and ineffective in securing Israel.

Israeli leaders should be distancing themselves from this dumpster fire of a suggestion as emphatically as possible without triggering the petty ire of POTUS.

It’s a tough line to walk but these are the times.

We need better solutions.

יי עוז לעמו יתן
יי יברך את עמו בשלום

The War in Gaza Failed

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The war in Gaza failed.

Hamas is still active, funded, armed, in power, and well-liked abroad.

Now can we have a strategy plz?

+ Elections

k thnx

After the Holiday Dinner

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Imagine having a holiday dinner with your family and enjoying a cup of coffee in the autumn night air afterwards and going to sleep with grateful thoughts of how blessed you are, and then you’re woken up by gunfire and shouts and gunmen storming into your home and they literally capture you and you starve in captivity for an entire year.

For. An. Entire. Year.