Why Most American Jews Oppose an Immediate End to the War in Gaza

Most U.S. Jews and Israelis oppose an unconditional cease-fire. But how should we respond to the young American Jews who vociferously criticize Israel’s “atrocities” and the Biden administration’s policies, and call for the shooting to stop now?

I usually am hesitant to write during wartime. But when American Jews are agonizing about the war and expressing so much confusion about the issues, I finally feel the time has come.

In the last month, as the Israel-Hamas War churned on, I’ve attended two Reform conferences, one a rabbinical convention and one sponsored by the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), which I once led.

Concern and support for Israel were intense and emphatic in both cases. The Reform participants and leaders there, most of whom were middle-aged and older, eloquently defended Israel and called for ongoing support for the Jewish state.

But a substantial number of conference participants shared their dismay that 20- and 30-something family members are frequently in a different place, often far more critical of Israel.

These concerns were sharpened by a letter signed by more than 1,100 current and former URJ members, most of them young adults, urging the organization to “call for an immediate cease-fire in Israel and Palestine” which they wrote was “in line with Jewish values.”

A second letter, signed by descendants of progressive rabbis and leaders, referred to Israeli “atrocities” and condemned the Reform movement for its “uncompromising Zionist rhetoric.”

Criticism of Israel by young people is hardly confined to the Reform movement. In survey after survey, young Americans have expressed opposition to the Biden administration’s policies of support for Israel.

Nonetheless, at a time when American Jews have mostly rallied to Israel’s side, the sharp criticisms of young Jews from committed and affiliated families particularly rankles. And Jewish parents and grandparents are wondering what can be said to kids and grandkids who challenge them about Israel, often vociferously.

When I am asked, my advice is: Don’t patronize them. Take them seriously as adults. Ask for 15-20 minutes to make your personal case for Israel, and promise that when you’re done, you will listen carefully to their response. And, I suggest, make five points.

Point 1: Do a quick review of October 7.

Remind them that the attacks were not only a frenzied pogrom. They were, to be sure, an almost unimaginable atrocity, but also a methodically planned act of attempted slaughter; the terrorists came with computers filled with instructions, took pictures of their butchery, and in a ghoulish, sickening PR campaign, uploaded the pictures to the internet.

Point out that the events of that day have already begun to fade from memory, and the conspiracy theories – that none of this actually happened, or that the Jews did it to themselves – have begun to inundate the internet.

Point 2: Stress that Israel’s war is a war for survival.

No society can survive with a terrorist threat like Hamas on its doorstep. If Hamas terrorists have the ability to break through the border and murder masses of Israelis at any moment, life in Israel becomes impossible.

And crossing the border fence, sowing fear, and killing Jews is the plan. After the war, Hamas’s spokesman laid out the organization’s intentions in the clearest possible language: “We will repeat the October 7th massacre again and again until Israel is destroyed.”

Therefore, Israel must put an end to Hamas rule in Gaza. Failure to do so will lead to the end of the Jewish state.

Point 3: Be very clear about the tragedy of civilian deaths in Gaza, and make Israel’s case while acknowledging that its hands are not completely clean.

Because Gaza is one of the most fortified places on the face of the earth and Hamas has embedded itself in every crack and crevice of civilian life, there is no way to get at Hamas without a civilian death toll that is tragic and heartbreaking.

But has Israel been as scrupulous as it should be in limiting civilian casualties? Perhaps not. And so, what do we say about the children who have died in Gaza? We say that the death of any innocent, Palestinian or Israeli, Muslim or Jew, is an unspeakable tragedy. We weep for the children of Gaza.

Still, many experts have argued that Israel is making a serious effort to avoid civilian deaths, while noting removing a terror network from an urban setting without massive civilian losses is a near impossibility. And this too: Israelis know that morality begins with security, and the first responsibility of any government is to protect its citizens. And if Hamas were to take over all of Israel/Palestine, a second Holocaust is not just a possibility, but a certainty.

Point 4: Explain why most Israelis and most American Jews have opposed an immediate, unconditional cease-fire.

A cease-fire has a deceptive appeal. Who doesn’t want the shooting to stop? And while a cease-fire may be coming, Israel has rightfully opposed it until now.

For Hamas, a cease-fire is an opportunity to prepare for the next attack. Perhaps this attack will come tomorrow or next week, but it will come. And when it does, Israelis will die, Gazans will die, and an already devastating situation will get worse.

How does this advance the cause of peace? Hamas is not fighting for a two-state solution. They are not freedom fighters but a death cult, committed to nihilistic jihad.

For those who want a cease-fire, let them demand of Hamas leaders that they lay down their weapons, release the hostages, and negotiate with Israel safe passage to an Arab country. A cease-fire of that sort would at least make sense.

Point 5: Urgently make the case for activism by American Jews in the months ahead.

American Jews have mostly rallied to Israel’s side, and rightly so.

But as Israel looks ahead to a less intense phase of the war – and such a phase is coming because the Americans will insist on it – American Jews have a special contribution to make.

That potential contribution is based on a set of beliefs that the great majority of American Jews have long held, beginning with the right of Israel to self-determination in its ancient homeland, with recognized, secure borders.

But they also believe that Israel must extricate itself from ruling over another people, and that the Palestinians too have the right to create their own state, living side by side with the Jewish state. A Palestinian state must be created because there is no future for Israel without it.

And they believe that illegal settlement and the murderous rampages by extreme Jewish settlers must stop, and that there is no place in any Israeli government for the Jewish supremacists who sit there now, spewing racism and hate.

And they believe – or most of them do, at least – that the Biden administration has saved Israel from catastrophe. After October 7, with war raging in Gaza and Hezbollah threatening from the north, Biden send two aircraft carriers to the shores of Lebanon, gave a historic speech backing Israel, and supplied Israel with weapons without which the battle might have been lost.

And American Jews believe, too, that Israel is now obligated to follow America’s lead and firmly commit to a plan for the “day after” – and that means a plan that reflects American values, and that America can support both diplomatically and financially.

But beliefs, however admirable, are not enough.

American Jews need a plan of their own, aimed at the governments of both Israel and America. It must be a plan, based on the above beliefs that urges – and demands – a Jewish and democratic Israel, a commitment to a two-state reality, a strong Israel-America alliance, a rejection of extremist settler ideology, an affirmation of Israeli power and deterrence, and an unshakeable love of Zion.

It will require America to get tough with Israel and Israel to get tough with its own radicals.

Can support be found in Israel and America to set aside rhetoric and platitudes, and to make such a plan a reality?

And, critically, will young American Jews be prepared to work with their parents’ generation in embracing such an approach and doing the political work to make it happen?

I really don’t know.

But this moment of crisis and upheaval may offer possibilities that would not otherwise be present. And if we don’t do it now, it may be too late.

Absent a plan of this type, Gaza may descend into further chaos, America may drift away from Israel, and Israel may be torn apart by its own contradictions.

For many young American Jews, all that they are thinking about now is ending the war in Gaza. But the best way to put an end to the killing is to promote a broader vision for peace. Let’s offer our young people the idea, listen to their response, and hope that they will see its wisdom and join us.