Jonathan Feldstein: The Ethical, Essential, and Imperative Yet Mythical Blockade of Gaza & More
Days after more than 1300 people in Israel were slaughtered in the most vulgar way, men, women, elderly, entire families, children and babies; raped, burned alive, brutally tortured, beheaded, and impaled, the world has started to complain about Israel’s “siege” and “blockade” on Gaza, the territory ruled by the evil Iranian backed Islamist terror organization, Hamas, that perpetrated these attacks.
Let’s get some things straight. Israel has not just the right, but the need and obligation to defend itself and its citizens. Israel has unleashed its air force to begin the destruction of Hamas. By the time you read this, a ground invasion may have begun as well. Considering that Israel was attacked by land, sea, and air on October 7, militarily it is necessary to prevent anything getting into Gaza that will enable them to continue to threaten Israel. And it’s critical that nothing will get out that might do so either, as Hamas continues to fire thousands of rockets at Israeli communities.
During war, Israel’s first, second, and third priority must be the well-being of its citizens, especially in the wake of the massacre that took place on 10/7. Proportionally in the US, this is equivalent to more than 25,000 people killed on 9/11.
Militarily, this is not just a solid and legitimate tactic, but it is also ethical and essential. This week I hosted a webinar “Fighting an Ethical War Against an Unethical Enemy.” Both our expert on military tactics and on military ethics concurred. You can see the entire conversation here.
Above the essential and imperative military response, there are many other facts that need to be understood to debunk the myth of an illegal Israeli blockade, as if Israel has a moral, ethical, or legal responsibility to Gazan Palestinian Arabs.
While Israel has closed its border crossings, Gaza shares a border with Egypt. Transport of medical needs, fuel, food, and civilians can take place via Egypt, as well as through the terror tunnels Hamas controls under that same border.
Israel has no obligation to provide water, electricity, fuel, or anything else to a neighboring state, much less an enemy entity that has its sworn goal the destruction of Israel. It’s a policy that should have been reevaluated long ago, but for now, Israel has shut it down.
Had Hamas truly cared about its own people, they would have used their pristine coastal real estate to create a Middle Eastern Singapore. Had Hamas truly cared about its own people, they’d have invested in sewage treatment plants, and recycled and desalinated water. They would have set up solar energy fields to power it all. Rather, they’ve stockpiled weapons, mastered smuggling, and built a vast terror infrastructure. They’ve absconded with billions of international funds intended to help the people whose lives they trample upon.
Hamas built the equivalent of a city under the homes of millions of Gazan Palestinian Arabs, a network of terror tunnels and bunkers to smuggle weapons, terrorists, and even human trafficking for the well-being of the terrorists, to command this, and as a launching pad for terrorist attacks like what they did on 10/7.
Hamas could have stockpiled thousands of tons of food, medical equipment, and water, just as they were planning this attack for months. But they didn’t. If there are any such stockpiles, they are only for the Hamas terrorist leaders, not the average Gazan Palestinian.
One can feel bad for Gazan Palestinian Arabs. Indeed, they were hijacked in a bloody coup against the PLO, a competing terror organization, and have lived under the heal of this evil Islamic group since 2007. Indeed, we all pray that they will be freed from the occupation of millions in Gaza – the occupation by Hamas.
If the Islamist terrorists of Hamas really cared about building a country rather than destroying ours, they would not use their own people as human shields. That’s why Israel warned hundreds of thousands of Gazan Palestinian Arabs to evacuate. Israel needs to take care of business and destroy Hamas’ infrastructure and leaders. Israel does so morally, not targeting civilians or wanting them injured by accident. While contrary to any possibility of a surprise attack, and giving terrorists the opportunity to flee along with civilians, Israel has dropped flyers and broadcast in Arabic telling Gazans to evacuate, and what the safe evacuation routes are. Yet today, Hamas is physically blocking Gazan Palestinian Arabs from fleeing from areas that Israel has warned them to leave, doubling down on the war crime that they have been committing for years. Why is nobody protesting this blockade?
But as bad as one may feel for the average Gazan Palestinian Arab, they are also complacent if not complicit as well. At any time since 2007, Gazan Palestinian Arabs could have ousted Hamas and taken control of their society. They could have risen up and expelled Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and created a society and culture to be proud of, not one of extremist Islamic hate, evil personified. It would have been bloody, but they haven’t, and they are culpable. Their blood is on their own hands.
However, it’s not clear that most Gazan Palestinian Arabs want to change, or think that Hamas is bad, for them much less for Israel. It must be emphasized that recent polls by respected Arab pollsters show 57% of Gazan Palestinians supporting Hamas. As much as that is a strong majority, it should be noted that those who receive even higher levels of popular support are even more extremists.
Blaming Israel for all the woes of Gazan Palestinian Arabs might feel good to Israel haters, looking for any opportunity to criticize and blame Israel for any problem, real or fabricated. Yet it’s false and dishonest. It does not place sole responsibility for the well-being of Gazan Palestinians where it belongs: Hamas.
It brings to mind an adaptation of a phrase that ‘people who live in terrorist houses should not throw grenades,’ or fire rockets, or slaughter, rape, burn alive, behead, or kidnap and hold hostage innocent civilians from babies to elderly women.
As the world will begin to condemn Israel for an unjust blockade, even if it’s fictitious, who, in their right mind would expect a country under attack to give up anything for a terrorist entity that is doing the attacking, or to divert any effort that takes away from Israel’s responsibility to protect its citizens, destroy Hamas, and restore deterrence so nobody will ever think of doing anything like this again. With most international airlines not flying to Israel, and shipping companies skittish about unloading their ships in Israeli ports, meaning cargo and supplies from overseas are limited, and with hundreds of thousands engaged solely in the war effort and not at work in critical infrastructure positions, how and why is it even reasonable to expect Israel to do anything differently?
The brazen and disgusting notion that Israel should allow any shipments of anything to enable a terrorist entity when Israel is fighting a war against an enemy that is so inhuman is an absurdity of Biblical proportions.
Stronger Together
In the summer of 2014, my 17-year-old daughter knocked on my bedroom door late one night shortly after my wife and I had gone to sleep. She asked us not to come downstairs, saying that she had just brought two guys home. This was not an announcement I ever expected, except she didn’t use the word “guys.” She said soldiers. Israel was embroiled in what became known as Operation Protective Edge which began a few weeks after the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers, one of whom was our neighbors’ nephew.
The seven-week-long battle saw the Islamist terror organization Hamas fire thousands of rockets at Israeli communities, and the elimination by Israel of many top Hamas terrorist leaders, and much of their infrastructure. Clearly not enough.
It was also one of Israel’s longest military operations but remained mostly isolated to the south of Israel. That summer, in addition to the operation against Hamas, the IDF also sent thousands of troops to find the three Israeli boys who, we later learned, had been executed shortly after they were kidnapped, in the very car into which they sadly sought a ride from terrorists dressed as Israeli Jews. Ten minutes away from our house.
Because our Judean mountain community is the largest in the area and close to where the boys were kidnapped, it became the base for hundreds of soldiers to operate from. When they were not out searching for the boys, protecting nearby communities, and guarding the roads to prevent other terror attacks, these soldiers who were scarcely older than the boys who had been kidnapped, would rest, sleep, eat, and pray in our community centers, synagogues, and other public buildings.
Teens in our community would go to hang out with the soldiers, young men more or less their same age, and bring them things from home to make their “visit” more comfortable. Neighbors organized nightly bar-b-ques, so much so that one day some asked if we could provide lighter fare. Women like my wife took soldiers’ laundry and washed it. My daughter became friends with two soldiers who desperately needed a shower and invited them to come to our house. She asked us not to come downstairs that night because she didn’t want them to be embarrassed in any way.
Today, those young men are in their 30s, and no doubt have been called up into reserves this week, leaving behind wives and children, just like what has happened now. Nearly a decade later, my son and son-in-law have joined the hundreds of thousands of soldiers called up. Remarkably the army called up 300,000, and 360,000 have showed up.
And remarkably, we’re seeing the same sense of solidarity, even more perhaps, as we did then, across the country. Because the soldiers are not deployed in a foreign country but defending their own country, our country, they are treated like our sons and daughters. Countless grassroots efforts are taking place across the country to provide nourishing food, treats, hygiene products, and lots of love, from millions of Israelis, going directly to where the soldiers are. On behalf of the Genesis 123 Foundation, the Israel Emergency Campaign gives a vehicle for millions of Christians around the world the opportunity to do so virtually as well.
We are seeing countless appeals to collect many things to be brought to our sons and daughters, guarding all the borders. Even a non-kosher Tel Aviv restaurant became kosher in order to provide food for the soldiers. Respect. Solidarity. Unity.
My son was called up to his combat unit on Saturday. He blew in and out of the house in 10 minutes, changing into his uniform and gathering up equipment, as we raced to pack up whatever supplies that he could possibly need, including non-perishable food. He only packed for a few days. As he was leaving he said that he had forgotten his heavy socks. He’s a newlywed, his wife is home alone now at her parents’ house. There’s a paradox of the injunction in Deuteronomy 25 not to call up men for war as newlyweds. But then it’s war. He’s been taken away from his wife, to defend her, us, our people, and our country.
He called yesterday and told us not to come visit for now, and that he was OK. That’s the most important thing. Just like in 2014, the army is putting him and others in public spaces in nearby communities so they can be close to any operation they are called for, and not have to sleep in hastily erected tents in the desert, or outside. That’s a comfort.
He also reported that the people in the community where he is have been wonderful. They’re preparing and serving food (too much he said). He’s been invited to strangers’ homes to shower. One woman even took his dirty laundry and returned it, washed and folded. It’s just like 2014, just bigger.
The sense of solidarity is extraordinary. It’s uplifting. We are all in this together. The sense of unity has even trickled up to our political leaders who have formed an emergency war-time government, putting aside deep political and social differences that had made us more divided than at any time in recent memory. I pray the war will accomplish the goal of eliminating Hamas’ and will end soon, but that the unity and solidarity will last for a long time.
We have also been strengthened by support from across the world, from the heads of many governments, and on a grassroots basis. All this is super important as those who hate Israel wasted no time blaming Israel, even as the death toll from the brutal massacres of our citizens including babies, young children, elderly, and entire families, was rising and their blood had not even dried.
On the first day of the war, I launched an emergency campaign to provide for urgent immediate and short-term needs in three areas: at-risk youth, civilian security, and soldiers. We’re not providing lethal equipment, but things that will help save their lives, and the lives of others. The needs are great, from bulletproof ceramic vests to battery chargers for their phones, hygienic supplies, and providing nourishing food wherever we can. And more. The response has been overwhelming and heartwarming.
We’re angry, scared, and grieving. Today, we got the horrific news that one of my son’s high school classmates had been killed. But we’re strong, and unified, and the solidarity is just as great. And it’s even greater because of the wide support from overseas. We are indeed stronger together.
Fighting an Ethical War Against an Unethical Enemy
Since the brutal horrifying attack by the Iranian-backed Islamist terror organization Hamas on Saturday, more than 1200 Israelis have been killed, most of whom were civilians murdered in cold blood. Bodies continue to be found. Most recently, 40 babies. Some with their heads chopped off. It’s inhuman. There are no words.
More Jews were murdered here in one day than the whole first week of the Yom Kippur War, another surprise attack 50 years ago this week. It is more Jews murdered on one day since the Holocaust. While we have had our share of wars and operations in the decades I am living in Israel, I don’t remember anything that felt so much like the all-out war that it is, so gruesome. Not in the 2006 Second Lebanon War, nor the 2014 month-long operation in Gaza.
There are so many dead that officials are asking for help digging graves.
Despite everything, the country is united and remains strong. Volunteerism is high. Friends and neighbors, and my own relatives, are stepping in at hospitals, community centers, and even in local markets. In some cases, where Palestinian Arabs have been the employees, they are not working now – and may never again. So, volunteers are abundant, stocking shelves, helping patients, and supporting one another. In other cases, volunteers are making up for the 300,000 who were called up into reserves. Astoundingly, of 300,000 called up, 360,000 showed up. Many more Israelis are struggling to find flights home to join their units. There was even reportedly a man standing at the El Al counter in the US, paying for the ticket for any Israeli coming home to serve in the army.
It feels like a war because the roads are comparatively empty. People are staying close to home, to be with family, and just in case of an air raid siren. Lost in the gruesomeness of the inhuman attacks and slaughter, Hamas continues to fire rockets by the thousands.
Stores in malls are closed. Jerusalem’s central bus station is operating, but like “a ghost town” according to friends.
Coming just after a month of holidays, scores of weddings have been postponed this week, or downsized to smaller at-home events with just immediate relatives. Some of the grooms are getting permission to get out of the army, only to go back after the ceremony.
The other day I went to the grocery store, knowing that things like milk, eggs, fresh chicken, and even bottled water are in limited supply. My daughter asked me to pick up some things for her. Totally normal: diapers, wipes, cereal, cheese. Basics. She also asked me to pick up some things for her good friend. Of course. No problem. I didn’t think twice.
But then I did. I realized that it was not just that I was saving them a trip to the store, but that they were both home alone, both their husbands called up into the army. Both husbands leaving a wife and three children behind. Who knows for how long? A woman in my building is home alone with her four children. We’re all looking out for one another.
In many families, adult children compete to be able to use the car. We have two so there’s rarely a time that one of our six kids or their spouses is not using one of the cars. Now it’s harder because when my son-in-law was called up on Saturday since it was Shabbat and there was no public transportation, we lent him one of our cars to go to war as if he were just going to run errands.
Many friends who have worked overseas are struggling with the conflict of whether to leave or not to leave Israel at this time, being away from their families, not knowing what is coming, but intuitively things will likely get worse before they get better. Should they leave, not knowing when they will get back? Should I go on my planned book launch tour next month?
I have learned how easily one can suffer from PTSD. The sounds breaking the silence of our Shabbat, the day of rest, from the air raid sirens to cars driving on a day when usually there’s no traffic, were jarring. But there’s more. The other morning we woke up to heavy rain, and thunder. The thunder was so loud that it sounded like explosions. Many were shaken.
I was at a friend’s house and pointed out the air raid siren in the distance, and we should get ready to go to the bomb shelter. They corrected me that it was just the whining of their washing machine ending a cycle.
Gusts of wind through an open window can sound like an incoming rocket or the “boom” of one landing in the distance. And then there was the morning where for 10-15 minutes there were thunderous roars of fighter planes overhead, sounding like they were right above us. As I write now, I hear that in the distance.
Israel’s military response has been strong, but my sense is it’s going to be stronger. We’ll likely be sending in ground troops and artillery, putting our soldiers’ lives at risk so as not to risk killing Palestinian Arab civilians with air strikes. This is all the more complicated because of the 100+ hostages that Hamas disgustingly kidnapped, threatens to execute, and which could happen for the “revenge” of trying to rescue them.
As much as all the videos of the massacre of Israelis that the Islamic terrorists brazenly filmed and released all over social media are vulgar, showing a lack of any ethics or civility, there are few more vulgar than the kidnapping of civilian hostages, including young children and elderly women. The Hebrew for kidnapped is Hatufim, which is also the name of a once popular TV show here, depicting something unimaginable. Until now.
As good as Israeli intelligence is, despite clear failures this week, as much as there is no list of all the hostages from the terrorists, they surely are not all in the same place, making both fighting against the terrorists and hoping to rescue them, all the more challenging. They literally have knives at their necks.
I will be hosting a webinar, “Fighting an Ethical War Against an Unethical Enemy” on October 12 at 3:00 pm Eastern, discussing many of the pains that we have suffered, and the challenges that lie ahead.
