Like many of you, I’ve spent the past 24 hours worrying about and texting with Israeli family and friends, many of whom have barely left bomb shelters in the time since the U.S. and Israel began strikes on Iran Saturday morning.
I am not only filled with concern for Iranians, Israelis, and everyone in harm’s way right now, I am also angry.
Trump and Netanyahu’s reckless and deadly decision to strike Iran came without clear objectives or an exit strategy. Americans do not want this war, and the president made this decision in spite of the lack of imminent threat and without Congressional approval.
This war has already had deadly consequences. In Iran, at least 100 people have been killed, including dozens of children killed in a strike on a school. In Israel, at least 9 people were killed in a direct hit on a bomb shelter in Beit Shemesh and one person was killed in Tel Aviv. Across the region, civilians have retreated to bomb shelters. Some, including in many Palestinian communities, do not have bomb shelters to retreat to because of systemic inequality. This escalation also endangers American troops. We must continue to insist on the common humanity of Iranians, Israelis, and Americans.
Ayatollah Khamenei’s brutal regime terrorized and killed Iranians, including perhaps thousands of brave protesters who dared to stand up to the regime earlier this year. Tens of thousands of Jews fled Iran after the revolution that brought him to power. He also spent decades fomenting hatred of Israel and the United States. The people of Iran deserve better. At the same time, military force alone cannot create sustainable security. A destabilized Iran could produce catastrophic regional consequences and immense human suffering.
While we may see Trump try to claim victory, we’ve seen these claims of victory before. They are short-lived. Just last summer, Israel and the U.S. struck targets in Iran and declared mission accomplished, yet here we are again.
Congress must act quickly to restrain the president, and the United States must prioritize a diplomatic off-ramp before this escalation hardens into full-scale war. I am also concerned about this attack leading to a rise in antisemitism and retaliatory attacks against Jews worldwide.
At the end of the Purim story, which Jews around the world will read tomorow night, Esther calls on the king to annul his decree to destroy the Jews. The king claims that once a king’s decree has been issued, it cannot be revoked. Instead, the king issues a new edict, allowing the Jews to rise up and fight to defend themselves. The Jews do so, protecting themselves but killing 75,000 others in the process.
The king’s response to Esther displays a complete and tragic failure of moral imagination. He cannot envision a different possibility, in which the safety of one people or another is not a zero-sum game. Likewise, today’s leaders fail us again and again wth their inability to envision a future that isn’t dependent on violence and dominance.
The only way out of this cycle is to come together across difference to imagine that different path together and build it. Thank you for being in that work with us.
With prayers for the protection of all those in harm’s way,
Rabbi Jill Jacobs (she/her)
CEO, T’ruah