NEW YORK – Following an incident in which dozens of Israeli settlers sparked a violent confrontation in the Palestinian village of Huwara, a frequent target of violent attacks, T’ruah, a rabbinic human rights organization representing over 2,300 rabbis and cantors in North America, condemned the violence in the strongest possible terms and called for the Israeli government to act swiftly to hold the perpetrators responsible.
In a statement, Rabbi Jill Jacobs, CEO of T’ruah, said:
“Last night’s events in Huwara are a hillul hashem, a desecration of the divine name. On the eve of Hoshana Rabbah, dozens of settlers entered the Palestinian village of Huwara, set up a sukkah, and held Torah learning on the main street, before instigating clashes in which one Palestinian teenager, Labib Damidi, was killed either by a soldier or a settler, and in which more than fifty Palestinians and one Israeli were injured.
“The sukkah symbolizes fragility and a submission to divine protection rather than a dependence on physical shelter. It is offensive to use the sukkah instead to assert sovereignty and ownership over land, which ultimately belongs to God — ki li ha’aretz — the Land is Mine (Leviticus 25:23), not to human beings. Sukkot is also the most universal holiday, which once included bringing offerings for all of the nations of the world, not only the Jewish people. Turning the sukkah into a symbol of hatred and violence is an affront to our sacred tradition.
“This is not simply the act of a few renegade “bad apples.” Settler violence has become an almost daily occurrence in the West Bank, and Huwara has been the target of many attacks, including a pogrom carried out by hundreds of settlers this past February. Knesset Member Zvi Sukkot of the extremist Religious Zionist Party joined the group in Huwara last night. While the settlers were in Huwara, Itamar Ben Gvir, Minister of National Security, justified the previously announced closures of roads and stores there with a statement on X that ““Our lives take priority to the Palestinians’ freedom of movement (and commerce).”
“We hold the current government responsible for this terror attack, which has fueled the incitement that led to this attack, and some of whose members continue to justify the settlers’ actions. We hold the army responsible for doing nothing to prevent this incident, and almost nothing to protect residents. And we hold the religious institutions that are teaching violence and those who support such institutions responsible
“We call for a full investigation, for the perpetrators of these attacks to be brought to justice, and for Prime Minister Netanyahu and his coalition partners to stop stoking violence that will only lead to more destruction and death in the West Bank and Israel.
“Every Jewish organization in the United States and beyond must condemn this attack and the deliberate provocations that preceded it and that continue unabated.”
“This Shabbat/Shemini Atzeret, Jews outside of Israel will read the words of Kohelet which reminds us that “If you see in a province oppression of the poor and suppression of right and justice, don’t wonder at the fact; for one high official is protected by a higher one, and both of them by still higher ones.” Jewish tradition demands that we cannot stand silently and watch as settlers, protected by the State, misuse our sacred tradition in the name of violence.
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T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights mobilizes a network of more than 2,300 rabbis and cantors from all streams of Judaism that, together with the Jewish community, act on the Jewish imperative to respect and advance the human rights of all people. Grounded in Torah and our Jewish historical experience and guided by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we call upon Jews to assert Jewish values by raising our voices and taking concrete steps to protect and expand human rights in North America, Israel, and the occupied Palestinian territories.