T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights endorses Senate Resolution 224, introduced by Senator Peter Welch (D-VT), calling for the urgent delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza. T’ruah thanks the resolution’s co-sponsors and calls on all senators to add their names as co-sponsors.
Rabbi Jill Jacobs, CEO of T’ruah, said:
“This is a moral and humanitarian disaster. The Geneva Convention forbids the use of starvation as a weapon of war. Imposing a total blockade on Gaza amounts to illegal collective punishment of the entire population.
“For nearly three months, the Israeli government has imposed a total blockade on Gaza — the longest such period since the beginning of the war. This week, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification warned that 1 in 5 people in Gaza are currently at risk of starvation, and that a full-fledged famine is increasingly likely. The World Health Organization reports that nearly 10,000 children have been treated for acute malnutrition. World Central Kitchen announced this month that they have run out of food to cook in Gaza. This blockade comes after a year and a half of bombardment and displacement that has left the vast majority of Gazans completely reliant on aid.
“The book of Lamentations describes in painful detail the starvation of the Jewish people during the siege of Jerusalem in 586 BCE:
The tongue of the suckling cleaves to its palate for thirst.
Little children beg for bread; None gives them a morsel. . .
Better off were the slain of the sword than those slain by famine,
Who pined away, [as though] wounded, for lack of-a the fruits of the field. (4:4;9)
“Centuries later, the Jewish historian Josephus described the siege before the destruction of the Second Temple:
The famine widened its progressive and devoured the people by whole houses and families. The upper rooms were full of women and children dyin gby famine; and the lanes of the city were full of the dead bodies of the aged; the children also and the young men wandered about the marketplaces like shadows, all swelled with the famine, and fell down dead wherever their misery seized them. (Wars of the Jews V:512)
“These horrific ancient scenes are now the everyday reality for 2.2 million people in Gaza. Our news feeds are full of photos of starving children. How we respond says a great deal about our own humanity.
“There is no question that Hamas, too, bears responsibility for taking supplies away from ordinary Gazans. But their crimes do not relieve Israel of the responsibility to ensure the adequate flow of food and other critical supplies into Gaza. Per U.S. law, countries receiving military aid from the United States may not block the entry of U.S. aid.
“We applaud Senator Welch for introducing a resolution calling on the White House, the Department of State, and other relevant U.S. agencies to urgently use all available diplomatic tools to end the blockade on humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians, secure the release of the hostages, and pursue a just and enduring end to the conflict in Gaza.”
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About T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights brings the Torah’s ideals of human dignity, equality, and justice to life by empowering our network of over 2,300 rabbis and cantors to be moral voices and to lead Jewish communities in advancing democracy and human rights for all people in the United States, Israel, and the occupied Palestinian territories.