The Trump administration and the rest of the country need to acknowledge that when we criticize and demonstrate against the horrors perpetuated by the Israeli government and its military in Gaza we are not blaming the Jewish people, and we are certainly not blaming Jews who live in this country. 

However, as we view with revulsion videos of cities in Gaza being reduced to ruble and of starving children with bodies that are little more than skin and bones, how can we possibly not blame the perpetuator of those atrocities.  When we learn that The Israeli government is using aid shipments as a negotiating point in its dealing with Hamas and when Benjamin Netanyahu says, “There is no starvation in Gaza”, we can not hid from the fact that the Israeli government is responsible for these horrific conditions. His government ordered the Israeli military to restrict humanitarian aid to Gaza and Israeli troops killed hundreds of innocent Palestinians as they tried to access the small amount of food that was available 

According, to an NPR article, “Amnesty International accused Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip during its war with Hamas, saying it has sought to deliberately destroy Palestinians by mounting deadly attacks, demolishing vital infrastructure and preventing the delivery of food, medicine and other aid.”  A report from Boston University School of Law’s International Human Rights Clinic agrees that the actions of the Israeli government in Gaza met the legal definition of genocide. 

Israeli American professor of Holocaust and genocide at Brown University, the world’s leading specialist on the subject of genocide, has declared that “Israel is carrying out a combination of genocidal actions, ethnic cleansing, and annexation of the Gaza Strip.”  Most of the world’s experts on genocide including the United Nations appointed expert, Francesca Albanese, agree.  She claims that “there are clear indications that Israel has violated three of the five acts listed under the UN Genocide Convention”.  Two prominent Israeli human rights organizations, B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights in Israel, also issued reports accusing the Israeli government of genocide. 

The UN Special Committee investigating Israeli practices during the war found, “Since the beginning of the war, Israeli officials have publicly supported policies that strip Palestinians of the very necessities required to sustain life — food, water, and fuel.”  The committee report continued, “By destroying vital water, sanitation, and food systems, and contaminating the environment, Israel has created a lethal mix of crises that will inflict severe harm on generations to come,”

With this harsh reality staring us in the face, we would be exceedingly callus if we did not condemn the abhorrent actions that caused this situation. Yet we can no more blame Israelis for the mistake of putting Netanyahu and his far rights coalition in power any more than we blame ourselves for electing Donal Trump and giving him control of both houses of Congress.  Netanyahu, like Trump, is very unpopular with his constituents. 73% percent of Israelis want their prime minister to resign either now or after the Gaza war.” 

And of course American Jews are completely innocent of these atrocities.  As the former Israeli Consul General to New England, Nadav Tamir, observed recently in the Jerusalem Post, “Many (American) Jews no longer perceive Israel as it was after its independence, but see it now as a wealthy military power that isn’t interested in peace with its neighbors.”  In a recent poll 63% of American Jews expressed strong opposition to Netanyahu while only 30% claimed to support him.  Most of that support came from Republican Jews and the Orthodox Jewish community.

So it is abundantly clear that we can condemn the actions of Benjamin Netanyahu‘s Israeli government without being anti-semantic.  In fact, I feel that Netanyahu, like Trump, is unfairly causing his people to shoulder the blame for his actions in the eyes of the world. 

Cajun (Rick Guilbeau)