Editor’s Note: Since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2024, Good Faith Media has shared thoughts from faith leaders across the ideological spectrum about the war. A collection of these articles can be found here.
Recent comments by a fringe Israeli politician have received a lot of attention. Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, who recently suggested cutting off food supplies to Gaza, is a disgusting politician. Even though he is in the coalition government, he lacks the power to do much of anything. He is Israel’s version of Marjorie Taylor Greene.
August 10th saw the following logistical realities on the ground in Gaza:
- Forty-one trucks carrying humanitarian goods were coordinated to Erez crossing.
- Around 500 trucks were waiting for collection on the Gazan side of Kerem Shalom.
- Thirty-nine aid trucks were coordinated via the Jordanian route. Forty-one aid trucks, as well as one water tanker, were coordinated to northern Gaza.
- Thirteen bakeries are operational, seven in northern Gaza and six in central Gaza. These produce close to three million pita loaves a day.
- One thousand five hundred blood units were transferred to Gaza on August 8. This is in addition to the previous 1,000 blood units facilitated into Gaza and other aid requiring unique delivery conditions.
In addition, 4,629 food trucks carrying a variety of foods entered Gaza during July. Since the beginning of this horrific war, 45,289 trucks have entered Gaza and the current caloric consumption per resident is estimated to be around 3,000 calories.
However, I would like to take a step back and examine the situation in Gaza with a wider lens.
In the early 2000s, before Hamas took over Gaza in 2007, over 100,000 Palestinians crossed the border daily to work in Israel. Following Hamas’ takeover, this number significantly decreased. Just before October 7, 2023, it had increased to over 20,000 Palestinians per day.
In 2005, Israel withdrew from every square inch of Gaza, uprooting and displacing 9,000 Israelis who lived there. At that time, greenhouses worth slightly more than $14 million, built by Israeli settlers, were handed over to the Palestinian Authority.
These provided winter fruits and vegetables to Europe, generating annual sales of over $100 million. Within three days of Israel’s disengagement, Palestinians destroyed these greenhouses, proverbially “biting off their nose to spite their face.”
The claims some make that Gaza was an “open-air prison” before October 7 is not entirely accurate. Over 17 years, billions of dollars flowed into Gaza from donor nations worldwide. Unfortunately, this money was misused and misappropriated by Hamas and the United Nations Relief and Works agency (UNRW).
Rather than investing these funds in infrastructure and education, Hamas diverted them to construct an intricate network of over 500 miles of underground tunnels. Much of the money also ended up in the bank accounts of Hamas leaders living in Qatar.
Deputy Chair of the Hamas Political Bureau, Abu Marzuk, is worth $3 billion. Khaled Mashal and Ismail Haniyeh are each worth about $4 billion.
With different leadership and thoughtful investments, Gaza could have become a coveted Mediterranean vacation spot, especially for European tourists. There could have been numerous five-star hotels and great restaurants.
Sadly, that was not to be. Killing Israelis became more attractive. It is crucial to stress that Israel withdrew from every single square inch of Gaza in 2005.
In December 2023, I visited Kibbutz Kfar Aza, which is on the border with Gaza and was brutally attacked on October 7. While there, I asked one of the Kibbutzniks how the attack transpired.
I was told that the terrorists first took control of a nondescript building in the center of the Kibbutz. That building was, in fact, the kibbutz armory. When I asked how they knew which building was the armory, they answered that many workers from Gaza had been working in the Kibbutz for years.
As many scholars have pointed out, the conflict between Palestinians and Israel has been one of Palestinian rejectionism versus Israeli conciliation. The main element of Palestinian rejectionism has been the negation of Jews, Judaism, Israel and Zionism.
The enduring goal of Hamas has been to destroy Israel.* This is why they prefer to waste money that could improve their living standards in order to demonize Israel and refuse to make peace.
The West often assumes that economic prosperity and development are the keys to peace. However, Palestinian rejectionism shows that, for many, deferring these goals and even enduring mass suffering is an acceptable price for a longer-term goal, whether that be an independent state or the dream of establishing an Islamic caliphate. For them, this is a zero-sum game.
Gaza, unfortunately, has borne the brunt of Hamas terror. Gaza is the ultimate victim of Palestinian intransigence and its desire to destroy Israel.
Westerners tend to think in short terms and lack memory. But this region has a deep memory.
The key will not simply be changing the economic situation, but also the hearts and minds of the people. Clearly, there is a strong rejectionist thread, but empowering elements of Palestinian society that are not rejectionists should be a goal.
With all my heart and soul, I pray for peace. I have supported peace-making organizations and politicians in Israel.
Unfortunately, the horrific murders and rapes of Jewish women on October 7 have made the dream of a two-state solution— two countries whose children will compete on the soccer field and not the battlefield— seem farther away than ever.
A final thought from me as a rabbi: On October 7, terrorists of Hamas crossed the border, entered Israel and assaulted civilians. They took 200 hostages and murdered 1200 people; grandparents, grandchildren, people with special needs and pregnant women. Many of them were raped.
And then, of course, violence begets violence and Israel, with its legitimate right to defend itself, has now entered into Gaza to remove the threat of Hamas. But this is at the cost of terrible suffering among Palestinian civilians.
As Jews and people of faith and compassion, we face a challenge: In the midst of fighting for Israel’s future and confronting the rise of extreme antisemitism, can we still uphold our right to self-defense and Israel’s right to peace and security while also recognizing the humanity and suffering of our Palestinian brothers and sisters?
We must do what we need to do to end the dictatorship of Hamas, which so brutalizes both Israel and Palestinians. And we must also look to the day after, with hearts that are supple, broad and open, big enough to embrace the humanity of everybody.
Let us not despair. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NY) often reminds us of “the active conviction that despair will never have the last word.” May hope replace despair, and may Senator Booker’s challenge motivate us all!
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this article read “The enduring goal of the Palestinians has been to destroy Israel. At the author’s request, we have changed the sentence to read “The enduring goal of Hamas has been to destroy Israel.”
Rabbi Emeritus at Temple Emanuel in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he served as rabbi from 1995 to 2021. Guttman is a dual citizen of the United States and Israel.
