Israel Lost Its Way

The Nation of Israel, under the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has lost its way.  

After Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing approximately 1,200 citizens and capturing hundreds of hostages, Israel responded by killing over 55,000 Palestinians (and counting), according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Of those casualties, about 70% have been women and children. The United Nations estimated that as of January 2025, 110,012 Palestinians had been injured.

Death and injuries are not the only damage Netanyahu’s Israel has inflicted upon the Palestinians. According to the British Red Cross, 470,000 people now face starvation. Ninety percent of the population is displaced, as Israeli troops continue to seize and occupy more land.  

The Red Cross issued this statement: “The humanitarian situation in Gaza is unbearable – and deteriorating sharply. Every day has been a fight for survival for the people in Gaza.” PBS reported earlier this week that “Palestinian health officials and witnesses say Israeli forces fired on people as they headed toward an aid distribution site on Tuesday, killing at least 27, in the third such shooting in three days.”

Israel responded in a statement, “The army said it fired near a few individual suspects who left the designated route, approached its forces, and ignored warning shots.”

The situation in Gaza is so grave that Amnesty International concluded that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. In the report, “You Feel Like You Are Subhuman: Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza,” Amnesty concluded, “Israel has unleashed hell and destruction on Palestinians in Gaza brazenly, continuously and with total impunity.”

More recently, Netanyahu authorized Israeli missile attacks on Iran, as part of a preemptive strategy in an attempt to prevent the country from acquiring nuclear capabilities.  

Israel’s U.N. Ambassador, Danny Danon, told NPR: “After October 7th, we learned that we are not going to wait for our enemies to surprise us again. That’s why we targeted the nuclear sites and also the industry of the ballistic missiles that Iran developed.”

Netanyahu has been trying to convince Israeli citizens and the rest of the world that Iran was days away from developing a nuclear weapon. On “The Daily Show,” Jon Stewart highlighted in a video montage that Netanyahu has been making these claims for the past decade. 

It’s time to be completely honest about Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli Prime Minister is a compulsive liar, a hawkish tyrant, and a wannabe dictator. If Israel continues to follow Netanyahu’s leadership, then Israeli citizens and Jews at large will suffer for decades. Israelis have a critical decision before them: follow Netanyahu down this endless road of war and violence, or change course.  Even though some of Israel’s sworn enemies have used annihilistic rhetoric through sword rattling, it does not permit Israel to annihilate them first.  Exhausting all means of diplomacy seems to be a much better path towards peace.

At this point in Netanyahu’s leadership, he has crossed over into the territory of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Invading Gaza, killing Palestinian citizens, and acquiring land comes from the same playbook as Putin’s strategy against Ukraine.  

In addition, by sending missiles into Iran, after convincing U.S. President Donald Trump to abandon the Iran Nuclear deal (brokered by the Obama Administration in 2015) in 2018, Netanyahu has created yet another diversion from the killings and starvation in Gaza and an opportunity for himself to acquire more power.  

Israelis need to rise up and stand against Netanyahu’s tyrannical ways. It’s time for more Jews to denounce the lies, destruction, and death wrought by their leader. Israel knows the ways of marginalization, oppression, and death. I walked through Auschwitz-Birkenau last month and saw it with my own eyes.  

Walking through the gates, barracks, and gas chambers broke my heart and infuriated my soul. How can humans become so callous and evil towards one another? How can hatred fueled by fear become so consuming that annihilation becomes the only answer? How can we give in to the unsubstantiated whims of tyrants and leave our humanity behind?  

Why?

Humans have horrible memories and desire superiority over everything else.  

Philosopher George Santayana wrote the words that became the mantra after the Holocaust: “Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.”

Israel, under Benjamin Netyanhu, has lost its way.

May the way of peace be found sooner rather than later.

The Prophet Ezekiel once said: “I am about to desecrate my sanctuary—the stronghold in which you take pride, the delight of your eyes, the object of your affection. The sons and daughters you left behind will fall by the sword” (Ezekiel 24:21).

My prayer: “May peace swell up in the descendants of Ishmael and Isaac, for God and the world watches.”