We must speak out to stop the humanitarian crisis in Gaza

A statement circulating in the Australian Jewish community declares, “Australian Jews cannot remain silent about the war in Gaza”.

Positioning themselves firmly as Jews who “share a deep concern for Israel’s future” and want all the hostages home, the signatories express their concern for the suffering of Palestinians and their solidarity with the tens of thousands of Israelis demonstrating weekly against the Netanyahu government.

“We know that many in our community have been reluctant to publicly criticise Israel, hoping the war will end soon. But what is happening in Gaza is so catastrophic to Palestinians and Israeli hostages, that any constraint against open criticism is no longer tenable,” they write.

This statement, which is still collecting signatures, represents the position of an increasing number of Jews, both in Israel and in the Diaspora.

We have reached a tipping point where the devastation of Gaza is so widespread and the human suffering so disturbing that many Jews can no longer support the war.

We at The Jewish Independent came to the conclusion more than 12 months ago that it was time to stop. We published an editorial entitled “It’s time for the Israel-Hamas war to end" which argued Netanyahu’s stated aim of “total victory” is a delusion and that the cost of continuing the war, for both Gaza and Israel, is too high.

A year ago, this was a controversial position in the Jewish community. Many people believed that Israeli forces needed to continue to further remove Hamas’ presence in Gaza and that civilian casualties were a tragic but necessary adjunct of the campaign to protect Israel from terror.