Over 80 Orthodox Rabbis urge Israel to address Gaza humanitarian situation, condemn settler violence

A Palestinian young woman rushes away from the site of Israeli air strikes in the northern Gaza Strip on 19 August 2025

Linda Dayan reports in Haaretz on 20 August 2025:

Over 80 Orthodox rabbis – including chief rabbis past and present of several countries – signed a petition released on Tuesday urging Israel to address the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and condemn settler violence in the West Bank.

Calling the crisis in Gaza “one of the most severe in recent history,” the rabbis state that Israel is not absolved “from assuming its share of the responsibility for the profound suffering of Gaza’s civilian population.” They also affirm that Hamas’ October 7 attack was “a brutal act that justifiably demanded a strong military response,” and called for the release of the hostages.

Despite Hamas’ disregard for the Palestinians in their care, read the petition, Israel’s 22-month military campaign and blocking entry of food and other necessities has brought about destruction, a climbing death toll and “has raised the specter of coming starvation.”

“There have been months when Israel blocked humanitarian convoys on the mistaken premise that increased suffering would bring about Hamas’s surrender. Instead, the result has been the deepening of despair. The justified anger toward Hamas has dangerously expanded by some extremists into blanket suspicion of the entire population of Gaza – children included – tarnished as future terrorists.”

In the West Bank, it states, “extremist settler violence has resulted in the murder of civilians and has forced Palestinian villagers from their homes, further destabilizing the region.”

“Amid this devastation, the absence of a clear post-war vision from Prime Minister Netanyahu has allowed the most extreme voices in the Israeli government – including ministers from the religious Zionist community – to fill the vacuum with disturbing proposals,” it continues. “These include the forced ‘voluntary’ exile of Palestinians from Gaza and the sacrifice of remaining Israeli hostages in the pursuit of an elusive ‘total victory.'”

As some of Israel’s most ardent supporters, Orthodox Jews bear “a unique moral responsibility,” say the signatories. “We must affirm that Judaism’s vision of justice and compassion extends to all human beings. Our tradition teaches that every person is created b’tzelem Elokim – in the Divine image,” the letter reads.  “We are the spiritual descendants of Avraham, chosen to walk in the path of Hashem, ‘to do righteousness and justice,'” quoting from Genesis. “Allowing an entire people to starve stands in stark contrast to this teaching.”

Rabbi Yosef Blau led the initiative. Blau served as president of the Religious Zionists of America for 12 years, and spent 48 years as a spiritual advisor at Yeshiva University in New York.

Among the signatories are the chief rabbis of Denmark, Norway, Poland and the former chief rabbi of Ireland. The list also includes rabbanits – women who serve as spiritual leaders in their communities – as well as a handful of rabbas – female rabbis who have been ordained despite objection from the Orthodox mainstream.

The catalyst for the letter, Blau told Haaretz, was Israel’s decision to block aid to Gaza for two and a half months earlier this year, in the hope that it would force Hamas’ hand.  “Hamas didn’t care,” Blau said. But in preventing the entry of humanitarian aid for that stretch, Israel inadvertently proved how important that humanitarian aid is – and the crisis of starvation that blocking it could cause.

“Morally and pragmatically, it was a disaster. It did not lead to the release of any hostages. It didn’t win the war. It didn’t shorten the war, and it caused enormous damage to Israel’s image in the world,” said Blau. He wrote the original draft of the petition as a blog post for the Times of Israel, and signatories made amendments as the letter circulated among them.

A diverse range of Orthodox rabbis signed the letter, which both hurt and helped the effort. “I have no compunction of signing with people with whom I disagree on other issues; there are other rabbis who are much more concerned about that,” Blau said. “My feeling is, if that was not a part of the discussion, many more rabbis would have signed.”

But another element, one alluded to in the letter, might have kept others away. “The Orthodox community has always been one of the strongest supporters of Israel, certainly in the United States” and in the English-speaking world, he said.

“Therefore, it’s a community that has been very reluctant to ever criticize policies of the Israeli government, lest it be used by our enemies. That’s the major reason, I think, that there are many more rabbis who agree [with the letter], but just couldn’t bring themselves to sign a statement which has within it criticism of the policy of the Israeli government.”

He said that it’s safe to say that the signatories are supporters of Israel. “It’s not anti-Zionist. These are people who care very much about Israel.” He noted that he and his wife made Aliyah earlier this year. “We are concerned that Israel not simply be another country that happens to have a Jewish majority uniquely, but that it represents as much as possible, the fundamental values that you have in Judaism.”

He added, “We’re committed to the notion that Israel has an obligation to maintain a basic moral standard in what it does, and it means taking responsibility, even in the situation which was clearly created by Hamas.”

Blau said that, despite the fact that Hamas committed the October 7 attacks and exploits the suffering of the population under their control, “that doesn’t change the fact that there is a great deal of hunger in Gaza that the nature of the attacks, [aim for] the destruction of the housing, of the hospitals, of the whole infrastructure of Gaza,” he said, adding that Israel must ensure that Gazans can receive nutritious food and have access to proper medical care.

He added that in the West Bank, “We’re certainly aware again that there’s Palestinian terrorism. But we don’t feel that justifies the Jewish terrorism that’s going on in the West Bank. We want to make a statement as Orthodox rabbis, because unfortunately in Israel, very few Religious Zionist rabbis – and there are real exceptions, I didn’t say there are none – are willing to criticize that which comes from within the community, and we felt important that that part be mentioned as well.”

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