We Israelis are all complicit in the starvation of civilians in Gaza

Palestinians gathering to collect food aid in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, Feburary 2024

Yuli Tamir writes in Haaretz on 7 April 2024:

Creating mass starvation is morally prohibited, undermining the State of Israel’s moral right to exist. Every just war has its limits, and the claim that the goal justifies the means is both malicious and erroneous.

Countless philosophical debates have dealt with the question of the limits of what is permissible from a moral and utilitarian perspective. But even if there is no theoretical agreement on where the limit lies, there is a general agreement that there is one.

This limit is human suffering. Human beings are not meant to cause suffering onto others.

Hamas crossed this boundary on October 7. No justifications exist for the horrific atrocities it committed, for burning people alive, the destruction of entire communities – even if the struggle for the existence of an independent nation for the Palestinian people is a just one. That is why Hamas will be eternally disgraced.

But so too our government and the deeds being committed today in our name in Gaza. The situation in the Gaza Strip has crossed all limits; a black flag flies above them and above us.

In early January, Arif Husain, chief economist of the World Food Programme, said that 80 percent of people experiencing catastrophic hunger live in the Gaza Strip. “I have never seen anything like this, both in terms of its scale, its magnitude, but also at the pace that this has unfolded.” The situation in Gaza is unique compared to other crises because people living in Gaza are confined to the territory and unable to search elsewhere for food.

In February, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization stated “there are unprecedented levels of acute food insecurity, hunger, and near famine-like conditions in Gaza.” Another report in March said that 670,000 Gazans were suffering from hunger, and more than 870,000 are in a humanitarian emergency. The report stated that if the situation does not change by mid-July, half of Gaza’s residents will suffer from hunger. Mass starvation of human beings, of children, women, adults, is unacceptable.

Starvation also harms our hostages, who are suffering from hunger. And how can we complain that the hostages are hungry when we let hundreds of thousands of people suffer from malnutrition?

The current Israeli leadership makes us all complicit. We are complicit in the fact that people are starving and thirsty, that they kill each other over a slice of bread, that they eat bird food and drink stale water. We are complicit in the fact that aid workers are killed during the most humane and moral action possible – distributing hot meals.

When we drink our coffee in the morning and choose what type of milk we want (and whether to drink it in a glass or a paper cup), we are complicit in starvation. When we think about the Passover table and the Exodus from Egypt, we are partners in starvation. When we discuss whether to serve Moroccan-style fish or gefilte fish, we will be complicit in starvation. Even when we sleep at night, we are complicit.

We should then not ask why the world condemns us, why Israeli lecturers are not allowed to lecture abroad, why the world does not want to trade with Israel or visit Israel, why all the “good people” don’t accept us and don’t understand us. The actions being carried out today are evidently immoral acts that undermine the moral identity of the entire State of Israel and its citizens.

Many Israelis said after October 7 that all Gazans were guilty because they elected Hamas and were complicit in its rule. They said there were no innocents in Gaza because Gazans knew and kept quiet. In this respect, like the Gazans, we are all complicit.

None of this means that they or we deserve to starve to death, to be killed by a rocket, by a knife or by a bomb. But it does mean that we bear responsibility and that we must speak out against a government that makes us complicit against our will.

The holiday vouchers that many of us receive should be converted into food and transferred to Gaza, if only as a personal and human statement befitting the holiday and the spirit of Judaism. We will send food and water to those on the outskirts of Egypt who have no redemption. We were slaves in Egypt – we should hope that this taught us a moral lesson about freedom and responsibility.

Prof. Yuli Tamir is President of Beit Berl Academic College and former Education Minister. She was one of the founders of Peace Now.

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