O pinion
Truth Is, Israel Has Right to Exist
BY YONI ARI
LAST WEEK DOZENS of
rockets exploded above my head
as I was lying on the asphalt,
face-down, covering my head
with my arms. Less than a mile
away, a rocket smashed down
on a less fortunate Israeli. He
died on the spot as deafening
sirens screamed all around the
city. When you feel the fear, you
truly understand the right of
Israel to defend itself.

I came to Israel two weeks
ago to visit my daughter, who
decided to enlist to the IDF.

She started basic training, and
my plan was to go back to
Philly the following week. My
flight was canceled, and I was
in a war zone.

Fortunately enough, I was
staying north of Tel Aviv. In my
case, I had 90 seconds to get to
the bomb shelter. Others not as
fortunate had only 15 seconds.

I had to get to the bomb shelter
five times with my nephews,
who are only 3 and 5 years old.

To see them wakening up terri-
fied to sirens in the middle of
the night was horrifying.

Ido Avigal was a 5-year-old
Israeli who lived in Sderot.

Eleven days ago, Ido and his
family managed to reach
their bomb shelter within 15
seconds of hearing the sirens,
but it was not enough. The
rocket hit the building next
to his, and shrapnel pierced
through the safe room, killing
Ido, and wounding his mother
and 7-year-old sister.

Over 11 days, the terror
organization Hamas launched
over 4,000 rockets at Israeli
cities and civilians; 4,000
missiles and mortar shells were
sent to kill Israeli civilians,
both Arab and Jewish.

I am not writing these
words to elicit pity. If you know
Israelis you know we are strong
people. Unfortunately, we have
been through worse, and these
attacks only bring us closer
together. I am not writing to
explain the attack in Gaza,
either. Israel is a sovereign state
with a responsibility and moral
obligation to defend its citizens
from attacks and threats.

I am writing these words
because I see so much misin-
formation. People who call
themselves influencers use this
“power” to dehumanize my
fellow Israelis and me. They
try to hide the truth of the
vicious methods and goals of
our attackers.

Yes, the situation in the Gaza
Strip is bad, really bad, not only
during the last few days, but for
many years. The density, the
poverty, the corruption and the
entire way of life are gruesome.

The vicious cycle of fighting
has brought only misery to the
Palestinian people living in Gaza.

With all that being said,
rockets fired into Israel cannot
be white-washed into an act
of righteousness. There is no
justification for blind attempts
to murder civilians. As an
Israeli who has lived through
this conflict, I understand the
pain and despair, but blind
terror cannot be justified.

This is the time for the
Jewish community to come
together and support Israel’s
right to defend itself and to
exist. Last week, more than
200 people came together
to rally for unity and peace
in Israel amid barrages of
rockets fired at Israeli civil-
ians. They marched from the
Philadelphia Museum of Art
to the Holocaust Memorial
Plaza, organized by the Israeli-
American Council in a day. It
began with the distribution of
“Israel is Under Attack” and
“I Stand with Israel” posters,
Israeli flags and stickers. This
week, with the support of so
many organization and 700
people, we stood under the
Israeli flag, standing for Israel
and against antisemitism.

The American-Jewish
community has to actively
counter false information from
social media and mainstream
news. The IAC has tools to
educate all ages about the
conflict, antisemitism and
how to take an active role in
defending Israel.

A week ago, while I was lying
flat on the asphalt trying to
avoid being struck by a rocket,
millions of Israeli citizens
were in shelters. Others, like
Ido Avigal z”l, were killed or
wounded. A lot of loss, suffering
and destruction simultaneously
happened across the border in
the Gaza Strip.

Now, as in the past, I hope
for more peaceful times and a
time where people share more
optimism and opportunities
for us to connect instead of
dehumanizing and promoting
hatred. I hope to see the Jewish
community stand up for Israel
and share the truth without
fear. l
Yoni Ari is regional director of
Philadelphia’s Israeli-American
Council. How Could Rabbinical Students Ignore Israel’s Right to Defend Itself?
BY RABBI EREZ SHERMAN
I WAS AGHAST to read a letter
signed by close to 100 rabbin-
ical students — future leaders
of the Jewish community who
will serve in pulpits, on college
campuses and within Jewish
organizations — which shame-
fully ignores Israel’s right, let
alone duty, to defend her citizens.

16 MAY 27, 2021
As a rabbi who sat in those
houses of study both in New
York and in Jerusalem, it pains
me greatly to see the lack of
support and understanding
of Israel from these students.

I would like to address their
points directly.

You claim that our tears
must be directed to injustices.

But where are your tears for the
millions of Israeli civilians —
Jews, Muslims and Christians
— who have been huddled
in bomb shelters because
a terrorist group has rained
nearly 3,000 rockets on them?
Where are your tears for
the residents of Kibbutz Aza,
Netivot and Sderot, who have
been terrorized by those same
rockets ever since Israel evacu-
ated Gaza more than 15 years
ago? Visit their communities
where for years balloons have
floated over the border for
children to run after, soon to
find out the string was attached
to an explosive to inflict harm.

Instead, you seem embar-
rassed that Israel has been forced
to have an army strong enough
to defend its inhabitants. Here is
the simple truth, quoting Rabbi
David Wolpe, that you blatantly
ignored: “If Hamas stopped
raining rockets on Israel, it
would be over. If Israel stopped
defending and retaliating, it
would be slaughter.”
You ask that when we teach,
we should teach about the
“human beings who didn’t ask
for new neighbors.” For this I ask
you to return to your classrooms
and review the dates of 586 BCE
JEWISH EXPONENT
and 70 CE, when the Jewish
Temples of Jerusalem were
destroyed. Rather than being
a “new neighbor,” the Jewish
presence in Israel is ancient.

Please also review your modern
Israeli history, with momentous
dates of 1929, 1948, 1967, 1973,
1982, 2007, 2009, 2014 and 2021,
when our presence as an ancient
neighbor was not just a nuisance
but a necessary evil to uproot.

And please review the
multiple offers of peace which
were not only rejected without
counteroffers, but were met
with more death and destruc-
tion, bus bombings, stabbings
and other violence against the
Jewish people.

You ask that when we vote,
not to vote for leaders who
fund violence. Please review
once again that it was the
bi-partisanship from both
sides of the aisle that funded
the modern military miracle
of the Iron Dome, which has
saved thousands of lives.

You ask how we as Jews
who were involved with racial
reckoning in our communities
this past year are not using our
voices now to implicate Israel
with racist violence. Racist?
From the one country in the
Middle East that has embraced
more than 100 different nation-
alities and where Muslims have
the most amount of freedom,
rights and educational oppor-
tunities in the region? Where
Israeli Arabs sit on the Supreme
Court and in the government
See Sherman, Page 24
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM