July 18, 2024
The Rabbinical Alliance of America—Igud HaRabbonim, representing over 950 American rabbis—expresses deep concern over America’s second-largest teacher’s union, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), which will be voting on controversial proposals that are, in essence, antisemitic at its national convention starting in Houston on, July 22, 2024. The AFT is affiliated with the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), which represents most teachers in New York City public schools.
Some of these controversial resolutions call for the end of U.S. military aid to Israel and defend the anti-Israel protests that have taken place at universities across the country. The AFT proposals also call for a cease-fire between the Jewish state and the terror group Hamas.
One resolution provocatively declares, “American military cannot be used in ways that facilitate the seizure of Palestinian land, the violent dispossession of Palestinian communities, and the annexation of occupied Palestinian territory.” Another outrageous proposal claims that the U.S. is “enabling genocide” in Gaza.
Rabbi Mendy Mirocznik, executive vice-president of the Rabbinical Alliance of America, responds, “It is sad and morally bankrupt that an organization of teachers is pursuing a political agenda that is intellectually dishonest and contrary to the desire for peace in the Middle East and around the world. The AFT must not support terrorists and the brutal slaughter of innocent civilians, as well as the taking of hostages including Americans who remain captive in Gaza for over nine months. Doing so would betray the many decent, peace-loving educators who are members of the AFT.”
The Rabbinical Alliance of America rejects the claim that Israel is to blame for the loss of innocent life in Gaza. In the current war, Hamas is responsible for the October 7 atrocities and is also responsible for all civilian deaths brought about due to Israel being forced to engage in a defensive operation, a fight for her survival. By committing the war crimes of hiding behind civilians, Hamas takes responsibility for any civilians killed during attacks against the terror group as Israel engages in this defensive war.
Israel’s military operation to defend itself after Hamas’ October 7 atrocities has been falsely described as genocide against Palestinians. Such accusations of genocide pervade the absurd and obscene scholarly discourse, social media onslaught, and the vitriol of anti-Israel protestors. Few claims are more offensive, blatantly wrong, and intellectually dishonest.
From a legal, moral, and ethical perspective, use of the term genocide to describe Israel’s self-defense campaign is inaccurate, misleading, and dangerous.
The United Nations’ Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines genocide as the commission of grave harm against members of a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group with the intent to destroy the group as such. Thus, the legal definition of genocide means targeting members of a group because of their group identity. A key element of genocide is the intent to destroy the group.
In Israel’s war against Hamas, the country is not intentionally attempting to destroy the Palestinian people, which is what would be required in order to violate the crime of ‘genocide.’ Neither the fact of genocide nor the required intent is present in this war. In terms of the fact of genocide, only a small percentage of Gazans have been killed during this war. The loss of any life is tragic and, in this war, the responsibility falls on Hamas for hiding behind civilians. Despite that fact, the loss of all Palestinian lives in Gaza—terrorists and civilians—tragically runs in the thousands out of a population of nearly two million in Gaza. It boggles the mind that some call this genocide rather than the tragic urban warfare that it is.
In terms of intent, Israel’s leaders have repeatedly asserted that their campaign in Gaza is solely against the terrorist organization Hamas. Israel’s military objective in the current war in Gaza is to free the hostages taken by Hamas and destroy the terrorist organization, which carried out an unprecedented and brutal massacre against its people, including infants, children, elderly, Holocaust survivors, and disabled people. Hamas spent over a decade using international humanitarian funds money to build its terror infrastructure within and underneath civilian infrastructure. This is an international war crime that has led to the deaths of thousands of Palestinians. Additionally, the explicit goal of Hamas is to wipe Israel off the map and kill Jews all over the world, and its representatives have continuously, since October 7, reiterated that they will never stop pursuing this despicable goal. If you are looking in this war for genocidal intent, you should be looking at Hamas!
Israel’s military attempts to minimize civilian deaths by evacuating areas in Gaza before bombing legitimate military targets that Hamas criminally placed within civilian areas. Israel delayed its initial invasion by weeks to allow civilians to evacuate and since the invasion began has created humanitarian corridors and allowed in humanitarian aid that inevitably is forcibly taken by Hamas terrorists. The fact is that Israel is acting like a country trying to prevent civilian deaths while fighting a legitimate urban war against a terrorist organization. It is not acting like a country with genocidal intent.
The accusation of genocide against Israel contradicts the legal definition of genocide. The American Federation of Teachers responsibly failed to do proper research prior to accusing Israel of genocide and as a matter of course should discontinue its erroneous, one-sided case against Israel. Israel is a democratic, free state and a beacon of hope in the Middle East. Israel is an ally to all the free people of the world. The AFT’s baseless charges against Israel give a free pass to the Hamas terrorists who deliberately engineered the immense harm that innocent Palestinians are experiencing today.
The world is watching. If Hamas succeeds in its terror attack on Israel, the free world risks more terrorist organizations following suit with similar attacks around the world. Israel is the canary in the coal mine. We must support Israel in order to support freedom from terror in the United States and around the world. As educators, the Rabbinical Alliance of America is shocked how the American Federation of Teachers failed the course by not honestly presenting the truth in an accurate way.