Well known Jewish figures call on the UN and the world to sanction Israel for genocide in Gaza.
The call came in an open letter sponsored by "Jews Demand Action."
I don’t know how long it will take before the mainstream U.S. media reports this, if ever, but there is no point waiting. The Guardian and other media outlets based mostly outside the United States reported today that more than 450 signatories, “including former Israeli officials, Oscar winners, authors and intellectuals” have signed an open letter demanding accountability for Israel’s actions in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.
According to The Guardian:
“Signatories include former speaker of the Israeli Knesset Avraham Burg, former Israeli peace negotiator Daniel Levy, British author Michael Rosen, Canadian author Naomi Klein, Oscar-winning film-maker Jonathan Glazer, US actor Wallace Shawn, Emmy winners Ilana Glazer and Hannah Einbinder, and Pulitzer prize winner Benjamin Moser.”
In addition:
“Other signatories to the letter include the Israeli conductor Ilan Volkov, playwright V (formerly known as Eve Ensler), American comedian Eric André, South African novelist Damon Galgut, Oscar-winning journalist and documentarian Yuval Abraham, Tony award winner Toby Marlow and Israeli philosopher Omri Boehm.”
The letter comes just before Thursday’s meeting of EU leaders in Brussels, where, some reports say, “they plan to shelve proposals for sanctions over human rights violations.”
The Guardian article goes on to describe the atrocities Israel has committed in Gaza, and the growing agreement among Americans—including American Jews—that the obvious war crimes of the past two years do indeed amount to genocide. That is a long overdue sea change. I hate to be cynical, but being able to pin genocide on Trump rather than Biden and Harris (who bankrolled it from October 2023 to January 2025) probably helped to accelerate the change in public opinion.
Thus the letter signers are hardly “self-hating Jews,” as some—including Netanyahu if he deigns to even refer to this—will no doubt charge in response. Like me, they are real and very accomplished Jews, proud of our heritage, but insistent that Judaic values of social justice and respect for human life be enforced.
I have said this before, but I will say it again: While antisemitism can often be a deep rooted variety of bigotry, no one has done more to intensify and spread antisemitism than the current Israeli leadership, along with all the Israeli Jews who continue to defend what their country has done in Gaza, along with all the American Jews who also either defend the indefensible or turn a blind eye to it.
Just as the world—or the just people in it—have demanded accountability for genocidal actions long after they occurred (it’s not long ago that the last prosecution of a Nazi war criminal took place), we must demand accountability for those guilty in this case, despite any supposed ceasefires (Israel continues to kill Palestinians at will with the flimsiness of excuses) or attempts to turn our attention elsewhere.
I have said this before too: The most effective way to fight antisemitism in the United States is for American Jews to rise as a mass and reject what has been done in their name. We must stop making excuses for the inexcusable. Slowly but surely, that is starting to happen.
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Thanks for writing this Michael
Better late then never.