Precursor to Rosh Hashanah: American and Israeli Jews call Out Netanyahu

With the Jewish High Holidays, the first anniversary of October 7, and the American elections approaching in November, American Jews have plenty to reflect upon. Will the clergy delivering sermons in their synagogues talk about Jewish ethics and morality in conjunction with the war in Gaza? Will the focus be on antisemitism? Will anyone mention the role of the Israeli government in the ongoing events that have left their country stunned and bereaved, Palestinians in Gaza engulfed by ruins and hunger, and West Bank Palestinians terrorized by radical Jewish settlers?

I don’t know if I will hear answers to these questions from the pulpit during the Days of Awe, but on Thursday, September 26, I did learn plenty during a demonstration in Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza spearheaded by NYC4Kaplan and the American Progressive Israel Network. Those who came were American and Israeli Jews with a specific message for Benjamin Netanyahu, who was scheduled to speak at the United Nations that Friday.

Many factors were at play, reflecting the different backgrounds of those in attendance.  However, the unrestrained contempt and revulsion for Netanyahu was a robust unifying thread.

I arrived just as the T’ruah prayer service ended. Before the program began, I spoke with Rabbi Jill Jacobs, the Executive Director of T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights. “The message of the High Holidays,” said Jacobs, “is that we are in this together.” She talked about the joint anguish of bringing the hostages home and ending the war in Gaza. Jacobs also pointed to the “poisonous agenda” the current government in Israel has been implementing, along with the messianic settler strategy of taking over Palestinian land. We then shifted to the homegrown venom that was flowing through American veins. Jacobs called out the insidiousness of Trump’s comments, in which he suggested that if he lost the 2024 election, American Jews would be partially responsible.

Rabbi Margo Hughes-Robinson, Executive Director of Partners for Progressive Israel, related her thoughts about how “Americans, both in the Jewish community and beyond, had an opportunity to make their voices heard and to lift the messages that hostage families and protesters in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and beyond have made clear.” She emphasized the need for a diplomatic solution to the crisis while pegging Netanyahu as an impediment to “a future of peace for Israelis and Palestinians.”

When I asked Jonathan Kopp, Chairperson of J Street New York, about his thoughts on co-sponsoring the event, he said, “We felt it was important to stand in solidarity with the hostages and their families along with the vast majority of Israeli citizens who want a ceasefire deal that gets the hostages home and clears the way to a constructive diplomatic process that will deliver security and stability to Israel and the Middle East.”

Ameinu’s Vice-President, Nomi Coltman-Max, reiterated the belief that the solution is not military. “We have to find a way to live equally in sharing the land…for the future of the next generation.”

Despite the rain, a large crowd had assembled. Every contingent had signs. Standing Together folks were immediately recognizable by their purple shirts. (Leaders Alon-Lee Green and Rula Daood have been named as two of Time Magazine’s “Next 100.”) The drums and whistles common at Israeli-American gatherings were in play, along with chants in Hebrew of busha (shame.)

After a moment of silence, the first speakers were Yehuda and Vikki Cohen, parents of Nimrod, a hostage still in captivity. Yehuda said, “Netanyahu is doing everything to prevent a deal. He doesn’t want to lose his position and go to jail and is using the hostages to keep his extremist coalition to conquer Gaza.  They want war. They want blood.” One of his goals is to “try to change the narrative of U.S. Jewish groups.”

Rabbi Amichai Lau Lavie led the proceedings. I’ve heard him speak numerous times. His humanity, empathy, and honesty are palpable. In his welcome, he stated, “We stand here today aware that the only path forward is a shared one, where Israelis and  Palestinians have the chance to thrive, grow, and dream together.” He called on Netanyahu to “end the war and ensure a hostage deal now.” He qualified the Prime Minister’s ongoing actions as an “anti-democratic vision of extremism and dehumanization.” Grounding his comments in Jewish theological thought, he pronounced the need for reflection, teshuva, and “making repentance for past mistakes.”

Cohen’s outrage stood in contrast to the hostage remembrance conducted at my synagogue every Friday since October 7. Combined with a prayer for the State of Israel and the return of the captives, it has become somewhat of an abstract exercise. The passion of Nimrod’s parents made it visceral.

Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib followed the Cohens. He grew up in Gaza City and came to America as an exchange student. Presently, he works at the Atlantic Council’s Middle East Programs. He detailed the ongoing horrors in Gaza as the “most destructive chapter in Palestinian history.” Alkhatib told of the family members he had lost in Gaza (thirty-one of his extended relatives) and the others who were displaced. He rejected the “zero-sum equation” for solving the Israel/Palestine conflict and the “self-serving leaders of both sides.”

Former Deputy Head of Israel’s National Security Council, Eran Etzion, was unequivocal in his declaration, “Netanyahu no longer represents Israel.” He urged Biden and Harris to use all the leverage at their disposal, with direct advice on how to deal with Bibi: “He’s playing you. History is looking you in the eye.” In a statement reminiscent of the Eldridge Cleaver quote, Etzion underscored, “If you’re not fighting with us against it, you are inadvertently part of it.”

Yael Admi, wearing a white shirt and turquoise scarf, the colors of Women Wage Peace, which she co-founded, articulated the “need to find compromises.” She described how her group’s sister organization, Women of the Sun, and Women Wage Peace work together. “We have a historic opportunity,” Admi told the crowd. Later, when we conversed briefly, Admi mentioned her upcoming trip to Washington, D.C., to receive an award from Hillary Clinton in a ceremony at The Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace & Security.

Adding to the tumult of U.N. week in Manhattan was the breaking news that Mayor Eric Adams was under indictment. Despite the crisis at City Hall, NYC Comptroller and a co-founder of the New York Jewish Agenda, Brad Lander, was on-site, joking that it was the only commitment of the day that he hadn’t canceled. He was there to comment on the “entrenchment of the Occupation” and the need to identify that “Israelis and Palestinians were intertwined.”

Zahiro Shahar Mor, who I had the opportunity to dialogue with after the event (See sidebar), expressed his pain from the personal losses, the deaths of his uncle and his cousin, from which he had suffered. He pegged Netanyahu’s actions as “all about his political survival.” He challenged Netanyahu to “Make your visit to New York something other than a P.R. charade. Stop the war now!” He echoed the sentiment on several shirts and signs that announced, “We are not our government.”

Senior Rabbi of B’nai Jeshrun, Felicia Sol, shared the vision of “what God wants from us,” invoking the concepts of Moses Maimonides. “Everyone can stand up for justice, doing what is right and good,” she said. Addressing Netanyahu’s ongoing strategy, she declared, “Enough of Bibi’s warmongering. There’s no time to waste. Bring them home now. Wednesday evening, say goodbye to 5784; good riddance. We want to welcome in the New Year with hope.” As a final benediction, she added, “Let this year and its curses come to an end.”

Former Israeli fighter pilot and a veteran of the Six Day War, Dr. Kobi Richter, announced flatly, “Bibi does not represent me. He is sacrificing Israel for his own career.” He also called for Netanyahu’s resignation.

Gili Getz, photojournalist and Israeli American activist, gave an impassioned speech. Instrumental in numerous organizations. Getz laid out his frustrations unambiguously.

“Tomorrow at the U.N., Bibi will lie and use bullshit terms like Total Victory. He’s a dictator wannabe. He’s helping Trump, which will put our [American] freedoms at risk. Israel is being sacrificed. All he cares about is keeping his government.” Getz specifically articulated Netanyahu’s agenda of cementing “violent exclusivity over the land and turning the police into a militia.” He asked, “Where does it come from?” Without missing a beat, he declared the truth that many Jews in the United States still don’t want to recognize. “A system of occupation.” Getz implored the crowd, “They must be stopped. Bring peace and prosperity to all Israelis and Palestinians on behalf of Israelis for peace.”

Josh Drill, born in America, moved to Israel because he saw it as his “spiritual home. A leader in the pro-Democracy movement, he delineated the attack within the [Israeli] nation as a “slaughter of Israel’s soul.” His top takeaways, while allowing the path forward wasn’t easy, was: “There are Palestinian partners for peace.” He told listeners, “Each and everyone here today can ignite [action] in your social circles.”

In a brief moment of humor, Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum suggested that if Netanyahu “really” cared about the people of Israel, he would trade himself for all the hostages. She related how, in the 1970s and 1980s, there was already a distinct understanding that the “Occupation would destroy the soul of Israel.”

Kleinbaum pulled in a worldview when she underscored, “We need to get rid of Bibiism and Trumpism. There is a tsunami of hate we are facing.” Listing the countries experiencing a rightward political shift, Kleinbaum said, “It’s happening all over the world. We must link arms and reject the politics of hate.”

I particularly appreciated her discussion of Rosh Hashanah, the sixth day of Creation, and the Biblical thoughts on darkness, chaos, and the Hidden Light. The symbolism of that Hidden Light resides in God telling the human race: “Look for it.”

Kleinbaum concluded with an excerpt from a eulogy delivered at the funeral of peace activist Vivian Silver by one of her Palestinian colleagues:

“Do not despair. Carry the light. We did not give in. We laid a foundation for Jewish and Palestinian humanity across this terribly broken world.”

Photos: Marcia G. Yerman

SIDEBAR: Zahiro Shahar Mor

After the demonstration concluded, I was introduced to Zahiro Shahar Mor. Rather than sitting in the intermittent rain, I suggested getting a coffee. At the time, I hadn’t connected the dots between his specific family members and the news stories that had filtered into American media. I knew he was an outspoken activist, but the extent would become clearer when I read about his arrest during Netanyahu’s “speech” to members of Congress. Mor was seated as a guest in the visitor’s gallery when he was escorted out in response to his vocalizations and then arrested by the Capitol Police. I knew that he was a core member of the families of hostages who had been demonstrating regularly in front of Begin Gate (The location in Tel Aviv of the IDF HaKirya military headquarters.) Mor was also an early participant in the protests against the judicial coup.

Mor lost his cousin, Roi Munders, in the October 7 attacks on Nir Oz. His uncle, Avraham Munder, was one of the bodies retrieved from a Hamas underground tunnel. He recounted how, upon the return of his uncle’s body, Avraham was buried with his son.

I learned details about his family of origin (from Poland and Moldavia), life in Tel Aviv, and the role he has taken in the activist struggle. Mor left the Israeli army in 1997 after over two decades of service, with the rank of Army Captain, and vowed not to serve again.

Mor underscored how the takeover of the police leadership by extremist Itamar Ben-Gvir, now the Minister of National Security, has changed the force and unleashed a proclivity for over-the-top violence. The clashes with Israeli cops, seen with frequency on social media, have escalated.

There is no preference in treatment for those who have relatives still in captivity. For demonstrators, detentions and arrests are now part of the script. Mor showed me a video of himself in a police car, confined for hours while the officers waited for backup.

One of our conversations focused on the challenge of dealing with the cult of messianic Judaism. That morphed into the legacy of Simon bar Kokhba. “They celebrate him,” Mor said. “Zealousness inside the Jewish gene pool must be addressed.”

Mor informed me that he would continue to be present at the Begin Gate demonstrations because, “I can shout my rage out.” In a quiet voice, he continued, “It’s for the future generations. Everyone’s kids.”

Zahiro Shahar Mor