The Jewish Caucus's Perspective on the Israel-Hamas War

Written by Chairman Luiz Gandelman on behalf of the Jewish Caucus of the High School Democrats of America

On October 7th, 2023, amid the sacred Jewish Holiday of Simchat Torah, Hamas terrorists broke through the southern border of Israel, destroying various homes and towns, namely Kfar Aza and Kibbutz Be’eri, while also killing 1,200+ Israeli Civilians and kidnapping over 240 others. These terrorists committed brutal atrocities, such as rape, beheadings, infanticide, and burning civilians to death. Many victims were burned and mutilated so badly that identification was barely possible. These monstrosities, committed unprovoked, led to an outbreak of war between Israel’s military and Hamas, who fled back into Gaza with civilians and bodies, which were shown on video being abused and paraded around as civilians cheered. Israel’s Operation Iron Swords began soon after, with heavy bombardment and an eventual ground invasion of the Gaza strip by the IDF. As of yet, this operation has sadly killed over 11K Palestinians, as well as displaced 1.5 Million. It has also, however, helped free over 25 Israeli, American, and Thai hostages thus far and severely weakened Hamas’ military capabilities and infrastructure. While the death toll in Gaza is absolutely awful, the “anti-Israel” camp has been spreading a wide array of mis-informed opinions and lies about the situation, including the many outlined below. This publication, crafted with the input of the members of the Jewish Caucus dispels those lies and shows why most Democrats, including President Biden, have been, and are currently, very supportive of Israel, and why that does not go against your progressive values, but rather with it.

“Israel is committing genocide”

A Palestinian Woman fleeing Northern Gaza after an IDF order to vacate civilian areas

Israel is in fact not committing genocide, as according to Article II of the Geneva Convention, genocide is “as a crime committed with the intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, in whole or in part”. Israel’s operation in the Gaza Strip has tragically killed many Palestinians, but it has never been intended to wipe out any part of the Palestinian population, save for those who are members of Hamas or affiliated with other terrorist groups. Israel has repeatedly warned civilians to vacate areas known to be used by Hamas, and has used “roof knocking”, a practice of sending non-explosive warning strikes to buildings imminent to be destroyed or otherwise striked. An important factor to note, as well, is that Israel has dropped over 25,000 tons of bombs on Gaza, close to twice the power of a nuclear bomb. Still less than 15K Palestinians have been killed, indicating less than one death per 1000 tons of bombs. This is a level of accuracy rarely seen in major international bombing campaigns. This comes on top of Hamas using civilians as human shields, launching rockets from civilian areas, and building terror tunnels under civilian infrastructure throughout Gaza. While each and every single Palestinian civilian death is just as tragic as every Israeli one, perpetuating claims that Israel is targeting civilians is absurd and flat out inaccurate, and it is worth recognizing that Hamas has in fact openly targeted civilians, the elderly, and children.

(Top) A map often cited to show “Land loss of Palestine”, (Bottom) Same map corrected for Historical accuracy. Source(Hananya Naftali/Instagram)

In an effort to delegitimize Israel, its critics often reference the fact that Britain and the UN helped establish a Jewish State in modern day Israel/Palestine, but they often conveniently leave out one fact: the areas “given” to Israel were the areas with a Jewish majority, and the areas “given” to Palestine were the areas with an Arab majority. While this seems obvious, it is conveniently left out, alongside the fact that the 1948 war broke out due to Arab countries refusing a Jewish State, and invading the newly-declared Israel. This war ended with all of what was the British Mandate of Palestine (not Arab Palestine like today) being split into Israel, as well as parts of Egypt and Jordan. In 1967, after the six day war, however, Israel took control of Gaza and the West Bank, alongside other territories that were eventually annexed or returned. This was the first time Palestine existed as we know it today, and it was in 1967. That was when de-facto occupation began, and anyone that tells you 1948 or any number, later or earlier, is misinformed. In 1993, the Oslo Accords were signed, with the main goal being to give Palestinians sovereignty. After lengthy negotiations and a deadly surge of terror, Israel withdrew unilaterally from the Gaza Strip in 2005, leading to Hamas taking control after winning an election. What does this mean? Well, not only is the occupation of Gaza long gone, but the occupation of the West Bank is much later than typically portrayed. Any claims that Israel occupied the West Bank before 1967 are ridiculous and fraudulent. With that in mind, Israel's occupation of the West bank is awful, and many Israelis like myself openly condemn it. Gaza, however, is not under occupation. It is an independent enclave, run by terrorists. It is, however, blockaded by both Israel and Egypt to prevent terrorism and arms sales, but that does not constitute an occupation.

Hamas “militants” are justified resistance fighters”

A Hamas child soldier in Gaza

Various media outlets, notably those biased against Israel, refuse to call Hamas terrorists, rather settling for fighters or militants. While many, like the BBC, try to paint this as a complex issue, it really is not. You see, several countries and bodies, ranging from the USA and European union, to Paraguay and the UK, officially designate Hamas a terrorist group. You see, they fit exactly into the Oxford Definition of Terrorists: “a person who uses unlawful violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims”. If you don’t believe me, read the official Hamas Charter, which states that “Jihad is the only solution” and that “Israel is illegitimate”. As if that is not enough, it blames Jews for nearly all global issues and expresses a desire to “rid the world of its Jews”. Under no circumstance is that justified, or anything short of blatant terrorism. An argument is often made comparing Hamas to WW2 Resistance Fighters, or something of the sort to otherwise downplay their terror as “resistance”. “Resistance” does not target civilians, as Hamas has since its inception, and their clearly stated goal is genocide of the Jews and the destruction of Israel, something that I find fairly hard to justify, especially if you consider yourself a progressive.

“Israel is an Apartheid State”

An Arab-Druze IDF Soldier serving in the Border Patrol in Northern Israel

While many “human rights” groups, from Amnesty and Human Rights Watch, to even B’tzelem, have called Israel an Apartheid State, that is completely unfounded and untrue. According to Amnesty themselves, “The crime against humanity of apartheid under the Apartheid Convention, the Rome Statute and customary international law is committed when any inhuman or inhumane act (essentially a serious human rights violation) is perpetrated in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over another, with the intention to maintain that system”. While this can and partly does apply to Israeli treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank, by nature of it, as well as Gaza, not being part of the State of Israel, the word apartheid is simply inaccurate. Israel is in fact exerting an awful military occupation over the West Bank, which many Israelis like myself condemn openly and actively organize against, but within Israel proper, all Israelis have equal rights, whether Jewish, Palestinian/Arab, Druze, Circassian, or anything else. As a matter of fact, Israel has and has had an Arab Muslim Supreme Court justice, elected Ministers and members of Knesset, military officers, and even an Arab-Druze interim President and Knesset Speaker. While criticizing Israel’s occupation of the West Bank is crucial, calling Israel an apartheid state in any capacity is clearly false, and does not reflect the reality of day-to-day life for all Israeli Citizens.

“Israelis/Jews are White Colonizers; Israel is a settler-colonial state” 

A Mizrahi jewish family fleeing Yemen in 1948.

First off in this ridiculous claim, is the ignorance of the fact that more than half of Israel’s Jewish population is not of European Descent, but rather directly from the Levant or from neighboring Arab countries, who oppressed them for centuries and expelled over a million of them since 1948. As if that is not enough, Israeli Jews hail from various races/ethnicities, from Maghreb to East African, and from Caucasian (not white, Caucasus) to East Asian. This narrative that Jews are somehow not from the Middle East and the Levant becomes even more ridiculous when historical evidence is used. Although the Torah means a lot to me, I can see how some may view it as biased, as any Religious Book, so for the sake of the argument let us only look at two fields: archeology and genealogy. This database, for example shows some of the millions of artifacts found, ranging from coins and pottery, to tunnels and rings, that show archeological proof of Jewish Presence in the Levant and modern-day Israel/Palestine long before Arabs even set foot on the Levant and well before Jews ever left the Levant. Genealogical evidence, additionally, points to this as well, showing Jews existed in the Levant thousands of years ago, and when coupled with the fact that many Jews never left, establishes indigeneity, making it physically impossible for Jews to be colonizers, as they are living in their homeland, and many of them never left. The settler-colony argument, though, is the easiest to tackle. For a nation to be a settler-colony, they need to have a metropolis, or a state/empire which they are a colony of, which Israelis very clearly lack. They also need to be on stolen land from an indigenous population, which as we have discussed, is plainly not true.

“Anti Zionism is not antisemitic”

An anti-Israel demonstration featuring the genocidal catchphrase: “From the river to the sea”, which calls for the destruction of the State of Israel and the expulsion of Jews from the Levant.

Anti Zionism is inherently, by all meanings of the idea, antisemitic. The entire concept of Anti Zionism is calling for the dismantling of the State of Israel as a whole. After all, Zionism merely means the belief in Jewish self-determination, and opposition to that is opposition to the existence of Israel. The best example I have when it comes to this is with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. While almost all rational people are willing to openly condemn Putin and his invasion of Ukraine, we are yet to see anyone call for the destruction or dismantling of Russia as a whole. So why, does Israel, of all countries in the world, have to be the only one dismantled? That is where valid criticism of Israeli policies and actions crosses over into antisemitism, when Israel is denied the mere right to exist, something that is awarded to all other countries. Anti Zionism, which seeks to destroy Israel, singles out Israel among all nations in the world, most of whom have done far worse than Israel. When the only Jewish State is so virulently targeted and so frequently wished destruction upon, one can only accept the presence of antisemitism.

Israel is not always on the right, and calling it out when it isn’t is necessary, but not at the expense of Jewish safety and the truth. This misconstruction of facts and Jewish history is ignorant if not blatantly bigoted, and must be rejected by any rational person. These are not all of the facts, and it is crucial to amplify Israeli and Palestinian voices working to build a peaceful future for all, but amplifying hateful and misinformed voices just makes the whole process harder. I have written extensively about this, and am always happy to answer questions, and I hope this pseudo-guide helps clear up some of the disinformation so pervasive in the media and news.