Rabbis Stage Protest, Call For Cease-Fire Inside United Nations

More than 30 rabbis and rabbinical college students staged a protest on the United Nations on Tuesday morning, calling for a cease-fire in Gaza as Palestinian authorities say the demise toll from the U.S.-backed Israeli invasion of the territory approaches 23,000.

The rabbis, who gained entry to the constructing as a part of a guided tour, entered the United Nations Security Council Chamber, the place they recited prayers and chanted their help for a cease-fire. HuffPost embedded with the group and noticed the protest.

Last month, in the identical room, the United States vetoed a decision demanding a cease-fire in Gaza. Thirteen of 15 members of the Security Council voted in favor of the decision; the United Kingdom abstained. Also final month, the United States abstained from a watered-down Security Council decision aimed toward rising humanitarian help to Gaza. Russia abstained from that vote as properly, after the United States vetoed a Russian modification calling for a suspension of hostilities.

“As an Israeli, I’ve gone through cycles of terror and anxiety, frustration, and the most we can do in Israel right now is send goodies to soldiers on the front,” stated Jeremy Milgrom, a rabbi from Jerusalem. “I think coming here is going to do more for Israel.”

Pro-cease-fire Jewish teams — together with Rabbis for Ceasefire, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow — organized Tuesday’s protest motion.

Sophie Ellman-Golan, communications director for Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, pressured the protest was not adversarial towards the United Nations, however moderately, got here in response to the United States’ actions as a part of the physique.

“Since the Biden administration is consistently, single-handedly blocking the U.N. from taking any meaningful action for a cease-fire, we are organizing 36 rabbis and rabbinical students from seven different states to come to the U.N. themselves, and say, ‘We’re speaking for the people, this is a moral call,’” Ellman-Golan informed HuffPost forward of the protest.

“Every single Jewish life, every single Muslim life matters, and to save a life is to save an entire world,” stated Ari Lev Fornari, senior rabbi of Kol Tzedek in Philadelphia.

American Jews have been sharply divided about Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 Hamas assault that left greater than 1,100 individuals useless in Israel and greater than 200 taken as captives, in accordance with Israeli figures. Nearly half of these hostages had been launched as a part of a prisoner swap in November.

“I’m angry. I’m upset. I feel that every day that this war happens, it gets more of us — Palestinians and Israelis and Jews all over the world — in more and more danger,” stated Abby Stein, a rabbi who was raised within the Orthodox group.

Many Jews have participated in pro-cease-fire protests, whereas distinguished Jewish teams just like the Anti-Defamation League have criticized anti-Zionist organizations like Jewish Voice for Peace. ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt referred to such teams in October as “hate groups,” and a number of other former staffers on the group informed Jewish Currents this month that Greenblatt had redirected the ADL’s work to give attention to pro-Palestinian activism moderately than American antisemitism.