CJV received an extraordinary volume of queries and requests for a counter-letter in the wake of a statement, “A Call for Moral Clarity, Responsibility, and a Jewish Orthodox Response in the Face of the Gaza Humanitarian Crisis,” covered widely in Jewish media, which claims that Israel bears moral culpability for the situation in Gaza.

Rabbi Yehuda (Leonard) Oppenheimer of Afula Illit, Israel, and Rabbi Jonathan Guttentag of Manchester, England, both drafted replies making key points, which were merged into a single statement for signatures by members of our Rabbinic Circle and others. The combined response makes numerous important points: that all suffering in Gaza is due to Hamas; that Israel’s responsibilities are self-defense, release of the hostages, and elimination of future danger; that “humanitarian aid” has enriched Hamas, prolonged the conflict, and increased the casualties; and that reference to “settler violence” without mention of the continuous, hateful acts of terrorism committed against Jews simply inverts who is the hateful party.

Most of all, our letter rejects the notion that the previous statement was a “Jewish Orthodox Response.” In reality, though it was written by a genuine Orthodox rabbi and has a handful of actual rabbinic signatories, what the JTA depicted as “80 Modern Orthodox rabbis” are overwhelmingly affiliates of “Rabbi” Shmuley Yanklowitz and his “Uri L’Tzedek” “Orthodox Social Justice movement,” people who, as our letter states, “come from the ranks of ‘Open Orthodoxy,’ including nearly twenty women who have adopted the title ‘rabbi’ and several openly gay clergy.” And thus its claim to be a “Jewish Orthodox Response” is no more honest than its depiction of events in Gaza, Judea, and Samaria.

Less than a day later, our letter already has nearly as many signatures as theirs (80), although it is Erev Shabbos and many rabbis had not heard of this issue previously. We look forward to publicizing this letter soon, once we have a significantly larger number of signatories.