A recent statement issued in the name of “Orthodox rabbis” against Israel and its conduct in the present war has drawn attention. Its authors may claim that they are speaking for the good of Israel, but in truth, their words strike against Israel and its just struggle to defeat its enemies.
They imagine they are offering moral correction, yet the effect of their statement is to weaken Israel, strengthen our enemies, and encourage vile murderers and rapists.
From the very outset, the statement begins with deception. Many of the signatories are not Orthodox by any accepted standard, yet they march under that banner. Some even claim titles that Orthodoxy itself does not recognize. To label this as an “Orthodox” statement is not the truth; it is a misrepresentation. It is a misuse of the Torah’s name for political ends.
But the deeper betrayal lies in its posture.
The Talmud in Chullin (63b) speaks of the bird called ra’ah—also known as dayah. Why two names? Because it is said to have such sharp vision that it can see carrion in the Land of Israel while it stands in Babylon. But the deeper point is this: the ra’ah/dayah is a tamei bird, not kosher. Its sharp sight is not a mark of holiness but of impurity. It sees only what is rotten, and that is why it is forbidden. Strikingly, this very bird, the ra’ah, is mentioned in the weekly Torah portion we are now reading, Re’eh. The Torah’s message is clear: a vision that sees only decay, even from great distances, is not a vision of purity but of defilement.
So it is with these signatories. Living in America, in Europe, and in other places far from Israel, they imagine they can see Israel’s flaws clearly. But like the impure bird that spots only carrion, they perceive only faults. Even those of us who live in Israel do not always know all the facts in real time; how much less so those who live in countries where a tidal wave of propaganda against Israel floods the newspapers, television, and every channel of communication. From such a distorted distance, how can they presume to speak with authority? They sit in safety abroad, yet presume to pass judgment on those who live under fire.
Even those few who sign from within Israel have adopted this same gaze of exile. Their language is not the Torah of Eretz Yisrael but the rhetoric of foreign chancelleries and NGOs. They view their own people through the eyes of the nations, not through the eyes of the covenant.
Consider their own words. They write: “Whilst recognizing that Hamas’s sins and crimes do not relieve the government of Israel of its obligations to make whatever efforts are necessary to prevent mass starvation…” But do they know the facts? Do they know that Israel has indeed made—and continues to make—precisely those efforts? Do they know that Israel provides the very convoys of fuel, medicine, food, and water that sustain Gaza, even as Hamas steals and diverts them to build tunnels of terror?
In the history of the world’s wars, has there ever been another country that supplied its sworn enemies—enemies bent on annihilating it—with the resources of life? Was it done in the First World War? The Second World War? By any nation at any time? No. Only in Israel.
The truth is this: the Israeli soldier, the Israeli people, are the most humanitarian of any army that has ever gone to war. To accuse them of cruelty is not merely false; it is slander. And it is slander that strengthens the hand of those who seek our destruction.
Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook, the first chief rabbi, wrote in Orot Yisrael (7):
“Even the sins of Israel, when they are bound to the Land of Israel, have greater worth than all the righteousness of outside the Land.”
This is the truth they have forgotten. Life in Eretz Yisrael, even when flawed, is suffused with holiness and sacrifice. It is worth more than the polished “righteousness” of those abroad who scold without bearing responsibility—or of those within Israel who speak with the voice of exile rather than the voice of Zion.
Where is the recognition of Israeli suffering?
Where is their voice for the hostages, still held in darkness? Where is their cry for the families driven from their homes by rockets? Where are their tears for the children burying their murdered parents? Instead of standing with their people in their hour of trial, they amplify a one-sided tale of Palestinian suffering and erase Jewish pain. They magnify faults they imagine, blind to facts, deaf to context, and silent to the greater injustices we endure.
The Psalmist commands: Sha’alu shalom Yerushalayim, yishlayu ohavaich—“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, they who love you shall prosper” (Tehillim 122:6). These voices, however, do not pray for Jerusalem’s peace; they condemn her in public forums. At a time when Israel is besieged on all sides—by terrorists, by hostile courts, by an onslaught of lies—they choose to strengthen the hand of the accuser.
Like the ra’ah/dayah, they boast of sight, but what they see is only carrion. They cannot perceive the miracle of Jewish life renewed in its land, the sanctity of sacrifice, the holiness of national rebirth. And so, what they call prophecy is in fact betrayal.
True leadership does not magnify Israel’s imagined faults before the world. True leadership strengthens her in her struggle, even as it prays for her healing. These signatories have chosen instead to rebuke without love, to posture without responsibility, to clothe themselves in Torah while abandoning its heart.
History will not remember them as prophets of justice, but as those who, in Israel’s hour of trial, stood with the accusers rather than with their people.
The author is a member of the Rabbinical Council of Israel.