Why are American Jewish institutions ignoring the hostage families?
Israelis participate in an anti-government protest against Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in Tel Aviv, Israel on Saturday, May 25, 2024. Photo by Itai Ron/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images
This week, the families of Israeli hostages issued an urgent appeal to American Jewish organizations:
“We are calling upon you as the leaders of our brethren in the United States — Stand with us at this most critical moment and publicly call on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept the hostage release deal that is currently on the table, end this war, and prevent extremist factions from further harming and endangering our families.”
The hostage families’ statement did not mince words in blaming Netanyahu for the many months the hostages have languished in Gaza. “We are all hostage to Bibi’s actions. He is risking the lives of our soldiers. He is jeopardizing the lives of our hostages. He is endangering us all.”
American Jewish organizations have certainly not been silent about the hostages. Thousands have attended “Bring them Home” rallies, synagogues recite the prayer for captives each Shabbat and untold numbers wear dog tags, yellow ribbon pins and yellow bracelets. But as evident in this desperate appeal from the families, most major Jewish organizations have stopped short of criticizing the Netanyahu government or explicitly calling for a deal that will end the war.
There are exceptions of course. The Reform Movement issued a statement supporting President Joe Biden’s announcement of a potential ceasefire and hostage release plan, and calling on Netanyahu to accept it. T’ruah, the organization I lead, has been clear in our calls for a bilateral ceasefire that brings home the hostages and ends the war. Ditto our partners in the Progressive Israel Network, including J Street, Americans for Peace Now, New York Jewish Agenda and New Israel Fund.
But many of the largest Jewish organizations, including legacy groups such as Jewish Federations of North America, American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League have decoupled calls to “Bring them Home” from any talk of ending the war, and have refrained from placing any blame on the Israeli government.
For example, New York’s Israel Day Parade was held earlier this week, led by families of hostages carrying banners reading “Bring Them Home” and “Deal Now.” These words are clearly understood by Israelis as an appeal to their own government, yet an email sent following the parade from the New York Jewish Community Relations Council described participants as “sending an urgent message to the world: ‘Bring Them Home Now!’” A current action alert by the American Jewish Committee asks the U.S. Congress to help bring back the hostages — with no reference to the efforts of Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other officials to urge Israel to accept a deal.
During two visits to Israel over the past month, I had multiple opportunities to stand with families of hostages and other Israelis during their daily protests in Tel Aviv, to join them in blocking the Menachem Begin thoroughfare and the Ayalon highway, and to march in the Saturday night protests in Jerusalem. Other Israelis are protesting outside of Netanyahu’s home in Caesarea, as well as in Haifa, Beersheva and other cities throughout the country.
These demonstrations have a single target: the Netanyahu government. Popular chants call for a deal now, proclaim the blood of the hostages to be on the hands of the government and demand prioritizing the hostages and ending the war. It’s clear to protesters that Netanyahu and his government have made a decision to abandon the hostages in favor of prolonging the war. The Prime Minister has avoided meeting with hostage families, and police have violently suppressed protesting family members.
At a protest this week, following the announcement that four hostages previously seen alive in Gaza had been killed, Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is held hostage, declared, “This evening, we received unequivocal proof of the result of military pressure: we get them back dead.” Last month, on the eve of the invasion of Rafah, I watched from the Ayalon as Zangauker, standing atop a stopped car, excoriated the government for its plans to invade Rafah rather than pursue a ceasefire agreement that could bring her son and others home.
Zangauker is hardly a leftist. A single mother from Ofakim in southern Israel, she has described herself as a former Likud voter who supported Netanyahu in the last election. Now, she has become one of the most prominent anti-government voices.
Recent polling shows that the majority of Israelis likewise would prioritize the hostages over continuing the war or destroying Hamas. The alarming number of soldiers coming home in body bags — 295 at last count — has only reinforced Israelis’ understanding that the only victory in this war is the return of the hostages. At one protest I attended, members of a new group of parents of combat soldiers hoisted signs reading, “Lo tov lamut be’ad aritzenu” (“It’s not good to die for our tyrants”), a play on early Zionist hero Joseph Trumpeldor’s alleged last words, “Tov lamut be’ad artzenu” (“It’s good to die for our country”).
This is not to say that the majority of Israelis have suddenly developed deep concern for Palestinians in Gaza. While the “Gush neged hakibush” (“anti-occupation bloc”) maintains a visible presence at protests, as it did during last year’s democracy movement, few speeches mention the death and devastation in Gaza. But even Israelis unable to muster sympathy for Palestinians understand that there is no hostage deal without ending the war, and that the Israeli government must abandon any pretense of destroying Hamas.
Somehow, the message that is so obvious to Israelis has not penetrated much of the American Jewish consciousness. And so major Jewish organizations continue to insist on their concern for hostages, even while simultaneously defending the ongoing war, which endangers Palestinians, Israeli hostages trapped in Gaza and Israeli soldiers. Institutions hang signs announcing “we stand with Israel” without clarifying whether this means standing with the government of Israel, which is prolonging the war at the expense of both Israeli and Palestinian lives, or with the people of Israel who by and large want it all to stop.
It’s not surprising that most American Jewish organizations have avoided criticizing the Israeli government. Even during last year’s democracy protests, when hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets week after week to stop their extremist government from passing anti-democratic legislation, most legacy organizations could muster only a few words in support of democracy, and avoided joining even Israeli-led protests in the United States.
Too many of our communal organizations still believe that supporting Israel requires supporting its government, and that any public criticism strengthens the anti-Israel voices. In fact, the opposite is true. Jewish organizations that call for a return of hostages without simultaneously calling for an end to the war only feed the toxic narrative that one must choose between caring about Israelis and caring about Palestinians.
For their part, the far left also has bought into the myth that one must choose between ending the war and bringing home the hostages, and between the safety of Palestinians and Israelis. Those tearing down hostage posters have justified their actions by insisting that these posters are meant to drum up support for the war. But as Israelis understand, calls for the return of hostages and calls to end the war are not contradictory; they are the same.
The families of hostages understand the immediate danger to their loved ones. And they know that the only way to save their relatives’ lives is a deal that also ends the war. They also know that while Hamas has been reluctant to end hostilities, their own government has consistently refused to make a deal.
They are begging American Jewish organizations to join them in demanding that Netanyahu accept an agreement and end the war. Every communal leader and communal organization that claims to support the hostages must heed their desperate plea: “Please do not remain silent in the face of his criminal abandonment of Israeli citizens in captivity. Do not allow him to sabotage this deal.”
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