The starvation of Gaza is a perverse repudiation of Judaism’s values
JVL Introduction
In a short, moving contribution Johan Oakes points out that: “This year, Palestinians in Gaza broke their fasts during Ramadan with scraps of garbage and tufts of grass.”
Voluntary abstention, particularly from food, is integral to Judaism, whether on Yom Kuppur or minor fast days, “sombre occasions that mark historical events and communal mourning, and provide time for deep reflection.”
To impose fasting, mass starvation unto death, on Palestinians in Gaza is unspeakably obscene, a perversion of traditional Jewish values, affirms Oakes.
Amen to that.
RK
This article was originally published by the Guardian on Tue 25 Jun 2024. Read the original here.
The starvation of Gaza is a perverse repudiation of Judaism’s values
Hunger’s role in Jewish philosophy and history makes it all the more horrifying that civilians in Gaza are eating garbage
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Starvation to death is GENOCIDE. NO TWO WAYS ABOUT IT.
It is Israel that is the Jewish people’s Golden Calf. Isn’t the first of the 10 commandments ‘Thou shall have no other gods but me’? Imposed starvation on a whole population is not only the depths of cruelty and depravity, it goes against the rule that one should break even Torah law to save a life. Here, as Giora Eland, an ex Israeli general wrote, we must use deprivation of water, fuel and sanitation, to create epidemics famine and disease, which will create mass deaths, saving our soldiers the trouble and risk.Using germ warfare is part of Israel’s toolkit to finish off the Palestinians.