UK Rabbi on the BBC: compassion and action for the children of Gaza
On Sunday, December 29th Rabbi Herschel Gluck was given the opportunity to speak on the BBC’s “Sunday” programme. We urge you to listen to the full, short interview (from 20’30” to 25′ 20″) on this link: BBC Sounds – Sunday – Available Episodes
In the meantime, we trust that this summary is helpful. “Rabbi Herschel Gluck OBE on Radio 4’s Sunday this morning made a plea for compassion and for action by the UK government so that all the children of Gaza can be saved. No death or suffering of a child can be collateral damage. Rabbi Gluck’s mother was a kinder transport survivor from the horrors in Austria. It is imperative that we do everything possible to extricate the children in Gaza from the terrible conditions that they are experiencing at present.”
We also note that the British government has, to date, not allowed any injured children into the UK for treatment. We know that injuries are often terrible with many amputations, often conducted without anaesthetic, All children will have witnessed death and destruction, often of their own parents; whole extended families have been wiped out and countless children are orphaned. We remember that a new acronym was created for the injured children in Gaza: WCNSF – Wounded Child, No Surviving Family”. Everyone is experiencing almost unspeakable horrors, some of the Palestinian journalists feel unable to share the very worst of what they have seen because it would be too disturbing for us and yet, they see this and children in Gaza see and experience these terrible, almost unimaginable atrocities and their consequences. The consequences of this trauma will also be profound and lifelong.
We quote from a Letter to the Children of Gaza that we published in November 2023:
“We have failed you. This is the awful guilt we carry. We tried. But we did not try hard enough. We will go to Rafah. Many of us. Reporters. We will stand outside the border with Gaza in protest. We will write and film. This is what we do. It is not much. But it is something. We will tell your story again.”
It is beyond appalling that this destruction of lives has been going on for 13 months since that letter was written; nearly a year from when the South African government made its case to the International Court of Justice. The people of the world have been calling for a ceasefire for almost fifteen months; imagine how many lives would have been spared, how many injuries would not have happened if this call had been backed by governments throughout the world from the beginning. Our governments need to listen and to listen to Jewish leaders like Rabbi Gluck, to note and support his stand for justice for all people, for his emphasis on everyone’s humanity, for reminding the world that Palestinians are human beings, no more but also no less human than Jewish people while so many within the Jewish Establishment seem to go along with dehumanisation. His call for compassion should be heard, should be followed – and followed urgently.
The very least our governments can do is stop its support of the Israeli government and to allow some injured children to receive treatment in the UK.
The sheer fact that we have to ask for compassion, in light of everything that we now know and have witnessed over the past 14months, should give you some insight into the complete moral bankruptcy of this government.
Afraid we can not expect much from the Starmer government as he listens to the Israeli lobby and puts his mouth where the money is. Mike Katz of Jewish Labour Movement and Steve McCabe of Labour Friends of Israel have been made Labour peers
What is happening in Gaza is beyond terrible, I want to hate all Zionists and western leaders who support Israel and Netanyahu but that way is to fall into their trap of justifying eternal war because they are eternal victims. But that’s not the path that we should take as there are many Jews, like Rabbi Herschel Gluck, who tell us that they too are appalled at what is happening in their name.
Sorry but I think that Rabbi Herschel, though saying the children should be saved, sounded rather garbled in his assessments. How can you save the children in such a scenario without an immediate and permanent ceasefire? The children need their parents so everyone needs to be saved from this horrendous holocaust. That is what the Rabbi should have called for, and he should have answered the silly comment from the BBC interviewer that Israel is under existential threat, by saying that the opposite is true. It is the Palestinians who are not only under existential threat but are being wiped out before our very eyes, and their whole habitation and lives being ground to dust. Why for heaven’s sake do they not have a Mike Cushman, a Diana Neslen, or a Glyn Secker, or Ilan Pappe, or anyone else with real knowledge to be interviewed on this programme?
We need to acknowledge the months of persuasion, lobbying and cajoling that were required to persuade Radio4 to grant even these few minutes at 0700 on a Sunday morning to Rabbi Gluck, who is deeply embedded in his local community and yet courageously willing to publicly demonstrate empathy with the Palestinian people. If only the BBC would provide a platform for activists like the ones Abe names, who could set out a comprehensive critique of Israel and all its works! But that is sadly not where we are at. Be assured, JVL is constantly looking for any chink in the armour of a system which denies the very existence of Jews opposed to Israel’s criminality.
I feel shame and sadness in equal measure
The immediate and long term.complicity of the UK goverrnment is a .matter of disgust as is the silence of the MSM. I understand that we are, to date,the only country that
will not accept children from Gaza for medical treatment, children who are victims. of the atrocious slaughter by bombs made wholly or in part in the UK and delivered through our ever obliging offices knowing full well for what they would be used.
I’ve known rabbi Gluck for many decades because his community was working with Roma in Slovakia. He then set up a Jewish-Muslim friendship association. He manages to stay independent and humane while also attending the official HMD events. And I saw him at JSG’s anniversary, where he seemed to be enjoying the irreverent jokes! Such a mensch. As JVLers have pointed out above, any humane influence on our government is going to be cancelled out by the horrible Lords & Ladies Katz, Smeeth/Anderson et al. But thank goodness people like Herschel Gluck exist and can speak and even be heard.
I wholly agree with both comments. But then I have to ask: have we put enough collective pressure on the Starmer government? Or do we believe it isn’t worth it but will fall on deaf ears. And if the latter, do we agree to resign en masse?? And then what? Because this should not be allowed to go on and we are using only words to try to stop it. I ask myself these questions every day. I’m a words person but the power of words alone to confront genocide is not enough. Even the United Nations is failing to stop this because they too depend on words and collective good will. If we were a trades union we would go on strike. Shall we call for a strike by Labour Party members instead of resignation, which would be a gesture of failure, and an international strike against Israel’s genocide? Or WHAT???
Thank you so much for being so honest and open about what is happening in Gaza. I am appalled that the UK government continues to arm Israel and has not taken any injured children here to UK for medical care as has the Irish government. I support Embrace the middle east and Al Ahli hospital to help them continue. The courage of the nurses and doctors in Gaza is inspiring and humbling. I pray every day for a ceasefire to end this horrendous suffering that the Israeli hostages and innocent people of Gaza are enduring.