Prominent American Reform Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch denounced progressive groups for supporting Hamas, accusing them of betraying liberalism, in a Friday sermon at the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in New York.
Hirsch warned of a “deteriorating commitment to liberal values on the Left,” which was camouflaged behind ideological rhetoric about anti-racism, anti-colonialism, human rights, and progress. The deterioration of values threatened not just the Middle East but all of Western civilization, he said.
American Jews were partners with progressive movements for decades, noted Hirsch, helping to build US universities and promoting civil and human rights, but these organizations and groups sided with Hamas and condemned Israel in the wake of Oct. 7.
“Universities, elite schools, and human rights organizations couldn’t even find the compassion to identify with the victims of Hamas, let alone condemn the perpetrators, even before Israel responded militarily,” said Hirsch. “Not only did they avoid condemning Hamas; some considered the massacres legitimate resistance.”
Hirsch blasted young progressive Americans for failing to assign moral agency to Hamas and Palestinians when they are so quick to hold others accountable for supposed moral failings.
“There would be a ceasefire by the time we wake up tomorrow morning if Hamas released the hostages and laid down its arms. Why not demand to release the hostages and lay down their arms?” asked Hirsch.
The rabbi questioned how these youths and progressive organizations could support terrorist organizations like Hamas, which oppresses women, LGBTQ+ people, Christians, and other minorities.
“How could feminist organizations with whom we marched arm in arm not condemn horrific sexual violence against Israeli women?” Hirsch demanded. “How can we explain that the very people who insist that women should be assumed to be telling the truth about sexual assaults demanded proof from Israeli women, refusing to consider the starkest evidence in front of their eyes? What to make of climate activist allies who take time out of their days and money out of their coffers to oppose Israel, as if there is some insidious intersectional connection between the evils of the Jewish state and the perils of climate change?”
Hirsch said that such organizations were not progressive but regressive and had betrayed liberalism. He called for the defense of liberal values, such as civil liberties, the protection of minorities, tolerance, reason, fairness, and meritocracy.
“I feel so violated, so angry, so hurt by the moral equivocation of people who have been my friends and allies in the struggle for social justice,” said Hirsch, regarding the attacks by Hamas and subsequent Israeli military operations.
Hirsch said that Hamas killed and captured the most liberal of Israelis and wouldn’t care what any Jew’s political beliefs were before killing them. Palestinians’ treatment of liberal Israelis after they extended their hands in peace left them feeling betrayed.
Criticism of Israel is legitimate and important as a function of democracy, according to Hirsch, adding that every Jew should feel anguish for the loss of innocent Palestinian life. However, he continued, Israel did not choose to go to war, and it is now fighting an existential conflict against a genocidal force.
Israel's war against Hamas is akin to the fight against the Nazis
Hirsch compared the military operation against Hamas to the Allies’ fight against the Nazis.
“In the 85 days it took to liberate Normandy, an estimated 20,000 French civilians died, and many thousands more were wounded and dislocated. The Allies bombed French villages, pulverizing them to rubble,” Hirsch noted. “It was the only way to loosen the death grip of Nazi forces. Nobody asked then, nor do they ask today, why the Allies caused the deaths of so many thousands of French villagers. On the contrary, there are still annual celebrations of liberation and eternal gratitude for America. They realized then, and they understand now, that war is awful and causes us to kill and that innocents die and suffer in war. It is why all who care about fellow human beings should do everything in their power to avoid war in the first place.”
Hirsch reminded his audience that they were not the first generation of Jews to encounter such genocidal adversity, saying they must remain optimistic and keep faith while praying for the return of those in Hamas captivity.
The rabbi, a former IDF tank commander, is set to visit Israel this week.