The former liberal justice, Irwin Cotler, has joined thousands of Jews who asked Israeli Benjamin Netanyahu prime minister to end war and hunger in Gaza.
The former human rights activist is a firm defender of Israel and has faced Iran’s death threats for his support for the Jewish state and democracy worldwide. He has signed an open letter that says that Netanyahu is endangering peace at home and abroad.
“The policies and rhetoric of the government they lead are doing lasting damage to Israel, their position in the world and the perspectives of safe peace for all Israelis and Palestinians,” says the letter.
“This has serious consequences for Israel, but also for the well -being, security and unity of Jewish communities around the world.”
The letter, organized by a group called London initiative, calls Gaza’s help restrictions “a moral and strategic disaster” that delivers a “propaganda victory to Hamas” and undermines the important work of counteracting Hamas and Iran.
“We do not deny Hamas’s despicable role in the theft of help and prevent its distribution, but we cannot reject the evidence of our eyes and ears in terms of the extension of human suffering and the role of their government’s policies in it,” argue the signatories.
The letter also calls Israel’s failure to suppress the violence of the settlers, which says it has helped to boost the current “diplomatic tsunami” of the criticism of the historical companions of Israel.
“If Israel’s army, when you give you the bold order for you, you can send a missile through a window in Tehran to eliminate an Iranian general with infallible precision, surely you have the ability to maintain order in the West Bank, avoid extremist Jewish violence, protect Palestinian civilians and apply the law,” says La Letter.
The letter also calls the rhetoric used by the Netanyahu Cabinet ministers that describes as “a moral abomination and a Chilul Hashem, a desecration of Jewish values and the principles of Israel’s foundation.”
He quotes the example of the Minister of Israeli inheritance Amichai Eliyahu, who said that his government is “erasing Gaza” and that the territory will be completely Jewish.
Netanyahu governs with a coalition that includes Jewish supremacist parties that have cited religion to advocate widely seen policies as ethnic cleaning.
“The members of their government have used the language of racism, hatred and incitementless incitement,” says the letter.
“Any opportunity to launch all hostages must be seized and prioritized above the appeasement of the extremist members of their coalition.”
The letter warns that this “incitement language” erodes efforts to strengthen the ties of the Jews with Israel and is “undermining Jewish communities as we face an increase in anti -Semitic and anti -tissue hate.”
The letter was also signed by the Canadian philanthropist Charles Bronfman, one of the founders of the Birthright program, who sends young Jews on trips to Israel.
His lifellers also include professors and prominent Canadian volunteers with projects such as the new Israel Fund and the Herzl project, although he points out that the signatories are talking as individuals and not in the name of their institutions.
Netanyahu does not seem to have responded directly to the letter since it was made public a week ago, although he defended the war on Sunday, saying that Israel’s only option is to completely defeat Hamas.
