​The first Israel-Hellenic Forum took place in Jerusalem between the 12th and the 14th of November, with the participation of diplomats, academics, technocrats and journalists from Israel, Greece and Cyprus. It was initiated by B’nai B’rith International, an organization which is active among the Jewish diaspora since 1843 and maintains permanent representation in the United Nations since 1960. The first Israel-Hellenic Forum came as the result of the long-lasting cooperation between B’nai B’rith and the Greek-American lobby. I had the honor and the pleasure to be invited in the event and participate as a speaker, attempting a brief overview of Greek-Israeli relations before the two countries realize the multiple possibilities of regional cooperation.

ADVERTISINGThe pro-Arab stance Greek governments were adopting in the international fora for decades was criticized in various ways in Israel, beginning from its establishment in 1948 and up to 2010. From 2010 onwards, those criticisms are somehow forgotten. Nevertheless, Israeli questions still remain, as to what exactly prompted Greece to criticize severely their country's policy during the past. Now, it seems to be the right time for rational answers.

In 1947 Greece voted against the UN Partition Plan, according to which two States were to be established in Palestine, one Jewish and one Arab. Back then, in Israel, Greece's ‘No-vote’ was perceived as anti-Jewish, anti-Israeli and purely anti-Semitic. However, had the Greek State been anti-Semitic, Greek Authorities would have banned the operation of local Jewish organizations – mainly in Thessaloniki – which were actively advocating Zionist ideals by promoting Jewish immigration to Mandate Palestine during the 1920s and 1930s. Such practice from the part of the Greek administration never happened.

The Greek rejection of the UN Partition Plan can be explained easily. Back in 1947 the Civil War in Greece raged and the government in Athens needed British backing. The UN Partition Plan would officially bring to an end the British Mandate in Palestine, and this development was conceived by Athens as a clear sign the beginning of London’s withdrawal from the Eastern Mediterranean. Back then, such possibility scared Athens. By saying “No” to the Partition Plan, the British-backed Greek government was actually stating in a firm way its desire for Britain to remain in the region. A similar pro-British statement was made by Turkey as well – a fact we often tend to forget -. A firm Turkish declaration against the end of the British Mandate in Palestine aimed to make clear that Turkey was willing to become a part of the post-War West and that its previous important period of neutrality came already to an end.

It is obvious that Athens had no reason to wish or not to wish the creation of a Jewish and an Arab state in Palestine. Actually, Greece was the country that hosted the first UN peacekeeping mediation to end the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. From June 1948 to April 1949, Israeli, Egyptian, and Jordanian negotiators were hosted in Rhodes, where they signed the Armistice Agreements of 1949, which essentially split Palestine into two. During the Rhodes Armistice Negotiations, Greek diplomacy was too careful not to express any position whatsoever, in order not to be seen as supportive of the irrevocable British withdrawal, nor supported of Israelis or Arabs. It was the choice of Greek diplomacy to seem as absent as possible, while at the same time it was promoting the then Mayor of Rhodes, Gabriel Haritos, to manage Greece’s good services within the framework of the host country’s duties.

However, excessive neutrality led to misunderstandings, leading to diplomatic paradoxes. While the boundaries of Israel’s territory were essentially defined by the Armistice Agreements which were signed on Greek soil, the Greek State itself decided not to recognize Israel neither de jure nor de facto. A Greek Consul served in Jerusalem since 1862, initially accredited to the Ottomans and later to the British Authorities. From 1948 and for four consequent years, the Greek Consul was not accredited neither to the Israeli nor to the Jordanian Authorities, which were in control of the two parts of the city.

Greece's diplomatic “self-standing” presence in Jerusalem – which was by then, according to Israeli, the country’s capital - ended in 1952, when Athens recognized Israel de facto (due to US pressure, since Greece was about to become a NATO member-State). But that de facto recognition, instead of clearing up the picture, it lead to a new diplomatic paradox: The Greek Consul in Jerusalem was renamed "Diplomatic Representative of Greece to the Israeli Government". In other words, Greece was recognizing the Israeli government de facto, while it was not totally clear whether that recognition was referring to the Israeli State itself.. This question remained unanswered not sooner that in May 1990, when both countries decided to normalize their diplomatic relations.

In the 1950s, the Cyprus Conflict monopolized the Greek foreign policy agenda. It was the decade that Greece conducted a difficult diplomatic struggle within the framework of the UN General Assembly, where Israel had only one vote and the Arab countries much more. The Greek pro-Arab stance was the result of a simple ‘vote-counting rationale’. The same rationale was applied even after the signing of the 1959 London-Zurich Agreements on Cyprus, because Athens was trying to preserve the presence of the Greek Diaspora in Nasserist Egypt. In the early 1960s, even after the massive displacement of the Greek community in Egypt, Athens was hoping for a compensation agreement with the Nasserist regime – a hope that never came true. Nevertheless, Greece felt that this ‘vote-counting rationale’ would be useful in the UN, due to the clash between Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots, from the end of 1963 and onwards. Greece could not possibly ignore all these facts. Greek-Israeli diplomatic normalization would diminish any possibility of pro-Greek Arab votes, mainly in the UN or elsewhere.

1967 has been a turning point for Greek-Israeli relations. Both Greece and Israel found themselves isolated diplomatically - the first due to the establishment of a military regime following the coup on April 21, 1967, the latter due to the Six Day War. For the backstage contacts between Athens and Jerusalem, History still has much to tell. Despite the sudden change of atmosphere between the two countries, Greece avoided to express any clear stance on the Arab-Israeli conflict, lest its critics multiply. Israel was experiencing exactly the same fear and careful reluctancy characterized its public approach toward military-ruled Greece at that specific period of time.

With the Transition to Democracy (1975), the “vote-counting rationale” became again the main criteria about Greece’s decision to normalize its ties with Israel or not. Due to Turkey’s invasion to Cyprus in 1974, Greece was once again in need of the numerous Arab votes in the UN. Greek diplomacy was renewing its pro-Arab and pro-Palestinian agenda throughout the 1980s. It was back then, when Turkey was trying to legitimize its faits accomplis in Cyprus by encouraging the Muslim (and Arab) Stated to diplomatically recognize the so-called "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" (“TRNC”) – the administrative entity established by Turkey on November 15, 1983.

That was exactly the period when Greece was cultivating close political ties with Libya. The Greek-Libyan connection seemed to surprise Greece’s Western allies at that times. Nevertheless, that approach was revealing Athens' anxiety to avoid any possibility of an Arab recognition of the “TRNC”. Greece did not forget that in the summer of 1974, Gaddafi’s Libya was the only country to congratulate Turkey for its invasion of Cyprus. The reason was simple: Gaddafi wanted to legitimize his country’s its invasion to Northern Chad, which occurred two years beforehand, in 1972. Since Colonel Gaddafi was not controlled by the West, Greek PM Andreas Papandreou wisely decided to woo him, in order to avoid any Libyan act of recognition of the "TRNC". And Greece did manage to prevent such a move.   

On the other hand, Greece wanted to prevent a parallel move from the moderate Sunni Arab States of the Gulf. The cultivation of warm ties with PLO’s Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian cause in general was viewed by Andreas Papandreou’s administration as a strategic choice, which did prevent a massive Arab diplomatic recognition of the “TRNC” on the one hand, while on the other hand reassured the Hellenic ethnic character of the Greek-Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem during the period of the First Intifada. Nevertheless, Turkish diplomatic efforts succeeded to grant “TRNC” the “observer status” at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
​
In the 1990s, the Oslo Accords changed the balance between Israel and the Arab world. This development created the momentum for Greece to normalize its relations with Israel. Since 2010, the newly revealed natural gas resources in the Eastern Mediterranean were meant to become the main catalyst, resulting in a solid common ground, upon which the ongoing multidimensional regional cooperation is taking place, along with the Republic of Cyprus.

​A Belgian town has decided to drop itself from the list of United Nations’ cultural heritage sites in order to keep a carnival that in March featured a float that depicted large-nosed religious Jews sitting on bags of money.

The decision came a week ahead of a U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) meeting in Colombia, where one of the topics was whether Aalst should stay on the Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

The European Union and the European Jewish Association have vocally criticized the carnival that has taken place since 2010.

Aalst Mayor Christoph D’Haese said that city officials were tired of the complaints that the event was anti-Semitic. He told Flemish broadcaster VTM that the officials “have had it a bit with the grotesque complaints, and Aalst will renounce its UNESCO recognition.”

Subscribe to The JNS Daily Syndicate by email and never miss our top stories“It was clear that we had to go, so we kept the honor to ourselves,” he added.

Organizers of the 2020 event published 150 caricatures mocking Jews ahead of the event.

The caricatures, which feature Orthodox Jews with red, hooked noses and golden teeth, were printed on ribbons for participants.

“A one-off is a one-off, and we hoped that this was the case with the disgusting images at last year’s carnival. Instead, these ribbons represent a willful desire to offend,” said European Jewish Association chairman Rabbi Menachem Margolin in October. “The thing about a joke is that it is supposed to make everyone laugh. And we Jews have a fantastic sense of humor. But no Jew anywhere in Europe is laughing.”

The ribbon-makers have argued that the they are in the spirit of the carnival, which is known for its over-the-top satirical take on religion, politics and culture.
​
“It is unacceptable that the parade retained its listing for six years after featuring the Holocaust caricature,” said B’nai B’rith International in a statement on Monday. “To prevent a similar situation from occurring in the future, UNESCO must create a de-listing mechanism for items on the cultural heritage list. Currently, no event has ever been de-listed.”

​A posthumous award was granted Tuesday in Jerusalem to the former chief rabbi of Florence who was a leader of the Italian city’s Jewish-Christian underground rescue network during the Holocaust.

The Committee to Recognize the Heroism of Jews who Rescued Fellow Jews during the Holocaust and the Bnai Brith World Center granted the award to Rabbi Nathan Cassuto, as well as honoring Matilda Cassin, a member of the underground.

The citations were presented to Asher Varadi, Cassin’s son, and David Cassuto, son of Rabbi Cassuto.

The Jewish-Christian rescue network in Florence was led by Cassuto and Cardinal Elia Angelo Dalla Costa, the Archbishop of Florence, who was recognized as a Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in 2012.

After Rabbi Cassuto was arrested by the Nazis, deported and sent to his death, the network continued functioning.

Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, head of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, addressed the ceremony on Tuesday, and said that there still had not been a full reckoning of the Church’s actions as well as inaction during the Holocaust.

“The Church has not yet completed its reading of what happened during the Holocaust. Even if it is discussed less today, that period remains like a stone in the relationship between us. While some Christians – among them Catholics, including clergy – cooperated with Jews to rescue Jews from deportation, we must recognize the silence of many other Catholics,” Pizzaballa said.

“Though the Church was not directly responsible for the Holocaust, we must recognize that the ‘teaching of contempt’ that emanated over hundreds of years also from the Church and influenced the mentality of the European populations, contributed, unfortunately, to what happened,” the archbishop said.

Gino Bartali during the 1938 Tour de France, which he won. (courtesy Wikimedia Commons)In 2013, champion cyclist Gino Bartali was recognized when a ceremony was held at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem to honor his help in rescuing Jews as part of Florence’s Jewish-Christian rescue network. Bartali was inducted into the prestigious garden of the Righteous Among the Nations for his work during the German occupation of Italy.

The 1938 Tour de France winner aided the Jewish-Christian rescue network in his hometown of Florence and the surrounding area by shuttling forged documents and papers hidden in the tubes and seat of his bike. He also hid a family.
Eighty percent of the Jews in Italy survived the war, according to the Italy and the Holocaust Foundation.
​
However, more than 7,000 Jews were deported under Benito Mussolini’s regime, and nearly 6,000 of them were killed.

Seventy-six years after the SS arrested Rabbi Nathan Cassuto and Matilda Cassin, Jewish Rescuers Citations were posthumously presented to their families this week in a ceremony in Jerusalem by The Committee to Recognize the Heroism of Jews. Cassuto and Cassin were members of the anti-Nazi underground in Florence, set up by the city’s chief rabbi together with Cardinal Elia Angelo Dalla Costa, the archbishop of the city.

Together with other members of their resistance network, they saved hundreds of persecuted Jews from deportation to concentration camps by hiding them in Catholic institutions and with Italian families. The citations were presented to Cassin’s son Asher Varadi Cassin, and Cassuto’s son David.

“Cassuto... and other members of their [Jewish-Christian] rescue group were arrested by the SS at the Azione Cattolica headquarters in Florence while planning future rescue activities, due to an informant,” B’nai B’rith World explained. “Cassuto was deported to Auschwitz, where he died. Cassin gave herself up to the police in order to free her family that had been arrested, remaining in custody until January 1944, when she was released, escaping later to Switzerland.”

Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, head of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, said he was grateful for the opportunity to be speaking at the event, “as it is not usual that a representative of the Catholic Church is invited to speak at an event in memory of the Holocaust.

“When we approach the Holocaust, we Europeans of Catholic origin cannot but feel discomfort,” he said. “The issue of the Church and the Holocaust – and more generally, the Church and Judaism – was never an easy topic, but a topic full of hurt and deep wounds.”The archbishop explained that the Church has not yet completed “its reading of what happened during the Holocaust.
“Even if it is discussed less today, that period remains like a stone in the relationship between us,” Pizzaballa continued. “While some Christians – among them Catholics, including clergy – cooperated with Jews to rescue Jews from deportation, we must recognize the silence of many other Catholics.”

He stressed that although the Church was not directly responsible for the Holocaust, “we must recognize that the ‘teaching of contempt’ that emanated over hundreds of years was also from the Church, and influenced the mentality of the European populations – which contributed, unfortunately, to what happened.”

Pizzaballa explained that unlike in the past, “there is now the opportunity to see that the way the Church has come since Nostra Aetate is real and reliable.”

Nostra Aetate, issued in 1965, is the historic Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions of the Second Vatican Council.“The Church today is not at the center of the formation of public discourse in the West, but it is still an important voice,” he said. “We must work together to promote a mentality of acceptance and mutual respect.”

He emphasized the importance of teaching that differences do not pose a danger.“Different cultures and beliefs can exist in society and at the same time to live in harmony and friendship,” Pizzaballa said. “Rabbi Cassuto cooperated with a few Christians to rescue Jews, but now this joint effort must be the responsibility not of a few, like then, but a foundation of our religious and communal lives.

​“The heroism of those we commemorate today should light the path to be taken,” he added.Italian ambassador to Israel Gianluigi Benedetti told attendees that, “it is time to correct the common misconception that Jews did not significantly help rescue other Jews during the Holocaust.“The actions of Rabbi Cassuto and Matilde Cassin were lights in the darkness that will never be forgotten,” he said.

JNS cited B'nai B'rith International's response to the news of United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's announcement that the U.S. would not view settlements in the West Bank as illegal under international law. 

​Several Jewish and Israel-related groups quickly reacted to the major announcement by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that it would no longer view Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria as illegal under international law.

“We applaud the administration’s decision to rescind the assertion that Israeli settlements are illegal under international law,” B’nai B’rith International CEO Daniel Mariaschin told JNS. “U.N. resolutions 242 and 338 laid the groundwork for a solution to the Middle East conflict in which the parties would negotiate directly with each other over land, rather than return to 1949 or 1967 boundaries that were neither secure nor mutually recognized. The false characterization of Israel’s presence in parts of the West Bank as ‘illegal’ only prejudged the outcome of future negotiations and was an impediment to the peace process.”

“After carefully studying all sides of the legal debate,” Pompeo told reporters at the State Department on Monday, the United States has concluded that “the establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not, per se, inconsistent with international law.”

“Calling the establishment of civilian settlements inconsistent with international law hasn’t worked. It hasn’t advanced the cause of peace,” he said. “The hard truth is that there will never be a judicial resolution to the conflict, and arguments about who is right and who is wrong as a matter of international law will not bring peace.”

He further noted that the ultimate status of these neighborhoods must be decided by Israelis and Palestinians.

Other groups, including the Zionist Organization of America and Christians United for Israel, applauded the announcement, while J Street and the Israel Policy Forum slammed it.

The ZOA lauded Pompeo for “rescinding the Orwellian, anti-Semitic lie that’s Jews can’t legally build in Judea Samaria, while Arabs can. There was never an Arab country called Palestine—no Palestinian Arab kings and queens,” the organization’s president, Mort Klein, told JNS.

He added that “Jewish communities there comprise less than 2 percent of all of Judea-Samaria. The fact that the Arabs have rejected statehood offers three times in the last 19 years proves the Arab war against Israel is not about ‘settlements,’ but a rejection of Israel’s existence within any borders.”

“CUFI did not agree with the Hansell Memorandum’s conclusion, and we welcome its revocation,” the organization told JNS. “Our policy of not taking a position on final-status issues remains unchanged.”

Republican Jewish Coalition executive director Matt Brooks tweeted, “@realDonaldTrump THANK YOU for your decision to reverse US policy regarding #Israel settlements. You are the MOST PRO ISRAEL PRESIDENT in history.”

Sarah Stern, founder and president of the Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET), told JNS that “what has stood at the very core of the problem of the lack of progress towards peace is the Palestinian reluctance to recognize any border, even the 1948 border, or the 1949 armistice lines, as legitimate and the failure on the part of the Palestinians to recognize the existence of a Jewish state, anywhere. That is why, to this very day, their textbooks show that all of Israel, even within the pre-1967 borders, is ‘Palestine.’”

Announcement gives ‘carte blanche’ to settlement expansion

Liberal Jewish and Israel-related groups panned the announcement by Pompeo.

J Street said it views the move as an obstacle to peace by the Trump administration, as well as a way to boost Netanyahu as his Likud Party has struggled to form a governing coalition following the second Israeli election this year.

“With their actions and rhetoric, the president and his advisers have given the Israeli government carte blanche to expand settlements, entrench occupation and move towards formal annexation of the West Bank,” said J Street president Jeremy Ben-Ami in a statement. “By discarding decades of bipartisan U.S. policy and flagrantly disregarding international law, they are trampling on the rights of Palestinians and helping the Israeli right-wing to destroy Israel’s future as a democratic homeland for the Jewish people.”

Jewish Democratic Council of America executive director Halie Soifer echoed J Street’s reaction.

“@SecPompeo’s reversal of decades of U.S. policy is a green light for Israeli annexation of the West Bank, which will permanently impede prospects for a two state solution. @realDonaldTrump doesn’t understand what it means to be pro-Israel & Jewish voters reject his recklessness,” she tweeted.

Finally, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee issued a neutral statement to the announcement.
“AIPAC does not take a position on settlements. We believe settlements should be an issue for direct negotiations between the parties, not something determined by international bodies. The Palestinians must stop their boycott of US & Israeli officials and return to direct talks,” tweeted AIPAC.

“The revised U.S. position announced today by Secretary Pompeo relates to a question of international law, which has been repeatedly used as a weapon against Israel on the world stage,” said American Jewish Committee CEO David Harris in a statement. “We hope the policy shift will prompt a long overdue correction in international perceptions.”
​
However, continued Harris, “We trust it will not serve as a predicate for increased settlement activity beyond the established blocs widely expected to be recognized as part of Israel in any conceivable two-state compromise.”

(November 12, 2019 / JNS) Jewish and pro-Israel organizations condemned the rockets fired from Gaza into Israel on Tuesday, following the latter assassinating Palestinian Islamic Jihad senior leader Baha abu al-Ata in the Syrian capital of Damascus.

“Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an Islamist terrorist org backed by Iran, is again attacking Israel with 100’s of missiles aimed at civilians. We stand w our friend & ally Israel at this critical moment & support Israel’s right to defend itself & bring an end to these barbaric attacks,” tweeted U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.

“The U.S. fully supports our partner & ally Israel in their fight against terrorism and the terrorist group, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ),” tweeted U.S. special envoy to the Mideast Avi Berkowitz. “The Administration strongly condemns the barrage of rockets on Israeli civilians and continues to monitor the situation. It’s clear that the main obstacles holding Gazans back are Hamas and PIJ who put violence ahead of bettering the lives of the people of Gaza.”

“Palestinian Islamic Jihad is an Iranian-backed terrorist group. Its goal is to destroy Israel. It operates in Gaza, targets Israel with rockets & puts countless Israeli and Palestinian lives at risk. Last night in a precision strike, Israel took down a leader of the terror group. … The group is trying to kill and terrorize Israelis by indiscriminately firing at Israeli cities and towns,” tweeted AIPAC.

In a statement, J Street said it is “deeply concerned by the latest escalation between extremist militants in Gaza and Israel, in which the terrorist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) has launched a barrage of rocket attacks against Israel following an IDF operation that killed a senior PIJ leader. We strongly condemn these rocket attacks on Israeli civilians. At this time, our thoughts are with the residents of southern and central Israel, with the IDF forces working to keep them safe and with all civilians on both sides of the divide.”

“We support Israel’s right to defend itself against acts of terror. We also urge Israeli and Palestinian leaders and the international community to take all possible steps to prevent a further escalation of armed conflict,” continued J Street. “Time and again, we have seen such escalations fail to resolve this conflict in any way, and instead lead to greater suffering and instability both for Israelis and for the people of Gaza.”

“Our thoughts are with the people of Israel who have been subjected to 150+ rocket attacks from the Iranian-backed, Islamic Jihad in Gaza since early morning. We stand in solidarity with Israel and the thousands in bomb shelters. We hope tensions will deescalate quickly,” tweeted the Anti-Defamation League.

“Once again, Israelis are being barraged by rocket attacks from Gaza, which have caused schools to close in much of the country and disrupted life for millions,” Jewish Federation of North America spokesperson Rebecca Dinar told JNS. “Federations stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel’s resilient citizens across the nation and send prayers for peace.”
Schools and certain public buildings in the Tel Aviv area and southern Israel were closed as a result of the rocket attacks.
Jewish Community Relations Council spokesperson Jeremy Russell told JNS his organization is “deeply concerned about the attacks targeting Israeli civilians this morning, and our thoughts are with the people of Israel as they once again face an onslaught of indiscriminate rocket fire—this time aimed at cities and towns—from terrorist groups in Gaza. We hope that a cease-fire can be arranged quickly and without further suffering.”

“The terror campaign by Tehran-backed Islamic Jihad underscores once again Palestinian and Iranian intention to sow chaos in the region,” B’nai B’rith International CEO Dan Mariaschin told JNS. “No nation would tolerate such attacks. Where is the global outcry against this terror campaign?”

“Praying for the safety of Israelis under rocket attack and thankful for the strong defenses that keep the nation safe. May these attacks end and peace and security be restored swiftly,” tweeted Rabbi Jonah Pesner, director of the Religious Action Center, the political arm of Reform Judaism.

“We stand with the Israeli people and strongly condemn the more than 150 rockets fired on Israel from Gaza in the past 12 hours. We’re also grateful for the Iron Dome missile defense system, which is saving countless lives in Israel,” tweeted the Jewish Democratic Council of America.

“Last night, in a surgical strike, Israel killed the commander of a terrorist group who was responsible for scores of terrorists acts and was about to launch more,” said Democratic Majority for Israel president and CEO Mark Mellman in a statement. “Fortunately, civilians were not killed in the airstrike, which prevented imminent terrorist attacks.”

He added, “All people of good will should join in publicly condemning these attacks and supporting Israel’s right to defend itself.”

Republican Jewish Coalition spokesperson Neil Strauss simply told JNS, “We condemn PIJ and strongly support Israel’s right to defend itself.”

Jewish Community Relations Council spokesperson Jeremy Russell told JNS his organization is “deeply concerned about the attacks targeting Israeli civilians this morning, and our thoughts are with the people of Israel as they once again face an onslaught of indiscriminate rocket fire—this time aimed at cities and towns—from terrorist groups in Gaza. We hope that a cease-fire can be arranged quickly and without further suffering.”

In terms of ending the rocket fire, U.N. Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov is expected to arrive in the Egyptian capital of Cairo to launch negotiations, reported Israeli media outlet Kann.

Reactions from Congress

Members of Congress, including Jewish ones, reacted to the latest between Gaza and Israel.

“Rockets from Islamic Jihad continue to hit Israel, following Israeli operation to kill terrorist leader. This indiscriminate rocket fire against civilians must be condemned. Israel has the absolute right to protect its people from these attacks,” tweeted Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.).

“Today, more than 150 rockets have been fired into Israeli communities by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. I condemn these indiscriminate attacks that have injured civilians, & fully support our ally Israel & its right to defend itself against these attacks,” tweeted Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.).

“Israel has a sovereign right to defend her citizens from indiscriminate terrorist attacks. She experienced 100+ rockets launched at civilians today. I just led a bipartisan Israel trip w/ Congresswomen to deliver a commitment to Israel’s safety & security,” tweeted Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.).

“Nearly 200 rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel today, indiscriminately putting Israeli civilians in danger as schools and shopping centers have had to close. Israel has a right to protect its citizens and defend itself, and such terrorism deserves full condemnation,” tweeted Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.).