By Deena Yellin
(August 6, 2025 / NorthJersey.com) As images depicting famine in Gaza capture the public’s attention — and intensify criticism of Israel — American Jews are reacting with a mixture of sorrow, frustration and defiance.
North Jersey is home to one of the country’s largest Jewish populations, many with strong ties to Israel. But there is growing concern — even among those who back Israel’s right to defend itself against aggressors — about what many call a humanitarian crisis.
There is little consensus in the local Jewish community about Israel’s actions in Gaza. Left-leaning Jews said they were pained by images of suffering among Palestinians and urged Israel’s government to do more to help civilians. Those on the right blamed Hamas, not Israel, with some suggesting that the group orchestrated the famine.
“I’m aghast at the suffering,” said Arthur Kook of Englewood, a frequent visitor to Israel whose nephew fought in Gaza for months after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack.
But Kook, a member of an Orthodox synagogue, said the wrong party is being blamed. “Every bit of suffering in Gaza is the result of Hamas. There’s been an incredible amount of humanitarian aid and food shipments that have been sent and, unfortunately, much of it has been taken and hoarded by Hamas,” said Kook, vice president of the national Board of the Zionist Organization of America, a pro-Israel organization.
Rabbi Anat Katzir of Kol Dorot, a Reform Jewish synagogue in Oradell, said Hamas bears blame for the nightmare of some 50 hostages still being held, alive or dead, in Gaza. But Israel’s government cannot be absolved of responsibility for the territory’s “humanitarian crisis,” she added.
“While I don’t have any way of knowing exactly how much food is supplied or passes through from Israel or how much of it is being held from the people of Gaza by those in control over the distribution, it’s not the consequential question for me,” Katzir said. “There is no order of priority. One crisis is not more important than the other, neither is justified by my values, and both demand immediate intervention and solution.”
Polls reveal divided community
Polls show a divide within the Jewish community over the nearly 2-year-old war. Among American Jews, 45% said Israel has been too aggressive in Gaza, according to a survey released July 31 by the Jerusalem-based Jewish People Policy Institute. Only a third of U.S. Jews said Israel was winning the Gaza war, compared with 54% in Israel.
A May survey of American Jews by the Jewish Voters Resource Center found that 61% had an unfavorable view of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and believe he’s waging a war in Gaza for his own political survival, rather than the nation’s security. Still, 69% expressed an emotional attachment to Israel.
Human rights groups and the United Nations have warned of extreme shortages of food and medicine in Gaza, and images of emaciated children have prompted some of Israel’s closest allies — including France, the U.K. and Canada — to talk of officially recognizing a Palestinian state.
Israel says there is no starvation in Gaza and has blamed Hamas and armed gangs for theft. Still, the government has promised to take steps to improve the supply and distribution of humanitarian aid.
The war was triggered by the 2023 terror attack, in which Hamas gunmen streamed across the border, killed 1,200 people and took about 250 others hostage, according to the Israeli government. The ensuing military campaign has led to 60,000 Palestinian deaths, according to the health ministry in the territory, which is controlled by Hamas. That figure does not differentiate between civilian and military deaths.
“There is no deliberate starvation in Gaza, only a deliberate disinformation campaign orchestrated by Hamas and amplified by those who fail to act,” Ofir Akunis, Israel’s consul general in New York, said in a statement to The Record and NorthJersey.com.
A rabbi from Israel sees twin crises
Katzir, the Oradell rabbi, said she sees simultaneous crises in Gaza: “the hostages being held in captivity for almost two years, intentionally starved and being murdered,” and “a humanitarian crisis created by the food supply and distribution.”
Katzir, who grew up in Israel and visits there regularly, said she’s “pained and frustrated” about the situation in Gaza. “The Jewish values that guide me in my faith, and as a teacher for my community, are universal values inspired by the Jewish text and leadership over the generations,” she said.
A growing number of Jewish organizations have also spoken out about the crisis. In New York and Washington, DC, last month three dozen rabbis were arrested while protesting hunger in Gaza.
In a statement, the Reform Jewish movement, representing the largest branch of Judaism in the U.S., condemned what it called starvation in the territory and criticized an Israeli Cabinet minister’s call for Gaza to be “wiped out.” “Hamas has repeatedly demonstrated its willingness to sacrifice the Palestinian people in pursuit of Israel’s destruction, but Israel must not sacrifice its own moral standing in return,” the statement said.
“Starving Gazan civilians neither will bring Israel the ‘total victory’ over Hamas it seeks, nor can it be justified by Jewish values or humanitarian law,” the group continued. “It’s hard to imagine that this tragic approach will bring home the 50 remaining hostages, including the 20 who we pray are still alive.”
The statement applauded Israel’s “green light for foreign nations to resume providing humanitarian aid to the Gaza population. ”
Meanwhile, the head of the Orthodox Union, which represents the Orthodox Jewish community — the fastest-growing segment of the faith — signaled support for Israel’s actions.
“We are genuinely sad about the mounting human costs which — as intended by Hamas — this war is inflicting on Israelis and innocent Palestinians,” Rabbi Moshe Hauer, the union’s executive vice president, said in a statement to The Record this week. “And we are angry at those who only ascribe to Israel the worst intentions and all responsibility while ignoring Hamas’ inhumanity and the simple fact that it remains the initiator of this war.”
Dueling images of hunger
In Clifton, Steve Goldberg’s reaction to the Gaza crisis can be summed up by the emotions elicited by two striking images.
One was a widely circulated photo published in the New York Times of a skeletal Palestinian child, Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, in his mother’s arms. The article cited a doctor who said the child’s health had deteriorated rapidly due to malnutrition and a lack of medical care. In an editor’s note five days later, the Times added that the child also had “pre-existing health problems.” Goldberg seized on it as a sign that the media was peddling a false narrative of starvation. “The modern day blood libel of Jews continues. If people are starving in Gaza, it’s the fault of Hamas,” Goldberg said.
The other image on Goldberg’s mind came from a Hamas propaganda video of hostage Evyatar David. In it, the 24-year-old appears so gaunt that his bones protrude. David is seen digging what he says will be his own grave. The scene, reminiscent of the horrors of the Holocaust, haunted Goldberg. “Nothing has changed,” he said.
Back in Englewood, Kook said that while critics have accused Israel of genocide, “the reality is that Israel was the victim of a real genocide by Hamas.” It began with the murders, kidnappings and rapes committed in the Oct. 7 attack, he said.
On a visit to Israel in April, Kook was roused from his bed at 3 a.m. by sirens warning of an impending missile attack. “I rubbed my eyes and ran to a shelter. The fighting is never ending,” he said.
“Israel needs to make sure this never happens again,” he said. “They have to eradicate any vestige of Hamas, which has vowed to repeat the Oct. 7 attack.”
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