Remarks to Wayne Township Council

Remarks to the Wayne (NJ) Township Council, Jan. 17, 2024

Stephen R. Shalom

My name is Stephen Shalom. For 44 years I taught at William Paterson University, where I was the director of the Middle East Studies program. I am also a member of Jewish Voice for Peace. I am here this evening to urge you to adopt a resolution in favor of a ceasefire.

Back on December 20, the township of Wayne passed a resolution[1] condemning Hamas for its atrocities on October 7 — and that’s entirely appropriate. But while quite properly deploring and mourning these deaths, the resolution was totally silent about a death toll that was more than twenty times greater, a toll that was overwhelmingly civilian and a majority of whom were children: namely, Palestinians who had been killed by Israeli military action in Gaza.

If we grieve innocent Israeli deaths, shouldn’t we also grieve the far larger number of innocent Palestinian deaths? And how can we remain silent about the fact that at this very moment international humanitarian aid groups are warning that mass starvation and epidemic disease are imminent in Gaza, and that only an immediate ceasefire can allow the prompt delivery of food and medical supplies?[2]

Now I know there are arguments made against a ceasefire, and I’d like to briefly address some of them here.

Some argue that Israel’s military campaign must be allowed to continue, despite its awful toll on civilians, in order to destroy Hamas. But Hamas cannot be destroyed by military means. For two decades Israel has killed Hamas’s leaders, but new leaders have invariably replaced them. Hamas or its equivalents will persist as long as Israel continues to hold the people of Gaza in what Human Rights Watch has called an open-air prison,[3] in a territory that the UN has called unlivable,[4] over which Israel has maintained an illegal blockade for years before Oct. 7.[5]

In fact, killing Palestinian civilians actually ends up creating more recruits for Hamas than are eliminated by any military operation Israel perpetrates. Young Palestinians—like anyone else—who see their innocent family members and neighbors blown apart and their homes turned to rubble are not likely to come away from this with a commitment to nonviolence.

Some argue that the deaths of Palestinian civilians are unfortunate, but not intended, and thus not war crimes. But while international humanitarian law prohibits the intentional targeting of civilians, it also limits military actions by the principles of discrimination and proportionality. And these principles have clearly been violated by Israel. Amnesty International finds “the intensity and cruelty of the current bombardment” to be “unparalleled.”[6] The New York Times reported that “the pace of death during Israel’s campaign has few precedents in this century.”[7]

International humanitarian law requires that all feasible precautions be taken to minimize harm to civilians, but as Israeli officials acknowledge, Israel is not doing this. For example, the Israeli military spokesperson proclaimed that the “emphasis is on damage and not on accuracy.”

The claim that Israel’s killings of civilians are unintentional is refuted by many statements from top Israeli officials. Let me cite just one. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, urged his soldiers to remember the Biblical story of Amalek, in which the ancient Israelites are commanded to kill every man, woman, and child of a hostile tribe.[8] When this is what Israel’s leaders say, do we really want to pass resolutions “standing with Israel”?

Some argue that all the Palestinian deaths are Hamas’s fault because they use civilians as human shields. Respected human rights organizations, however, have documented countless instances of Israeli attacks on civilian targets that were not shielding or supporting military activities.[9] But in any event, international humanitarian law is unambiguous that even if one party improperly places military objects near civilian ones, the other party is not absolved from its obligation to apply the principles of proportionality and discrimination.[10]

Some argue that we can’t have a ceasefire because a hundred Israelis are still being held hostage. But in fact, as many of the hostages’ families understand, a ceasefire can save the hostages while indiscriminate bombing is more likely to kill them.[11]

Now some of you might be moved to pass a resolution expressing sympathy for Palestinian victims without including a call for a ceasefire. This would be better than nothing, but I’m afraid it is not enough in these terrible times. When five children in Gaza are dying every hour, when thousands of civilians stand in risk of famine, it is not enough to say, “we sympathize, but we don’t demand that the killing stop.” Or that “we offer condolences, but it is okay that military aid from our country is being shipped to Israel to carry out the horrors.” No, it is essential to combine empathy with a call to stop the slaughter. I urge you to adopt a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.

  1. Jon “Ferris” Meredith, “Wayne Township Council Passes Resolution to Stand with Israel,” Tap into Wayne, Dec. 22, 2024.
  2. World Health Organization, “Preventing famine and deadly disease outbreak in Gaza requires faster, safer aid access and more supply routes,” Jan. 15, 2024. See also: Human Rights Watch, “Israel: Starvation Used as Weapon of War in Gaza,” Dec. 18, 2023, Jan. 15, 2024.
  3. Human Rights Watch, “Gaza: Israel’s ‘Open-Air Prison’ at 15,” June 14, 2022.
  4. “‘Gaza “Unliveable,’ UN Special Rapporteur for the Situation of Human Rights in the OPT Tells Third Committee,” GA/SHC/4242, Oct. 24, 2018.
  5. Stephanie Nebehay, “Israel’s Gaza blockade breaks law, says ICRC,” Reuters, June 13, 2010; Amnesty International, “Gaza: Looming humanitarian catastrophe highlights need to lift Israel’s 10-year illegal blockade,” June 14, 2017.
  6. Amnesty International, “Nowhere Safe in Gaza: Unlawful Israeli strikes illustrate callous disregard for Palestinian lives,” Nov. 20, 2023.
  7. Lauren Leatherby, “Gaza Civilians, Under Israeli Barrage, Are Being Killed at Historic Pace,” New York Times, Nov. 25, 2023. See also Evan Hill, Imogen Piper, Meg Kelly and Jarrett Ley, “Israel has waged one of this century’s most destructive wars in Gaza,” Washington Post, Dec. 23, 2023.
  8. Brett Wilkins, “Netanyahu Accused of ‘Genocidal Intentions’ in Gaza After ‘Holy Mission’ Speech,” Common Dreams, Oct. 30, 2024. See also, Yaniv Cogan and Jamie Stern-Weiner, “Fighting Amalek in Gaza: What Israelis Say and Western Media Ignore,” Nov. 12, 2023.
  9. Amnesty International, “Damning evidence of war crimes as Israeli attacks wipe out entire families in Gaza,” Oct. 20, 2023.
  10. Lauren Sforza, “US says human shields do not ‘lessen’ responsibility of Israel to protect civilians,” The Hill, Oct. 29, 2023. See also Ben Burgis, “The “Human Shields” Defense of Bombing Gaza’s Civilians Is Morally Bankrupt,” Jacobin, Nov. 20, 2023.
  11. E.g., “if you actually care passionately about getting as many of the hostages as possible released alive, you should be adamantly opposed to this war because the imperatives of continuing the war and the imperatives of getting the hostages out—as many of them as possible alive—are in direct contradiction.” Peter Beinart, “To Save the Hostages End the War,” The Beinart Notebook, Jan. 15, 2024; Mairav Zonszein, “The Families of Hostages Are Calling on Israel to Do Something Radical,” New York Times, Jan. 5, 2024.