Opinion: Israel is not Netanyahu, and the Oct. 7 attacks cannot be erased

With Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent visit to New York, our city and state are once again becoming the stage for a debate over Israel, Gaza, and the US-Israel relationship. 

There was recently an opinion piece published in City & State that accused Israel of genocide and apartheid and that supported a bill in the state Legislature called the “Not On Our Dime” bill. 

This debate matters. But it must begin with facts.

There is a fundamental difference between criticizing Netanyahu and demonizing the State of Israel. Protests have unfortunately continuously tended to demonize the State of Israel rather than particular policies of one government. There is also a fundamental difference between condemning the suffering of Palestinian civilians and rewriting the story of this war.

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups launched a deliberate, horrific attack on Israel, killing approximately 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages. These groups committed unimaginable war crimes, including deliberately attacking civilians and taking hostages.

Israel appropriately responded by going to war against Hamas.

That basic chronology cannot be erased.

Imagine if any other country in the world had suffered an attack of that magnitude at the hands of a neighboring government organization: thousands of civilians murdered, entire communities invaded and hundreds of people dragged across an international border and held hostage. They would respond and do everything in their power to eliminate the organization responsible and prevent another future attack. That is not unique to Israel, and Israel has that same right to defend their people.

None of this means that every Israeli military action is automatically justified. Israel must comply with international humanitarian law, civilian life must be protected and credible allegations of unlawful conduct must be investigated. Palestinian suffering is real and heartbreaking.

But acknowledging that suffering must come with acknowledging that Hamas bears the responsibility for putting their people through this horrible suffering solely to advance its own evil ideological goal of destroying the Jewish state. 

War doesn’t equal genocide

The word “genocide” has become so commonly used and distorted in political discourse that its meaning has unfortunately been lost. 

Genocide is not simply another word for a terrible war or a large civilian death toll. It is a specific crime requiring proof of an intent to destroy, in whole or in substantial part, a protected national, ethnic, racial or religious group.

When organizations such as the International Court of Justice, a body that the U.S. and many Arab countries in the region are not a party to, say that Israel’s conduct in the war may constitute genocide, it’s a political statement rather than one based in fact.

Let’s look at the actual facts outside the slogans: Israel has repeatedly warned civilians of impending military operations through evacuation orders, telephone calls, text messages and leaflets. They’ve facilitated the delivery of hundreds of thousands of vaccines. They’ve facilitated millions of tons of food into Gaza. No group that’s ever attempted to commit a genocide has ever done any of the above. 

At the same time, throughout the entire war, Hamas purposely embedded itself within an extraordinarily dense civilian environment with the apparent goal of driving up civilian deaths in order to harm Israel’s standing in the world. According to Israel Defense Forces estimates, at least 30,000 of the 70,000 deaths in the war have been combatants. Israeli authorities say that’s actually the lowest combatant to civilian ratio in urban combat, which is due to the measures mentioned that Israel has taken.

Most of the Western world can’t quite fathom the extent of Hamas’ evil as we fortunately don’t face such groups here. It’s a reality, however, that Israel has to contend with every single day. 

This is the sad truth: If Hamas would put down their arms, not one person would die of conflict. If Israel laid down their arms, Israel would be wiped off the face of the planet. How many people claimed genocide on America’s actions in World War II after Pearl Harbor? Or on its response to 9/11? Israel must stop being singled out with lies. 

Hamas knew an Israeli military response would come when it launched its October 7th massacre. Yet it chose to attack anyway. The result has been catastrophic for Palestinian civilians.

If we genuinely care about Palestinians, constantly demonizing Israel and absolving Hamas’s leading role in this war does the Palestinian people no favors and does nothing to lead toward a better future in Gaza. Gaza needs responsible civilian leadership, functioning institutions, economic opportunity and security; not another generation trapped under a terrorist organization committed to perpetual conflict. Those that claim to care for the Palestinian people would do well to call for that new leadership. 

Israel is not an apartheid state

The constantly repeated claim that Israel is an “apartheid state” is nothing more than a nonsensical ideological talking point for social media with no basis in the real world. Israel's 20% Arab population enjoy full citizenship in the country. They vote in national elections, serve in the Knesset and have served in Israel's parliament, judiciary, universities, medical system and other institutions.This is all true since Israel’s founding. 

Israel is a fully functioning democracy where women, minorities, and LGBTQ people enjoy many of the same freedoms and protections we do in the west. Opposition parties operate openly, governments change through elections and citizens have full freedom of speech to protest their own government. All of this stands in stark contrast to many of the governments surrounding it, to say the least.

No democracy is perfect. But the constant and disproportionate demonization of and focus on the world’s one Jewish state rather than actual oppressive regimes in the region and around the world reeks of an attempt to delegitimize the self determination of only one group, that of the Jewish people.

It should go without saying that none of this is an endorsement of Benjamin Netanyahu. Israelis themselves have every right to criticize, protest and vote against their government. But Israel existed before Netanyahu, and Israel will exist after Netanyahu.

The U.S.-Israel relationship is a relationship between two nations, not a personal relationship with one prime minister. America's relationships around the world do not disappear whenever we disagree with another country's leader. The same principle should apply to Israel.

The same way we don’t believe America should be boycotted around the world because of how we feel about President Donald Trump, Israel should not be treated as though its entire existence is defined by the person currently serving as prime minister.

Helping Palestinians means building a future

There is an increasingly troubling disconnect between the stated goal of helping Palestinians and some of the tactics of the Western activist movement surrounding this conflict.

There is nothing wrong with advocating for Palestinian civilians. There is nothing wrong with demanding humanitarian assistance or supporting Palestinian self-determination. But Palestinian children do not need more slogans. They need schools, hospitals, jobs, functioning government and security.

They need leaders who will choose building a society over perpetual war.

Truly caring about a better future for Palestinians means advocating for Hamas to no longer remain in a position to terrorize Israelis, suppress Palestinians and repeatedly plunge the region into war. Palestinians deserve responsible leadership capable of building a flourishing society alongside Israel.

Not On Our Dime

New York also has a responsibility to denounce nonsensical legislation targeting New York nonprofits with connections to Israel. 

Israel is not some incidental foreign country to the Jewish community. For millions of Jews, it is an integral part of Jewish history, identity, culture and religious life. Jewish charities, synagogues, schools and community organizations maintain decades-long relationships with Israel that have nothing to do with Israeli government policy or one Israeli elected official. 

If someone wants to debate Israeli settlement policy, debate it. If someone wants to debate American foreign aid, debate it. If someone wants to criticize Netanyahu, criticize him.

But the Not on Our Dime bill targets organizations with a relationship to the IDF or the Israeli government if they’re deemed to be committing war crimes, which is a clearly subjective assessment and biased for those proposing this bill. Doing so targets mainstream Jewish organizations in New York which recognize that the IDF is the legitimate army that protects the Jewish state and keeps its citizens safe. 

The bill also penalizes New York nonprofits that facilitate “illegal Israeli settlements.” It’s patently absurd for the state Legislature to uniquely target the actions of one particular foreign country when it never attempts to do so with countries like Myanmar, China, and Russia, some of the world’s actual worst human rights abusers and war criminals. 

New York must never even entertain destructive legislation that punishes ordinary Jewish communal life and Jewish nonprofits with penalties simply for embracing a key aspect of Jewish identity in the historical Jewish homeland. 

Jewish representation in Albany

My election as the first Sephardic Jew to serve in the state Senate is a responsibility I carry every day. We are living through rising antisemitism alongside real ignorance about who Jews are – ignorance that flattens Jewish identity into a single story about Israel and erases the diversity of Sephardic and Mizrahi communities. Few remember that hundreds of thousands of Jews were driven from their homes across the Middle East and North Africa in the last century. That history deserves to be known and carried forward. Given my background, I see my job as both answering hate and educating people on the fuller story of Jewish life. 

We can defend Israel and still seek peace

There is no contradiction between standing with Israelis against terrorism and standing with Palestinians who want a better future.

There is no contradiction between defending Israel's right to exist and demanding that civilians be protected. There is no contradiction between condemning Hamas and recognizing Palestinian suffering.

The Jewish people deserve a homeland where they can live safely and freely. Palestinians deserve a future where they can live safely and freely. Those aspirations do not have to be mutually exclusive.

But getting there requires honesty. We cannot build peace by erasing Oct. 7 and Jewish suffering. We cannot help Palestinians by empowering Hamas. We cannot defend civilians by pretending terrorism is legitimate resistance. And we cannot have a serious conversation about Israel if words like “apartheid” and “genocide” are used as political slogans rather than carefully examined legal and factual claims.

I will continue to defend Israel's existence and its right to protect its citizens from terrorism. I will continue to condemn antisemitism wherever it appears. And I will continue to believe that Palestinian civilians deserve dignity, opportunity and a future free from leadership that chooses terrorism and war.

My hope is for the day when Israelis can live without fear of another Oct. 7, Palestinians can live without Hamas suppressing them and causing their suffering and two peoples can finally live side by side in genuine peace.

That is the future worth fighting for.