Myriad American Jewish groups are offering their support to Israel while the Jewish state is being bombarded with rockets from the Gaza Strip.
More than 150 rockets have been fired from Gaza toward Israel since 5 a.m. Israel Standard Time after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) killed Islamic Jihad Senior Commander Baha Abu al-Ata, who the Jerusalem Post described as “Tehran’s main man in Gaza.”
Several schools and businesses from Israeli communities bordering Gaza “to Tel Aviv in the country’s center were ordered closed,” according to Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
The Anti-Defamation League tweeted, “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.”
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.
— ADL (@ADL) November 12, 2019
American Jewish Committee CEO David Harris similarly tweeted, “There’s NO moral equivalence between democratic Israel defending itself against terrorism…& Islamic Jihad & Hamas seeking Israel’s destruction. All nations & people of good will should stand loud & clear [with] Israel.”
#Israel is under rocket attack from Gaza.
Let’s be clear.
There’s NO moral equivalence between democratic Israel defending itself against terrorism…& Islamic Jihad & Hamas seeking Israel’s destruction.
All nations & people of good will should stand loud & clear w/ Israel. pic.twitter.com/u9tdcaK8NB
— David Harris (@DavidHarrisNY) November 12, 2019
Simon Wiesenthal Center Founder and Dean Rabbi Marvin Hier said in a statement, “Israel has the same rights as every other country protecting its citizens from arch terrorists who are responsible for murdering and maiming dozens of Israelis. Israel has many Abu Bakr al-Baghdadis [the ISIS leader] who was killed in a US raid in northwestern Syria last month. Al-Ata was just one of Israel’s many ‘al-Baghdadis’”
Maccabee Task Force Executive Director David Brog similarly said in a statement, “When Hamas terrorists proved insufficiently aggressive for them, Iran began throwing even greater support to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. As a result of Iran’s funding and urging, the relative quiet has been broken. Israel has once again been forced to defend itself from rocket fire and plans for worse. Israelis are back in bomb shelters. And Palestinian civilians in Gaza are once again caught in the middle. The blame for this renewed fighting and suffering must be placed where it belongs— on Iran.”
The Israel Policy Forum also said in a statement that Israel has a right to defend itself from terrorists and that the United States needs to support its ally.
“The persistent rocket fire from Gaza only reinforces the critical need for Israel to be able to defend itself, as well as the important role that the United States plays in assisting Israel with its security needs,” the statement read. “The U.S. must continue to support Israeli security and peace in the region, which will only come about if Israelis feel secure enough to take the necessary steps toward a two-state outcome.”
StandWithUs Israel Executive Director Michael Dickson tweeted out a video of a rocket hitting an Israeli road. “No-one would put up with this,” Dickson wrote. “The terrorists must be stopped.”
These are our streets.
No-one would put up with this.
The terrorists must be stopped.#JiHadEnough#IsraelUnderAttack#IsraelUnderFire https://t.co/s78avUfkQl— Michael Dickson (@michaeldickson) November 12, 2019
Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles President and CEO Jay Sanderson said in a statement, “We are prepared to support our brothers and sisters in Israel if this escalates. We pray that this attack ceases quickly without any loss of life.”
