Israeli Intellectuals Demand “Crippling Sanctions” Over Gaza Starvation
Prominent figures call for international action amid escalating humanitarian crisis.
A significant group of Israeli public figures, including academics, artists, and intellectuals, have jointly called for the imposition of “crippling sanctions” by the international community. The signatories expressed horror over what they describe as the “starvation of Gaza.”
Unprecedented Call for Sanctions
The open letter, addressed to The Guardian, boasts 31 signatories. Among them are Academy Award recipient Yuval Abraham, former Israeli Attorney General Michael Ben-Yair, and former Israeli parliament speaker and Jewish Agency head Avraham Burg. Several recipients of the prestigious Israel Prize are also signatories, lending substantial weight to their unprecedented stance.
These prominent individuals, representing fields from poetry and science to journalism and academia, explicitly accuse Israel of “starving the people of Gaza to death and contemplating the forced removal of millions of Palestinians from the strip.” The letter states, “The international community must impose crippling sanctions on Israel until it ends this brutal campaign and implements a permanent ceasefire.”
This appeal is notable for its frank criticism of Israel’s actions and for breaking a local taboo against endorsing stringent international sanctions, a sentiment that has been countered by legislation targeting its proponents within Israel.
Artists and Activists Join the Chorus
Further signatories include acclaimed painter Michal Na’aman, documentary filmmaker Ra’anan Alexandrowicz, and Golden Lion-winning film director Samuel Maoz. Poet Aharon Shabtai and choreographer Inbal Pinto also lent their names to the call.
Growing Discontent Within Israel
The growing global alarm over the trajectory of Israel’s conflict in Gaza is increasingly mirrored within Israel and among the international Jewish diaspora. This internal reflection is fueled by harrowing images of starving Palestinian children and accounts of Israeli forces firing on desperate individuals seeking aid.
The letter’s release coincides with reports indicating over 60,000 Palestinian fatalities in the 21-month conflict, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Human rights organizations B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel have recently published reports, assessing for the first time that Israel is pursuing a “genocidal” policy in Gaza, further breaking long-held taboos.
The Reform movement, the largest Jewish denomination in the United States, also declared the Israeli government “culpable” for Gaza’s escalating famine. A statement from the movement read:
“No one should be unaffected by the pervasive hunger experienced by thousands of Gazans. No one should spend the bulk of their time arguing technical definitions between starvation and pervasive hunger. The situation is dire, and it is deadly. Nor should we accept arguments that because Hamas is the primary reason many Gazans are either starving or on the verge of starving, that the Jewish state is not also culpable in this human disaster. The primary moral response must begin with anguished hearts in the face of such a large-scale human tragedy.
“Blocking food, water, medicine, and power – especially for children – is indefensible,” it said. “Let us not allow our grief to harden into indifference, nor our love for Israel to blind us to the cries of the vulnerable. Let us rise to the moral challenge of this moment.”
Past Criticisms and Denials
These recent interventions follow comments by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who characterized a proposed Israeli “humanitarian city” in Rafah as a concentration camp and described forced Palestinian displacement as ethnic cleansing. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, along with government officials and rightwing NGOs, continues to deny that Israel is causing famine in Gaza. This stance persists despite extensive evidence, including United Nations food security assessments and acknowledgments of “real starvation” by figures like Donald Trump.
The Israeli government has been contacted for comment.
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