We might not like it, but local politicians have a right to criticize Israel

There was a time not so long ago when local politicians went out of their way to defend and protect the Jewish community — a time when, after a horrific mass shooting, our Pittsburgh community rallied around us, supported us, offered us love and sympathy, and were our shield.

That time has more or less passed for two reasons.

First, Israel’s heavy-handed and endless war in Gaza, in reaction to the atrocities committed by Hamas on Oct. 7, has rendered it unpopular across the globe, including in Pittsburgh. And second, the Pittsburgh Jewish community’s reaction to local politics has created a chasm between
us and several of our elected leaders. Some of that distance was inevitable, as some of our local leaders have been aggressive, imprecise and hurtful in the statements they have made about the war in Gaza. But some of that distance has been caused by our Jewish community’s knee-jerk desire to reflexively defend Israel from criticism, even when that criticism is legitimate. That attitude is counterproductive to the long-term goal of the Jewish community maintaining a strong relationship to local politicians.

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It would be wise for local Jewish leaders, the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, and even your average Chronicle reader, to exercise caution with the language they use in public statements and to be circumspect when condemning elected officials on social media. We should each think about the long-term relationships we are forging with our local politicians when we are critical or defensive regarding their public statements or the political expression of members of their staff, even when we dislike those statements.

In the latest round of controversy, it was revealed that some staff members of both Mayor Ed Gainey and Councilmember Barb Warwick were involved in the petition to get a referendum on the November ballot to boycott, divest, and sanction Israel. Some quarters of the Jewish community were outraged by this and demanded firings and condemnations by politicians. Although this proposed referendum was horribly flawed in a myriad of ways, and I was glad it was defeated, I was profoundly uncomfortable with the rhetoric and the dialogue around it.

I write to remind everyone in Pittsburgh, particularly Jews, that we make our lives here. We rely on politicians to run the city and fill the potholes and care for the homeless and collect the taxes. We break bread and do business with our neighbors, regardless of their religion. We don’t have to agree with them, but we need to be thoughtful and careful in the way we defend Israel so that we retain allies and maintain relationships between the Jewish and non-Jewish communities. If we condemn every politician, if we scream “antisemitism!” at the slightest whiff of criticism toward Israel and the Netanyahu government’s prosecution of the war, the net effect on the Pittsburgh Jewish community will be burned bridges and increased isolation.

You may not like it, but politicians and their staff have the right to speak out in favor of a cease-fire, and the attempt to squelch their speech is a bad look for our community. Many Jews in Pittsburgh, the U.S., Israel and around the world are in favor of cease-fire since it seems evident to many that the objectives sought by Israel’s government toward Gaza can be obtained only through diplomacy rather than war. Many folks, including Jews, are appalled by the civilian casualties and humanitarian suffering in Gaza. Just as it is legitimate for Jews to be critical of Israel’s clumsy handling of this war, which has led to the unnecessary deaths of hostages and a potentially endless reoccupation of Gaza, it is just as legitimate for politicians or average American citizens to do so.

Before this war broke out, hundreds of thousands of Israelis were in the streets demanding Netanyahu’s resignation for his administration’s anti-democratic power grab. As this war drags on, tens of thousands of Israelis are protesting the aimless violence and continued injustice toward Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. They demand that the Israeli government focus on getting back the hostages and entering into a
cease-fire.

My steadfast support of Israel includes my firm belief that Israel can and should act morally and with justice. In this war, it has fallen far short of those expectations. It is an ugly truth that this war is widely unpopular and has been unnecessarily dragged out by a prime minister desperate to cling to power, but it is a truth, nonetheless. To attempt to silence domestic voices of peaceful protest is to quiet the boy who screamed “the emperor has no clothes!”

It is right and moral to support Israel while simultaneously being critical of Israel. We can believe both in Israel’s right to exist and defend itself, and recognize that the Netanyahu administration’s continuation of this war is deserving of criticism. War is full of death, but let it not be the death of nuance. PJC

Rabbi Mark Asher Goodman serves as a rabbi in Pittsburgh and in Erie, Pennsylvania.