Michael Balaban's Update on the War in Israel

- Michael Balaban
President & CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia

Earlier this morning, we received news from the International Court of Justice, while deeply flawed, the decision affirms Israel’s right to continue defending itself from ongoing attacks by Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. The Court ignores that Israel is fighting an enemy that intentionally flouts the rules of war and embeds itself among civilians. In this war, the only group with genocidal intentions is Hamas.

This week, as Israel made another step in fighting baseless claims of genocide even as true genocide committed against the Jewish people is still in living memory, I come to you as a parent. As I hear the news about the continuing war in Israel, my heart breaks – it breaks as a parent, seeing families ripped apart and irrevocably changed by terrorism, and as a Jew, especially with this Saturday being International Holocaust Remembrance Day. 

When I heard on Tuesday about the 21 IDF soldiers who died, trapped inside two buildings in the southern Gaza Strip after troops came under attack, and the three IDF soldiers who died in southern Gaza – I couldn’t help but think if those were my children. The death of these brave soldiers, may their memories be for a blessing, was the worst loss of life incident since October 7 – the day that was the deadliest attacks on the Jews since the Holocaust. 

And when I heard about how Israel is preparing for the possibility of the remaining women hostages to return pregnant from rape – I thought about what if these were my daughters. And this gender base violence reminded me of how the Nazis raped and dehumanized Jewish women during the Holocaust. 

And I also thought about how it shouldn’t matter that I am a father and a Jew. To care about these unsettling realities should only matter, because there are civilian hostages and soldiers fighting for their lives and the lives of the people of Israel, among them Muslims, Christians, Druze and Jews.

But we also know that for many, these atrocities are beyond their basic capacity for sympathy – or G-d forbid empathy. And that is because what we are experiencing today is the same underlying antisemitic hatred from the 1940s and throughout history. 

But while the hatred of the many may be the same – what is different are the Jews and the fact that we have a Jewish homeland and the ability to protect ourselves. Imbuing the spirit of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, we say Never Again. 

And that is why it is important to bear witness to the reality in Israel, which you can do with us by joining our Solidarity Mission to Israel from Monday, February 26 - Thursday, February 29 by clicking here.

People may hate us, beat us, and try to take away all of our humanity – but we are not broken. We are resilient. And when you see the yellow lights illuminate the Lits Building, PECO, One Liberty Place, Subaru of America, Philadelphia Airport, the Capitol Building and more this Saturday, remember that we will never again be sheep to our slaughter.

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