They look so familiar - The Jewish Standard

This has been a very challenging piece for me to write. After all, I am an American-born Zionist, a long-time citizen of Israel, and I have spent large chunks of my life in the coastal city of Herzliya and in the holy city of Jerusalem. Members of my immediate family have served honorably in the present war as well as in every war since 1948.

I wanted you to know where I come from before I tell you that I believe, deeply, that it is time for us Jews to redeem our hostages and leave Gaza.

Yes. It is time.

Yes. I do know. And I do remember October 7, 2023. After all, it was not long ago and it was a horrible trauma for humanity, for Israel, and for Jews throughout the world. Hamas attacked and killed more than 1,200 of our people. They took many as hostages. They burned our kibbutzim and destroyed decades of noble work to transform the desert into a garden. What they did was beyond despicable. We all agree. We all still suffer with the nightmare of that most grievous day in Israel’s history.

And in retribution, we have sent our best, certainly members of my family and probably of yours as well, our young men and women, to fight and destroy those abominable killers who brought us their havoc and hatred. We have watched as our young heroes risk their own lives time and time again. How many Jewish families today mourn their beautiful children who sacrificed their own precious souls for peace? We will never forget their righteousness. We will never forgive their killers. How could we?

Justice is ours. We have won the moral victory. We have followed the tenets of our God and peoplehood. We have brought destruction to those who would have destroyed us. Now, it is time for our chayalim to return to their universities, to their lovers, to their careers, to their parents and their children.

It is time for them to pick up the pieces and live in peace. Again.

But what now?

Now it is time to end the war. Now it is time to leave the bloodstained battlefield. Far too many innocents have died. We cannot join those nations whose victories are based on indiscriminate abuse of power. The starvation must stop. No baby on this planet deserves to die because he has no sustenance or medical care or sanctuary. No baby on this planet deserves to die because of indiscriminate bombing.

When I see the photos in the newspapers or online or on television, I simply cannot accept that we, whose history is testament to many centuries of brutality brought upon us by far too many others to count, are now learning to be perpetrators. This is simply inhumane. I see the babies and the children, and they look so familiar, those innocent victims. How many of our own people looked just like them not so many years ago?

As a citizen of Israel, it is terribly painful for me to accuse some of my fellow citizens of the murder of citizens of Gaza. It is terribly painful for me to point my finger at the land I love and scream out that the time to stop is now. I simply cannot witness another baby starving, with legs that defy the human condition, legs like toothpicks, legs that will never learn to walk or run; eyes that can no longer focus, eyes that understand that death is almost here and it may be welcome because then the suffering will end.

I believe that the time has come for us to speak out. The killing must stop.

Rosanne Skopp of West Orange is a wife, mother of four, grandmother of 14, and great-grandmother of nine. She is a graduate of Rutgers University and a dual citizen of the United States and Israel. She is a lifelong blogger, writing blogs before anyone knew what a blog was! She welcomes email at rosanne.skopp@gmail.com

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