Dozens of rabbis and cantors will pray, sing and blow ram’s horns outside the Israeli Consulate General in Brentwood Monday calling for immediate food aid to Gazans, an end to the war in Gaza and the safe return home for the hostages in Hamas captivity.
“As rabbis and cantors, leaders in the Jewish community of Los Angeles, we stand firmly and deeply inside the values of the Jewish tradition lifting up that everyone is made b’tzelem elohim, in the image of God,” Rabbi Susan Goldberg, senior rabbi of Echo Park-based Nefesh, which bills itself as “an open-hearted spiritual community welcoming all of the identities that make up who we are and who we love.”
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“It is time to end the suffering in Gaza and in Israel and be led by those who affirm the safety, dignity, and human rights of all who live in the land. We blast the shofar on this first day of the Hebrew month of Elul, a month of reckoning and reflection that leads us into the new year.
“We join with rabbis and cantors and other Jewish leaders from across the United States who are praying fervently for an end to the killing and the beginning of a new way forward.”
The rabbis and cantors participating in Monday’s rally “are standing in solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of Israelis in the streets and those risking their freedom to end the atrocities in Gaza,” a spokeswoman told City News Service.
On Friday, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, which provides food security and nutrition analyses for decision-making in over 30 countries facing food crises, declared a famine is confirmed in the Gaza Strip, with more than half a million people facing catastrophic conditions characterized by starvation, destitution and death, while another 1.07 million people are facing an emergency and 396,000 are in crisis.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office called the report “an outright lie.”
“Israel does not have a policy of starvation. Israel has a policy of preventing starvation,” the statement issued Friday said. “Since the beginning of the war Israel has enabled 2 million tons of aid to enter the Gaza Strip, over one ton of aid per person.”
The statement also said, “Like all previous IPC reports, this one ignores Israel’s humanitarian efforts and Hamas’ systematic theft. Hamas steals aid to finance its war machine. These were the causes of temporary shortages, which Israel overcame with airdrops, maritime deliveries, safe transport routes, and GHF distribution points manned by American companies,” referring to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the American nonprofit organization established in February to distribute humanitarian aid during the ongoing Gaza humanitarian crisis.
“The only ones being intentionally starved in Gaza are the Israeli hostages.”