They are all our children. Enough is enough.
We have all been extraordinarily proud of the incredible achievements of the Israeli and American governments in tackling the existential threat of a nuclear Iran. While there is still much work to be done, those of us who realize that all is in the hands of Hashem, recognize that the success of Tzahal and the American military forces could not have been possible without siyatta d’shmaya, the help of heaven. Prime Minister Netanyahu has used those very words in his speech to the nation and President Trump has acknowledged the divine hand in his successes.
But sadly, the original conflict, in Gaza against the evil Hamas, drags on at terrible cost to the Jewish nation.
For reasons that will soon become apparent, I’ve been hesitant to write this column for the longest time. I was hoping never to have to write it but events of the last two months and now July have forced me to reassess my position.
In the election of 2022, I voted for this government. Since then, I’ve supported it and have argued that its leadership, though flawed, was the best choice we had, particularly in the midst of a war.
I no longer feel that way.
The reasons are two-fold, and while some may think they have to do with court reform and charedi conscription, those extremely contentious issues are only peripherally related to my decision.
The first has to do with the value of human life in a Jewish society, in Israeli society, and how we measure it and how we treasure it. We are the people who are enjoined to “Choose Life (u’vacharta b’Chaim)” (Devarim 30:19 ). But what if there are two compelling and vital “lives” that require a choice?
The Talmud and subsequent poskim discuss this at length. Say you have two lives — for example, you are told to kill so and so or I will kill you or your child. Are you permitted to kill that person? Of course not, as the Talmud concludes, “Another’s blood is no more red than yours or any other’s” (Pesachim 25b, Yoma 82b, Sanhedrin 74a).
By the same reasoning, you don’t have to give up your life to save another. We are not required and in fact are forbidden to make “Sophie’s choice.”
• • •
I know I’m oversimplifying here, because this is not a halachic treatise, but you get the general point — one life is not more important than any other. Though I’ve been thinking about this conundrum for the entire length of the war, the past two plus months have brought it into stark reality.
It is estimated that there are 20 living hostages in Gaza. The month of May saw eight soldiers killed, the month of June another 20, and as of July 14, already 8 soldiers have been killed, with many more seriously wounded. All killed by cowardly, vicious Hamas barbarians, not in open battle but by booby-traps and IED’s, most in the area of Beit Hanoun and Khan Yunis.
The soldiers have been painstakingly taking more Gazan territory, to pressure Hamas to release more hostages in a “deal” or hopefully reveal and uncover these hostages on their own. The IDF is purposely not “bombing the hell” out of those areas so as not to mistakenly kill hostages, but rather going slowly, building by building and area by area. But this puts these soldiers at tremendous risk, as can be seen by the events of the last 60+ days.
Though to ask the question is nauseating and distasteful in the extreme, how many soldiers must die before it is concluded that this technique is not working and may in fact be halachically wrong. Twenty? Forty? One-hundred?
If I were the parent, chalilah, of a hostage, I would want everything done to bring my child home; but as the parent of a soldier I would want everything done to bring my child home as well.
One may argue, as some halachic authorities do, that soldiers are different, that’s what they signed up for, everything they do is a potential deadly risk. (HaRav Eliezer Melamed of the Har Bracha community in “HaAm V’HaAretz,” part of the multi-volume “Peninei Halacha” series.)
But how do we define that? Are they required to go on suicide missions to achieve an almost elusive goal? Add to that the fact that respected government sources have quietly confirmed that Israel knows where the hostages are, but they are held in areas that are either booby-trapped or surrounded by Hamas forces committed to killing them if the IDF gets too close.
Hamas last month goaded Israel that the IDF is getting too close and if they get any closer they will kill hostage Matan Zangauker.
How viable is a war of attrition knowing your enemy has no way of winning but has nothing to lose by killing your soldiers as you try to rescue hostages they are determined to kill anyway — that their definition of “victory” is to kill as many Jews as they can, whether they ultimately survive or not?
Wouldn’t it be better at this point to make a decision that overwhelming force must be used to annihilate the enemy, knowing that, G-d forbid, some or perhaps all the hostages might be killed but that we’d at last bring an end to this endless bloodshed with a full victory?
Notice I say fight on till full victory — no ceasefire or surrender. On that Judaism is clear (HaRav Melamed). The enemy of the Jewish people must be crushed. The question is what price will be paid and how it should be done. Which returns us to the original question — is one life more valuable than another?
That question and others requires leadership, both secular and religious, and sadly in both areas we are sorely lacking. Which brings me to the second reason that I am questioning my support of this government.
• • •
I just finished reading the summary of a preliminary report on the failures of October 7, both before and after the start of the war, written by Jonathan Foreman, lead interviewer and primary author of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on UK-Israel published in the May 2025 issue of Commentary magazine.
Many have previously heard bits and pieces of the depressing debacle that resulted in October 7, but reading in black and white of the failures of leadership, political and military; failures of preparedness; failures of response; failures of hubris and bigotry — are so shocking that it brings one first to confusion, then outrage, then tears. Nevertheless I still recommend you read it.
My conclusion is that
•every government leader — right, left or center — in office or power at the outbreak of October 7 war must resign
•every military officer from the rank of colonel and above who had operational responsibility
•every senior intelligence official, with a few rare exceptions must resign.
I have lost confidence in this government to lead and continue to prosecute this war properly and to make appropriate decisions regarding the thorny question I raised above. Instead, a national task force of political, military and, yes, religious leaders must be brought into emergency session to address how to prosecut this war to a successful conclusion with a minimal loss of life.
I include religious leadership because, as I’ve often pointed out, everything is in the Tanach and Tanach is a guidepost for us on how to proceed.
• • •
An appropriate example illustrates this. It’s the story of King David at Ziklag, little known to even those familiar with the Prophets. Shmuel 1, Chapter 30, recounts of how David Hamelech returned with his men to his home in Ziklag, an area in what we today call the Gaza envelope (possibly the area of Kibbutz Nir Oz).
The first king of Israel, Shaul had just been killed in battle and David had already been anointed the new king by Shmuel Hanavi months earlier. David found to his dismay that Ziklag had been burned to the ground, his wives and children and those of his men taken hostage by Amalekites. The navi states, “They cried till they could cry no more” (30:4). The parallels to our current day are striking.
At first David’s men are so incensed they want to stone David, but he regains his composure, calms them, consults Evyatar, the Kohen Gadol, and requests the Urim v’Tumin. He inquires of Hashem, should I go after the Amalekites, and He answers, “Yes, and you will be victorious.”
He his men go off immediately to battle. They find the Amalekites parading their captives while dancing and making merry, flush with victory (again, the parallels to our day are incredible). David slaughters the Amalekites and brings the captives home safely.
What can we learn from this?
The wags among you will say, sure, he had a direct line to G-d, a guaranteed victory. What’s more he didn’t have to face drones and IED’s and tunnel warfare. But that misses the point. David realized he must act quickly and turned to G-d. He did not delay.
I focus on that because one of the many failures mentioned in the scathing report published in Commentary is that it took three weeks for ground forces to enter Gaza after October 7. This was because “the IDF lacked soldiers who were ready to take part in intense urban warfare — and had to train up infantry and armor battalions so that they could carry out the mission.”
Despite multiple smaller wars with Hamas over several years, the Israeli army was woefully unprepared (in fact, that’s also why it took hours for the IDF to respond and reach the Israeli communities on the Gaza border on October 7).
Those three weeks turned out to be crucial, allowing Hamas to hide hostages in tunnels and all over Gaza, while also killing many more.
It’s true that we don’t have the Urim V’Tumim, but Hashem gave us His instruction manual, the Tanach, if we’d only bother to consult it.
I am not asking for a panel of inquiry to assess the causes of the massive, multiple failures related to October 7. That must come and will come, later, with full accountability and blame laid where it must.
But right now, we need a gathering of our best and brightest.
Most importantly those who can be guided by our Torah and Nach (the nevi’im and ketuvim) and by centuries of Talmudic and Halachic responsa that deal with the issue of successful prosecution and conclusion of war, in conjunction with military experts.
So we no longer have to make this awful, “Sophie’s choice.” We’ve lost too many precious souls. Enough is enough.
Shabbat shalom.
Dr. Alan A. Mazurek is a retired neurologist, living in Great Neck, Jerusalem and Florida. He is a former chairman of the ZOA. To reach him, write: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com
