While noting that Israelis “have the right to live in safety and peace, free from the threat of violence and fear’, the rabbis said “something fundamental feels at risk of being lost [in Israel]”.
They referenced “the Knesset’s vote this week in support of annexation of the West Bank, its rejection of the possibility of a Palestinian state, and especially the deepening humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza”.
The rabbis said they were “shaken by rising antisemitism, here in the UK and around the world... This sharpens the urgency of standing together, even as we wrestle with all that is happening.
“We know many of you are struggling. We are too. And we want to say clearly and honestly: you are not alone,” Baginsky and Levy wrote.
United: Rabbis Josh Levy and Charley Baginsky say a prayer on the formation of the new Progressive movement at the Montagu Centre, Liberal HQ (photo: Zoe Norfolk)[Missing Credit]
They appealed to democratic Jewish values. “Our Zionism is rooted in love, in justice, and in an unshakable belief in the moral voice of our tradition,” the rabbis wrote. “It is bound to the dream of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, living in peace with its neighbours and treating all its inhabitants with dignity and equality.
“The possibility of annexation without negotiation, and the reality of a war that allows children to starve, make it nearly impossible to hold on to that dream,” the rabbis continued, alluding to the reports of children dying of starvation in Gaza.
“This is not just a political moment, it is a moral and religious one. One that threatens to sever us from the values that brought many of us to Zionism in the first place: compassion, justice, equality and peace. These values are not naïve aspirations. They are the bedrock of our commitment to Israel, and we will not surrender them.
“Our Jewish memory, shaped by exile, hunger and powerlessness, does not allow us to be silent in the face of humanitarian disaster. And our Jewish identity, shaped by Torah, justice and conscience, calls on us to speak when democracy and integrity in leadership are under threat.”
Palestinian walk carrying sacks of flour near Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, on July 27, 2025 (Image: Getty)AFP via Getty Images
The Progressive statement came on the same day as the religious leader of the Massorti movement, Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg, signed a letter condemning the use of “starvation as a weapon of war” in Gaza.
This week, Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis also joined the growing chorus of religious leaders reacting to images of “terrible suffering” in Gaza. His comments, encouraging donations to the World Jewish Relief's work in Gaza, came as two prominent Israeli human rights organisations have accused the Jewish State of “genocide”.
On Tuesday evening, the Board of Deputies will host an emergency meeting to discuss the situation in Gaza.
Israel has repeatedly denied claims of a genocide in Gaza, including in an ongoing case at the International Court of Justice.
The Israeli government has also denied the suggestion that its military has committed war crimes in the Strip. It claims that while the Israel Defence Force does not target civilians, casualties are inevitable because of how Hamas operates in the urban warzone, including using civilians as human shields. The IDF claims to take measures not to harm civilians.
In recent days, as reports of starvation in Gaza have spread and international pressure has mounted, Israel announced several measures to increase the flow of aid to the enclave, including emergency airdrops of food into Gaza, the establishment of humanitarian corridors to enable the UN to deliver aid and “tactical” ten-hour pauses in fighting in three areas.
The Israeli government has denied claims that it has used starvation as a weapon of war.
