Jewish Americans share views on conflict as Israel-Hamas war continues

Amna Nawaz:

Today, in Washington, D.C., tens of thousands of people marched near the Capitol in support of Israel as its war with Hamas enters a second month.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog addressed the crowd in a live feed, and protesters were united, calling for hostages to be released and for rising antisemitism to be condemned.

But some Jewish Americans are torn over how the Israeli government is conducting the war and the number of Palestinians killed in the last five weeks.

William Brangham got a sampling of some different perspectives.

For many Jews in the U.S., this is a raw and emotionally difficult moment, one filled with great sadness and anger and anxiety. While there's near universal condemnation of Hamas' vicious attack on October 7, Israel's response since then, its full-scale attack on Gaza, on Hamas, and the horrible death it has caused, has exposed divisions within the American Jewish population.

To get some sense of those, we spoke with a range of people with different perspectives.

Rabbi Rachel Timoner leads a reform congregation in Brooklyn, New York. Davian Gekman is a freshman at Cornell University. Rabbi Brant Rosen of Tzedek Chicago leads a progressive synagogue. David P. is an orthodox Jew and lawyer in Chicago who asked we not use his last name. Rabbi Ilana Garber advises conservative rabbis as part of the Rabbinical Assembly. And Medea Benjamin is co-founder of the woman-led peace group known as CODEPINK.

One common theme we heard was distress that the initial empathy shown to Israel after October 7 had dissipated and that there's not more consistent coverage and focus on the hostages Hamas took.

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