1.
Mr. Lévy, we are an eternal people, so we evaluate our present also through the lens of historical destiny. This is a unique time, requiring thinking that departs from the conventional. Diaspora Jewry is engaged with what happens here because Israel is the fulfillment of the prophetic vision: the actual home of millions of Jews, and potentially the home of every Jew. Israel is the life insurance policy of world Jewry. Right now, we are fighting to preserve that insurance, for you as well. "It is a time of trouble for Jacob, but he shall be saved out of it" (Jeremiah 30:7).
Philosopher Edmund Husserl spoke of "bracketing", suspending judgment, when approaching a phenomenon. Today, Jews around the world are called upon to suspend their judgments and critiques, and instead help strengthen Israel's ability to fight for its life. We can debate afterward about content and character. Those who cannot help should resist the urge to criticize.
2.
You argue that the notion "there are no innocents" in Gaza is monstrous. Why? There were innocents in Nazi Germany as well. But what kind of society is supposed to live just kilometers from our loved ones in the south, after it produced not only the Hamas Wehrmacht but also two waves of "civilian" mobs that decapitated our sons, raped our daughters until their pelvises shattered, then shot them in the head, tied parents and children and burned them alive, looted and torched homes? A society where Arabic copies of Mein Kampf are found in children's bedrooms and schools teach the annihilation of Jews. Not one moral voice has condemned the massacre unequivocally, without a "but," without a wink.
3.
You are returning to a burning France, where there is no answer to radical Islam. In Jerusalem, you spoke with civility and reason. You reiterated your support for the "two-state solution" and took pride in it. It plays well globally and gives you a moderate image. However, this is the root of the mindset that brought us October 7.
The foundational assumption was that, ultimately, our enemies would act rationally and prefer life over death. That is what the architects of the Oslo Accords believed when they brought tens of thousands of murderers into our country and armed them to protect us from themselves. That is what the planners of the "disengagement" thought when they expelled Jewish pioneers from Gaza, leaving greenhouses and irrigation systems behind to turn the sand into bloom. We know what followed.
We have no desire to educate them; our bloody history over the past 150 years has taught us that they have no intention of changing. The moment they can, they'll commit another massacre.
From a European perspective, the same mindset led to World War II and the Holocaust. In France, they believed Hitler would not go all the way, that his declarations were mere political rhetoric, because Germans were cultured and rational. Now take Nazi Germany and square it exponentially: that is Gaza. Is this who you propose we live next to? In the name of what morality?
4.
You mentioned the moral dilemma Israel faces "between defending its borders and remaining true to its values." The Talmud (Baba Metzia 62a) discusses a parallel dilemma: two men in the desert, and only one of them has a water jug. If both drink, both die. If one drinks, he survives. Ben Petura argued: "Better both should drink and die, than for one to see the death of the other."
Your view seems similar: it is immoral to prioritize one's life over another's, better we both die than I witness your death. But the Talmud continues: "Then came Rabbi Akiva and taught: 'Your brother shall live with you' (Leviticus 25:36), your life takes precedence over your fellow's." The phrase "Then came Rabbi Akiva" suggests Ben Petura's opinion was mainstream, the prevailing ethos of the intellectual salons of the time.
To shake this deeply rooted mindset, we needed Rabbi Akiva, the greatest of the Tannaim, to extract a verse from its context and anchor us in reality. The verse originally pertained to usury and interest: If your brother needs a loan, do not make him lose his life in usury and interest, but help him live with you. . Akiva interpreted it in a total different way: your brother shall live (only) "with you", i.e. your life comes first.
It is more interesting when we know that The same Rabbi Akiva also said, "'Love your neighbor as yourself' (Leviticus 19:18) is a great principle in the Torah," echoing Hillel the Elder, 200 years earlier: "What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the entire Torah; the rest is its commentary, go and learn" Akiva taught: You cannot love others if you do not love yourself.
This discussion concerns fellow Jews. How much more so when it comes to a society whose raison d'être, per the Hamas charter, is to annihilate Israel and kill Jews wherever they are. Leaving the barbarians next to us is an invitation to the next massacre. Would you let your children play near an active volcano? The dilemma you mentioned is, therefore, artificial: remaining true to our eternal values demands defending our borders.
5.
As for the Jewish communities in Samaritan hills and Judean mountains, which you call "a serious political mistake": I'm astonished that after October 7 you still cling to the fantasy of a Palestinian state. Yes, you say it is not currently feasible, but you hold it as a future vision, hence your opposition to "settlements."
However, a "Palestinian state" would be an Islamist Nazi caliphate about 900 meters above sea level, just minutes from Israel's population centers. This is not a hypothesis, but rather information based on the previous attempts we have made and on the surveys in Palestinian society and the horrific anti-Semitic content in the education system, on social media, and in the media there. Gaza, at sea level, did not prevent its rulers from making it the world's largest terror fortress aimed at wiping out Jews. Now imagine Gaza on steroids, on the hills of Samaria. That is your vision? With all due respect, we are not suicidal.
Your blindness is even more dangerous because what prevented Palestinians under Mahmoud Abbas from massacring Jews in Kfar Saba and Petach Tikva on October 7 was the presence of our communities in biblical Israel. Half a million Jews living there pushed the Israel Defense Forces to deploy forces inside the territory, not just along the border, to gather quality intelligence and thwart attacks. The pioneers of the hilltops are also trained fighters, physically protecting Israel's heartland. Is this a political mistake?
6.
Relocating the Gaza population is not "forced displacement" but encouragement and assistance to people without a future, most of whom want to start better lives for their children elsewhere. As the Talmudic story teaches, this is also a morally justified solution. But to you, such a move would "shake the foundations of Jewish morality… irreversibly."
Is Jewish morality living as martyrs next to a ticking time bomb? Is human morality watching Hitler grow stronger and shout that he plans to destroy the world, and doing nothing, as was the case in France? Well, Rabbi Akiva and the great sages of our people along our history disagree with you about what Jewish morality is.
Mr. Lévy, there is no future for Jews in France. We pray you will soon make Aliyah. We are fighting to preserve Israel for you, too.
