The planned sanctions by the United States against the Israeli group Tzav 9 (Order 9) should spark outrage from all who cherish democracy in Israel, regardless of political affiliation. In an egregious overreach, the Biden administration is infringing on the bedrock principles of free speech and the right to protest, cracking down on a legitimate protest movement committed to preventing aid from enabling the enemy (the Hamas terrorist organization) at a time of war.
Tzav 9 comprises thousands of Israelis from all walks of life, including families of hostages held by Hamas, bereaved families of terror victims, and even former members of the pro-Gaza disengagement Kaplan Force who now recognize the folly of empowering the terrorist rulers of Gaza. They have unified behind the crucial demand: As long as Hamas refuses to release innocent civilian hostages, humanitarian aid must not reach its murderous grasp. And reach its grasp, it does!
Ample evidence of aid exploitation
Extensive documentation confirms that vital supplies being forced upon Israel to transfer into Gaza indeed reach Hamas terrorists and abet their war efforts against Israel – killing IDF soldiers, firing rockets on civilian areas, operating terror tunnels, and indefinitely detaining hostages. The criminals of this organization, which has massacred Israeli civilians of all ages through beheadings, gouging infants' eyes, rape, and other atrocities, have even profited from the aid in recent months by diverting it from desperate Gazans to sell on the black market and fund additional attacks on Israel.
Any individual who claims to uphold Israeli democracy, whether an Israeli citizen or a meddling American diplomat, is ethically obligated to now condemn the Biden administration's actions which injure the hostages' families, Israeli sovereignty, human rights, and the very concept of liberty America purports to champion globally. Secretary of State Antony Blinken himself vowed the US would condemn Hamas for any attempt to "seize the aid itself" instead of allowing it to reach civilians. Yet the administration now reprehensibly targets Israelis working to uphold that very principle.
Curbing legitimate protests
In threatening sanctions against Tzav 9's crucial protests and legal efforts to block aid truck access, the US actively enables the same dictatorial repression of free expression it publicly derides in nations like Russia and China. Its hypocrisy undermines Washington's credibility as a global leader on human rights and democratic values.
While Hamas resembles the depravity of the Nazi regime in how little civilian life is valued, the US has now adopted a chillingly authoritarian posture more characteristic of such abusive regimes it claims to oppose worldwide. In Israel – America's sole legitimate democratic ally in the Middle East – the US moves to curb legitimate protest and expression aimed at upholding human rights.
Tzav 9's volunteers have taken a courageous moral stand in obstructing the unconscionable flow of aid to Hamas terrorists amid active violence against Israelis. They deserve praise from any true champion of freedom, human rights and democratic self-determination – the very principles America's sanctions upon them so alarmingly betray. By impeding aid trucks, this movement preserves a last shred of honor for two nations tragically complicit in empowering such a ruthless enemy during warfare. It is Tzav 9 that upholds human decency, not its misguided antagonists.
