Back to articles
Politics

An Open Letter to Benjamin Netanyahu

3 min read
An Open Letter to Benjamin Netanyahu

Dear Prime Minister Netanyahu,

The tragedy unfolding in Gaza is searing to the human conscience. We appear genetically wired to recoil from such suffering and to reach, however haltingly, for compassion and peace.

Yet withholding that compassion and inflicting equal or greater anguish on an enemy is the brutal calculus of war. Every wartime decision demands balancing risk, prediction, trade-off, bias, and political reality. Because the relevant intelligence is often classified, explaining those decisions to the public is uniquely difficult.

Still, one must ask whether the choices that produced today's humanitarian catastrophe reflect the spirit of the Israel Defense Forces' Code of Ethics, which urges soldiers to "adhere to their mission with determination and wisdom, even at the risk of their lives," while "preserving human dignity even in combat." If Gaza operations have embodied those principles, they may warrant clearer demonstration. What does wisdom demand in the context of Israel and IDF's mission?

The Zohar offers a lens. Rabbi Hizkiyah likens the Assembly of Israel to a rose whose red and white petals symbolize justice wrapped in compassion; its thirteen petals, the thirteen qualities of mercy [1]. The text speaks of "a world that is coming"--not in chronological terms but in terms of consciousness [2]. This "higher Jerusalem" is neural rather than temporal, mirrored by a "lower Jerusalem," the earthly framework required to realize it [3]. The Assembly dwells in both [4].

How much does that dual vision inform your decisions?

Might the same mystical current flow through Islam? Abraham, son of Maimonides, found illumination in Sufism, not Kabbalah [5]. Would peace not draw nearer if our Muslim cousins understood that the Jerusalem Israel seeks is spiritual, not territorial--a city of consciousness, not concrete?

The world knows the power of the Israeli Defense Forces. Has it seen the power of the philosophers of Israel?

I urge you first to declare an immediate twenty-seven-day cease-fire, binding on both sides, with an explicit requirement that all attacks and preparations for attacks against Israel come to a complete halt for the duration. Such a pause would not signify weakness; rather, it would demonstrate strategic confidence and humanitarian resolve.

Concurrently, convene an international symposium in Jerusalem--physical and virtual--dedicated to the shared Abrahamic heritage. For nearly a lunar month, scholars, artists, poets, architects, and musicians from Judaism, Christianity, and Islam would present how their respective traditions kept the light of consciousness alive through humanity's darkest hours. Allow Jerusalem--higher and lower--to become a stage on which justice walks hand in hand with compassion.

The gathering should culminate in three concrete outcomes. First, a Declaration on the Sanctity of Human Life that affirms civilian inviolability and the moral limits of warfare. Second, a charter of Inter-Faith Principles of Consciousness articulating the mystical common ground that binds the Abrahamic faiths. Third, the unveiling of an AI-driven adviser, jointly developed, to provide ethically aligned legislative and diplomatic guidance to all parties going forward, especially for the founding of a Palestinian state.

By pairing military restraint with moral imagination, Israel can blunt mounting criticism among vital allies in Europe and the United States, preserve precious political capital, and open a path toward a peace that satisfies both the earthly and the higher Jerusalem.

From an emissary of peace.

References

  1. "Zohar -- Opening of the Zohar." Center for Online Judaic Studies. Accessed 30 July 2025. https://cojs.org/zohar-opening-of-zohar/

  2. Brill, Alan. "Interview with Daniel C. Matt -- Translator of the Pritzker Edition of the Zohar." The Book of Doctrines and Opinions (blog), 17 March 2016. https://kavvanah.blog/2016/03/17/interview-with-daniel-c-matt-translator-of-the-pritzker-edition-of-the-zohar/

  3. Rapps, Debby. "Bain Ha-Metzarim -- A Chronology of Tisha B'Av Throughout the Generations." Sefaria Sheet #40467. Accessed 30 July 2025. https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/40467

  4. "Daily Zohar #4880 -- Acharei Mot: The Tribes of Yah." DailyZohar.com, June 2025. https://dailyzohar.com/daily-zohar-4880-acharei-mot-the-tribes-of-yah/

  5. "How Maimonides' Son Brought Sufi Practices into Judaism." Mosaic Magazine (Editors' Pick), 3 February 2016. https://mosaicmagazine.com/picks/history-ideas/2016/02/how-maimonides-son-brought-sufi-practices-into-judaism/

Additional sources consulted

  1. "8 Classic Jewish Teachings About Jerusalem," 5 "Jerusalem Above, Jerusalem Below." Chabad.org. Accessed 30 July 2025. https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/3870184/jewish/8-Classic-Jewish-Teachings-About-Jerusalem.htm

  2. Auerbach, Peretz (adapt.). "The Rose Among the Thorns -- Introduction, Part 1." Kabbalah Online / Chabad.org. Accessed 30 July 2025. https://www.chabad.org/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/379477/jewish/The-Rose-Among-the-Thorns.htm

  3. "Ruach Tzahal -- IDF Code of Ethics." Jewish Virtual Library. Accessed 30 July 2025. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ruach-tzahal-idf-code-of-ethics

  4. "Taanit 5a:11 (Jerusalem Above and Jerusalem Below)." Sefaria. Accessed 30 July 2025. https://www.sefaria.org/Taanit.5a.11

  5. "The Zohar: Pritzker Edition -- Series Page." Stanford University Press. Accessed 30 July 2025. https://www.sup.org/books/religious-studies/zohar

Read more articles