VATICAN CITY - Religious and civil society leaders in North America are speaking out against U.S. President Trump's plan to evict Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to create land for real estate development in the pages of the New York Times. Rabbi David Rosen told Vatican media: 'Forced displacement is immoral and contradicts the Geneva Convention'.
Roberto Paglialonga - Vatican City
This news could not but cause a stir. A full page of The New York Times, white background and a large black box in the middle, with a few words that stand out for us: 'Trump called for the expulsion of all Palestinians from Gaza. Jews say no to ethnic cleansing!". A harsh call that expresses all their indignation, signed by more than 350 rabbis, activists and other figures of North American Jewish culture who have decided to denounce the US president's proposal to "evict Palestinians from the Strip" in order to build a valuable real estate complex there. The plan, which would involve resettling some 2 million survivors of the Israel-Hamas conflict in Arab countries - such as Egypt and Jordan - was announced by Trump last week at the conclusion of a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Civil society representatives who signed the appeal include playwright Tony Kushner, actress Ilana Glazer, Canadian writer and activist Naomi Klein and actor Joaquin Phoenix.
Trump's plan is "insidious"
Cody Edgerly, director of the "In Our Name" campaign and one of the main organisers of the advert, said in a report in The Guardian that "it is encouraging to see such a rapid outpouring of support across the religious and political spectrum". Trump's idea, which for many evokes the 1948 Nakba, was challenged by one of the signatories, Tobia Spitzer, chief rabbi of Congregation Doshei Tzedek in Newton, Massachusetts, as an "insidious plan" that is "vitally important" to oppose. "We Jews know better than anyone else what violence such fantasies can lead to," he added, recalling the massacres of the Jewish people carried out by Hitler. Rabbi Yosef Berman of the New Synagogue Project in Washington, DC, who is also on the list of signatories, said that "Jewish teaching is clear: Trump is not God and cannot take away the Palestinians' inherent dignity or steal their land for a real estate deal. Trump's desire to ethnically cleanse Gaza of Palestinians is morally repugnant."
Rabbi Rosen: it's against the Geneva Convention
In an interview with Vatican media, Rabbi David Rosen, former director of international interfaith affairs for the American Jewish Committee and current special interfaith adviser at the Abraham Family House in Abu Dhabi, stressed the importance of the initiative, which is useful to let "the world know as much as possible" that Trump's idea, "as it is and as it has been understood, is not acceptable." At the same time, however, he explained that he does not believe that "this appeal will change anything, precisely because it comes from that part of the political spectrum that is in opposition" to the current American leader, "and which therefore has no interest in paying attention". Moving "a population against its will is contrary to the Geneva Convention," he finally said, "but more importantly, it is immoral. When people decide voluntarily, it is a different matter". But any "forced displacement is morally unacceptable from an ethical point of view."
Precedents
American rabbis are no strangers to vigorous media positions against US policy and in support of the Palestinian cause. Thirty-six of them interrupted a UN General Assembly session in January 2024 with chants and banners demanding that then-President Joe Biden stop vetoing the Security Council and take urgent action to support an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
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