As a young Jew brought up in a traditional conservative family home, my developing years were underpinned by a roadmap toward my 13th birthday and my so-called coming of age.
This colloquial phrase, more often called the barmitzvah in the Jewish community, played a significant role in my early years leading up to this very important milestone; not only in my life; but in the majority of young Jewish boys throughout much of the world. It is of course now a common feature of life for young Jewish girls, this right of passage being a batmitzvah.
I attended Hebrew classes for a few years before my 13th birthday. Frankly speaking, there was nowhere I wanted to be less than the three hours spent every Sunday morning, which facilitated my preparation for that very important day.
You may be asking why I am sharing my early years with you in this piece; it isn’t for self indulgence, I can assure you. It is to give context to how I am going to frame my viewpoint relating to the terrible events in Gaza and the prevailing climate in the West Bank; notwithstanding the appalling slaughter of Jews in Israel by Hamas on 7 October 2023.
Israel narrative during my school years
My years in the Jewish equivalent of Sunday school, commonly known as Hebrew classes, were underpinned by a specific narrative of Israel: teachers described the country as a beacon of democracy, surrounded by hostile Arab countries.
I grew up with the prevailing narrative that Palestine was a land without existing inhabitants. I had little or no idea of the plight of Palestinians living in the country before Israel’s creation in 1948.
In fairness, my description above of an Israel surrounded by hostile Arab countries was a fair one; the Six-Day war of 1967 was very much a David versus Goliath event with Israel fighting a coalition of then hostile countries, sworn to Israel’s destruction.
Despite seemingly overwhelming odds, Israel prevailed, as they did six years later in the 1973 Yom Kippur war. The threat to the country’s existence from hostile Arab countries has significantly changed since these moments in time from nearly 60 years ago, with previously hostile Arab States such as Egypt and Jordan entering into peace treaties with Israel in 1978 and 1994 respectively.
It is therefore all the more tragic that Israel has now morphed into a belligerent country; governed by an ultra right-wing Netanyahu government, with what appears to me, to be a tenuous grasp on its once proud democratic principles.
Israeli response to Hamas is called into question
After the well documented 7 October terrorist attack perpetrated by Hamas on Israeli citizens, the conventional wisdom of Israelis and its allies was that the country would understandably be justified in a proportional military response against Hamas.
Fast forward to today and the proportionality of Israel’s response can legitimately be called into question. It is widely accepted by most countries, the media and, belatedly by Israel itself, that the destruction of Gaza has been accompanied by an horrific death toll of around 70,000 Gazans (including 17,000 children).
At the same time, there have been over 1,000 deaths in the West Bank. What happened to Israel’s proud reputation as a beacon of democracy in a hostile region?
Even if this wasn’t bad enough, there have been 129 journalists killed in Israel in 2025.
Israel was responsible for more targeted killing of journalists by any other country’s military since the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) began collating data in 1992.
With the escalating killings of medical professionals, including paramedics in Rafa in April 2025 and similar events this April in southern Lebanon, there is an emerging pattern of the indiscriminate slaughter of Arab journalists and medical professionals by the Israeli Defence Forces. Their crimes: simply reporting on the actions of the IDF or treating the casualties of the escalating level violence being perpetrated by Israel in Gaza, the West Bank and Southern Lebanon.
Silence and dissent in Jewish communities
You might reasonably expect there to be an outcry from Jewish communities in the West in response to this disproportionate and escalating level of violence from the IDF, both in the occupied territories and in Lebanon.
Tragically and unforgivably, there has been a climate of silence, if not acquiescence amongst so many Jews in countries such as the UK. To me, this is both unconscionable and tragic.
I am not for one minute suggesting that this applies to all of the Jewish community – far from it. You only have to look at dissenting organisations such as Na’amod, Jews for Justice for Palestinians and Standing Together for a completely different narrative being framed against this prevailing level of violence being perpetrated by the IDF against Palestinians.
But there does appear to be a general consensus amongst Jewish institutions that criticism of Israel over their cruel and controversial tactics in occupied territories is both unjustified and unacceptable.
Silence and moral reckoning
This detachment from the harsh realities of the ongoing hostilities is brought into sharp focus by the rising antisemitic attacks, especially in England. For those with an antisemitic agenda, the conflation of Israeli aggression in the occupied territories with Jewish communities per se is both disingenuous and abhorrent.
It may be an unintended and indirect consequence of the hostilities, but hardly surprising.
Defending the indefensible when it comes to Israel does appear to be the default position for so many in the Jewish community in the West.
The old maxim that evil prospers when good people do nothing is as relevant today as it has always been. It is nothing but tragic that it applies here in this context.
More from Jonathan Fox
Friends of Bylines Network
There has never been a greater need for grassroots journalism that investigates the stories that really matter, holds power to account and champions the voices of everyday citizens. We are proudly powered by volunteers but what we do isn’t free.
STAND WITH US for independent, citizen-led journalism that makes democracy stronger, and you will even get some exclusive benefits.
