SPOKANE, Wash. – With over 3,000 dead in the conflict between Hamas and Israel since Sat. Oct. 7, Spokane Jewish leaders rallied at the Riverfront Park splash pad on Sunday afternoon to contemplate and educate.
“There is no moral equivalent between a government who authorizes the butchering of children, the most horrific treatment of young ladies that you could possibly imagine (and) a government that purposely, tactically (and) strategically slaughters civilians, to a government that does whatever it can to protect innocent lives,” Rabbi Yisorel Hahn of Chabad of Spokane County said.
Hahn was the primary speaker at the event attended by nearly 150 people, including U.S. Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Spokane City Council Member Jonathan Bingle, who penned a statement last Monday stating the city supports Israel.
One common theme among speakers at the event was clearing up some of what they believe to be common misconceptions about Israel and its relationship with its neighbors.
“Imagine if there was a father holding a child and shooting at your family, and he killed one of your children,” Hahn said. “You have four children left, and you have a gun, and you tell the guy, ‘put the child down, I don’t want to hurt him.’ You know what your family would tell you? ‘Daddy, what were you thinking, what were you waiting, why are you concerned with the killer and not with us?’”
Others strayed from long-winded metaphors, directly calling out people they found responsible for misinformation.
“What’s more disturbing (than Hamas), for me personally, is hearing – respectfully – the media, who is here, and people with whom I agree politically, I will call us out; I’m definitely a member of the progressive left. And what does the progressive left like to do, they blame Israel,” Sandy Altshuler said. “It’s so painful for me to have to tolerate that message. To be blaming Israel is like blaming America for 9/11.”
