Friedman Warns: Israel Risks Global Isolation Without Gaza Policy Shift
Jewish Voices Sound Alarm Over Netanyahu’s War Strategy and Its Impact on Diaspora Safety and Israel’s Moral Standing
Watan-In a New York Times column, prominent American Jewish commentator Thomas Friedman warned that the way Israel is conducting its war in Gaza is paving the way for a global redefinition of how Israel and Jews are perceived—and not in a positive direction.
He cautioned: “We are heading toward a future where synagogues will increasingly be guarded by police and private security. Israel will no longer be seen by Jews as a safe haven from antisemitism, but as a generator of it. Rational Israelis will consider emigrating to places like Australia and the U.S. rather than calling on diaspora Jews to move to Israel. This grim future hasn’t arrived yet, but if you don’t see it coming, you’re fooling yourself.”
Friedman noted that a growing number of retired Israeli air force pilots and defense officials are speaking out against Netanyahu’s “nihilistic” policy in Gaza. These figures are urging Jews in the U.S. and elsewhere to raise their voices, issuing what they call a “distress call: Save our ship—before Israel’s deepening moral stain becomes irreversible.”
Friedman: Without Peace Shift, Israel Risks Global Pariah Status
He argued that Israel had already neutralized Hamas’s existential military threat months ago. Therefore, Netanyahu’s government should inform the Trump administration and Arab mediators that it’s ready for a phased withdrawal from Gaza, to be replaced by a peacekeeping force made up of international, Arab, and Palestinian elements—conditional on Hamas returning all hostages and leaving the territory.
However, if Israel continues pursuing Netanyahu’s aim of indefinite war—seeking an “absolute victory” over Hamas, while flirting with far-right fantasies of ethnic cleansing and Israeli resettlement in Gaza—then Jews around the world must prepare their children and grandchildren for a world in which Israel is a pariah state and a source of shame, not pride.
Friedman predicted that eventually foreign journalists and photographers would enter Gaza without Israeli military escort—and when they do, “the shock of what they see may trigger a powerful backlash against Israel and Jews worldwide.”
He clarified that his warning is not based on ignorance of what Hamas did on October 7, 2023. Hamas, he said, deserves to be defeated. But as a Jew who believes in Israel’s right to exist securely next to a Palestinian state, he insisted: “If my tribe doesn’t resist this government’s indifference to Palestinian civilian casualties and its creeping authoritarianism at home, then Jews everywhere will pay a steep price.”
“We Don’t Want to Become Like Our Worst Enemies”
Friedman referenced an open letter by two highly respected former Israeli air force pilots—Brig. Gen. Asaf Agmon and Col. Uri Arad—published in Haaretz. The letter was addressed to their colleagues still serving in the air force. The two belong to the “Forum 555,” a group of 1,700 Israeli air force veterans and reservists formed to resist Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul and defend Israeli democracy.
In the letter, the signatories did not downplay Hamas’s October 7 attack, calling the war initially justified. But they warned that the war had “lost its strategic and security objectives” and now primarily serves the “political and personal interests of the government.” They described it as increasingly looking like a war of vengeance, driven by officials who claim there are “no innocents” in Gaza—citing one Knesset member who boasted that the government can now kill 100 Gazans a day without raising concern.
The pilots wrote: “However terrible October 7 was, it doesn’t justify total moral detachment or disproportionate use of lethal force. We don’t want to become like our worst enemies.”
They highlighted the night of March 18, when the Israeli government violated a ceasefire deal for hostage release and launched an airstrike that killed nearly 300 people, including many children, while targeting a few Hamas commanders—without providing a satisfactory explanation for the mass casualties.
Diaspora Voices Must Rise
Friedman also received a separate open letter from Nimrod Novik, former senior adviser to Shimon Peres, on behalf of Commanders for Israel’s Security, a group of 550 retired senior officials from Israel’s defense, security, and diplomatic sectors.
The letter urged Jews in the diaspora to speak out against the madness in Gaza, stating:
“Some in the diaspora have faced criticism for voicing concern about Gaza. They’re told to stay silent if they don’t serve in the IDF. We reject that. Open, honest dialogue only strengthens Israel’s democracy and security.”
Friedman concluded his article by aligning himself with these voices, saying this is the only way to truly support Israel, and called on Palestinian state supporters to likewise speak out against Hamas’s extremism and work toward a peaceful solution in Gaza.
