Israeli Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef responded to reports of a chemical attack on a rebel-held city in war-torn Syria, arguing that Jews have a moral obligation to end the “brutal genocide” taking place in the country.
“I have said before and I repeat,” said Rabbi Yosef. “In Syria there is a brutal genocide of both women and children with weapons of mass destruction.”
“There is a moral obligation not to remain silent and to try to stop the massacre,” the rabbi continued.
“As Jews, who have experienced national extermination, whose Torah is a light unto the nations, it is our moral duty to try to prevent the massacre. This obligation is no less than was the moral obligation to destroy the nuclear reactor in Syria.”
According to rescue workers and medical relief organizations, scores of people were killed when Syrian government forces struck the town of Douma, near Damascus, with a chlorine bomb and nerve agents.
Various groups released conflicting reports on the death toll, with the amount of those reportedly killed ranging between 40 and 150. The lifeless bodies of roughly a dozen men, women and children, some of them with foam at the mouth, were shown in one video circulated by activists.
The American State Department described the reports as “horrifying” and would, if confirmed, “demand an immediate response by the international community.”
This is not the first time Rabbi Yosef has made such statements. In October of 2016, he described the civil war in Syria as a small holocaust, and called on Jews to speak out against the situation.
“I want to make use of this forum and say that as Jews it is forbidden for us to remain silent. The call will come out from here: Genocide cannot be ignored, not in Syria and not anywhere, and not against any people, even if they are not our friends,” he said.
