I get why many people think Israel is a villain. As a rabbi, that’s not how I see it

You come home after a long day. Maybe from work, trying to raise kids, putting food on the table. You just want a bit of peace. Maybe a bit of footy. You scroll through social media or glance at the headlines.

And then you see it: Israel starving children, committing genocide, a colonial occupier. I get it. If that’s all you see, it’s understandable why you’d start to believe Israel must be the aggressor, the villain in this story.

Demonstrators in Tel Aviv, Israel, hold photos of hostages held in the Gaza Strip during a protest on the 600th day since the October 7 attack, on Wednesday. It is believed Hamas still holds more than 50 hostages.Credit: Getty Images

But I want to offer another perspective. I know I won’t change the minds of those who’ve dug in or have an ideological agenda. I’m speaking to those who are still open. Those who feel uncomfortable but aren’t sure what to make of it all.

Since October 7, I’ve been to Israel three times. I’ve met families shattered by the massacre. I’ve stood in homes torched by Hamas. I’ve spoken with young soldiers preparing to return to the battlefield. I’ve met hostages and their families, many still waiting in agony.

Just stop and think about that for a moment. Over 600 days since they were brutally taken from their homes. Still alive, we pray. Still held in conditions we cannot imagine. Not by a rogue faction, but by Hamas, the governing authority of Gaza. An organisation that would rather keep hostages in terror dungeons than offer its own people peace.

Some say, “Yes, Hamas is bad, but that doesn’t justify the killing of civilians”. Every innocent life lost is a tragedy. I weep for the suffering in Gaza. But what’s often ignored is why this war is so devastating. Hamas embeds itself in schools, hospitals and apartment buildings. It fires rockets from playgrounds and stockpiles weapons under homes. It uses its own people as shields. It relies on their suffering to fuel global outrage. And tragically, it works.

A photograph released by the IDF in September 2024 shows its spokesman at the entrance to a Hamas tunnel in Rafah in southern Gaza.Credit: IDF

There’s a growing narrative that Israel is deliberately starving Gaza. This week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called Israel’s actions “outrageous” and its explanations “without credibility”. But the very next day, an aid warehouse stocked with supplies was discovered, controlled by the UN. That’s the complexity. Aid isn’t just being blocked; it’s being stolen, hoarded and weaponised by “armed gangs” as described by the UN.

Even Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has condemned the “looting and theft” of humanitarian aid by Hamas-affiliated gangs, acknowledging their role in exacerbating the crisis. Should Israel do more? Maybe. But to ignore Hamas’ role and blame Israel alone is not just unfair, it distorts the truth.

And this didn’t begin on October 7. For years, Hamas fired rockets into Israeli towns, terrifying children and disrupting lives. Imagine rockets aimed at Melbourne or Sydney, every day, for years. Families running into bomb shelters. Children growing up afraid of the sky. No government would tolerate that. Why should Israel?

Israel invested in defence and protection. Hamas invested in terror tunnels and weapons. The billions poured into Gaza could have built more schools, hospitals and opportunity. Instead, it built a war machine.

Yet in the West, the narrative has become dangerously one-sided. Israel is called genocidal, apartheid, a colonial project. These aren’t just inaccurate. They’re inflammatory. The claim of colonialism is particularly absurd. Israel is the story of an indigenous people returning to their homeland. The Jewish connection to the Land of Israel dates back more than 3000 years. If that’s not indigeneity, what is?

None of this means Israel is beyond criticism. Could the war have been prosecuted more effectively? Possibly. Could Israel negotiate more creatively? Maybe. But negotiate with whom? With Hamas, a group that kidnaps babies, launches attacks from civilian areas and vows to do it again? These are not easy choices. This is not a clean or conventional war.

I’ve had people say to me, “But you’re a rabbi, how can you support this war?” The answer is that I don’t support war. I support truth. And I support life. It’s because I’m a rabbi that I mourn every innocent life. That I pray for peace every day. For Israelis and Palestinians, alike. But compassion doesn’t mean silence in the face of terror. It means being honest about who is perpetuating the suffering.

Here’s what’s remarkable. The soldiers I met don’t want war. They want to go home. To study. To start families. To live. And yes, to live in a world where the people of Gaza can do the same. Where children on both sides can grow up with dignity and safety. That world is not a fantasy. But it will never exist while Hamas remains in power.

Israel didn’t want or start this war. It was dragged into it, broken-hearted, after its worst day since the Holocaust. And yet it is being judged as though it is the aggressor.

Meanwhile, I’ve received hateful messages online. “Baby killer.” “You should have died in the gas chambers.” After two people were murdered leaving the Jewish museum in Washington, I saw people comment, “They deserved it”. This is the climate these slogans are fuelling. And it’s not just overseas. It’s here, in Melbourne, in our schools, on our streets.

I’m writing because I believe most Australians are fair-minded. I believe that if you saw what I’ve seen – if you met the mothers of hostages, the first responders, the young soldiers who just want to come home – you’d understand that this isn’t a war of choice.

It’s a war Israel must win if there’s to be any hope for peace. And it’s a truth we must defend if we want our society here in Australia to remain decent, thoughtful and humane.

You may not agree with everything Israel does. But if you believe in truth, humanity and justice, you cannot ignore what Hamas is.

Rabbi Daniel Rabin is senior rabbi at Caulfield Shule in Melbourne.

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