The massacre in Sudan: The greatest indictment of Israel’s enemies
Last week, a terribly tragic event occured in western Sudan. Armed militia members of the RSF, entered a hospital and gunned down patients, staff, and whoever was in their way, at point range. Over three hundred people were killed in this massacre and many more were wounded. As a Jew and a human being, my first gut reaction is of great pain and concern for the incredible human suffering in Sudan. In the words of Isaiah, after describing the great suffering of Moab, לבי למואב יזעק-“My heart cries out for Moab”, even though they were not the best friends of the Jewish people. Nonetheless, all human suffering is very sad.
However, there is another very important point that I want to bring out from this story, which many people have not even heard about. And this is exactly the point. Human rights were grotesquely violated according to all opinions last week in Sudan. The atrocity was even recorded without shame. However, the very meek, almost nonexistent, response of the international community to this bona fide tragedy is very significant for us as Jewish people.
Because, for two years we have been fighting a difficult war in Gaza that was thrown upon us without preparation. Almost from the beginning, Israel was attacked bitterly for undermining human rights, when according to John Spencer, an expert in Urban Warfare from West Point, no country in the history of the world has ever taken the precautions to protect civilians as Israel did.
And this is where the Jewish soul must scream out: Where is the UN security council resolution against the RSF? Why hasn’t the International Court of the Hague filed an international warrant for the arrest of Omar Mohammed Hamdan Diglo, the leader of the RSF, who is responsible for these atrocities (even though they filed one against Netanyahu and Galant)? Where are the 30 student groups from Harvard – who bitterly condemned Israel after October 7th- where are they now? Where are the protestors who locked down Hamilton Hall at Columbia University? Where are all the protests on college campuses across the country chanting ” From the Nile to the sea, we want Sudan free”?
The strange silence and almost complete ignorance by the international press of this tragic event speaks louder than words. The sad reality is that people don’t really care so much if Human Rights were violated. Because if they did, these very same people should be protesting much more now than they did regarding the war in Gaza. But they are not. Because the issue here was never about Human Rights. This was just a cover up for a new modern form of antisemitism that takes on a humanistic form. This is nothing new, however, as antisemitism is a historic scourge that continually takes on new forms. For much of history, it had a strong Christian element to it. In more recent years, it was fueled by Fascism and Communism. However, in recent years it has taken the garb of humanism, in which Israel is demonized for simply defending its basic right to exist as any self respecting nation would.
The tragic events in Sudan showed us without a doubt that the issue behind all the mass protests etc. over the past two years had nothing to do with human rights. This was simply a coverup in order to express the age old evil of antisemitism. Many of us knew this from the beginning. However, the incredible silence that hovered over the world last week proved it beyond a doubt.
May Hashem Yisborach, protect us from our enemies and reveal His holy truth to the world!
-Ariel
arielgalian613@gmail.com
Rabbi Ariel Galian was raised in Cleveland in a modern/yeshivish home. He studied by Rabbi Aharon Lopiansky for 5 years and then at Yeshivas Ner Yisroel. He moved to Israel in 2008 when he was 26 and since than has been blessed to also connect deeply to the world of Sephardic Jewry and Chassidut. Baruch Hashem his wife and him have been blessed with 7 kids.