#like for a lot of Diaspora Jews it seems the main takeaway of the Gaza war

[germiyahu]

And also, I saw a (presumably) American Jew get in a fight with an Israeli because the Israeli expressed... uncharitable thoughts toward Palestinians. This came from a place of frustration and resentment that non Israelis simply won't understand on a visceral level.

But the American Jew decried the Israeli as "not living up to Jewish values." I hope everyone realizes that half of Israelis are completely secular. Their Jewish identity has nothing to do with religious beliefs or practices.

The IDF does not consult the Shulkhan Arukh before making military decisions. The Israeli government is not pondering what the Great Sages of the Talmudic era would think of every law they pass. I'm sorry but for millions of Israelis they don't care. Your invoking Tikkun Olam or Pikuach Nefesh or this or that or the third thing won't sway many Israelis.

They don't live their lives by the Torah, and you come across as incredibly preachy and corny when you try to lecture them about how they're not "upholding Jewish values," when they, in this example, don't give Life unparalleled primacy. That's one of your values, and that's awesome, and most Rabbis would agree it is a core value of Judaism, but Israelis are not failing to be Good Jews when they don't live their lives by this or any other value.

Israel is a real country with real concerns, full of real people who need practical solutions to everyday problems. We as Americans probably are more religious than non-Orthodox Israelis on the whole, because religious thought and practice is a more necessary component of a Jewish identity here. You need to define yourself against the gentile majority. That's not the case in Israel. And religious Israelis often simply can't afford to have this demure affectation of nonviolence.

I don't know it just rubbed me the wrong way, to see an Israeli declare they didn't care about Palestinians going hungry, clearly from a place of pain, and to see Americans wag their fingers and say "Ugh you're being such a bad Jew!"