This Op-Ed was written and submitted by Rabbi Ari Walfish, a 2020 Emporia State alumnus currently living in Jerusalem, Israel. 

Dear Students and Alumni of ESU,

I write this letter just a few hours after Iran attacked Israel with close to 200 ballistic missiles. With gods help and thanks to the superb defense of the Israeli Defense Forces and its allies, the damage inflicted was minimal.

But as I sat huddled with my wife and children in our bomb shelter in Jerusalem, I couldn’t help but wonder: how will the world see this? Will it attempt to erroneously blame Israel for this, simply because it killed an arch-terrorist last week that Iran had supported, a man whose hands were filled with the blood of both American and Israeli soldiers and civilians? Or perhaps the world will see Iran for what it is, a puppet-master using every available tool at its disposal to destroy the Jewish people and the Jewish state?

With that in mind, I appeal to my former classmates and friends at ESU: Stand with Israel. Today, more than ever before, we need all the support we can get. As an alumnus of ESU, I am keenly aware of the importance of research, of digging deep and attempting to truly understanding a given subject. Please, do the same for this conflict.

Read the history, understand the hate and enmity that surrounds the tiny Jewish state, and recognize that we need the support of all those who cherish freedom and democracy, wherever they may be. We are strong, but we are in an oasis of intolerance and evil that seeks one thing: our destruction.

Recognize that the very same forces to wish to harm Israel also very much hate

America. For example, the Houthis – a rebel group holding most of Yemen in its control–have as their official slogan, “God Is the Greatest, Death to America, Death to Israel, A Curse Upon the Jews, Victory to Islam.” Is that the side of history you want to end up on?

I am grateful, for I know that the students I learned together with at ESU are intelligent, caring, and thoughtful leaders in every way. They understand the context of what is occurring, and they have learned to not simply believe the headlines showing death tolls to be the barometer of who is just in this war. They have read deeper, pushed aside the nonsense and incorrect “facts” displayed by bad actors both in the media and in public life.

But for those who have not yet reached this understanding, I urge you to reconsider your views on this difficult topic. One side celebrates death; the other side celebrates life. One side aims to maximize its own citizens lives for political gain civilians’ lives: the other side attempts to mitigate harm of those very civilians. One side videos and boasts of murder, rape and torture; the other side aggressively investigates any accusation of unethical behavior of its soldiers.

Be on the side of good, of truth, and of hope. Let us use this latest attack against the Jewish state as a new opportunity to re-assess some of our previously held beliefs and let us come together in defense of the only democracy in the Middle East and potentially America’s greatest ally in the world: Israel.