A group of prominent Israeli figures—including academics, artists, and public intellectuals—has urged the international community to impose “crippling sanctions” on Israel in response to the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The letter, signed by 31 individuals and published in The Guardian, includes notable names such as Academy Award winner Yuval Abraham, former Israeli Attorney General Michael Ben-Yair, and Avraham Burg, a former speaker of Israel’s parliament and ex-head of the Jewish Agency. Several recipients of the Israel Prize, the country’s highest cultural honor, also signed.
Coming from diverse fields like poetry, science, journalism, and academia, the signatories accuse Israel of “starving the people of Gaza to death” and considering the forced displacement of Palestinians. They write: “The international community must impose crippling sanctions on Israel until it ends this brutal campaign and implements a permanent ceasefire.”
The letter is significant for its direct criticism of Israel and for challenging the taboo around endorsing sanctions within a country where such advocacy has often been legally targeted. Other signatories include painter Michal Na’aman, award-winning filmmaker Ra’anan Alexandrowicz, Golden Lion-winning director Samuel Maoz, poet Aharon Shabtai, and choreographer Inbal Pinto.
The growing global outrage over Israel’s war in Gaza is increasingly echoed within Israel and the wider Jewish diaspora, fueled by images of malnourished Palestinian children and reports of Israeli forces shooting hungry civilians at aid distribution points.
The letter coincides with Gaza’s health ministry reporting over 60,000 Palestinian deaths in the 21-month conflict. Earlier this week, Israeli human rights groups B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel released reports accusing Israel of pursuing a “genocidal” policy in Gaza—breaking another taboo.
On Sunday, the Reform movement, the largest Jewish denomination in the U.S., stated that Israel’s government bears responsibility for Gaza’s famine, saying: “Blocking food, water, medicine, and power—especially for children—is indefensible. Let us not allow our grief to harden into indifference, nor our love for Israel to blind us to the cries of the vulnerable.”
These statements follow remarks by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who warned that Israel’s proposed “humanitarian city” in Rafah would resemble a concentration camp and that forcing Palestinians into it would constitute ethnic cleansing. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, officials, and right-wing NGOs continue to defend the government’s policies.Israel continues to deny causing famine in Gaza, despite clear evidence proving otherwise. This includes reports from the UN’s reliable food security monitoring system and even Donald Trump’s admission of “real starvation” in the region.
The Guardian has reached out to the Israeli government for comment.
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Illustration: Guardian Design / Rich Cousins
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