Who will bend this ancient hatred, will the killing to an end?
Who will swallow long injustice, take the devil for a country man?
Who will say “this far no further, oh lord, if I die today?”
Send no weapons no more money. Send no vengeance across the seas
Just the blessing of forgiveness for my new countryman and me
Missing brothers, martyred fellows, silent children in the ground
Could we but hear them could they not tell us “Time to lay God’s rifle down.”
Who will say, “this far, no further,” oh Lord, if I die today?

Belfast to Boston, James Taylor, from the album, October Road

“Never Again” was an expression we heard over and over again as children-even in my non-religious household. They were words on the wind in Hebrew Schools, during religious holidays, even along the non-sectarian stretches between holidays. We should never forget, could never forget, the Holocaust, but even more, we committed ourselves to never allow such a horrific tragedy to take place again.

An unparalleled tragedy it was. Having lived in both Hungary, and Latvia, I have come to appreciate the relatively recent dark-era of Jewry in Europe that occurred during the 1st half of the 20th century. During the last 4-months of WWII, 600,000 Hungarian Jews were rounded up and hurried off to Nazi death camps. Daugavpils, the 2nd largest city in Latvia, was almost 60% Jewish, as recently as the 1920’s. At one time, the city had more than 50-synagogues. Many Jews were taken prisoners by the Nazis and shot in the surrounding forests and dumped into mass graves. Today, there is one remaining synagogue and a Jewish population in the hundreds. This was the angst of the holocaust. We said, “Never again.”

Yet, we watch a genocide underway in Gaza. The State of Israel, following the lead of Netanyahu and his Right-wing government, is destroying the Palestinian State, its society and its people. Israel, long heralded as the only democracy in the Middle East, is rolling out the unthinkable, a never ending death carpet of bombing, destruction, killing and assassination.

“Never Again.”

Defenders of Israel say any criticism is antisemitic. If you criticize Israel, they claim, you are standing against Israel and the Israeli people. But this is problematic to the core. What if one believes that the destruction of Gaza and its people is against the best interests of Israel? What if a reasonable person believes that the destruction of Gaza ensures generations of hatred against Israel? This perspective sees Israel through the eyes of young Palestinian youths who are witnessing the incessant destruction of the world as they know it. How could this possibly be good for Israel’s future?

Never again is happening again. But this time, Jews are not the object of the hate and death, this time, the Israeli establishment is the subject. They are the exterminators.

This truth in no way justifies the actions of Hamas on that horrible day, October 7, 2023. That day, resulted in the deaths of 1,200 people and the taking of about 250 hostages. That day will live in infamy.

In Gaza, 61,722 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed since that day in October, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health ( MoH). A joint World Bank and UN assessment estimates that around 70% of all the structures in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed as of August, 2025. Furthermore, they report that 81% of the roads have been destroyed or damaged, 68% of agricultural land has been damaged, 84% of health facilities have been damaged or destroyed. Finally, almost all the children of Gaza are out of school.

This is not a game of semantics. But let’s be clear. Genocide is “an act committed with intent to destroy, in whole or part, a national, ethical, racial or religious group.”

Never again. What they must have meant by “Never Again” all this time was never again to Jews. As the world is convulsing politically no one seemingly has the time or inclination to demand: This far, no further. Treating this racism, this genocide, as a typical or minor matter indicts us. We need a domino effect of clarity and courage to end this insanity. It’s way past time to lay God’s rifle down.