José Andrés is a superstar among the world’s most successful chefs. His restaurant empire numbers over 30 establishments, from funky food trucks to a steak house, to a veggie fast-casual spot, to the Michelin 2-starred minibar in Washington DC. Chefs are typically described as headstrong and driven. Andres fits the stereotype like a practiced hand on the grip of a Japanese Global knife. He is charismatic, funny, and just plain larger than life.
In addition to Chef Andrés’ skills in the kitchen and the boardroom, he is a philanthropist of food. Specifically, he wants to connect people in crisis and trauma with the comfort of a good, simple, warm meal. He came to believe that the role of cooks and the power of food could change the world. He formed the World Central Kitchen in 2010 and then got a crew to travel to Haiti with him after a terrible earthquake. The chef and some fabulous aid workers made hundreds of thousands of meals. They saved lives and nourished broken souls.
Since then, WCK has arrived after natural disasters all over the world. WCK gets international aid workers and local chefs together to feed anyone who needs a meal. They do it with compassion, cooperation, and determination. The chef’s indefatigable efforts infuse every meal. The workers, the local helpers, the authorities – everyone involved – speak with admiration for the work and the goals of WCK. Andrés’ work, says the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, transcends politics.
WCK goes to war zones, too. We know this all too well. Seven people with WCK were killed in Gaza on Monday night by the IDF. The crew had unloaded tons of food and were heading back to camp in three clearly marked cars. Our hearts break for these lives lost. Saifeddin Abutaha, Zoni Frankcom, Damian Sobol, Jacob Flinkinger, John Chapman, Jim Henderson, and James Kirby. IDF spokesmen said it was a terrible, regrettable mistake, and that there would be an investigation. Chef Andrés, angry and grief-stricken, accused the Israeli military of intentionally targeting the cars.
In the fog of war, terrible things happen. Orders are confused, drones go off course, tired pilots fire without getting target confirmation. Friendly fire kills soldiers on the same side. Aid workers are not properly identified. In the fog of war, people lose their way.
This awful incident that has left seven aid workers dead has cut deeply into the souls of people all over the world. In the aftermath of the WCK fiasco, it seems clear that Israel is lost in the fog of war. This simply should not have happened.
The situation is stalled in Gaza. There is a lull, punctuated by occasional raids. There are only four brigades in Gaza today. But there is no hostage rescue, and hostage families are taking it to the streets. They are enraged with the Israeli government that has been so unresponsive to their pain and their plight. To quote Pete Seeger, “We’re waist deep in the Big Muddy.”
It’s time to pause. It’s time for a cease-fire. It’s time for Israel to examine what they’re doing today and what they plan to do tomorrow. It’s time to let the fog lift to better see the situation. To alienate every friend Israel has left – and they are dropping away by the dozen – is dangerous and foolhardy. A cease-fire is not surrender. It is a voluntary strategy that must be employed to maximize humanitarian outreach to hungry, homeless Gazans. The cease-fire is not just for the sake of the Gazans. It is for Israelis and Jews everywhere.
It’s a shanda – a shameful truth – that the deaths of approximately 13,000 Gazan children was not enough to move President Biden – or me – to speak bluntly and directly about what must happen next. It’s a shanda that it took something like the WCK to lift a corner of the fog of war to see that Israel needs to pause, to do a form of heshbon hanefesh that we typically do before Yom Kippur. An appraisal is necessary. What are we doing? What are we capable of achieving? Who will help repair the damage in Gaza? How will the hearts of the hostage families be repaired?
This is the time for a blunt assessment. We are waist deep in the Big Muddy.
Before Shabbat 