Top 5 Questions Asked to an Israeli Soldier who Fought in Gaza

After October 7th, Sam Fried, an American Jew, felt a strong desire to contribute to protecting the Jewish people. His grandfather fought for the American Army in WWII during the Battle of Normandy to liberate other Jews from Nazi devastation, and Sam wanted to follow in his footsteps.

Sam’s grandfather donned tefillin every morning, never missing a day, even in wartime. Today, Sam uses the same pair of tefillin, also determined to wear them every single day, especially while serving.

“I wore them in Gaza, so that same pair of tefillin has been through two major wars for the Jewish people.”

When Sam returned to America from the war, he was shocked and dismayed to find that many Americans were expressing hateful sentiments toward Israel and Jews. “They were calling Israel and the IDF out for crimes we did not do, nor ever would do, virtually unopposed. I felt like I needed to do something, I just wasn’t sure what.”

Then a light bulb went off for Sam. Sam and a few friends set up shop in Central Park and Washington Square Park with a sign that said, “I was a Soldier in the IDF and Fought in Gaza. Ask Me Anything!”

Crowds typically gathered, and while Sam answered individuals, he believes the real magic happens with the onlookers. “I am not necessarily speaking to the person who is coming up to our table insisting that ‘Israel is committing genocide.’ I am actually speaking to the 20 or 30 people listening as I respond to the claim. I won’t get through to the person who hates me for being a soldier or a proud Jew, because they are already so far down the rabbit hole. But I do feel progress is being made with bystanders watching to see how we react and respond when these accusations are put forth.”

Sam has spoken to audiences around the world, participating in dozens of speeches, panels, rallies, workshops, and his favorite—debates.

His work comes with an element of personal danger. Sam has been followed and stalked for speaking up. One evening, he was in Boise, Idaho about to deliver a speech for an interfaith gathering at a church when he received a phone call from the police department.

“I had to go back to the hotel I was staying at. Four people wearing keffiyehs, carrying hammers and wrenches, came to the Hilton and apparently tried to lynch me. Thank God I wasn’t there. They made a Wanted poster of my face and spraypainted my eyes with ‘X’s and wrote, ‘Sam Fried is complicit in genocide.’” The agitators ended up causing thousands of dollars in damage at the hotel, simply because they allowed an IDF soldier to stay there.”

The feedback he receives keeps him going. “I even received messages from people in Iran saying they stand with Israel, and they don’t agree with what the Islamic Republic is doing. They ask me, an IDF soldier, to come and liberate them from the Islamic regime.”

Sam believes if you come from a place of humanity and compassion, change is possible. Here are the five most common questions or comments he gets, and his solid and succinct answers.

1. Israel is committing genocide.

The definition of genocide is the intentional destruction of people. If you look at what Israel has done, Israel’s intent is quite the opposite. We are intentionally trying to save people. Who are the people intending to commit genocide? Hamas, and fortunately they failed.

A counter-statement often heard is: “Well, maybe they are not committing genocide, but they are unnecessarily murdering too many innocent people.”

In every single war, tragically innocent people die; Palestinians are not unique in this tragedy. The difference is that this war didn’t need to happen—Hamas instigated it, knowing that Palestinians would suffer greatly.

The United Nations states that the average civilian-combatant death ratio across all modern urban wars is 9 to 1. That means that 90% of people that die in a modern urban war are civilians, largely due to the nature of fighting a war in dense civilian territories. According to Hamas’s reported numbers on this war, Israel has killed 45,000 people, and according to Israel, the IDF has eliminated approximately 20,000 terrorists. These figures yield a 1.25 to 1 civilian-combatant death ratio. This low ratio is simply unheard of, given the conditions the IDF is working in. The empirical evidence prove that Israel is doing a better job in harder circumstances to protect innocent civilians (Palestinians) than anyone else in history.

2. Why then is Israel killing innocent Gazan people?

Quite the contrary. I, as an IDF soldier, personally escorted Gazan civilians to safety, and even risked my life doing so. Israel has dropped millions of warning leaflets, hacks into civilian radio stations to make announcements on where to escape to, and makes individual phone calls to warn civilians to get out of the way before the IDF takes over an area that is infested with tunnels and Hamas and PIJ operatives. The Army is going from building to building to evacuate and look for terrorists, rather than sending massive bombs overhead.

We are doing our best to meet our legitimate war objectives as well as mitigating civilian loss of life. Hamas didn’t warn anyone on October 7th. Israel is doing the best that possibly can with surrounding enemies.

3. Gaza is an open-air prison.

Israel does have restrictions on who and what goes in and out of Gaza. But the key here is to look at why this is the case.

Israel unilaterally left Gaza and uprooted 10,000 Israelis by force in the name of peace from around 22 Jewish communities back in 2005. We ended up with Hamas coming into power, and constant rockets and suicide bombings in the Second Intifada.

Why have tight restrictions? Because when we didn’t have tight restrictions, people were getting blown up in cafes and on buses, indiscriminately.

Egypt has arguably tighter restrictions on their border than Israel does. They haven’t allowed one single refugee in. Gaza is not getting any food or assistance from Egypt, or political refuge. Why is no

one demanding that Egypt provide aid? Not to mention the 54 Muslim countries who have done nothing to help their “brothers and sisters.”

There has never ever been a precedent for an enemy army to bring 1.26 million tons of aid to any country they are fighting with. Yet Israel did that, and it still isn’t considered enough. There is a clear double standard.

4. Nakba: In 1948, 750,000 Palestinians were displaced, and Israel caused that. Palestinians have a right to go back to their land.

Many sources show that it was Arab leadership, including the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who told constituents to leave so they could destroy Israel.

The Syrian Prime Minister and elected officials were telling people to leave because ‘the Arab armies were going to come in and destroy a newly born state of Israel and kill Jews.’ They promised they could eventually return.

They ended up losing the war that they started, and were then upset that they couldn’t return to their homes. In what world do you have the right to wage war against a group and then complain that you lost and were displaced as a result?

900,000 Jews were living in Arab countries at that time. In Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Egypt, etc. Every one of them had flourishing Jewish communities, for hundreds of years. The second the state of Israel was created, they were expelled or killed.

If you care about the Palestinian Nakba, why don’t you also equally care about Jewish Nakba from Arab lands?

5. Israel is a racist, apartheid state.

It is so ironic that someone can make this absurd claim, given that no person has more rights in the entirety of the Middle East as they do in Israel. There are two million Arabs living in Israel, with full rights under the law. They have freedom of movement, full voting rights, can protest freely, speak against the government, and can practice their religion as they please. They can wear whatever clothing they wish, and they can build mosques wherever they wish. They can even serve in the IDF—in fact, I served with several Arab-Israelis throughout my service and would die for them just like I would die for anyone else. Calling Israel an apartheid state not only dilutes the true victims of real apartheid, but completely invalidates the strides that Arab-Israelis have had in Israeli society.

If you want to look at real apartheid, just ask yourself how many Jews live in Gaza or how many Jews live in Area A of the West Bank? And before anyone says that the PA accepts Israel’s right to exist, look at the annual budget of our ‘partner in peace.’ Annually, $350 million is spent on incentivizing Palestinians to commit terror attacks on Israelis. Talk about real racism.

Follow Sam Fried on Instagram @Samfried26