OneFamily Head Belzberg at IAF gathering: 'This war is a fight to eradicate evil from the world'

Marc Belzberg, Chairman of OneFamily, the organization that provides social, financial, and emotional assistance to victims of terror in Israel, spoke at a reception hosted by the Israel Allies Foundation (IAF) in partnership with the Jerusalem Post in the Capitol on Tuesday, following the March for Israel rally.

Belzberg thanked the United States for its assistance to Israel and said, “Because of our partnership with America, we are the only country in the world with an invisible impenetrable umbrella over it protecting its citizens.”  

He noted that the friendship between the two countries is based on a shared Judeo-Christian ideology of ‘Don’t do to others what you wouldn’t want others to do to you.’ Belzberg contrasted the morals of the State of Israel with those of Hamas. “We cherish life. Every law in the Bible is suspended to save one person’s life. They cherish death and martyrdom. This war is a fight to eradicate evil from the world.”

A hope for peace

Speaking of his family’s aliyah to Israel, Belzberg recalled that at the time, he said to his wife, Chantal, “Now we only have daughters, and if we have a son now, it’s still 19 years before he would be drafted, and by then there will be peace. It’s now 32 years later and I have three sons in the army.”

Belzberg concluded his remarks by mentioning a conversation that he had with the late Prime Minister Rabin, together with Rabbi Marvin Hier and Rabbi Abraham Cooper, shortly before the signing of the Oslo Accords. “Rabbi Cooper asked, ‘Prime Minister Rabin, isn’t this deal very risky? What if it doesn’t work out as planned?’  To which Rabin answered. “This is not irreversible.  It’s not forever. If it doesn’t work, we’ll go back in and retake control of Gaza.’ Little did he know about the difficulties and loss of life that would entail,” mused Belzberg.