According to the rabbinic tradition, Gentiles are entirely exempt from the 613 commandments that constitute the terms of the Jewish covenant with God, but they are obligated to follow seven laws given to Noah after the Flood. These include prohibitions on murder, theft, and so forth. With this distinction in mind, Michael Broyde tackles the question of how Orthodox Jews ought to respond to the question, raised anew by the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, of whether abortion should be legal, which in turn rests on the nature of halakhic attitudes toward abortion:

It is well known that the nature of the prohibition [on abortion] is disputed in Jewish law. Some rabbinic authorities rule that nearly all abortions are non-capital murder, permitted only to save a pregnant woman’s life. Others rule that abortion is almost never murder but some lesser prohibition, and is permitted [under many circumstances]. Still others rule that abortion flips from non-murder to non-capital murder in the middle of the pregnancy. Despite the vast literature on this matter, no consensus has developed.

At the same time, it is equally obvious that Noahide law prohibits more abortions for Gentiles than Jewish law does for Jews.

The reason for this unique situation is that the Noahide laws do not come with an interpretive tradition that would allow for the adjudication of hard or ambiguous cases, exemptions, and intermediate categories. Thus, many rabbis conclude, for Gentiles abortion is simply murder. But, asks Broyde, where does that put Jews in relation to abortion law:

Is there, then, a halakhic obligation for Jews to urge non-Jews to follow Noahide law? Maimonides (Hilkhot Malakhim 8:10) seems to indicate that Jews share an obligation to participate in and enforce Noahide law, but nearly all other [medieval rabbis] disagree. . . . Indeed, most [rabbinic authorities] of the last 500 years permit a Jew, for his or her economic benefit, to participate in a transaction even if a Gentile in the transaction thereby violates Noahide law. This speaks volumes about practical Jewish law on this subject.

In my view, American Orthodoxy’s decision to support the expansion or contraction of civil or political rights in American law has never been a Jewish-law discussion, nor will it ever be.

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.