Rabbis call for end to war in Gaza during rally outside Israeli Consulate in LA

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- About two dozen local rabbis Monday held a rally outside the Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles to pray for an end to war and end the starvation of people in Gaza.

"There is no standard in Judaism that allows for starvation as a weapon of war," Rabbi Ken Chasen said. "Our people, our tradition, and all of humanity are degraded by a famine that can be stopped."

There was a separate event at the Simon Wiesenthal Center where people asked for action to release the hostages being held by Hamas and others.

"We are here this morning to try to save lives by compelling a fellow humanitarian organization, the International Committee of the Red Cross, to do its job to simply save lives," said Erik Simon with the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

The family of Rom Braslavski was there. The 21-year-old was abducted from the Nova music festival on Oct. 7, 2023.

"The last video that we saw was horrible. He's in a terrible, terrible condition," Braslavski's aunt Nat Braslavski said. "They starve him. They torture him. He's basically dying. This is really urgent. They have to release the hostages."