Olmert, who was Prime Minister of Israel from 2006 to 2009, said "Never since its establishment has the state of Israel waged such a war…the criminal gang headed by Benjamin Netanyahu has set a precedent without equal in Israel's history…."

He added: "Recent operations in the Gaza Strip have nothing to do with legitimate war goals. This is now a private political war."

Rabbi Linda Holtzman said "we cannot allow one tragedy to justify another" and wrote that she was joining "thousands of American Jews who were calling on the United States government to end the Israeli military's destruction of Gaza."

She added:"It is my prayer that we can continue to resist and speak out as we see the people of Gaza being bombed, starved and buried under rubble."

Another Rabbi, Alyssa Wise, an organizer with Rabbis for Ceasefire, said: "Israel is not a Jewish person. Israel is a state. God forbid we should not be able to cry out when states are committing horrific genocidal violence in the name of the Jewish people."

Peter Beinart, a leading Jewish columnist and author who describes himself as an observant Jew, became so upset he wrote a book called "Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza."

He said he wrote the book to explain why "our community has gone so profoundly wrong" and why "I believe what we are doing is in violation of our best ethical and religious tradition."

Beinart spoke in an interview about the "number of children being killed" and more "child amputees than any other place in modern history." He said "I can't believe this is happening." He added that he was "seeing so many good and decent people who I know who seem to be able to block out the screams."

Thomas Friedman's New York Times column of May 9 was headlined "This Israeli Government is not our ally," and he wrote "Netanyahu is not our friend."

Over 1,000 members of the Israeli Defense Force signed letters in early May "calling on Netanyahu to stop the war."One of the signers was Dan Halutz, former head of the Army.

On April 19, the 36 members of the Board of Deputies of British Jews sent out a letter which said "silence is seen as support for policies that run contrary to our Jewish values." The letter criticized what it called this "most extremist of Israeli governments" and said "we stand against the war."