URJ President Rabbi Rick Jacobs appeared on MSNBC on October 14, 2023 to discuss the attack on Israel by terrorists from Hamas. In the conversation Rabbi Jacobs condemned the attack, encouraged continued US support for Israel, and articulated the moral imperative to protect Jewish and Palestinian civilians by eliminating Hamas's terrorist infrastructure. "We have to build peace, but right now we have to defend our community, we have to defend our people," he said.