Celebrity chef Jose Andres demands answers, says there is ‘no excuse’ for Israel’s killing of his seven aid workers in Gaza during National Cathedral memorial service, with Doug Emhoff and Yo-Yo Magoes here

Celebrity chef Jose Andres paid tribute to the seven World Central Kitchen aid workers killed in an Israeli attack in Gaza on Thursday at the National Cathedral in Washington, along with Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and violinist Yo-Yo Ma.

From the stone pulpit of the grand cathedral, Andres continued to demand answers after a convoy, clearly marked with World Central Kitchen signs, was targeted by the Israeli army on April 1.

Palestinian Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, American and Canadian Jacob Flickinger, Australian Lalzawmi ‘Zomi’ Frankcom, as well as Poland’s Damian Soból and John Chapman, James Kirby and James Henderson, all from Britain, were killed during the strike.

“I know we all have a lot of unanswered questions about what happened and why. There is no excuse for these murders. The official explanation is not good enough,” Andres said. “And of course we still demand an investigation into the IDF’s actions against our team.”

The chef, restaurateur and founder of World Central Kitchen took occasional breaks during his 19-minute eulogy, with Emhoff sitting in the front row.

“They risked everything to feed people they didn’t know and will never meet,” Andres said. ‘The best of humanity comes out at the worst moments. They were the best of humanity. Their examples should inspire us to do better, to be better.’

A total of 560 guests filled the National Cathedral, the majority of whom work for the non-profit organization, which travels to disaster areas and feeds people around the world.

“I know there are also a lot of questions about why World Central Kitchen was in Gaza. We ask ourselves the same question day and night,” the chef admitted. “We are all consumed with anger, regret and sadness.”

He said the same questions were asked when the hunger organization moved to Ukraine shortly after the Russian invasion.

World Central Kitchen also lost employees in Ukraine, Andres noted.

“When I tell the Ukrainians that they are cooking too close to the front line, they say that they will be there anyway, with or without World Central Kitchen, there were children and the elderly to feed. After all, these were their communities,” Andres said.

“Ukrainians fed the people of Ukraine, just like in Gaza, Palestinians fed Palestinians, people fed people, that’s what we do at World Central Kitchen. We stand with communities as they feed, nourish and heal themselves,” he continued.

“People don’t want our pity, they want our respect,” Andres added. “Our only way to show respect is to face the chaos with them.”

“We show them they are not alone in the darkness,” he said.

Andres said his own daughter wanted to enter Ukraine and he emphasized that she did not want that.

She responded, Andres said, by saying, “How are young people supposed to change the world if we are not willing to take risks?”

‘Food is a universal human right. Feeding each other, cooking and eating together is what makes us human,” Andres said.

He said of the seven workers that their words and actions were “to build longer tables and not higher walls.”

“Because the fate of many cannot be decided by the hateful and divisive actions of a few,” Andres said.

‘Food can never be a weapon of war. Humanitarians can never be targeted. Because they are the best among us,” the chef said.

Andres told Reuters two days after the killings, he believed that Israel had deliberately attacked the convoy “systematically, car by car.”

“This wasn’t just a bad luck situation where we ‘oops’ dropped the bomb in the wrong place,” he said.

“The US must do more to tell Prime Minister Netanyahu that this war must end now,” the DC-based celebrity chef also encouraged.

Biden called Andres in the immediate aftermath of the attack, but decided to go ahead with a planned trip to Syracuse to visit a french fry factory rather than join mourners at the National Cathedral on Thursday.

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Wednesday that “the administration will be well represented at that event.”

“Well, the president will have a letter from him read at the service and you’ll see the second gentleman there,” Sullivan said.

Biden’s letter was never read as part of the official program.

“The president, of course, has long had a plan to go to Micron, the Syracuse facility. He will continue with that. But he spoke directly to Chef Jose Andres about this tragic event and, of course, in the immediate aftermath, picked up the phone and called Bibi Netanyahu,” Sullivan also offered.