We are U.S. Jews who are deeply troubled by a recent speech given by the Anti-Defamation League’s CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt, in which he defames grassroots and civil rights organizations committed to Palestinian justice and falsely conflates anti-Zionism with far right and violent extremism. Jewish communities must embrace anti-Zionist and non-Zionist voices, along with all other voices for justice.
The State of Israel is responsible for upholding the status quo in Jerusalem, and guaranteeing the sanctity of the Haram al-Sharif and the dignity of its Muslim worshippers. Violently disrupting Ramadan prayers, beating unarmed worshippers and intimidating Muslims in Jerusalem is absolutely not the way of peace. We call on the State of Israel to immediately commit to abstaining from any further violations of the Waqf’s authority on the Haram al-Sharif. — A letter to Illinois Muslims from 13 rabbis of T’ruah.
American Jews overwhelmingly support the renewal of the Iran deal, and very few American Jews consider Israel a political priority, according to a new survey of American Jewish voters.
In February a Rochester, NY, radio station aired a wonderful panel, of pro-Palestinian activists, one of whom deplored children being “taken from their parents” in nighttime raids. Pro-Israel groups attacked the station for the allegedly antisemitic charge that Israeli soldiers “rip children from their parents’ arms.” Well, they do rip children from their parents arms. And the silence of local progressive activists in the face of the antisemitism claim is dismaying.
Last week all 25 Jewish congresspeople took the highly unusual step of condemning Paul O’Brien, director of the U.S. branch of Amnesty International, for remarks opposing Israel’s definition as “a state for the Jewish people” and questioning Jewish support for Israel. The Congress members were acting strategically: trying to discredit the recent Amnesty report that Israel practices “apartheid.” But they and O’Brien have raised a key issue. Just how many American Jews oppose the idea of a Jewish state?
Florida Congressman Ted Deutch announces that he is stepping through the revolving door from being an advocate for Israel as the chair of the Middle East subcommittee of House Foreign Affairs to being the head of a lead Israel lobby group, the American Jewish Committee, starting in October. The smooth transition makes smart people cynical about the extent to which Democratic politicians are dedicated to supporting Israel.
Given the reality of the historic and ongoing injustice at the core of Zionism, Congregation Tzedek Chicago has concluded that it is not enough to describe itself simply as “non-Zionist.” In a statement explaining the decision its board of director’s writes, “We believe this neutral term fails to honor the central anti-racist premise that structures of oppression cannot be simply ignored; on the contrary, they must be transformed. “
The French writer Sylvain Cypel went to Israel as a young man to join the army and build the country. Now he is deeply dismayed by its rightwing nativism and indifference to international human rights law and has penned a lacerating book about the threat of Zionism to Palestinians and to Jewish tradition.
Rabbi Michael Davis sought to further his Arabic studies by visiting his teacher in Hebron. She took him to the armed Jewish-Israeli settler encampment in the heart of the Palestinian city. “Despite the show of military force, the hospitality of my hosts reminded me: an outstretched hand provides greater security than all the guns in the world.”
South Florida’s Jewish press has not published articles explaining Palestinian history to Jews who would actually be open to such information. Instead, we see accusations of antisemitism hurled at supporters of Palestinian human rights, an attempt to derail the message of justice for a people who have been denied their rights for far too long.