J Street
More than 600 rabbis, cantors and seminary students from across the country have signed on to a public letter warning that the Israeli government’s threatened unilateral annexation in the West Bank “would be a catastrophic mistake…violate human rights, weaken democracy, and make Israelis and Palestinians less secure.”
The letter, signed by clergy representing the entire range of the Jewish community, including the Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist and Renewal movements, is just the latest demonstration of the American Jewish community’s overwhelming opposition to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s West Bank annexation plan, which could move forward as early as July 1. It was organized by the Progressive Israel Network, a coalition of ten progressive pro-Israel groups.
“[Annexation] gambles with long-established peace agreements in exchange for enacting a messianist and ultra-nationalist fantasy that violates Jewish values of dignity for every human being, legal equality for all people, and the commitment to pursuing peace,” the clergy members write. “Such a move will also drive more and more young people in Jewish communities away from Israel, as the most visible expressions of Zionism become ever more divorced from the principles of democracy and neighborliness expressed in Israel’s Declaration of Independence.”
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