A CALL TO JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS

November 22, 2020

Dear Friends,

This is a call to Jewish organizations and institutions, particularly those that call themselves progressive — and there are hundreds across the country — to put out public statements right now saying loud and clear that BDS is not antisemitic and that antiZionism is not antisemitism. Please don’t be silent on this, especially if your organization addresses what IS antisemitism. Please don’t equivocate. This has gotten way out of control and is too important to ignore: for the sake of pursuing justice — for Palestinians, for Jews, for all of us.

Please state something like the following:

We want to state unequivocally that the Palestinian-led global movement for justice, which speaks in the name of international law and human rights, and the call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) is not antisemitic. We want to state unequivocally that anti-Zionism is not antisemitism. We strongly oppose any and all efforts by the US and Israeli governments to conflate support for BDS or opposition to Zionism with antisemitism.

Many thanks,

Eva Ackerman, Anita Altman, Arielle Angel, Peter Beinart, Judith Butler, Jonathan J. Cohen, Anne Germanacos, Jane Hirschmann, Adam Horowitz, Alan Levine, Richard Levy, Nina Mehta, Hannah Mermelstein, SarahAnne Minkin, Marilyn Kleinberg Neimark, Sheryl Nestel, Donna Nevel, Kathleen Peratis, Rosalind Petchesky, Jacob Plitman, Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Rabbi Brant Rosen, Deborah Sagner, Jay Schaffner, Mark Tseng-Putterman, Rebecca Vilkomerson, Rabbi Brian Walt, Lesley Williams, Dorothy M. Zellner, Simone Zimmerman