Statement of Jewish Organizations on BDS Feb 2011

Statement of Jewish Organizations on Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Campaigns Against Israel

February 2011

Believing that academic, cultural and commercial boycotts, divestments and sanctions of Israel are:

• Counterproductive to the goal of peace,
• Antithetical to freedom of speech,
• Part of a greater effort to undermine the Jewish people’s right to self-determination in their homeland, Israel.

We, the undersigned members of the Jewish community, stand united in our condemnation of calls and campaigns for boycotting, divestment and sanctions of Israeli academic institutions, professors, products and companies that do business with Israel.
We recognize and accept that individuals and groups may have legitimate criticism of Israeli policies. Criticism becomes anti-Semitism, however, when it demonizes Israel or its leaders, denies Israel the right to defend its citizens or seeks to denigrate Israel’s right to exist.
The BDS movement is antithetical to principles of academic freedom and discourages freedom of speech. The movement silences voices from across the Israeli political spectrum. By pursuing delegitimization campaigns on campus, proponents have provoked deep divisions among students and have created an atmosphere of intolerance and hatred.
We oppose the extremist rhetoric of the delegitimization movement and reject calls for boycotting, divestment or sanctions against Israel. We call upon students, faculty, administrators and other campus stakeholders to uphold the academic and democratic values of a free and civil discourse that promotes peace and tolerance.
Natalie Menaged
Aish HaTorah
Andy Borans
Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity
Dr. Mitchell Bard
American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE)
Gerald Platt
American Friend of Likud
Howard Kohr
The American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)
David Harris
American Jewish Committee (AJC)
Karen J. Rubinstein
American Zionist Movement (AZM)
Abraham H. Foxman
Anti-Defamation League (ADL)
Rabbi Robert Orkand
Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA)

Dr. Colin Rubenstein, Jeremy Jones
Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council
Daniel S. Mariaschin
B’nai B’rith International
George W. Schaeffer
Bnai Zion
Mr. Vivian Wineman
The Board of Deputies of British Jews
Fred Taub
Boycott Watch
Mauricio Lulka
Central Committee of the Jewish Community of Mexico
Dr. J. Klener
Central Jewish Consistory of Belgium

Malcolm Hoenlein
Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations
David Bernstein
The David Project
Mindy Stein
Emunah of America

Danny Lamm
Executive Council of Australia
Jeremy Newmark
The Fair Play Campaign Group (UK)
Akiva Tendler
The Fellowship for Campus Safety and Integrity
Nancy Falchuk
Hadassah
Oded Feuer
Hagshama – The Department for Diaspora Activities of the World Zionist Organization
Natalie Menaged
Hasbara Fellowships
Wayne Firestone
Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life
Adv. Irit Kohn
The International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists
Steve Kuperberg
Israel on Campus Coalition (ICC)
Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi
The Israel Project (TIP)
Dr. Misha Galperin
Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI)
Conrad Giles, Rabbi Steve Gutow
Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA)
William Daroff
The Jewish Federations of North America
Thomas Neumann
Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA)
Martin M. Schwartz
Jewish Labor Committee
Jeremy Newmark
Jewish Leadership Council
Rabbi Eric M. Lankin
Jewish National Fund (JNF)
Dov H. Maimon
Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI)
Claudio Epelman
Latin American Jewish Congress
Ron Carner
Maccabi USA/Sports For Israel
Avi Rubel
Masa Israel Journey
Janet Tobin, Rabbi Robert R. Golub
MERCAZ USA
Elizabeth Raider
NA’AMAT USA
Mark Levin
National Conference on Soviet Jewry (NCSJ)
David A. Harris
National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC)
Rabbi Steven Weil
Orthodox Union (OU)
Rabbi Julie Schonfeld
Rabbinical Assembly
Rabbi Yosef Blau
Religious Zionists of America
Matt Brooks
Republican Jewish Committee (RJC)
Leland Manders
Sigma Alpha Mu Fraternity
Amy Krouse
Sigma Delta Tau Sorority
Rabbi Aron Heir
Simon Weisenthal Center
Roz Rothstein
StandWithUs
Rabbi Yoffie, David Saperstein
Union for Reform Judaism (URJ)
Richard Skolnik, Rabbi Steven C. Wernick
United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism
Rabbi Elyse Winick
United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and campus division KOACH
Sarrae G Crane
Women’s League for Conservative Judaism

Shelley Lindauer
Women of Reform Judaism
Betty Ehrenberg
World Jewish Congress, North America
Oliver Worth
World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS)
Laurence A. Bolotin
Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity
Morton A. Klein
Zionist Organization of America (ZOA)