Via the Philadelphia Jewish Labor Committee:March 1, 2017:Today, the Philadelphia Jewish Labor Committee released the following statement in response to both the desecration of Mt. Carmel Cemetery and the outpouring of support for the Jewish community from the labor movement:“We are saddened and sickened by the recent desecration of Mt. Carmel Cemetery and anonymous bomb threats against Jewish institutions. It is clear that the current political climate has led to a rise in anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry. This is unacceptable and must be confronted at every possible moment. The Philadelphia Jewish Labor Committee stands with all who believe in tolerance, compassion, and an inclusive society. Together, we can stand up to those who would divide us along race, religion, or ethnicity.Although it is easy to fall into despair, we are deeply heartened by the outpouring of support for the Jewish community in the wake of these attacks. We would like to specifically highlight the support offered by the Philadelphia-area labor movement. The Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council has volunteered to repair the damage done to headstones free of charge. IBEW Local 98 has also offered to help repair the cemetery and install a security system to prevent future attacks. These actions represent the best of the labor movement and show true solidarity with the Jewish people.”
Register for the 17th Annual Labor Seder!
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The New England JEWISH LABOR COMMITTEE
17th Annual Labor Seder
Thursday, March 23, 2017
5:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Temple Israel
477 Longwood Avenue
Boston, MA 02215
Honoring: Barbara Madeloni, President, Massachusetts Teachers Association & Rabbi Margie Klein Ronkin, Moishe Kavod House & ECCO and recognizing Harvard University Dining Services Workers and UNITE HERE! Local 26Gold Co-Sponsors: UNITE HERE!, Massachusetts Teachers Association, IBEW 103Co-sponsors: Boston JCRC, Massachusetts Board of Rabbis, Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action, Moishe Kavod House, Boston Workmen’s CircleClick here to view the Facebook event page.
CALL TO ACTION: Urge your senators to reject Friedman as U.S. Ambassador to the State of Israel
TAKE ACTION: Call your senators and urge them to reject Friedman. Call (202) 224-3121 to be connected directly to your sentator's office.
YOU CAN USE THE FOLLOWING SCRIPT AS A GUIDE FOR YOUR CALL:"I am calling to urge you as a member of the U.S. Senate to stand against the appointment of David Friedman as U.S. Ambassador to the State of Israel.He represents the most extreme factions within Israel and their supporters in the U.S., rather than the wide spectrum of views on Israeli politics. Furthermore, his appointment would be to the detriment of a two state solution.We need an ambassador to Israel who will prioritize a two-state solution and re-invigorate the peace process, not one who will further impede it through support for the expansion of settlements and outposts beyond the Green Line. As a supporter of a two-state negotiated solution, I am calling to say that David Friedman will not further the peace process -- and I urge you to reject his appointment."
JLC Opposes the Nomination of David M. Friedman to be the U.S. Ambassador to the State of Israel
The Jewish Labor Committee opposes the nomination of David M. Friedman to be the United States Ambassador to the State of Israel, proposed by President Trump. His many statements and actions over the years make it clear that he will not help, but rather impede, any meaningful progress towards a fair and just negotiated resolution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.Mr. Friedman has no experience in foreign policy or in diplomacy, and he doesn't even seem to believe in diplomacy. He is an active supporter of the West Bank settlement movement and has stated in very clear terms that he does not believe in a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinian people. The Jewish Daily Forward has reported that he is president of American Friends of Beit El Institutions, which raises over $1 million in tax-deductible donations each year from supporters of the settlement movement in the U.S. for institutions in and associated with Beit El, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, one of the oldest West Bank settlements.Last fall, we learned that he described the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as "morons," as reported in The Forward, "for raising questions about a pre-election ad in which Trump spoke about secretive international banking conspiracies while featuring images of Jews that Trump associated with his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. He has slandered the liberal J Street and its supporters, and other groups that believe in a two-state solution and even went so far as to condemn them as "worse than kapos" (Jews who were forced to collaborate with the Nazis in concentration camps.)These positions are a departure for U.S. ambassadors to Israel, who have represented the U.S. policy in favor of a two-state solution and who have traditionally been open to meeting with a wide spectrum of the American Jewish community. Indeed, five former U.S. ambassadors to Israel - Thomas Pickering, William Harrop, Edward Walker, Daniel Kurtzer and James Cunningham - have stated that Mr. Friedman is unqualified for the position.
Jewish Labor Committee Opposes Israel's Settlement Expansion, Calls on Government, NGOs, to halt Expansion of Current and Establishment of New Settlements
January 31, 2017: New York, NY
The Jewish Labor Committee opposes the expansion of Jewish settlements within the West Bank and East Jerusalem, particularly the most recently-announced Israeli Government's authorization of the construction of 2,500 new housing units in West Bank settlement. We also oppose the so-called settlements bill, now under consideration in the Knesset, which would retroactively legalize close to 4,000 settler homes that are on private Palestinian property in Area C of the West Bank.
The entire enterprise of enlarging existing and creating new settlements beyond the borders of the State of Israel is unwise, and harmful to the best interests of Israel and its Palestinian neighbors. Such actions make a peacefully negotiated end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict harder to achieve. It is with alarm that we note that it is increasingly clear that elements within and outside Prime Minister Netanyahu's governing coalition, including the Prime Minister himself, are emboldened by the emerging shape and policies of President Trump's new administration to expand Israel's presence and assert its dominance in these areas.
We call on the Government of the State of Israel to halt the expansion of current settlements beyond the Green Line, and the establishment of new settlements there, and ask non-governmental agencies, from the Settlement Division of the World Zionist Organization to the Jewish National Fund / Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael to end their cooperation with the government's settlement activity.
President Trump has indicated his openness to expanding Israeli settlements by naming David M. Friedman as United States ambassador to the State of Israel and in suggesting that the U.S. should move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Mr. Friedman has headed an American fundraising organization for a West Bank settlement and communicated his hostility to even the idea of a negotiated two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.
Two announcements have been made in the past several days for the building of over 3,000 new housing units for Israelis in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem. Although 2,500 are being planned for what Israel regards as "settlement blocs," land contiguous with Israel's pre-1967 border that most Israelis expect to annex even if a peace agreement is reached with the Palestinians, there is no agreement with the Palestinian Authority defining those blocs, and none that currently permits Israel to build there.
Particularly contentious are the 900 units slated for the Ariel bloc, the narrow sliver of land outside of the State of Israel leading to and including the settlement town of Ariel, which has a population of 20,000 Israelis. Most Israelis expect Ariel to eventually be incorporated into Israel, while Palestinians view its location as especially problematic, because it projects deep into Palestinian-populated territory, virtually cutting the West Bank into two non-contiguous segments.
The Jewish Labor Committee reiterates its strong belief that only a freely negotiated two-state solution between the Israeli Government and the Palestinian Authority can guarantee Israel's future as a Jewish, democratic, and secure country. While we understand that there will probably need to be mutually-agreed-upon exchanges of territory agreed upon by the two parties in a final peace accord, Israel's unilaterally creating new facts on the ground is making negotiating a two-state peace all the more difficult.
The Jewish Labor Committee expresses its solidarity with Israel's peace camp, and its efforts to bring that country's elected leadership to meaningful negotiations with the Palestinians, and salutes the majority of Israel's population that continues to aspire to a peaceful two-state solution to its conflict with the Palestinian people.
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Jewish Labor Committee Opposes Israel’s Settlement Expansion, Calls on Government, NGOs, to halt Expansion of Current and Establishment of New Settlements
January 31, 2017: New York, NY
The Jewish Labor Committee opposes the expansion of Jewish settlements within the West Bank and East Jerusalem, particularly the most recently-announced Israeli Government's authorization of the construction of 2,500 new housing units in West Bank settlement. We also oppose the so-called settlements bill, now under consideration in the Knesset, which would retroactively legalize close to 4,000 settler homes that are on private Palestinian property in Area C of the West Bank.
The entire enterprise of enlarging existing and creating new settlements beyond the borders of the State of Israel is unwise, and harmful to the best interests of Israel and its Palestinian neighbors. Such actions make a peacefully negotiated end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict harder to achieve. It is with alarm that we note that it is increasingly clear that elements within and outside Prime Minister Netanyahu's governing coalition, including the Prime Minister himself, are emboldened by the emerging shape and policies of President Trump's new administration to expand Israel's presence and assert its dominance in these areas.
We call on the Government of the State of Israel to halt the expansion of current settlements beyond the Green Line, and the establishment of new settlements there, and ask non-governmental agencies, from the Settlement Division of the World Zionist Organization to the Jewish National Fund / Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael to end their cooperation with the government's settlement activity.
President Trump has indicated his openness to expanding Israeli settlements by naming David M. Friedman as United States ambassador to the State of Israel and in suggesting that the U.S. should move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Mr. Friedman has headed an American fundraising organization for a West Bank settlement and communicated his hostility to even the idea of a negotiated two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.
Two announcements have been made in the past several days for the building of over 3,000 new housing units for Israelis in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem. Although 2,500 are being planned for what Israel regards as "settlement blocs," land contiguous with Israel's pre-1967 border that most Israelis expect to annex even if a peace agreement is reached with the Palestinians, there is no agreement with the Palestinian Authority defining those blocs, and none that currently permits Israel to build there.
Particularly contentious are the 900 units slated for the Ariel bloc, the narrow sliver of land outside of the State of Israel leading to and including the settlement town of Ariel, which has a population of 20,000 Israelis. Most Israelis expect Ariel to eventually be incorporated into Israel, while Palestinians view its location as especially problematic, because it projects deep into Palestinian-populated territory, virtually cutting the West Bank into two non-contiguous segments.
The Jewish Labor Committee reiterates its strong belief that only a freely negotiated two-state solution between the Israeli Government and the Palestinian Authority can guarantee Israel's future as a Jewish, democratic, and secure country. While we understand that there will probably need to be mutually-agreed-upon exchanges of territory agreed upon by the two parties in a final peace accord, Israel's unilaterally creating new facts on the ground is making negotiating a two-state peace all the more difficult.
The Jewish Labor Committee expresses its solidarity with Israel's peace camp, and its efforts to bring that country's elected leadership to meaningful negotiations with the Palestinians, and salutes the majority of Israel's population that continues to aspire to a peaceful two-state solution to its conflict with the Palestinian people.