NEW YORK — T’ruah, a rabbinic human rights organization that represents over 2,300 rabbis and cantors and their communities in North America, sent an open letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken calling on the Biden Administration to do everything in its power to intervene in the demolition of Palestinian homes in Al-Walaja.
The full letter is printed below and available here.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken
2201 C St NW
Washington, DC 20520
Dear Secretary Blinken,
Our organization, T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, represents over 2,300 rabbis and cantors who strive to protect and advance the human rights of both Israelis and Palestinians. We are writing today to ask the Biden administration to use all possible pathways to urge Israel to stop the demolitions of homes in Al-Walaja, a village that straddles the boundary between the Jerusalem municipality and Area C of the West Bank.
This Wednesday, our CEO Rabbi Jill Jacobs traveled to Al-Walaja, together with Israeli human rights leaders, to meet with representatives of the village council. When the group arrived, they learned that a bulldozer had just entered the village, along with a number of Israeli soldiers, to demolish the home of a newlywed couple whose family has deep roots in the village. Together with residents of al-Walaja, Rabbi Jacobs and the Israeli activists watched as a wrecking crew destroyed this young couple’s home.
This demolition comes just a month after we celebrated the Israeli High Court of Justice’s decision to freeze the demolition of at least 38 homes in the village for six months in order to give residents the opportunity to present a zoning plan for the area. The home destroyed today is one of many not included in this freeze. This home, like the 38 included in the court order, sits officially within the Jerusalem municipality, though those living in this part of the village do not receive any of the municipal services–water, electricity, schools, or health care–that should be granted to all of those living in the municipality.
Today’s demolitions in al-Walaja followed demolitions Wednesday morning of three families’ homes in Khirbet al-Fakhit, one of eight villages in Masafer Yatta whose demolition orders the High Court let stand last week. At the same time, Israel has recently announced the approval of new settlement homes.
In addition to the unnecessary cruelty of evictions and the growth of settlements, demolitions expand and entrench occupation, making it even harder to achieve the just, negotiated agreement we and the United States government seek. The Biden administration must do everything in its power to intervene before these actions forever shatter hopes for an independent Palestinian state alongside the State of Israel and the end of this conflict. This intervention should begin with ensuring that Israel freeze all demolitions in al-Walaja. Israel must also allow residents ample, necessary time to develop a zoning plan that will allow for the long-term stability, health, and safety of the residents by enabling them to receive permits to build on their lands.
When President Biden visits the region in the coming months, we ask that he use the opportunity to push for an end to demolitions and settlement construction throughout the West Bank and East Jerusalem, in keeping with decades of U.S. policy. We urge you to make this issue a key focus of his conversations with Israeli leadership.
Our foundational sacred texts insist we not turn away from injustice. The Torah warns, “You shall not render unjust decisions” (Leviticus 19:15). We are commanded to treat each person fairly, no matter their status in society.
T’ruah has consistently opposed expulsions from neighborhoods in East Jerusalem and the West Bank for more than a decade. We have fought back against attempts by Jewish National Fund-Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (JNF-KKL) to evict families, attempts by settler organizations to displace Palestinians for archaeological projects, and the transfer of U.S. donor funds to extremist organizations aimed at harassing Palestinians to leave their homes.
We will continue to work for a future where every person in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories — Jewish or non-Jewish — has the same basic rights. We call on the US State Department to do the same, beginning with putting pressure on Israel to stop demolitions in Al-Walaja.
Sincerely,
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
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About T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights mobilizes a network of more than 2,300 rabbis and cantors from all streams of Judaism that, together with the Jewish community, act on the Jewish imperative to respect and advance the human rights of all people. Grounded in Torah and our Jewish historical experience and guided by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we call upon Jews to assert Jewish values by raising our voices and taking concrete steps to protect and expand human rights in North America, Israel, and the occupied Palestinian territories.
