NEW YORK — Today, T’ruah, a rabbinic human rights organization that represents over 2,000 rabbis and cantors and their communities, issued the following statement in response to a proposed resolution before the board of the Jewish National Fund-Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (JNF-KKL) that will allow the organization to officially purchase land in the West Bank for the potential expansion of Israeli settlements.
Rabbi Jill Jacobs, executive director of T’ruah, released the following statement:
“Any transfer of money used to expand West Bank settlements, which are illegal under international law, blatantly disregards the basic rights of Palestinians living under occupation and undermines the prospects for peace.
“JNF leaders, now made up of right-wing pro-settlement extremists, knew that this policy proposal would not be welcomed by the American Jewish public, which is why they tried to keep it a secret. The majority of American Jews support a two-state solution, which includes an end to occupation. Expanding settlements creates facts on the ground that move us farther from this goal.
“The new policy calls to mind the infamous Biblical story of Naboth’s vineyard, where Ahab, the wicked king of Israel who lived in Samaria (today the northern West Bank), wanted to expand his palace into a neighboring vineyard owned by Naboth. Naboth refused to sell his ancestral land to the king, and so Queen Jezebel acquired it by false witness and murder. (I Kings 21) Efforts to acquire Palestinian land for Jewish settlement expansion, even by purchase, are tantamount to dispossession and risk leading to even more immoral deeds.
“The Biden administration has taken steps to reestablish a commitment to a long-term agreement that protects the human rights and security of both Israelis and Palestinians by establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel, both within internationally recognized borders. JNF’s policy proposal undermines this commitment, allowing for additional settlements and de facto annexation to occur. We applaud the State Department for reaffirming yesterday that they oppose unilateral steps including settlement activity and annexation that ‘undercut efforts to advance a negotiated two-state solution.’”
“JNF-KKL’s budget is based primarily on land holdings, not on donations, and JNF-USA is a legally separate institution that primarily funds its own projects in Israel. However, according to their last publicly available tax forms, JNF-USA sends approximately $500,000 a year to JNF-KKL. We call on JNF-USA to make a statement opposing any investment of JNF-KKL money in the West Bank, and to make a public commitment to ending its funding of JNF-KKL if its proposed resolution is approved.”
About T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights mobilizes a network of more than 2,000 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.