T’ruah condemns the recent vicious attacks on our friends and partners at the New Israel Fund by a small number of individuals who resort to spreading lies, intimidating donors, and publicly defaming upstanding Jewish communal leaders, including some of our shared supporters, in order to advance a right-wing agenda.
By investing in the future of an Israel committed to the rights and well-being of all people, NIF is doing some of the most important work today to protect Israel’s democracy and civil society. We applaud this work and thank NIF for their dedication to building a better future.
Jews have always disagreed with each other about the issues that matter most. Our midrash describes disagreements about Torah interpretation as “One voice divided into seven voices and these into 70 languages” (Exodus Rabbah 28:6). While passions about Israel run high, a commitment to hearing the Torah in each other’s opinions should govern even our most vigorous debates.
Much of the attack has concerned who has the right to march in New York’s Israel Day parade. As partners with NIF in organizing the progressive coalition in this parade for the past four years, T’ruah rejects the minority voices claiming that those of us committed to the human rights of all people should be excluded from this communal celebration of the Jewish State. We are proud to march with NIF and other partners, representing T’ruah’s 1800 rabbis and tens of thousands of Jews across North America who celebrate the miracle of our state, and invest in ensuring that this state lives up to the best of our Jewish values.
We call on everyone committed to Israel and the Jewish people–across the spectrum of political opinion–to live up to our collective value of respectful disagreement, and to cease personal attacks, smears, and intimidation.