(Jewish Group) Environmental group boycotts voting rights rally over inclusion of Zionist groups
The D.C. chapter of the environmentalist Sunrise Movement is declining to participate in a voting rights rally in Washington because three pro-Israel Jewish groups are included: the Jewish Council on Public Affairs, the National Council of Jewish Women and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.
“Given our commitment to racial justice, self-governance, and indigenous sovereignty, we opposed Zionism and any state that enforces its ideology,” Sunrise DC wrote in a statement posted to Twitter. The organization said it had declined a speaking role at the rally, scheduled for Saturday, and organized by the Declaration for American Democracy, a coalition of more than 200 liberal groups. Sunrise DC also asked rally organizers to remove JCPA, NCJW and the RAC from the coalition.
Those three groups are stalwarts of the Jewish establishment’s liberal wing, advocating for progressive political positions on on abortion, housing and other domestic issues while voicing varying degrees of support for Israel. While all three organizations support the principle of a Jewish state in Israel — the basic premise of Zionism — they are all focused primarily on U.S. politics and JCPA is the only organization that lists American support for Israel as one of its top priorities.
“National Council of Jewish Women works for the safety and wellbeing of Americans, Israelis, and Palestinians,” Sheila Katz, the group’s CEO, said in a statement. “Our commitment to working across lines of difference includes our willingness to engage in dialogue with groups that take issue with our policies.”
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Personally, I think it was poor editorializing on "The Forward"'s part to call the groups "Zionist", they are JEWISH groups! Showing, ONCE AGAIN, that anti-Semitism is wrong....except when it's not!
Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA) is the national hub of the community relations network, representing 125 local Jewish community relations councils and 16 national Jewish agencies, including the four main denominations of American Judaism (Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist). JCPA convenes, coordinates, builds consensus, and mobilizes our network on key issues while serving as the national representative of the network’s public policy and public affairs platform.
Together, we and our network advocate for a just and pluralistic American society, Israel’s quest for peace and security, and human rights around the world in common cause with other civic, racial, ethnic, and faith-based leaders.
Our motto is to educate, advocate, and mobilize.
Through our public relations efforts, the URJ expands the reach of our member congregations via the URJ’s trusted leaders, who are quoted frequently in the Jewish and mainstream press and serve to elevate the Reform Movement's values of diversity, inclusion, modernity. Follow the URJ and Reform Movement leaders on social media.
Would these assholes DARE to question a Chinese-American group's loyalty, motivations, or demand to know "where they stand" on a variety of issues taking place in and by CHINA?!
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