Thousands attend an anti-BDS conference at the UN sponsored by the World Jewish Congress and the Israeli mission to the UN on March 29, 2017.
The following press release was distributed on Nov. 6, 2017 by the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE). AICE is based in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and is the sponsor of the Jewish Virtual Library. The executive director is Mitchell Bard. Bard is often interviewed by news media as an alleged expert on Israel-Palestine (see video here.)
It is press releases such as this that give Americans the false impression that all Jewish Americans support Israel. This is also the reason that some individuals at times refer to the Israel lobby as “the Jewish lobby,” the phrase that is employed in Israel.
Corrections to some of the statements in the release below have been added in brackets. The 93 signatories are listed below the release.
93 International Jewish Organizations Condemn BDS
CHEVY CHASE, MARYLAND – As the Jewish community celebrates the 100th anniversary of the issuance of the Balfour Declaration, [go here for info on who was behind the Balfour Declaration] an anti-Semitic [sic] campaign to delegitimize Israel is being pursued by advocates of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement. [See facts on BDS here.] While the international community recognized the right of the Jewish people to reestablish a state in their homeland, Israel, BDS advocates seek to deny the Jewish right to self-determination. [See this for a discussion of Israel’s alleged right to expel the indigenous population.] In response, 93 international Jewish organizations have signed a statement condemning BDS.
“This important statement demonstrates the international Jewish community’s objection to the campaign to ostracize, punish, and threaten Israel.,” said AICE’s Executive Director Dr. Mitchell Bard. “It is gratifying to see groups from across the political and religious spectrum come together on this issue and rebut BDS advocates who falsely claim to represent ‘the Jews.'”
The statement notes that “academic, cultural and commercial boycotts, divestments and sanctions of Israel are: counterproductive to the goal of peace; antithetical to freedom of speech and part of a greater effort to undermine the Jewish people’s right to self-determination in their homeland, Israel.” It also condemns the extremist rhetoric of the delegitimization movement.
The signatories acknowledge that criticism of Israel is legitimate, but note that criticism becomes anti-Semitism “when it demonizes Israel or its leaders, denies Israel the right to defend its citizens or seeks to denigrate Israel’s right to exist.”
[This distortion of the meaning of antisemitism on behalf of Israel was initiated by an Israeli minister and has been perpetrated through an international campaign.]The statement expresses particular concern with the BDS movement on campus because it “is antithetical to principles of academic freedom and discourages freedom of speech,” has provoked “deep divisions among students,” and has “created an atmosphere of intolerance and hatred.”
The statement calls on “students, faculty, administrators and other campus stakeholders to uphold the academic and democratic values of a free and civil discourse that promotes peace and tolerance.”
[In reality, the anti-BDS organizations often work to prevent free speech and to block factual events about Israel-Palestine; see this for example.]“We all believe in peace,” added Dr. Bard, “and that goal cannot be achieved by demonizing and boycotting Israel.”
[Israel partisans have often pushed for wars; see this.]Below are the 93 signatories (most appear to be Americans]
Prof. Mervin Verbit /
Prof. Samuel Edelman
Academic Council for Israel
Rabbi Steven Burg
Aish HaTorah
Andy Borans
Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity
Dr. Mitchell Bard
American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE)
Gerald Platt
American Friends of Likud
Howard Kohr
The American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)
David Harris
American Jewish Committee (AJC)
Herbert Block
American Zionist Movement (AZM)
Charles Jacobs
Americans for Peace and Tolerance
Andrew Goldsmith
AMIT
Jonathan Greenblatt
Anti-Defamation League (ADL)
Dr. Colin Rubenstein / Jeremy Jones
Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council
W. James Schiller
Baltimore Zionist District
Matthew Grossman
BBYO, Inc.
Daniel Citone
B’nai B’rith Europe
Daniel S. Mariaschin
B’nai B’rith International
Stephen Savitsky / George W Schaeffer /
Cheryl Bier
Bnai Zion Foundation
Jonathan Arkush
The Board of Deputies of British Jews
Fred Taub
Boycott Watch
Hazzan Alisa Pomerantz-Boro
The Cantors Assembly
Shimon Koffler Fogel
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA)
Malcolm Hoenlein
Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations
Phillip Brodsky
The David Project
Gunnar Bjork
Denmark Lodge, B’nai B’rith
Naomi Mestrum
Dutch Centre for Information and Documentation Israel (CIDI)
Mindy Stein
Emunah of America
Anton Block
Executive Council of Australia
Akiva Tendler
The Fellowship for Campus Safety and Integrity
John.D.A Levy
Friends of Israel Educational Foundation Academic Study Group
Ellen Hershkin
Hadassah
Elliot Mathias
Hasbara Fellowships
Arlene & Sheldon Bearman
The Herbert Bearman Foundation
Mark Hetfield
HIAS
Eric Fingerhut
Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life
Adv. Irit Kohn
The International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists
Jacob Baime
Israel on Campus Coalition
Josh Block
The Israel Project (TIP)
Adam Milstein / Shoham Nicolet
Israeli-American Council
Shawn Evenhaim
Israeli-American Coalition for Action
Doron Krakow
JCC Association
Alan Hoffmann
Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI)
David Hatchwell
Jewish Community of Madrid (CJM)
David Bernstein
Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA)
William Daroff
The Jewish Federations of North America
Michael Makovsky
Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA)
Simon Johnson
Jewish Leadership Council
Russell F. Robinson
Jewish National Fund (JNF)
Henia Vrazda and Board
Coordination Committee (Denmark)
Dov H. Maimon
Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI)
Lori Weinstein
Jewish Women International (JWI)
Yael Mosesson / Nina Tojzner
Jewish Youth Organization in Sweden
Ron Klein
Jews for Progress/National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC)
Kenneth L. Marcus
The Louis D. Brandeis Center For Human Rights Under Law
Ron Carner
Maccabi USA/Sports For Israel
Meara Razon Ashtivker
Masa Israel Journey
Marilyn L Wind / Sarrae G Crane
MERCAZ USA
Chellie Goldwater Wilensky
NA’AMAT USA
Ram Shefa
National Union of Israeli Students
Farley Weiss
National Council of Young Israel
Rabbi Micah Greenland
NCSY
Susan Z. Kasper / Harry Hauser
North American Association of Synagogue Executives (NAASE)
Gerald M. Steinberg
NGO Monitor
Allen I. Fagin
Orthodox Union (OU)
Tzvi Avisar
Over the rainbow–the Zionist movement (OTR)
Rabbi Julie Schonfeld
Rabbinical Assembly
Jacob Sternberg
Realize Israel
Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner
Religious Action Center
Rabbi Gideon Shloush
Religious Zionists of America/Mizrachi
Matt Brooks
Republican Jewish Committee (RJC)
Eran Shayshon
Reut: The Reut Group: From Vision to Reality
Rabbi Prof. David Golinkin
The Schechter Institutes, INC., Jerusalem
Asaf Romirowsky
Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME)
Andy Huston
Sigma Alpha Mu Fraternity
Rabbi Marvin Hier/ Rabbi Abraham Cooper
Simon Wiesenthal Center
Barbara Pontecorvo
Solomon-Osservatorio sulle Discriminazioni (Italy)
Ben Swartz / Mark Hyman
South African Friends of Israel
Wendy Kahn
South African Jewish Board of Deputies
Ben Swartz
South African Zionist Federation
Roz Rothstein
StandWithUs
Rudy Rochman
Students Supporting Israel (SSI)
Jonathan Turner
UK Lawyers for Israel
Josh Holt
Union of Jewish Students (UJS – UK)
Rabbi Rick Jacobs
Union for Reform Judaism (URJ)
Luke Akehurst
We Believe in Israel
Dorrit Raiter
WIZO Denmark
Carol S. Simon
Women’s League for Conservative Judaism
Rabbi Marla J. Feldman
Women of Reform Judaism
Betty Ehrenberg
World Jewish Congress, North America
Yosef Tarshish
World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS)
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach
The World Values Network
Laurence A. Bolotin
Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity
Paul Charney
Zionist Federation of the United Kingdom and Ireland
Morton A. Klein
Zionist Organization of America (ZOA)
