March 21, 2015

Dear Reform Jewish Leaders,

American Conference of Cantors (ACC)

Cantor Mark Goldman, President;Rachel Roth, Managing Director

Association of Reform Jewish Educators (ARJE)

Deborah Niederman, President; Rabbi Stanley Schickler, Executive Director

Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA)

Rabbi Josh Weinberg, President; Rabbi Bennett Miller, Chair

ARZA Canada

Les Rothschild, President

Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR)

Rabbi Denise L. Eger, President; Rabbi Steve Fox, Chief Executive Officer

NFTY: The Reform Jewish Youth Movement

Debbie Rabinovich, President; Micol Zimmerman, Director

Women of Reform Judaism (WRJ)

Blair Marks, President; Rabbi Marla J. Feldman, Executive Director

World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ)

Rabbi Daniel Freelander, President;Mike Grabiner, Chair

Union for Reform Judaism (URJ)

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, President; Steve Sacks, Chair of the Board of Trustees

We are very disturbed by your letter “Reform Movement Leaders React to the Elections in Israel” written on March 18th, 2015. Your letter is one sided and anti-Israel, which does not reflect our views. As Jewish leaders your intention was probably to support Israel by giving Netanyahu pointers on how to foster a better democracy, but what the rest of the world heard was the AP headline, “A widening US Jewish Split over Support for Israel” (http://goo.gl/vhv1ru). Which begs the question, if we Jews don’t stand up for Israel, who will?

Israel is under attack by the United States and it does not help to have Jewish leaders echo the talking points of its assailants. Before Israel’s election, President Obama successfully divided support for Israel among left and right party lines and now after the elections support for Israel among American Jews is now being polarized. Please do not use your position as Jewish leaders to further ostracize Israel.

President Obama sent Jeremy Bird, who was Obama’s 2012 national campaign director to Israel to defeat Netanyahu. Part of the strategy to defeat Netanyahu was to bus Arabs into the polling station and have them vote in a unified way. This strategy was effective and over three times the number of Arabs voted compared to past elections. Netanyahu rightfully called out this tactic and was vilified by our president as racist and divisive. Netanyahu even clarified, “What is wrong is not that Arab citizens are voting, but that massive funds from foreign governments are bringing them en masse to polls in an organized way, thus twisting the true will of all Israeli citizens.” It is disappointing that the Reform Movement Leaders chose to ignore the facts on the ground, ignore American electioneering, vilify the Prime Minister of Israel for stating facts, repeat the anti-Israel rhetoric of Israeli “discrimination [of Arabs]”, and falsely declare that the election came at the expense of “Jewish and democratic values”. It is the responsibility of Jews to stand up for the truth and not repeat heinous accusations that are simply not true. Reform leaders should be celebrating the will of the Israeli people as a nation that can protect itself and does not bow down to foreign and imperialistic interference.

Anti-semitism is in vogue, especially under the guise of being Anti-Israel and it was shocking to see Reform leaders promote anti-Israel propaganda. Obama is on a path to ostracize Israel from the West and inflict grave financial harm to her. Obama telegraphed before the elections that if Netanyahu won, then the relationship between the US and Israel would change. It really didn’t matter what Netanyahu said or didn’t say during the election, the result would be the same. The day after the election, the White House indicated that it may impose sanctions on Israel and may no longer veto UN sanctions against Israel either. For the Reform leaders to legitimize the false narrative that Israel is a racist and divisive nation that does not share the same democratic ideals as the US is shameful. Israel is a beacon of light and we should celebrate her democracy, not apologize for it.

According to the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, only 30% of Palestinians feel they can criticize their government without fear and only 21% say there is freedom of press. In contrast, Israeli Arabs have the same rights and equality as Israeli Jews. There are eight Israeli-Arabs on the legislative branch of the Israeli government. There are numerous Youtube videos of Israeli-Arabs saying how much better life is in Israel than under Palestinian rule, including one Palestinian youth who said he would be murdered if he came out as Gay in Palestinian controlled areas. Israel is a beautiful and accepting democracy. In contrast, the Palestinians demand that Israel should deliver them land, Jew free. It is ironic that the authors lambast Israel’s democracy while promoting a dangerous and racist Palestinian regime that does not share our democratic values.

Your letter invokes references of apartheid, when you collectively envision a possible future of Israel as, “A non-democratic future in which a Jewish minority rules over a Palestinian majority.” These concerns about demography are based on a fraudulent census conducted in 1997, which inflated the number of Palestinians by 50% (Glick, Caroline. The Israeli Solution, 2014). While apartheid references are damaging to the Jewish consciousness and erode public support for Israel, it is not based on fact. As leaders of the Jewish people, I am not sure whose cause you are helping.

Obama recently appointed the anti-semitic, anti-Israel, pro-Hamas Robert Malley to lead the Middle East National Security Council. This is the same person who supported the second Intifada against Israel, which was all about the wanton murder of Jews, simply because they were Jews. Obama knows this person is anti-Israel and dropped him as an advisor during his 2008 campaign when pro-Israel groups raised their eyebrows at this selection. Mr. Malley’s recent promotion to the National Security Council is a signal to Israel that it is under attack and with no more elections, Obama does not care about the consequences of taking anti-Israel actions. And now, our Reform Jewish leadership is supporting this big picture attack on Israel by falsely accusing Israel as non-democratic and non-pluralistic, over a single statement taken out of context and parroting the American left wing propaganda against Israel. We should be discussing how a liberal point of view is aligned with Israel’s flourishing democracy and not fan the flames of the anti-semitic rhetoric against Israel. We should be standing with Israel, not denigrating Israel.

It is very disturbing to see this group of Reform leaders determined to use existing Jewish organizations to carry out their mission to shape the thoughts of young Jews on “Pro-Israel sensibility.” What does that mean? To support the president’s campaign against Israel’s future? To appreciate Israel not for what it is, but what it should be? To become Israeli apologists? To support American sanctions against Israel? To legitimize the anti-Semitic propaganda that Israel is a racist and non-pluralistic society? You may speak for some Reform Jews, but you do not speak for me as a liberal reform Jew and you do not speak for the people who have signed this petition.

Sincerely,

Matthew Simmons

(562) 546-2277