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We Must Fight White Supremacy With Solidarity: Jews Respond to the ADL’s Harmful Campaign

The Anti-Defamation League does not speak for us, and we will not allow them to divide and defame our communities and movements, including the movement for Palestinian human rights. Jewish communities must embrace anti-Zionist and non-Zionist voices

Jews protesting Israeli actions in Palestine.,Photo credit: Raghd Hamzeh / The Conversation

The following is an open letter from thirty-six members of Jewish communities in the United States

We are U.S. Jews who are deeply troubled by a recent speech given by the Anti-Defamation League’s CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt, in which he defames grassroots and civil rights organizations committed to Palestinian justice and falsely conflates anti-Zionism with far right and violent extremism.

Greenblatt’s attacks on groups that are part of the movement for Palestinian rights and his assertion of an equivalency between anti-Zionists and white nationalists put us all at risk. Especially now, amid the rapid growth of the white nationalist far right, the safety and bodily autonomy of Black and brown people, Jewish people, Arabs, Muslims, queer and trans people, and disabled and immunocompromised people are under threat.

The struggle against antisemitism must be in partnership with all others targeted by white supremacy. We are committed to working collectively to combat antisemitism the same way we work against racism, Islamophobia, transphobia, and ableism.

The Anti-Defamation League does not speak for us, and we will not allow them to divide and defame our communities and movements, including the movement for Palestinian human rights. Jewish communities must embrace anti-Zionist and non-Zionist voices, along with all other voices for justice. While we may have a range of perspectives on Palestine and Israel, we are all clear that equating anti-Zionist groups to white nationalists is beyond the pale and cannot be tolerated. We are also clear that all people deserve justice, freedom, and safety.

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Signatories

Eva Ackerman
Peter Beinart
Ellen Brotsky
Judith Butler
Chase Carter
Barbara Dobkin
Stefanie Fox
Rachel Gilmer
Ira Glasser
Jane Hirschmann
Naomi Klein
Sandra Korn
Alan Levine
Richard Levy
Abby Lublin
Rachel McCullough
Nina Mehta
Marilyn Kleinberg Neimark
Donna Nevel
Kathleen Peratis
Rabbi Brant Rosen
Deborah Sagner
Audrey Sasson
James Schamus
Maya Schenwar
Rafael Shimunov
Alisa Solomon
Barry Trachtenberg
Mark Tseng-Putterman
Rebecca Vilkomerson
Rabbi Brian Walt
Lesley Williams
Rabbi Alissa Wise
Dorothy Zellner
Simone Zimmerman
Dave Zirin

Additional Signatures

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Kenneth Barnes
Carlyn Cowen
Katie Unger
Rabbi Yosef Berman
Alix Davidson
Eliana Fishman
Carinne Luck
Rakhel Silverman
Silas Gitin
Eleni Zimiles
Jenneva Clauss
May Ye
Rebecca Lewis
Jay Schaffner
Natasha Gill
Seth Morrison
Dina Afek
Clyde Leland
David L. Mandel
Ruth Silver Taube
Marta Guttenberg
Rachel Port
Martin Levine
Wendy Greenfield
Howard Horowitz
Noel Kent
Carolyn Toll Oppenheim
Rand Clark
Beth Eisenberg
Sophie Ellman-Golan
Elsa Auerbach
Elaine Cohen
Maya Ward-Fineman
Esther Cohen
Devorah Stavisky
Rianna Lloyd
Margo Harvey
Merry Maisel
Alanna Davis
Lynn Gottlieb
Nat El-Hai
Matthew Hom
Melinda Smith
Cheryl Greenberg
Carin Mrotz
Jordan Bridges
Ezra Steinberg
Virginia Avniel Spatz
Rabbi Aryeh Bernstein
Carole Levine
Anya Auerbach
Marge Sussman
Deirdre Silverman
Benjamin Balthaser
Jack Leff
Eli Isaacs
Sarah Anne Minkin
Paul Kivel
Dorit Price-Levine
Micaela Brody
Eva Peskin
Ron Witton
Max Socol
Kalman Resnick
claire lichtenstein
Laurie Izaks MacSween
Rabbi Dev Noily
Malkah Bird
Doug Gertner
Ned Rosch
Robert Gelbach
Shelby Handler
Cindy Shamban
Diana Falchuk
Stephanie Schamess
Elisheva Gavra
Jeremy Nicholson
Sam Tarlow
Ari Jahiel
Abby Saul
Rosemary Cohen
Mia Rybeck
Nathaniel Baldo
Amanda Wessel
Marni Libby
Brian Carson
Jordi Cabanas
Estee Chandler
Jacob Zionts
Barbara S. Kane
Haskell Musry
Benjamin Fasching-Gray
Kathy Lessuck
Emily Dixon
Rabbi Rebecca Alpert
Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb
Rabbi David Mivasair
Rabbi Moti Rieber
Louisa Solomon
Rabbi Michael Ramberg
Susan Tipograph
Talia Lepson
Max Reynolds
Ysh Schwartz
Yvette Meltzer
Richard Silverstein
Dayne Samuels
Sagie Tvizer

Sara Bollag
Ian Schiffer
Rabbi Linda Holtzman
Shawna Hartman Brotsky
Kallyn Krash
Beth Harris
Aidan Orly
Jamie Jackson
Noam Shurin
Benjamin Kenper
Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg
Esther Farmer
Elena Stein
Lauren Holtzman
Nadav David
Emily Albert
Rabbi Borukh Goldberg
Sir Porte
Deborah Agre
Lee Goodman-Gargagliano
Eva Borgwardt
Casey Rubenfeld
Marilyn Garson
Jemma Pasch
Sophia Sobko
Rabbi Rebecca Alpert
Nancy Wein
Gabriela Orozco
Hana Filipovic
Connie Sosnoff
Daniel Brotsky
Sarah Novick
Michael Davis
Penny Rosenwasser
Talya Gillman
Sam Gould
Eve Hershcopf
Lauren Giniger
Jeri Cohen
David Toub
Daniel Spector
Matthew Wiviott
Daniel Cohen
Lily Ostrer
Caren Levy-Van Slyke
Iris Cushman
Myles Hoenig
Lee Nelson
Bonnie Sherr Klein
Ned Rosch
Estee Chandler

Henri Picciotto
John Heavenrich
Michael Stephen Smith
Beth Bruch
Martha Schoolman
Karen Platt
Terry Weber
Sue Michalson
Mary Allen
Kathy Felgran
Alice Rothchild
Ellen Yaroshefsky
John Spritzler
Eleanor J. Bader
Mark Braverman
Nic Abramson
Robert Herbst
Genie Silver
Sarah Shields
Paul Leuenberger
Gary Fields
Malkah Feldman
Elena Stone
Morriah Kaplan
Meryl Crean
Michael Friedman
Jim Eby
Laurie Zimmerman
George Ghanayem
Jennifer Duskey
jody sokolower
Brian Polejes
Michael Myerson
Jill Manchester
ruth roberts
Afsah Sadiq
Robert Moyer
Sara Kershnar
Rabbi Michael Lerner
Yousef Yassir
Carolyn Karcher
Larry Hendel
Mary Elizabeth Roberts
Warren Smith
Lauren Spokane
John Lynch
Robert Fisher

Arlene Halfon
Allan W Massey