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Open Letter to Joe Biden on Behalf of Jewish Americans: Stop Sending Israel Offensive Weapons
The continuation of violence will continue to increase the heart-wrenching death toll, increase the number of calls for a ceasefire, and decrease your poll numbers — straight through the election.
Jun 05, 2024
Editor's Note: The following is an open letter addressed to U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday, June 5, 2024 from Jamie Beran, CEO of the progressive Jewish organization Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, a domestic-focused organization that explained that while it "does not work on policy toward Israel-Palestine or any foreign policy issues... chose to send this letter because of the urgency of the danger posed by the ongoing war to the safety of American Jews and to democracy" in the United States.
The Honorable Joseph R. Biden
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear President Biden,
As American Jews deeply committed to justice, equity, and collective safety, we welcome your support for a permanent ceasefire plan. Since that announcement, unfortunately, Israeli officials have made it clear that they do not support such a plan.
Time and time again, despite your calls to end this violence, you have not followed through with material action. With over one million Palestinian refugees now being forced to flee Rafah, their last guaranteed refuge, thousands of lives lost, and families of captives being fined in Israel for demanding a ceasefire, it is long past time to end U.S. support for these attacks. Now is the moment to make good on your promise to stop providing offensive weapons to the Israeli military.
We as Jews — and particularly as Jews who have built and maintained strong, decades-long partnerships with all communities targeted by the rapidly encroaching white nationalist movement — know that historically, we are most in danger when democracy is weakened, and safest when it is strengthened.
We cannot overestimate how challenging it has been to focus on our strictly domestic priorities at Bend the Arc during this time. One of Bend the Arc’s founding principles is to mobilize American Jews as we are: a multi-issue community. We care deeply about pursuing justice in the United States, for Jews and non-Jews alike. But since the horrors of October 7th, the violence in Israel-Palestine has permeated our borders to the point where it jeopardizes our collective safety. It impacts Jewish life in the U.S. and the safety of Jewish and Arab Americans. And, under the threat of an emboldened authoritarian movement at our doorstep, it threatens our shared ability to defend and build what will protect all of us — a vibrant, multifaith, multiracial democracy.
When you named the deadly rally in Charlottesville as your motivation to run for President in 2020, we knew you shared our vision. We knew you saw that day as a harbinger of an alternate, likely irreversible, and very disturbing timeline for this nation — one further cemented by the January 6th insurrection and hardened each time Trump spells out his public plan to disassemble democracy.
From our shared fights to appoint Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, to bolster our historic movement for labor unions, and to champion the Inflation Reduction Act, we know we want to continue to work together to improve this democracy. And from our shared fights to counter antisemitism and protect public education — and from your invitation to collaborate with the White House, Department of Justice, and the Department of Education — we know we want to continue to work together to defend this democracy.
So today, as the Israeli government continues to ignore your red lines, has publicly vowed to continue to cross them, and has now promised at least seven more months of attacks, we, as American Jews, are sounding an alarm:
U.S. support for continued violence in Gaza is putting American safety and U.S. democracy in danger. For the sake of the lives of all people in the region, and the safety and futures of all of us in the United States, we urge you to make good on your own promise to cease sending offensive munitions to Israel. We urge you to end the ongoing violence, and reach a resolution that brings all captive loved ones home to their families, ends mass atrocities, prevents world war, and begins to achieve self-determination for all Israelis and Palestinians.
The status quo does not address our immediate safety. We’ve learned from history and the last eight months that explosions of global violence dramatically increase violence at home. Antisemitism, anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bigotry, racism, and xenophobia continue to surge. In these moments, leaders scramble for false solutions to quickly provide illusions of safety, ultimately increasing criminalization and decreasing the liberties required to keep democracy healthy.
The status quo does not address our future safety. Your victory this November is the single most powerful tool we have to obstruct an irreversible timeline towards the end of U.S. democracy and our continuing work to build a society that serves everybody — from protecting voting rights, to enshrining the right to abortion, to creating just pathways for immigration. Your success as a candidate is tied inextricably to the people’s faith in your ability to keep us safe. As the violence overseas continues to intertwine itself across all of our domestic work, it too is now tied to your success and all of our safety.
Since October, the majority of your voters among American Jewish Democrats and the vast majority of American Democrats have called for an end to this. The continuation of violence will continue to increase the heart-wrenching death toll, increase the number of calls for a ceasefire, and decrease your poll numbers — straight through the election. We’ve seen uncommitted movements nearly overtake your previous margin of victory in key regions and, in some cities, win. We’re seeing your base of young voters and progressives increasingly losing faith. Across our community, we’re seeing too many unaffiliated Jews — the second largest group of American Jews — go unheard. And across our partnerships with non-Jewish communities, we hear stories of alienation and isolation. Not acting on your own red lines, combined with the Israeli government’s promise to continue to violate them, will further erode your viability as a candidate in a race where every vote will matter.
At Bend the Arc, we fight for the joyful future we deserve: an American society free from white supremacy, antisemitism, and racism. One where Black liberation is realized and where we are all safe and thriving, no matter what we look like or where we come from. Our vision shines brightest against the ominous backdrop of white nationalism’s threat.
Your candidacy can also reintroduce that contrast and end a status quo that threatens to mirror the opposition. In doing so, we pray that you can regain the faith of voters and that we can work together to reintroduce the bright vision of the future required to inspire Americans in November.
Sincerely,
Jamie Beran
CEO, Bend the Arc: Jewish Action
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800+ Jewish Professors Urge Biden, Senate to Oppose 'Dangerous' Antisemitism Bill
"Criticism of the state of Israel, the Israeli government, policies of the Israeli government, or Zionist ideology is not—in and of itself—antisemitic," reads a new letter.
May 09, 2024
A Dartmouth University professor who once served as the school's head of Jewish studies and was violently arrested at a Palestinian rights protest last week was among more than 800 Jewish educators who had signed a letter as of Thursday, demanding that lawmakers and U.S. President Joe Biden oppose a bill claiming to combat antisemitism.
The Awareness of Antisemitism Act, said the letter, would actually "amplify the real threats Jewish Americans already face" by "conflating antisemitism with legitimate criticism of Israel."
The bill, which was passed by the Republican-controlled House last week over the objections of 70 progressive Democrats and 21 Republicans, would codify the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, which includes "targeting of the state of Israel" and "drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis."
The Awareness of Antisemitism Act, which could soon be taken up by the Senate, would require the Department of Education to consider the group's working definition when determining whether harassment is motivated by antisemitism.
The professors noted that the working definition has been "internationally criticized," with more than 100 civil society organizations—including some Israeli groups—calling on the United Nations last year to reject the IHRA's interpretation because it has been "misused" to shield Israel from legitimate criticism.
"We hold varied opinions on Israel," reads the letter. "Whatever our differences, we oppose the IHRA's definition of antisemitism. If imported into federal law, the IHRA definition will delegitimize and silence Jewish Americans—among others—who advocate for Palestinian human rights or otherwise criticize Israeli policies."
The professors pointed out the irony that by using the IHRA definition—which also includes "accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel" than their own home countries—the bill "hardens the dangerous notion that Jewish identity is inextricably linked to every decision of Israel's government."
"Far from combating antisemitism, this dynamic promises to amplify the real threats Jewish Americans already face," the letter reads.
Annelise Orleck, the Dartmouth professor who was arrested last week, was joined by other Jewish academics including City University of New York professor Peter Beinart and professor emeritus Avishai Margalit of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in signing the letter.
Orleck, a labor historian, told ABC affiliate WMUR after her arrest that she hopes Dartmouth and other schools that have cracked down on and condemned pro-Palestinian protests in recent weeks will "stop weaponizing antisemitism."
The professors urged political leaders who are "earnestly concerned with antisemitism" to "join hundreds of Jewish scholars from across the globe who have endorsed alternative definitions of antisemitism—such as those contained in the Nexus Document or Jerusalem Declaration. Unlike the IHRA definition, these documents offer meaningful tools to combat antisemitism without undermining Jewish safety and civil rights by insulating Israel from legitimate criticism."
When the Antisemitism Awareness Act was passed by the House last week, Jewish-led Palestinian rights groups were among those that condemned the proposal.
Biden has angered pro-Palestinian rights groups by suggesting the campus protests that have spread across the U.S. in recent weeks, with students and faculty demanding an end to U.S. support for Israel as it bombards Gaza, are inherently antisemitic.
"Criticism of the state of Israel, the Israeli government, policies of the Israeli government, or Zionist ideology is not—in and of itself—antisemitic," reads the professors' letter, which was first publicized Wednesday. "We accordingly urge our political leaders to reject any effort to codify into federal law a definition of antisemitism that conflates antisemitism with criticism of the state of Israel."
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750+ Jewish Students Affirm Support for Pro-Palestine Campus Protests
The students' open letter—which circulated as U.S. President Joe Biden again linked campus encampments to antisemitism—urges institutions of higher learning to "take immediate action" to stop Israel's Gaza genocide.
May 07, 2024
Against the backdrop of President Joe Biden's Tuesday speech condemning antisemitism, hundreds of Jewish students at U.S. universities signed an open letter supporting the nationwide pro-Palestine campus protests, decrying the false smearing of the encampments as antisemitic, and urging institutions to take action to stop Israel's "genocidal assault on Gaza."
"In the last week, we have watched the movement of student encampments for Gaza spread across the country. We have also watched as these protesters have been met with repression, arrests, violence, and false claims of antisemitism," states the letter—which as of Tuesday afternoon had been signed by more than 750 students.
"We demand that academic and political leaders stop misrepresenting and demonizing protests and their organizers."
While the letter's signers are "deeply disturbed by the small number of individuals who have attempted to co-opt these encampments to spread violent, hateful, and antisemitic messages," they "wholeheartedly reject the claim that these encampments are antisemitic and that they are an inherent threat to Jewish student safety."
The letter continues:
The narrative that the Gaza solidarity encampments are inherently antisemitic is part of a decadeslong effort to blur the lines between criticism of Israel and antisemitism. It is a narrative that ignores the large populations of Jewish students participating and helping to lead the encampments as a true expression of our Jewish values. The beautiful interfaith solidarity by Jewish students observing Passover seders and Shabbat at encampments across the country show that the rich Jewish tradition of justice is on full display inside the encampments. The denial of Jewish participation in this movement is not only incorrect, but it is an insidious attempt to justify unfounded claims of antisemitism. As neo-Nazis are marching in the streets and fascist politicians are campaigning on the antisemitic Great Replacement theory, we wholeheartedly reject the lie that these student activists are targeting Jewish students in their protest.
The letter came as Biden blasted the "ferocious" surge in antisemitism around the world since October 7 during a Capitol Hill speech marking Holocaust Remembrance Day.
"On college campuses, Jewish students blocked, harassed, attacked, while walking to class," Biden said. "Antisemitic posters, slogans calling for the annihilation of Israel, the world's only Jewish state. Too many people denying, downplaying, rationalizing, ignoring the horrors of the Holocaust and October 7... It is absolutely despicable, and it must stop."
Biden faced backlash last week for falsely characterizing the campus encampments as lawless and violent while ignoring police brutality and physical attacks against protesters, including a mob assault at the University of California, Los Angeles. Critics also pointed out the president's ahistorical admonition that "dissent must never lead to disorder"—a statement that ignores how the United States was founded via violent revolution.
The Jewish students' letter stresses that "while the world's focus is on students, we cannot forget that Israel is continuing its genocidal assault on Gaza."
"More than 34,000 Palestinians and 1,200 Israelis have been killed since October 7," the document notes. "Israel has killed more than 14,000 children and destroyed schools, hospitals, and all institutions of higher learning in Gaza. The Israeli government has done nothing to return the remaining 133 hostages to their families as they continue to hold thousands of Palestinian prisoners without charge."
"We as Jewish students demand divestment from Israel and an academic boycott of all Israeli educational institutions contributing to the Israeli military assault on Gaza or protection of settlers in the West Bank."
"The devastation is unfathomable, and it is truly heinous to see individuals attempting to demonize student peace activists in our name as Israel continues to massacre Gazans, massacres that our educational institutions are complicit in through their investments and repression," the signers said.
"We as Jewish students demand divestment from Israel and an academic boycott of all Israeli educational institutions contributing to the Israeli military assault on Gaza or protection of settlers in the West Bank," the letter states. "We also demand amnesty for all nonviolent student protesters and an end to the brutal repression by academic institutions and law enforcement."
"Finally," the signers concluded, "we demand that academic and political leaders stop misrepresenting and demonizing protests and their organizers, protect the voices of student activists, and take immediate action to stop Israel's genocidal acts before more Palestinians are killed."
Jonathan Mendoza, a graduate student at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. who signed the letter, said in a statement that "while the Israeli military begins its assault on Rafah, college campuses continue to protest the ongoing genocide of Palestinians."
"Journalists and public officials are falsely labeling these campus protests as antisemitic and dangerous to Jewish students, silencing demands to end complicity with Israel's actions, despite consistent evidence of Jewish students participating in and organizing these protests," Mendoza added. "With this open letter, we demonstrate our support, as over 700 Jewish students and counting, for protests to end our universities' and country's complicity with Israel's mass killing of Palestinians."
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