Jewish Groups Challenge Failing "Progressive" Leadership
BOSTON, Dec. 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- After years of experiencing a surging anti-Semitism ? on campuses, in high school curricula, in liberal churches, in the streets, and in important sectors of the Democratic Party ? ten Jewish and pro-Israel organizations have decided to publicly challenge what they see as a failing American Jewish establishment.
In a full-page ad in The Boston Herald on November 26, 2020, Jewish groups from across the country declared that they will no longer passively accept an establishment leadership that has abandoned Jewish communal interests, hijacked traditional Judaism, and is sacrificing both on the altar of left-wing, progressive causes.
Dr. Charles Jacobs, president of Americans for Peace and Tolerance, said "When leaders pursue their personal ideological goals in the name of the Jewish community they need to be exposed. The American public needs to know that Judaism is not socialism and a significant portion of America's Jews do not support the progressive universalist ideology promoted by this leadership."
The ten organizations who signed the ad work to support Jewish interests and traditional Jewish values. They decry the unwillingness of establishment leaders to combat Jew-hatred from progressives, Islamists, and in certain sectors of the black community.
Alex Koifman, president of the Russian Jewish Community Foundation in Boston, said, "As Jews from the former Soviet Union, we understand how leftist ideology suppresses Judaism and other religions. As a leader of American-Russian Jews, I have seen how our Jewish establishment has replaced Zionism with socialism."
Howard Brown, executive director of the Rhode Island Coalition for Israel, said, "Jewish leaders need to be found who will not allow their people to be politically marginalized by the progressive movement."
Ed Kohl, co-founder of the Michigan Jewish Action Council, said, "It is not surprising that my non-Jewish friends think all Jews are on the left. It's because our 'leadership' only expresses leftist views. There are many Jews whose views are not being published in the media to silence our dissent of our unelected 'leaders.'"
Jacobs said, "It is well-known inside the Jewish community that there is this serious ideological split. It is time for those outside our community to know that a significant portion of America's Jews are not represented by our official, unelected 'spokesmen.
SOURCE Americans for Peace and Tolerance
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