Dear Hindy,
As you must
already know, there has been an overwhelming positive reaction to the
letter I sent to you and Michael Miller last week regarding your
admittance of the NIF and other BDS supporting organizations to the
Celebrate Israel Parade.
My letter’s statements and requests to
disinvite these organizations to the Parade have garnered hundreds of
very positive and supportive letters from all around the world.
Additionally, the public’s online comment threads to the resulting in the Israel News Agency coverage, Algemeiner article, M
As per my
telephone conversation with you the morning after I sent you my original
letter, I spoke with the specifically requested Israeli government
official that you felt should be made aware of the impending situation.
He stated to me that he was not aware, nor did the JCRC ever inform him
that the NIF was going to march in the parade. He then went on to state
that he would like to investigate the situation further and will inform
the JCRC whether he will march with his delegation or not. I am
confident that based on his own investigation, he will make the correct
decision, for which I will wholeheartedly support.
In your response
email to me last week after I sent you my original letter, you
mentioned that you would be setting up a meeting with John Ruskay and
others; I have yet to receive any additional information about this
meeting.
Your telephone
conversation with me on the morning after I sent you and Michael Miller
my original letter included several issues, which I would like to list
here, as well as to reiterate my own position.
I will assume you were speaking on behalf of the JCRC and the UJA. As you know, I was speaking
on behalf of the
four major Sephardic institutions here in NYC. I also informed you
that I would be communicating with several major Jewish institutions for
which I have a large presence in and around NYC and beyond. As you
might expect, I have already begun to do so.
1. You commented that as a Jewish Community, we need to have a “big tent” and include many
groups for which we don’t necessarily agree with their position on every issue regarding Israel.
My position: I would have no problem including groups that we don’t agree with, as long as they only voice their
opinion - without taking action - at imposing their opinion on society.
However, the moment a group takes action, especially an action that
hurts the Jewish People and the State of Israel while consorting with
the enemies of Israel, they forfeit their right to be a part of the
peaceful “big tent”. The groups has decidedly excluded themselves from
such a privilege. Their opinion on the Peace Process or the size of
Israel is their right to have. However, the moment any group uses their
actions to boycott Israel in order to force their opinion, that is what is completely unacceptable,
immoral and unethical.
Why is it
unacceptable, immoral and unethical? Because their support of BDS
against Israel and its citizens is inflicting tremendous damage on the
people of Israel’s livelihood, lives and welfare. The BDS’s mission is
to destroy a person, a family, a village, a town and even an entire
country, only to make the world know their opinion. Only the enemies of
Israel can support such a movement.
How can we, as true
supporters and lovers of the State of Israel, allow groups that seek to
destroy Israel’s wellbeing, the honor of marching together with Israel's
most ardent supporters? Either they are friends of Israel or they are
not. These groups can no longer act as the proverbial wolves in sheep’s
clothing. We need not be apologetic about what we stand for.
As a Rabbi, I
have sometimes been asked, why is it that the pig has become the iconic
representative of a non-kosher animal, when a camel, a rabbit and a hare
are also not kosher? The answer is that
since the pig is the only one that has a split hoof yet doesn’t chew its cud, he is outwardly trying to
mislead people
into believing that he is kosher - yet deep inside, he is not. This
behavior is analogous to how the BDS supporting groups are acting. It
is time to remove their disguise.
2. Your comments conveyed
your defense of some groups that differentiate between boycotting
products from "Israel proper” and boycotting products of the
“Settlements” in Judea and Samaria.
This is
incongruous. Since when do we have the moral and ethical right to hurt
any Jew, regardless of his place of residence? If I am to understand
your comments correctly, you are of the position that if we as Jews like
where a person lives, then we can help him. However, if we don’t, then
we not only refuse to help him but we try to injure him? Really?
My position: There
has not been any historical precedent of Jews denying help to any other
Jew, no matter where that Jew lives. Didn't we come to the rescue of
the Jews of the Former Soviet Union?
What about of
Ethiopia, Iran and Syria? We are even now coming to the rescue of the
Jews of the Ukraine. Does it really make a difference where a Jew lives
in order to be responsible for him? We Jews are responsible for each
other no matter where that Jew lives, whether it is in prison or on the
Moon. To make that differentiation is tantamount to deciding who will
live and who will die. We are not G-d, and therefore we cannot make
those decisions. Throughout history, this has been done to us by our
enemies and not so long ago, during the Holocaust.
3. Your comments conveyed that I am boycotting the Celebrate Israel Parade.
My position: This is simply not true. I want to clarify that I am not boycotting the Parade. I want to make it clear that I
am abstaining as to whether or not to march with my institutions until
the BDS supporting groups are not permitted to march in the Celebrate
Israel Parade. Boycotting has a negative terminology. These BDS
supporting groups are boycotting, divesting and sanctioning Israel
because they do not support Israel; they are hurting Israel and its
population, and they are destroying the lives of innocent Jews living in
Israel and their livelihoods. These actions could potentially have a
negative ripple effect on Jews from around the world. I, on the other
hand, support the Parade wholeheartedly and want our institutions to
march. My abstention is not hurting anyone and it is not destroying any
lives. I am abstaining for now, until my requests are heard and a
correct, moral and ethical action is taken by the JCRC.
Lastly, I am
attaching two yet unpublished research documents from October 2013,
which reveal unequivocally the activities of the NIF. Its support of
groups like B’Tselem, American for Peace Now, Meretz USA, and others
that are acting against the welfare of the State of Israel is very
clear. They are helping our enemies seek the destruction of Israel. If
it was up to them, soon there will be nothing for your parade to
“Celebrate”.
It may seem to
you that I am causing a division amongst the participants in the Parade
and creating some discord. However, it is completely the opposite. I am
trying to unite all of the people that support and Celebrate Israel. On
the other hand, the BDS supporting groups, which you have invited to
march in the parade, are trying to divide and discriminate against their
fellow Jews because of their place of living or political views. They
are the ones who are sowing divisiveness.
Hindy, I
reiterate what I wrote in my last letter - as a friend and admirer of
yours and Michael Miller’s selfless devotion and dedication to Israel
and the Jewish People, I urge you to disqualify these groups from ever marching in the Celebrate Israel Parade. Nothing
less is acceptable. Unless and until you assure me that the BDS
supporting groups will not be marching in the Parade, I will pull our
support from marching and will not be renewing our contract for a float
this year.
I hope this unfortunate issue will be resolved quickly, thereby clearing a path so we can march with pride and support, and really Celebrate Israel.
Sincerely,
Elie Abadie
Rabbi Elie Abadie, M.D.
Edmond J. Safra Synagogue
11 East 63rd Street
New York, NY 10065
Edmond J. Safra Synagogue
11 East 63rd Street
New York, NY 10065
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