AN OPEN LETTER TO MEMBERS AND LEADERS OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY RELATIONS COUNCIL OF NEW YORK AND THE UJA-FEDERATION OF NEW YORK

Dear leaders and organizers of the 2023 Celebrate Israel Parade,

Like the vast majority of Israelis and North American Jews, we are heartened to see the world’s largest expression of solidarity with the people of Israel, and especially this year, as it marks Israel’s 75th birthday under the theme of “Israel @ 75: Renewing the Hope”. Just like you, we share the hope for a renewed, better, and thriving Israel.

It is in the spirit of that hope that we write to you today and ask you to reconsider hosting the delegation of the Netanyahu government at this important annual celebration. While Israeli government representatives have traditionally been prominent guests at this event, this year’s delegation, the largest ever, parades some of the chief architects and most vocal supporters of the judicial overhaul, widely viewed across the Jewish world and among our closest allies as gravely threatening the very fabric of Israeli democracy. These include:

For each of us, the current emergency brings additional pain and discomfort, for it requires that we speak out in clear and unequivocal opposition to illegitimate and dangerous policies. It is difficult and painful, and a burden we do not take lightly. We know it is also painful for you, as staunch defenders of Israel and as advocates for equality, pluralism, peoplehood, and democracy. All of us are being forced to grapple with Israeli leaders who are trampling on the ideals that bind us. Painful as it is, none of us have a choice, lest we abandon these common values.

As you know, over the past 21 weeks, hundreds of thousands of Israelis have been taking to the streets every day to protest the government’s plans. The protesters rally in the name of democracy and equality – values exemplified by the JCRC-NY, UJA-Federation and by both of your organization’s North American networks. In Israel, members of this delegation to the parade are unable to show their faces in public without being called out for their ill-conceived plans to destroy Israeli democracy. It is therefore painful to imagine these same individuals being honored at this year’s largest celebration of the Israeli spirit, on a bamah, on a sacred platform sponsored by our own American Jewish community.

Many of us – Israeli-Americans, Rabbis, and Jewish communal leaders, community members who care deeply about Israel – have marched and cheered in this parade in the past. Now, we see the country we all love being torn by this machloket, this fierce debate, bringing us to the brink of civil war. We watch as Netanyahu’s government, without broad consensus, continues its attempts to void the power of the judicial branch in order to promote legislation that would jeopardize civil and human rights. This legislation would put at risk women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, religious and ethnic minority rights within Israel, the rights of Palestinians in the occupied territories, the right to pray as non-Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem’s holiest site, and even the right to make Aliyah. And it is in the spirit of that Ahavat Yisrael - our love for Israel and the entire Jewish people, that every week for over 21 weeks, throughout America, we have been standing in solidarity with our brothers and sisters protesting in Israel. Our call is clear: Stop the coup; No to dictatorship or a Jewish theocracy in Israel; democracy for all. Nothing less.

Standing up for the country we all love and cherish and for its people, we urge you: as long as the judicial overhaul is in play, as long as Israel’s democracy is on the brink of destruction, disinvite the instigators and advocates of the judicial overhaul. Please, do not allow this massive Netanyahu coalition delegation to take part in this nonpartisan, celebratory event. They have yet to deserve the honor you are bestowing upon them, they have not earned the respect of your allies and friends in Israel, and many of your own community members, here in America.

Please stand up for Israel’s democracy. Please stand in solidarity with the Israelis on the front lines of renewing hope, not with those seeking to destroy it.

Thank you,

UnXeptable North America- Saving the Israeli Democracy chapters and affiliates in:

Atlanta, GA
Austin, TX
Bergen County, NJ
Boston, MA
Chicago, IL
Houston, TX
Las Vegas, NV
Los Angeles, CA
Memphis, TN
Miami, FL
New Haven, CT
New York, NY
Orange County, CA
Philadelphia, PA
Pittsburgh, PA
Providence, RI
Rochester, NY
San Diego, CA
San Francisco, CA
Seattle, WA
Toronto, ON
Triangle, NC
Vancouver, BC
Greater Washington DC (Virginia and Maryland)

About UnXeptable:

UnXeptable is a worldwide grassroots movement led by Israeli expats in support of a democratic and liberal Israel. We call on world Jewry and supporters of Israel to come together and preserve the democratic identity of Israel as the home of all Jewish people.

For more information, please visit unxeptable.org