Brit Tzedek v'Shalom
Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace
Divisions on Palestinian Aid
Jewish Week
March 24, 2006
James D. Besser
Rabbis who signed a recent letter to President George W. Bush urging continuing humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people are facing retaliation from right-of-center groups that are complaining to temple boards and officers that the rabbis are anti-Israel.
“They said things like ‘Your rabbi thinks the U.S. should fund Hamas,’ which is untrue,” said Rabbi Rebecca Lillian of Temple Beth Or in Miami, one of 400 rabbis who signed a letter to Bush organized by Brit Tzedek v’Shalom, a pro-peace process group.
In Rabbi Lillian’s case, an angry letter was sent to the Beth Or president, vice president and office administrator by a former member, but she said it resembled letters sent about many other signers of the Brit Tzedek letter, which expressed concern about the Hamas election but urged Washington to work to avert a humanitarian disaster in the Palestinian territories.
The Brit Tzedek effort was part of a left-of-center push against legislation by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) and Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) that would bar direct aid to a Hamas-led Palestinian Authority, add stringent conditions to indirect humanitarian assistance and restrict diplomatic contacts.
Brit Tzedek’s letter asserted that “despite Hamas’ victory, recent polls indicate that the majority of Palestinians remains committed to a peace agreement with Israel. With this in mind, we urge constructive engagement with the new Palestinian government, in ways that bolster moderates such as President Mahmoud Abbas and sustain the cease-fire that has allowed for relative calm over the past year.”
A message circulating widely on the Internet called the letter a “piece of back-stabbing abandonment of the Jews of Israel” and dubbing signers a “group of dangerous idiots.”
“Some of the people in my community who wrote letters hadn’t even read it,” said Rabbi Ralph Mecklenburger of Temple Beth El in Fort Worth, Texas, who called the Brit Tzedek appeal “very moderate. It’s a matter of American and Jewish values that we don’t want chaos and starvation [in the Palestinian territories].”
In his community, he said, a local Christian Zionist leader, responding to the Internet blitz, urged people to write letters to synagogue leaders, as well.
“There was quite a lot of pressure,” Rabbi Mecklenburger said.
The Ros-Lehtinen measure is currently awaiting action in the House, but is expected to face stiff administration opposition. A less restrictive version has been introduced in the Senate.
Top pro-Israel lobbyists say they expect both bills to pass, and that a House-Senate conference committee will be able to find a happy medium that offers greater presidential flexibility while retaining the strong anti-Hamas message.
Also this week, Israeli officials were denying earlier reports that they were signaling opposition to the tough Ros-Lehtinen bill.