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July 20, 2020 – Denver, Colorado – JEWISHcolorado condemns the Colorado State Democratic Party Central Committee’s adoption of an anti-Israel resolution that endorses U.S. House Resolution (H.R.) 2407, Promoting Human Rights for Palestinian Children Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act.
“We are very disappointed in the results of this vote,” said Rabbi Jay Strear, JEWISHcolorado president & CEO. “H.R. 2407 is full of falsehoods attributed to groups engaged in round-the-clock demonization of Israel and its supporters in the United States. They choose to spotlight missteps made by the Israel Defense Forces in its efforts to protect its citizens but purposely ignore the steps Israel has taken to correct these mistakes. Furthermore, the resolution ignores both the continued ill treatment of minors and the inculcation of Jew-hatred by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza. What does this do to better Palestinian children’s lives? Absolutely nothing.”
“We were troubled that no one from the state party or those proposing this resolution reached out to the Jewish community to seek our input on this,” said Joe Dubroff, JEWISHcolorado director of external affairs. “It is disappointing that a small fringe prefers destructive efforts like this one over constructive efforts to address concerns. Unfortunately, this seems to be a common practice of those who seek to delegitimize the world’s only Jewish state.”
Here is what I wrote to the Colorado Dems (info@coloradodems.org) :
o the Colorado Dems –
I was shocked to see that amidst all that is at risk right now – the
existential threats of both a virus at pandemic levels and an insane
president – that you choose to hurt and alienate a reliable and worthy
part of your constituency, Coloradans who are Jewish.
The "Party" support of HR 2407 is misguided at best, and anti-Semitic at
worst. The "Party" fails in the same ways as most of the American public
does in that they limit their sources of news of Israel. What I hear
through NPR and the likes (a news organization I've listened to my whole
life) consistently provide only parts of the stories. Reading other news
outlets, the full stories are revealed. A typical news piece that makes
Israeli soldiers look like monsters is never balanced with the larger
story: why they were/are there in the first place. Be it in the macro view
of "Israel vs The Palestinians", or the micro view of a particular
incident, US news outlets very rarely provide the full story.
So you have fallen for part of a story, part of a narrative.
Most Colorado Jews have great feeling for the situation in the region. We
cry over the senseless loss of life – but that happens on BOTH sides, not
just the side of Palestinians. One of my childhood friends was macheted to
death in Jerusalem. There was no major act of "retribution" for that.
Jewish families have been murdered in their own homes; small Jewish
children murdered in their own beds. Families have been blown up in pizza
restaurants and at Passover dinners. Yes – that happens, too! And it has
led to the walls, the uber security, and yes – soldiers – to keep Israeli
citizens from being killed in cold blood.
So if you want to show REAL concern for what is happening between Israelis
and Palestinians, let me just say this: we want peace. But not at the cost
of the one Jewish State in the entire world. We want our children, and
their children to live in peace. But that is difficult when Palestinian
children are taught – IN SCHOOL, IN THEIR TEXT BOOKS – of the "pigs" that
are Jews; of the arithmetic exercises of what you get if you start with
three Jews, and then you kill one: what is the answer to what you have
left?
Wake up and see the reality, the bias in what is regularly reported in the
US and west, and the veil of hatred that is caught up in HR 2407.
Forget any money or effort we will ever make for Colorado Dems. You stunk
it up on this one.