Help Ensure that Israel is a Jewish and Democratic State Now and Forever

May 20, 2009

Help Ensure that Israel is a Jewish and Democratic State Now and Forever

At his historic first meeting with President Obama at the White House this week, Prime Minister Netanyahu emphasized that Israel is a Jewish State. Why was this necessary?

Because Israel and Israel alone is being pressured to put her very identity on the negotiating table. Some are pushing for a two-state solution but insist that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians be allowed to settle in Israel proper dooming, the sole Jewish homeland.

“A Jewish State, what is that supposed to mean? I don’t accept it and I say so publicly,” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to a Ramallah crowd on the eve of Israeli Independence Day 2009

Because, next month, a conference co-sponsored by Canada’s Queen’s University and York University will explore a so-called “one-state” solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, that, if ever adopted, effectively destroy Israel’s unique Jewish character. We cannot let this happen.

Just last month, the Palestinian Foreign Minister said at the UN’s Durban II conference, “Anyone who believes in Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish State is guilty of “racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia.”

No diplomat, president, prime minister, or religious leader has ever questioned whether the 23 member states of the Arab League have the right to be Arab, or whether the 57 members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference can proudly call themselves Muslim. Nor would anyone dare to insist that the Vatican should cease to be a Catholic state.

As Israeli's rights to pursue their Jewish and democratic goals continue to be challenged, the Wiesenthal Center is launching a wide-ranging, 5-continent campaign to rally religious, political, diplomatic and government leaders, as well as concerned people worldwide in defense of Israel’s right to thrive as a Jewish, democratic state.

We urgently need your help to make it happen by taking two crucial steps today:

1. Sign the enclosed Petition to the Quartet on the Middle East – the U.S., Russia, the European Union and the United Nations – the primary intermediaries in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. These key players must understand that under no circumstances will Israel agree to what no other nation was ever asked to do: give up its very identity.

2. Please make a generous contribution to the Simon Wiesenthal Center today. We have the on-the-ground international experience, official Non-Governmental Organization status at world bodies in Europe and Latin America, as well as the knowledge and influence to ignite a successful worldwide effort.       

Original letter of recognition of the State of Israel, signed by U.S. President Harry S. Truman, confirming America’s support and historic recognition of Israel as a Jewish State.

Your support will be dealing a blow to these enemies and helping Israel at a crucial time – a time when we are witnessing a global financial crisis, ever-present tensions in the Middle East, and a dramatic upswing in anti-Semitism. 

The Jews of the world have but one small state, which has made such enormous contributions to the world in every field of human endeavor. One safe haven - one homeland. All of us who identify with this historic vision must stand up boldly for Israel…and we must do it NOW.

I’m asking you to respond as quickly as you can by signing the enclosed petition to the Quartet and by sending a generous contribution to the Center. There is so much at stake and we need your help. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Rabbi Marvin Hier
Dean and Founder