We write to you as American Jewish communal leaders who are proudly Zionist, unquestionably pro-Israel, and who have devoted our lives to supporting the State of Israel and ensuring an ironclad relationship between Israel and Diaspora Jewry.
In the midst of this unprecedented health and financial crisis for Israel, we respectfully urge you not to use the need for unity in the face of emergency to create a different crisis for Israel by moving forward on unilateral annexation.
We have strongly objected to Israel unilaterally annexing West Bank territory and applying sovereignty to Jewish settlements, whether according to the parameters of the Trump plan or any other similar proposal, at any point in time. To unilaterally move forward with such a plan now would be particularly damaging. It will call into question the Israeli government’s priorities during a global and national emergency, shine a spotlight on controversial Israeli policies rather than highlight valiant Israeli efforts to develop a coronavirus vaccine, or laudable Israeli cooperation with the Palestinians on health and safety measures, and could create a rupture inside of Congress and in the upcoming presidential campaign during a volatile election season. It will be viewed as political opportunism by proponents of annexation during the worst possible moment and will make it more challenging for American Jewish leaders as they seek to maintain strong support for Israel and pro-Israel policies at this time.
Should annexation be advanced, American Jews – the majority of whom oppose such a policy – will feel more alienated from Israel as a result. Just as we expect that our own government focus on the crisis at hand without using the fear and uncertainty felt by Americans to push through harmful and unrelated policies, we ask that the leaders of the Jewish state to which we are all so committed do the same.
We therefore urge you to remain steadfast in your opposition to unilateral annexation.
Danny Abraham
Stuart Abramovitz
Amanda Achtman
Adi Adamit-Gorstein
Karen R. Adler
Michael M. Adler
Harold Akselrad
Rabbi Aaron L. Alexander
Sheldon Alster
Niran Avni
Sheridan Bahar
Ellie Bahrmasel
Deborah Barak
Talia Benamy
Lawrence Bender
Marion Bergman
Sharon Hakakian Bergman
Stanley Bergman
Ross Beroff
Edward Blank
Laurie Blitzer
Kenneth Bob
David Bocarsly
Charles Bronfman
Matthew Bronfman
David T. Brown
Rabbi Angela Buchdahl
David J. Butler
Lester Crown
Tom Dine
Ben Diwan
Alisa Doctoroff
Melissa Dworkin
Molly Ellenberg
Rabbi David Ellenson
Robert Elman
Ethan Felder
John Fishel
Joshua Frankel
Michael Gelman
Susie Gelman
Margot Goldberg
Joe Goldman
Abner Goldstine
E. Robert Goodkind
Brianna Goodlin
David Goodstone
Howard Gordon
Bruce Goren
William Gorin
Lawrence Gottlieb
Ben Gould
Lois Perelson Gross
Michael Gross
Stewart Gross
Steven Grossman
Amanda Guiliardi
David A. Halperin
Harold Handler
Isaac Hasson
Andrew Hauptman
Michael Hershfield
Andrew Hirsh
Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt
Ada Horwich
Jim Horwich
Rabbi Rachel Isaacs
The Hon. Steve Israel
Rabbi Rick Jacobs
Oren Jacobson
Daniel Jeydel
Peter A. Joseph
Thomas S. Kahn
Ron Kaplan
Sheila Katz
Nancy Kaufman
Jonathan Kamel
Joe Kanfer
Stuart Katz
Jennifer Brodkey Kaufman
Robert Kaufman
Tara Khoshbin
Avital Knoller
James L. Krasne
Sheila Lambert
Ronen Landa
Julien Lederman
Marvin Lender
Rabbi Marion Lev-Cohen
Alisa Levin
The Hon. Mel Levine
Robert K. Lifton
Dana Wechsler Linden
Carol London
Daryl Messinger
Adam Moscoe
Jonah Naghi
Bill Neiman
Eden Nissani
Alan Patricof
Adena Philips
Lauren Post
Martin Raffel
Richard Ravitch
Yinon Raviv
Brandon Rattiner
Eli Reiter
Marcia Riklis
Stephen Robert
Edward Robin
Rick Rosen
Adam Rubenfire
Roni Rubenstein
Mony Rueven
John Ruskay
Zach Schenk
Hannah Schlachter
Alexis Schwartz
Russell Semmel
John M. Shapiro
David A. Sherman
Yaniv Shmukler
Marc Slutsky
Ben Slutzky
Tema Smith
Jeffrey R. Solomon
Amb. Alan Solomont (Ret.)
Alan P. Solow
Rabbi David Saperstein
David R. Sicular
Michael Sonnenfeldt
Alexandra Stabler
Marc R. Stanley
Lilian Stern
Susie Stern
Robert G. Sugarman
Donald Sussman
Ben Tannenbaum
Joel D. Tauber
Zach Urisman
James E. Walker III
Rachel Wallace
Peter Weltman
Caitlin Whittemore
Roger Widmann
Elaine Wolfensohn
Sir James Wolfensohn
Adina Wollner
Michael D. Young
Larry Zicklin
Uzi Zucker
