Reform Jewish leader supports President Obama on Israel
Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union of Reform Judaism, representing 900 congregations with over 1.5 million members and 1,800 rabbis, wrote to President Obama on July 16 following his participation in a Jewish leaders’ meeting with the President to express his gratitude for President Obama’s “deep concern for Israel’s well-being, your commitment to keep Israel strong and your efforts to help Israel achieve peace with her neighbors.”
He expressed the confidence of the Reform Movement in the Obama administration’s ability to “provide the type of creative, determined and sustained leadership that is necessary to help…move Arabs and Israelis closer to peace and prevent Iran from developing or obtaining nuclear weapons.” And he reaffirmed the support of the Reform Movement for the Obama “administration’s views on halting settlement construction.”
In an recent interview with the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, Rabbi Yoffie said that:
“The vast majority of American Jews back a settlement freeze…Settlement activity in the West Bank is not popular here. It never has been. It’s absolutely the last thing in the world you want to be involved in a public dispute over. Because not only you won’t have the support of this government – you won’t have the support of the American people either.”
“At last week’s White House meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and 16 Jewish leaders, Yoffie continued, ‘there wasn’t a single person around that table – not one – who on substance supported settlement activity. Every single mainstream grass-roots group with a significant constituency was invited. They broadly represent American Jewry…[N]ot a single one told the president: ‘You’re wrong.’ And that’s because they know that’s unpopular here. It’s unpopular with government officials, it’s unpopular with all Americans, and it’s unpopular with American Jews.’”[1]
In his letter to the President, Yoffie highlighted a recent resolution adopted by the Reform Movement which warned:
“The destructive impact of the settlements is aggravated by fringe settler groups that have expanded their lawless reach into new outposts and hilltops, challenged the authority and legitimacy of the Israeli government and courts, encouraged insubordination by Israeli soldiers tasked with enforcing the law and keeping the peace, and escalated violence against Palestinian civilians.…
“Although Israel may need to retain some areas technically classified as settlements, the failure of the Israeli government to meet its commitments regarding the removal of unauthorized settler outposts and the halting of settlement growth are sources of concern. The settlement controversy is exacerbated by the exceedingly high current 4.9% population growth rate in West Bank settlements. Indeed, the population has grown from 100,000 in 1993 to nearly 300,000 at the end of 2008 according to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics. We are concerned as well with the establishment of some 100 unauthorized outposts since 1996.”
The Reform Movement expressed its support for “the calls by the United States government, in the spirit of prior URJ Resolutions (1978, 1983, 2001, 2004 and 2007), for the government of Israel to freeze all settlement construction and immediately dismantle illegal outposts, not only to fulfill its prior commitments, but also to do so as the politically wise and morally right action that enhances Israel’s efforts to preserve a secure future for Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.”
In announcing the Reform movement resolution on June 15, Rabbi Yoffie said that “The issue of freezing settlements remains critical…we urge the Obama Administration to continue its active engagement….Whether the policies we prescribe to advance America’s interests, and to support the peace process we believe is indispensable to Israel’s long term security and well-being, concur with those of this Israeli government or not, we stand in abiding solidarity with the people and the state of Israel at this challenging time.” [2]
But Rabbi Yoffie’s most powerful remarks on the issue were delivered in a major policy address to the Reform Movement in 2003:
“‘Not all settlers are extremists. But their leaders are trying to impose an endless war on Israel and the Jewish people. For these zealots, their right to live anywhere in the historic Land of Israel takes precedence over Israel’s democracy and, indeed, over her very existence. But I do not believe now, and I have never believed, that they speak for the Israeli majority.’
“Yoffie called on Israel to dismantle all illegal settlement outposts and to impose a settlement freeze. The Reform leader told his followers that he felt compelled to speak out against Israeli policy out of fear that the rapidly increasing population of settlers – their numbers have doubled to 230,000 during the past decade – would soon make a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict impossible.
“Yoffie warned that moderate Palestinians had become so disillusioned by settlement growth that they are now proposing the creation of a single Israeli-Palestinian state in which they would demand full citizenship. In that event, demographers say, Israel’s Jewish population would soon lose its majority status, ending the notion of a Jewish state.
“‘I know that there are those who say that terror must end first and that it is too early to consider such a step [freezing settlements],’ Yoffie said. ‘But our response is: Get your heads out of the sand. It is not too early; in fact, it is very nearly too late. With every passing day a two-state solution becomes more difficult and a single-state solution more likely.’”[3]
[1] Reform Leader: Most US Jews Back a Settlement Freeze. Ha’aretz, July 24, 2009
[2 ]In New Policy Statement, Reaction to Netanyahu Speech: Reform Jewish Movement Offers Renewed Support for Middle East Peace Process. June 15, 2009.
[3] Ami Eden, Leader of Reform Steps Out Against Bush and Sharon. Forward, November 14, 2003.