Like many Jewish American families, mine donated to its local chapter of the Jewish Federation for many years — no questions asked. These funds enabled us to support Jewish life and culture within our community and abroad, promoting initiatives and institutions that uphold Jewish tradition and values. However, this year, when my family received the call requesting our donation, we declined. We could no longer support an organization that diverted funds meant to support and culturally enrich our own community to subsidize Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank, undermining any remaining chance for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Acts of violence targeting Palestinians and aiding ongoing land theft in the West Bank are not things that I, and many other American Jews, want to finance with funds donated with the intent to better our communities here in the United States. Detestably, portions of those funds are being sent to illegal Israeli settlements, helping to cement Israeli settler claims to land and perpetuating a cycle of violence and oppression that will continue to prevent peace between Palestinians and Israelis.
When conflict escalates in Israel and the Palestinian territory, incidents of antisemitism and Islamophobia in the United States spike. By supporting organizations that are bankrolling illegal settlement activity in the West Bank — either knowingly or not — American Jews are playing a role in not only perpetuating the conflict abroad but also exacerbating conditions for antisemitism and hate at home.
Having seen with my own eyes the violence stoked and committed by Israeli settlers in the West Bank — cars, homes, and agriculture set aflame; grieving parents of Palestinian children shot by Israel Defense Forces soldiers following a settler attack; Palestinian homes and entire villages forcibly destroyed by settlers and the Israeli government — I believe that US tax-deductible funds…
Auteur: Rachel Nelson
