A group of liberal Jewish activists, former politicians and union leaders released a statement denouncing opponents of Occupy Wall Street for accusing the movement of anti-Semitism.
“We are publicly engaged American Jews who support both Israel and the ideas behind Occupy Wall Street, and who also strongly oppose right-wing attempts to smear that movement with false charges of anti-Semitism,” the statement said.
The 15 signatories include prominent Jewish liberals such as former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer; former Vermont Gov. Madeleine Kunin; former Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman, a New York Democrat; J Street president Jeremy Ben-Ami; and union leaders Stuart Appelbaum, president of both the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union and the Jewish Labor Committee; Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers; and Andy Stern, former president of the Service Employees International Union.
While many Jews have expressed support for the Occupy Wall Street movement — with some activists organizing Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Simchat Torah observances at various protest sites — some conservatives have pointed to a few highly publicized instances of openly anti-Semitic rhetoric as discrediting the movement.
The statement singled out for criticism the Emergency Committee for Israel, which produced a video highlighting instances of anti-Semitism and criticizing President Barack Obama and leading Democrats for expressing sympathy for Occupy Wall Street.
It also praised the Anti-Defamation League for saying that it did not believe the instances of anti-Semitism were “representative of the larger views of the Occupy Wall Street movement.” The ADL had called on Occupy Wall Street participants and supporters to condemn expressions of anti-Semitism from within their ranks. — jta