Amnesty International drew renewed criticism this month, after its American branch Executive Director Paul O’Brien declared that “Israel shouldn’t exist as a Jewish state” during an event convened by the Women’s National Democratic Club. CJV’s response was swift and uncompromising in its defense of Jewish rights to equality and self-determination in their indigenous homeland. The Washington Free Beacon covered the story.
The Coalition’s official statement condemned O’Brien’s statements and outlined the Antisemitic double standards at their heart. CJV Managing Director Rabbi Yaakov Menken said, in part:
O’Brien’s reported remarks should surprise no one, as he merely said the quiet part out loud. There are 23 countries where Islam is the state religion, and 21 formally Christian states, but Amnesty only has a problem with the one identified with Jews. O’Brien openly argued that indigenous Jews, exclusively, should be denied self-determination in their indigenous homeland.
O’Brien told his audience, “We are opposed to the idea—and this, I think, is an existential part of the debate—that Israel should be preserved as a state for the Jewish people.”
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He disputed the clear evidence that the overwhelming majority of American Jews identify as “pro-Israel” and feel emotionally “attached” or “very attached” to the Jewish state. O’Brien, who is not Jewish, told his audience that, “I actually don’t believe that to be true. I believe my gut tells me that what Jewish people in this country want is to know that there’s a sanctuary that is a safe and sustainable place that the Jews, the Jewish people can call home.”
According to O’Brien—or his gut—Israel’s continued existence is at odds with “what I see as core Jewish values.” In its place, O’Brien and Amnesty envision a single, secular Palestinian state. Yet Amnesty’s “one-state solution” is a fantasy that would inevitably end in the creation of another Arab-majority state ruled by corrupt autocrats, a permanent Iranian satellite, and the genocide of the nation’s Jews.
O’Brien’s statements come just weeks after Amnesty International published an incendiary report accusing Israel of apartheid. CJV has been vocal in its condemnation of the organization’s ongoing demonization and delegitimization of Israel. It will continue to call attention to the way Amnesty’s dangerous libels distort reality and justify violence against Jews.
Photo Credit: Patrick Perkins