In response to today’s Supreme Court Decision upholding President Trump’s ban on travel from several countries, Rabbi Pesach Lerner, President of the Coalition for Jewish Values, made the following statement:

The Coalition for Jewish Values welcomes efforts to protect the safety of all Americans. The travel ban upheld by the Supreme Court today focuses upon countries that harbor both terrorism and hatred for America, and which lack procedures necessary to identify and exclude possible threats. The President’s policy is not merely legal, but correct and praiseworthy.

The President’s imprecise language during the campaign does not make this a “Muslim” ban. It includes none of the countries with the five largest Muslim populations, and affects less than 10% of Muslims worldwide.

We reject categorically any comparison between the Jews of the Nazi era, who had no country of refuge to avoid slaughter for being Jews, and today’s Muslim and Arab populations, each of whom have dozens of countries around the world where they constitute the majority. These comparisons are irresponsible and repugnant.