More than 4,000 Jews from Diaspora communities worldwide – among them prominent philanthropists and rabbis, as well as former government ministers – have signed a letter, sent on Thursday to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, warning that his government’s policies and rhetoric are causing “lasting damage” to Israel and world Jewry.
The letter, signed by Jews in 18 different countries, urges Netanyahu to ensure the provision of food and humanitarian aid to Gaza, to end the war, bring home the Israeli hostages and declare that Israeli will not resettle Gaza or “pursue or advocate any policy of expulsion of Palestinians civilians under any guises.”
It also calls on Netanyahu to crack down on Jewish extremist violence in the West Bank. “If Israel’s military, when given the bold order by you, can send a missile through a window in Tehran to take out an Iranian general with unerring accuracy, it surely has the ability to maintain order in the West Bank, prevent Jewish extremist violence, protect Palestinian civilians and apply the law,” the letter says.
Among those signed on the letter are Irwin Cotler, former Canadian justice minister and prominent advocate for Israel; Sir Malcolm Rifkind, the former British foreign secretary who served under Margaret Thatcher and John Major; Charles Bronfman, the Canadian-American billionaire who co-founded Taglit-Birthright, the program that brings young Diaspora Jews on free trips to Israel; and Susie Gelman, chair of the Israel Policy Forum and past president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington.
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