JEWS RENOUNCE LEGAL RIGHT TO ISRAELI CITIZENSHIP
c. | 01.04.2003 14:33
The following letter has now been signed by more than 150 Jews in the diaspora who thereby renounced their legal right to Israeli citizenship and was sent to the Israeli embassy in New York. By this gesture, the signers rejected any approval or support of Israel's dispossession of the Palestinian people, the brutality of its occupation, and the undemocratic/racist nature of its policies.
JEWSRENOUNCE.ORG
JEWS RENOUNCE LEGAL RIGHT TO ISRAELI CITIZENSHIP
We make this letter available because additional diaspora Jews would like to sign (the original version was written in England, where it circulated amongst artists and intellectuals. See signatures). We hope that you will agree with its principles and sign. Your name will not be used for any purpose except those expressly agreed upon by you from choices you will be provided on the signatory form (and once you see the form of course you can decide not to sign it at all).
LETTER
We are Jews, born and raised outside Israel, who, under Israel's "law of return", have a legal right to Israeli residence and citizenship. We wish to renounce this unsought "right" because:
1) We regard it as morally wrong that this legal entitlement should be bestowed on us while the very people who should have most right to a genuine "return", having been forced or terrorized into fleeing, are excluded.
2) Israel's policies towards the Palestinians are barbaric - we do not wish to identify ourselves in any way with what Israel is doing.
3) We disagree with the notion that Zionist emigration to Israel is any kind of "solution" for diaspora Jews, anti-semitism or racism - no matter to what extent Jews have been or are victims of racism, they have no right to make anyone else victims.
4) We wish to express our solidarity with all those who are working for a time when Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip can be lived in by people without any restrictions based on so-called racial, cultural, or ethnic origins.
We look forward to the day when all the peoples of the area are enabled to live in peace with each other on this basis of nondiscrimination and mutual respect. Perhaps some of us would even wish to live there, but only if the rights of the Palestinians are respected. To those who consider Israel a "safe haven" for Jews in the face of anti-semitism, we say that there can be no safety in taking on the role of occupier and oppressor. We hope that the people of Israel and their leaders will come to realize this soon.
SIGN THE LETTER
email:
information@jewsrenounce.org
JEWS RENOUNCE LEGAL RIGHT TO ISRAELI CITIZENSHIP
We make this letter available because additional diaspora Jews would like to sign (the original version was written in England, where it circulated amongst artists and intellectuals. See signatures). We hope that you will agree with its principles and sign. Your name will not be used for any purpose except those expressly agreed upon by you from choices you will be provided on the signatory form (and once you see the form of course you can decide not to sign it at all).
LETTER
We are Jews, born and raised outside Israel, who, under Israel's "law of return", have a legal right to Israeli residence and citizenship. We wish to renounce this unsought "right" because:
1) We regard it as morally wrong that this legal entitlement should be bestowed on us while the very people who should have most right to a genuine "return", having been forced or terrorized into fleeing, are excluded.
2) Israel's policies towards the Palestinians are barbaric - we do not wish to identify ourselves in any way with what Israel is doing.
3) We disagree with the notion that Zionist emigration to Israel is any kind of "solution" for diaspora Jews, anti-semitism or racism - no matter to what extent Jews have been or are victims of racism, they have no right to make anyone else victims.
4) We wish to express our solidarity with all those who are working for a time when Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip can be lived in by people without any restrictions based on so-called racial, cultural, or ethnic origins.
We look forward to the day when all the peoples of the area are enabled to live in peace with each other on this basis of nondiscrimination and mutual respect. Perhaps some of us would even wish to live there, but only if the rights of the Palestinians are respected. To those who consider Israel a "safe haven" for Jews in the face of anti-semitism, we say that there can be no safety in taking on the role of occupier and oppressor. We hope that the people of Israel and their leaders will come to realize this soon.
SIGN THE LETTER
email:
information@jewsrenounce.org
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