JEWS, CITING ISRAEL'S "BARBARIC" POLICIES, RENOUNCE RIGHT TO ISRAELI CITIZENSHIP

British Jews who wished to protest Israel's "barbaric" policies toward the Palestinians have been able to sign a letter by which they renounce their legal right to Israeli citizenship. The letter, which originated in England, circulated amongst artists and intellectuals and has garnered nearly a hundred signatures.
The many other diaspora Jews worldwide who wish to join in this gesture of abhorrance can now sign the letter at www.jewsrenounce.org. With over 100 additional signatures already, the letter declares that the legal right to citizenship, bestowed on all Jews everywhere by Israel's "Law of Return," is "morally wrong," noting that "the very people who should have most right to a genuine 'return'" [the Palestinians] are excluded, having been "forced or terrorised into fleeing" their homes.
The letter also expresses "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."


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 terrorised 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 non-discrimination 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 while the very people who should have most right to a genuine "return," having been forced or terrorised into fleeing, are excluded of Israel and their leaders will come to realize this soon.