NEW YORK, Feb 14 (APP): Hundreds of American Jewish leaders and activists, as well as 350 rabbis, took out a full-page ad in The New York Times Thursday to condemn President Donald Trump’s proposal for the effective ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from war-shattered Gaza.
The ad was a response to Trump’s plan to permanently relocate the entire population of Gaza, first announced on February 4 during a joint press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.
This week, Trump said in a Fox News interview that Palestinians from Gaza would not have a right to return to the territory after it is rebuilt, “because they’re going to have much better housing… I’m talking about building a permanent place for them.”
The text of the New York Times ad, on page A7, reads, “Trump has called for the removal of all Palestinians from Gaza. Jewish people say NO to ethnic cleansing!”
Trump has called on Jordan, Egypt and other Arab countries to take in Palestinians – a proposal that has been met with widespread criticism from Arab countries and other allies while being condemned as an ethnic-cleansing plan.
Trump’s statement followed Hamas-Israel ceasefire in Gaza where Israeli military attacks killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and leveled much infrastructure across the enclave by air strikes.
Cody Edgerly, director of the In ‘Our Name Campaign’ and one of the organizers of the ad, said it came at “a critical time as political redlines that were once thought immovable are rapidly shifting as the Trump-Netanyahu alliance takes hold again”.
He said it had been “heartening to witness such a rapid outpouring of support from across the denominational and political spectrum”, adding: “Our message to Palestinians is that you are not alone, our attention has not wavered, and we are committed to fighting with every breath we have to stop ethnic cleansing in Gaza.”
Trump’s proposal – which has evoked the painful legacy of the 1948 Nakba, during which hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forcibly displaced from their homes by Zionist paramilitaries – was described as an “insidious plan” by rabbi Toba Spitzer.
In a news release accompanying the ad, Spitzer, senior rabbi of congregation Dorshei Tzedek in Newton, Massachusetts, said: “It is vitally important that we in the American Jewish community add our voices to all those refusing to entertain this insidious plan. Hitler’s dream of making Germany ‘Judenrein,’ ‘cleansed of Jews,’ led to the slaughter of our people.”
“We know as well as anyone the violence that these kinds of fantasies can lead to. It is time to make the ceasefire permanent, bring all of the hostages home, and join in efforts to rebuild Gaza for the sake of and with the people who live there,” Spitzer added.
Peter Beinart, editor-at-large of Jewish Currents, who also signed the ad, said: “It is utterly horrifying to see the degree to which people who enjoy great legitimacy and respect in our community are willing to support something that would be considered one of the greatest crimes of the 21st century.”
Rabbi Yosef Berman of the New Synagogue Project in Washington DC said Trump “seems to believe he is God with authority to rule, own, and dominate our country and the world”.
“Jewish teaching is clear: Trump is not God and cannot take away Palestinians’ inherent dignity or steal their land for a real estate deal. Trump’s desire to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Gaza is morally abhorrent. Jewish leaders reject Trump’s attempts to wring profit from displacement and suffering and must act to stop this heinous crime,” Berman added.