Published by CBS Colorado on 12/3/23; Story by Michael Abeyta While the Jewish National Fund’s Global Conference for Israel wrapped up on Sunday, a local chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace held a march that shut down part of Speer Boulevard in Denver. “Our Jewish values tell us that all life is sacred,” said Siena Mann with Jewish Voice for Peace. “That we should fight for peace.” All week, pro-Palestinian protestors picketed the conference, which was held at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. Several people at the conference say they felt threatened. “They called out saying, ‘Yuval David we’re watching you. We know where you live. Die jew die,'” said Yuval David, a Jewish activist. From Left to Right: Yuval David, Zoe Mardiks, Jake Stone, Virag Gulyas, and Alyza Lewin “The fact that they were here protesting peacefully was very questionable,” said Virag Gulyas, the head of the JNF speakers bureau. The conference attendees shared a photo of a protestor with a sign reading “Palestinian liberation by any means necessary” as evidence. “They are looking to erase and eradicate the one and only Jewish homeland the right to self-determination in any borders,” said Alyza Lewin, president of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law. Organizers for the protests say that the person in the photo is not affiliated with the Colorado Palestinians, Jewish Voice for Peace or the Party for Socialism and Liberation; the organizers of the action against the JNF. They say their message is being purposefully misconstrued by Israel’s supporters who attended the conference. “We’ve never been calling for the destruction of Israel by any means possible,” said Reema Wahdan with the Colorado Palestinian Coalition. “We are asking for the freedom of Palestinians by any means possible which means allowing us to have basic human rights.” They say they were harassed and attacked just like the conferencegoers were. They shared a photo of a conferencegoer wearing a threatening shirt he was displaying to them while they protested Sunday. Stefan Oberman, a JNF spokesperson, said the man pictured on the left was “absolutely not an attendee” of the conference and the man on the right with a conference lanyard “was a participant though holds no role within our organization.” The man on the right told JNF the other man unzipped his hoodie just as protesters took a photo, according to Oberman. After an emotional week, they just want safety for all people and denounce hate. “That is not what we want in this issue. We want peace,” said Zoe Mardiks, a CU Boulder student who attended the conference. “We’ve been always on the side of peace, and you can see our coalition of members who have been united on that front of peaceful messaging for Palestinians and Israelis,” said Wahdan.
On November 6th, the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise released a statement condemning the BDS movement. The statement contained 92 signatures from across the spectrum of Jewish organizations in the United States, including the Louis D. Brandeis Center. The different organizations represent a diverse political and religious group of organizations, all brought together in the fight against the bigoted aims of the BDS movement. We are proud to stand with these others organizations against this insidious form of hatred, and will continue to lead the legal fight against BDS on American university campuses. The full text of the statement can be found below: Believing that academic, cultural and commercial boycotts, divestments and sanctions of Israel are: Counterproductive to the goal of peace, Antithetical to freedom of speech, Part of a greater effort to undermine the Jewish people’s right to self-determination in their homeland, Israel. We, the undersigned members of the Jewish community, stand united in our condemnation of calls and campaigns for boycotting, divestment and sanctions of Israeli academic institutions, professors, products and companies that do business with Israel. We recognize and accept that individuals and groups may have legitimate criticism of Israeli policies. Criticism becomes anti-Semitism, however, when it demonizes Israel or its leaders, denies Israel the right to defend its citizens or seeks to denigrate Israel’s right to exist. The BDS movement is antithetical to principles of academic freedom and discourages freedom of speech. The movement silences voices from across the Israeli political spectrum. By pursuing delegitimization campaigns on campus, proponents have provoked deep divisions among students and have created an atmosphere of intolerance and hatred. We oppose the extremist rhetoric of the delegitimization movement and reject calls for boycotting, divestment or sanctions against Israel. We call upon students, faculty, administrators and other campus stakeholders to uphold the academic and democratic values of a free and civil discourse that promotes peace and tolerance. Prof. Mervin Verbit / Prof. Samuel Edelman Academic Council for Israel Rabbi Steven Burg Aish HaTorah Andy Borans Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity Dr. Mitchell Bard American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE) Gerald Platt American Friends of Likud Howard Kohr The American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) David Harris American Jewish Committee (AJC) Herbert Block American Zionist Movement (AZM) Charles Jacobs Americans for Peace and Tolerance Andrew Goldsmith AMIT Jonathan Greenblatt Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Dr. Colin Rubenstein / Jeremy Jones Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council Howard Libit Baltimore Jewish Council W. James Schiller Baltimore Zionist District Matthew Grossman BBYO, Inc. Daniel Citone B’nai B’rith Europe Daniel S. Mariaschin B’nai B’rith International Stephen Savitsky / George W Schaeffer / Cheryl Bier Bnai Zion Foundation Jonathan Arkush The Board of Deputies of British Jews Fred Taub Boycott Watch Hazzan Alisa Pomerantz-Boro The Cantors Assembly Shimon Koffler Fogel The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) Malcolm Hoenlein Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations Phillip Brodsky The David Project Gunnar Bjork Denmark Lodge, B’nai B’rith Naomi Mestrum Dutch Centre for Information and Documentation Israel (CIDI) Mindy Stein Emunah of America Anton Block Executive Council of Australia Akiva Tendler The Fellowship for Campus Safety and Integrity John.D.A Levy Friends of Israel Educational Foundation Academic Study Group Ellen Hershkin Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America, Inc. Elliot Mathias Hasbara Fellowships Arlene & Sheldon Bearman The Herbert Bearman Foundation Mark Hetfield HIAS Eric Fingerhut Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life Adv. Irit Kohn The International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists Ethan Felson / Geri Palast Israel Action Network Jacob Baime Israel on Campus Coalition Josh Block The Israel Project (TIP) Adam Milstein / Shoham Nicolet Israeli-American Council Shawn Evenhaim Israeli-American Coalition for Action Doron Krakow JCC Association Jenn Ross JCRC of the Jewish Federation of Greater Harrisburg Caroline L. Good JCRC/Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans Alan Hoffmann Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) David Hatchwell Jewish Community of Madrid (CJM) Elana Kahn Jewish Community Relations Council of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation Michael S. Miller Jewish Community Relations Council of New York Ben Friedman Jewish Community Relations Council of Orlando David Bernstein Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA) Jerry Silverman The Jewish Federations of North America Michael Makovsky Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) Simon Johnson Jewish Leadership Council Russell F. Robinson Jewish National Fund (JNF) Henia Vrazda and Board Coordination Committee (Denmark) Dov H. Maimon Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) Lori Weinstein Jewish Women International (JWI) Yael Mosesson / Nina Tojzner Jewish Youth Organization in Sweden Ron Klein Jews for Progress/National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) Kenneth L. Marcus The Louis D. Brandeis Center For Human Rights Under Law Ron Carner Maccabi USA/Sports For Israel Meara Razon Ashtivker Masa Israel Journey Marilyn L Wind / Sarrae G Crane MERCAZ USA Chellie Goldwater Wilensky NA’AMAT USA Ram Shefa National Union of Israeli Students Farley Weiss National Council of Young Israel Rabbi Micah Greenland NCSY Susan Z. Kasper / Harry Hauser North American Association of Synagogue Executives (NAASE) Gerald M. Steinberg NGO Monitor Allen I. Fagin Orthodox Union (OU) Tzvi Avisar Over the rainbow–the Zionist movement (OTR) Rabbi Julie Schonfeld Rabbinical Assembly Jacob Sternberg Realize Israel Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner Religious Action Center Rabbi Gideon Shloush Religious Zionists of America/Mizrachi Matt Brooks Republican Jewish Committee (RJC) Eran Shayshon Reut: The Reut Group: From Vision to Reality Rabbi Prof. David Golinkin The Schechter Institutes, INC., Jerusalem Asaf Romirowsky Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME) Andy Huston Sigma Alpha Mu Fraternity Rabbi Marvin Hier/ Rabbi Abraham Cooper Simon Wiesenthal Center Barbara Pontecorvo Solomon-Osservatorio sulle Discriminazioni (Italy) Ben Swartz / Mark Hyman South African Friends of Israel Wendy Kahn South African Jewish Board of Deputies Ben Swartz South African Zionist Federation Roz Rothstein StandWithUs Ilan Sinelnikov Students Supporting Israel (SSI) Jonathan Turner UK Lawyers for Israel Josh Holt Union of Jewish Students (UJS – UK) Rabbi Rick Jacobs Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) Luke Akehurst We Believe in Israel Dorrit Raiter WIZO Denmark Carol S. Simon Women’s League for Conservative Judaism Rabbi Marla J. Feldman Women of Reform Judaism Betty Ehrenberg World Jewish Congress, North America Yosef Tarshish World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS) Rabbi Shmuley Boteach The World Values Network Laurence A. Bolotin Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity Paul Charney Zionist Federation of the United Kingdom and Ireland Morton A. Klein Zionist Organization of America (ZOA)