re: Jewish NYC DSA members respond to Zionist NYS Assembly member smear attack (8.18.20)

[Pauline Park]

Jewish NYC-DSA Members’ Response to NYS Assemblymembers’ Smear
Medium
Aug. 18, 2020

As Jewish members of NYC-DSA, we stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people and the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. We are proud of our identity, and at the heart of it is our commitment to principles of justice and equality for all people. We expect the same of the candidates we endorse.
Members of the NY State Assembly have signed onto a letter condemning NYC-DSA as antisemitic for our candidate questionnaire that asks if candidates would “pledge not to travel to Israel if elected to City Council in solidarity with Palestinians living under occupation,” in line with the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction campaign. Their letter contains a grave misrepresentation of DSA’s position, as the pledge does not pertain to trips to Israel in their “personal capacity,” which NYC-DSA directly addressed four days before this letter was released.
NYC-DSA did not “single out” Israel. The City Council did. As our chapter clarified in a recent statement, Council Members frequently go on political junkets to Israel in order to build and strengthen ties between its members and the Israeli government. In 2018, a group of ten City Council members led by Speaker Johnson traveled to Israel on a trip funded by the Jewish Community Relations Council. Israeli lobbying groups regularly use these trips to build pro-Israel support among local politicians.That is the specific, unique context that informed the pledge on the questionnaire and it is dishonest to argue otherwise.
NYC-DSA stands in unwavering solidarity with Jewish people against antisemitism. But we will not conflate the state of Israel with the Jewish people. While these Assembly members hope to paint BDS, and by extension any criticism of Israel, as antisemitic, there is a long tradition of leftist Jews who have been critical of Israel, including figures like the late Marek Edelman, leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The Assembly signatories, of whom many are decidedly not Jewish, ought to do a bit more research into our people’s history before declaring what is and isn’t antisemitic.
These members say that we aren’t welcome in the halls of “their” legislature. It isn’t theirs. It’s ours, the people’s. And we will continue to remind them of that as NYC-DSA builds multiracial, working class power to fight for a more decent world, where Palestinians and all oppressed people can finally enjoy equality, safety, and dignity.
Signed,
Noah Abraham Weston, South Brooklyn DSA
Sam Lewis, Central Brooklyn DSA
Genna Goldsobel, South Brooklyn DSA
Sam Ghitelman, South Brooklyn DSA
Katie Needle, Central Brooklyn DSA
Sam R., Central Brooklyn DSA
Charles Gelman, Bronx/Upper Manhattan DSA
N. D., NYC-DSA Healthcare Working Group
Allie Halprin, North Brooklyn DSA
Adam Dore-Young, South Brooklyn DSA
Miranda Kalish, Bronx/Upper Manhattan DSA
Louis Moskowitz, North Brooklyn DSA
Emma Saltzberg, Central Brooklyn DSA
Paul Swartz, Central Brooklyn DSA
Jesse Cerrotti, Queens DSA
Annie Levin, Central Brooklyn DSA
Steven Dube, Central Brooklyn DSA
Ethan B. Fox, North Brooklyn DSA
Rob Katz, North Brooklyn DSA
Dan Goldman, Central Brooklyn DSA
Oren Schweitzer, Lower Manhattan DSA
Tom Reed, South Brooklyn DSA
Justin Silver, Central Brooklyn DSA
Ryan Bruckenthal, North Brooklyn DSA
Karen Narefsky, Central Brooklyn DSA
Michael Whitesides
Nina Svirsky, Lower Manhattan DSA
Thomas Lewin, South Brooklyn DSA
Peter Martin, Central Brooklyn DSA
Camilla Wasserman, Central Brooklyn DSA
Sophia Steinert-Evoy, Central Brooklyn DSA
Carly Katz, Central Brooklyn DSA
Lazar Bloch, Lower Manhattan DSA
Andrew Hiller, Lower Manhattan DSA
Eric Wimer, Lower Manhattan DSA
Rebecca Grabiner, South Brooklyn DSA
Amelia Dornbush, NYC-DSA (Diaspora)
Katie Unger, Central Brooklyn DSA
Hadas Thier, Central Brooklyn
Sam Pinsky, North Brooklyn DSA
Mark Papish, Queens DSA
Thomas Kahn, Central Brooklyn
Jeremy Cohan, North Brooklyn
Ari Paul, Queens DSA
Danny Katch, Queens DSA
John Schneider, Central Brooklyn DSA
Ricky Levitt, Central Brooklyn DSA
Drake Tyler, Lower Manhattan DSA
Benjamin Koditschek, North Brooklyn DSA
Carlyn Cowen, Bronx/Upper Manhattan DSA
Emma Corngold, Central Brooklyn DSA
Elise Goldin, Central Brooklyn DSA
Sarah Reibstein, Central Brooklyn DSA
Paul Horowitz, South Brooklyn, DSA
Jonah Furman, Central Brooklyn DSA alumnus
Gordon Beeferman, Lower Manhattan DSA
Hannah Fleury, Queens DSA
Guy Tabachnick, South Brooklyn DSA
Duncan Bryer, North Brooklyn DSA
Eric Blanc, Central Brooklyn DSA
Aaron Taube, Queens DSA
Rosa P., Central Brooklyn DSA
Aaron E., South Brooklyn DSA
Julian Graham, South Brooklyn DSA
Dave R., Central Brooklyn DSA
Dan Wilson, Queens DSA
Maya Adereth, Lower Manhattan DSA
Ben Packer, North Brooklyn DSA
Elliot Lewis, North Brooklyn DSA
Sarah Mills, Bronx/Upper Manhattan DSA
Bill Reisman, Bronx/ Upper Manhattan DSA
Zach Lewis, North Brooklyn DSA
Nathan Tabak, North Brooklyn DSA
Robert Fuller, Queens DSA
Olivia Schwob, Central Brooklyn DSA
Seth Pollack, Central Brooklyn DSA
Viktor Roytman, Bronx/Upper Manhattan DSA
Aaron Ghitelman, North Brooklyn DSA
Nathan A., Central Brooklyn
Jon Mermelstein, Bronx/Upper Manhattan DSA and Labor Branch
Matt Leichenger, North Brooklyn DSA
Landry Levine, Central Brooklyn DSA
Jeremy Kaplan, South Brooklyn DSA
Rose A., Lower Manhattan DSA Alumnus
Yonit Friedman, Central Brooklyn DSA
Andy Ratto, Central Brooklyn DSA
Raphael Pope-Sussman, Central Brooklyn DSA
Eli Coplan, Central Brooklyn DSA
Naftali Ehrenkranz, North Brooklyn DSA alumnus
Jay Schaffner, Lower Manhattan, DSA
Lawrence Dreyfuss, Central Brooklyn DSA
Nathan Pensler, Central Brooklyn DSA
Jeremy Siegman, Central Brooklyn DSA
Ben Serby, Central Brooklyn DSA
Andrew Reisman, Bronx/Upper Manhattan DSA
Josh Youngerman, North Brooklyn DSA
William Goldberg, South Brooklyn DSA
Catie Fireman, Queens DSA
Jeremy Peter Green, Central Brooklyn DSA
Natan Last, Central Brooklyn DSA
Jacob Samuel Keller, NYU DSA
Noah Habeeb, Central Brooklyn DSA
Ross L., Bronx/Upper Manhattan DSA
Adam E. Leeds, Bronx/Upper Manhattan DSA
Jake Appet, Central Brooklyn DSA
Paul Werner
Isaac Kirk-Davidoff, North Brooklyn DSA
Morgan Crawford, Central Brooklyn DSA
Michael P., Bronx/Upper Manhattan DSA
Adam Kavalin
Erich Strom, Queens DSA
Stephen Lurie, Central Brooklyn DSA
Simone Norman, Central Brooklyn DSA
Ethan Fudge, Central Brooklyn DSA
Tyler Hefferon, Lower Manhattan DSA
Elijah Stevens, Central Brooklyn DSA
Peter F., North Brooklyn DSA and NYC DSA Medics
Robbie Nelson, Central Brooklyn DSA
Yoni Golijov, Central Brooklyn DSA
Molly Hanessian, Central Brooklyn DSA
Zed Simon, Central Brooklyn DSA
Darren Goldner, South Brooklyn DSA
Natalie Adler, Bronx/Upper Manhattan DSA
Yuri Kavalerchik, Bronx/Upper Manhattan DSA
Ben Pakman, Central Brooklyn DSA
Jonathan Greenberg, Queens DSA
Matt Hochler, North Brooklyn DSA
Matthew Lief, North Brooklyn DSA
Nikki Lief, North Brooklyn DSA
Bopee Schulder, Bronx/Upper Manhattan DSA
Dave Tavalin, Bronx/Upper Manhattan DSA
Rurik Asher Baumrin, Bronx/Upper Manhattan
Dylan Saba, Central Brooklyn DSA
Logan Needle, Central Brooklyn DSA
Jason Krigsfield, Central Brooklyn DSA
Raina Lipsitz, South Brooklyn DSA
Adam Katzman, North Brooklyn DSA
Ben Silver, Lower Manhattan DSA
Email jewish...@gmail.com if you wish to be added as a signatory

https://medium.com/@jewishnycdsa/jewish-nyc-dsa-members-response-to-nys-assemblymembers-smear-4948c65fe4dc