Speak out against bigotry and hatred – and urge our leaders to do the same

Like much of the American Jewish community, the students of J Street U Brown are concerned that the incoming administration threatens the religious freedom and cultural tolerance that have long made the United States a place where Jews can thrive like nowhere else in the history of the diaspora.

We are constantly told that we should be afraid of Israel-related anti-Semitism on our college campuses. But it is the rise to power of people like President-elect Donald Trump and his advisers, such as Steve Bannon, that makes us feel most threatened today. The president-elect and his allies have come to power in large part by trafficking in anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, racist and misogynistic rhetoric. Today, they threaten Muslim-Americans; tomorrow, it might be Jewish-Americans.

More recently, Trump has nominated David Friedman to be ambassador to Israel. Friedman opposes the two-state solution, actively supports settlement expansion and has called liberal Jews who support peace “worse than kapos” – Jews who turned over other Jews to the Nazis. These positions and remarks should be disqualifying for the person charged with managing the U.S.-Israel relationship.

We’ve heard certain Jewish organizations try to justify this bigotry by calling Trump and his team “good for Israel.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Trump and his advisers herald perhaps the gravest threat yet to the two-state solution and to Israel’s survival as a Jewish and democratic state. They’ll encourage rampant settlement expansion, and do nothing to help Israel end its almost 50 years as an occupying force in the West Bank.

Without a halt to settlement expansion, without an end to the occupation, Israel’s hope for a two-state solution will continue to fade in favor of a one-state reality. That state will either be a Jewish state that fails the democratic test of equality for all of its citizens, or a democracy that fails to be the national home for the Jewish people. It will not be both.

We are already seeing the tangible effects of this disavowal of a Jewish and democratic Israel. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee has buried support for a two-state solution on its website, and Israeli Minister Naftali Bennett has hailed the end of the possibility of a Palestinian state. The Republican Party removed all mention of the two-state solution from its party platform, and has disavowed the fundamental reality that there is an occupation taking place in the West Bank.

Opposition to the two-state solution and rejection of the rights of Palestinians are in part rooted in the same false and dangerous ideas that form the basis for bigoted rhetoric and policies promoted by the Trump campaign here at home. The notion that the continued oppression of disempowered groups of people can lead to greater security for anyone is not only immoral, but utterly unsustainable. In order to move forward, whether in Israel and the occupied territories, or here in the United States, we must reject the politics of fear and divisiveness, and instead stand together in support of shared values, shared goals and a shared future.

Thankfully, much of the American Jewish community has demonstrated commendable leadership by speaking out against the dangerous hate that we have seen. The Community Relations Councils of both Rhode Island and Boston, and elsewhere, have pledged to continue their work of standing up for vulnerable communities in their midst, and groups such as the Anti-Defamation League, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism  and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism have all spoken out, along with J Street, about the troubling nature of Trump’s appointment of an advocate of bigotry and anti-Semitism to the West Wing. We call on our community’s leaders to continue to remain vigilant against these and further threatening developments such as the nomination of Friedman,  from the Trump administration and to speak out against them. If our Jewish leadership is serious about confronting the many challenges that lie ahead for our community, it will condemn Friedman.

J Street U Brown is committed to standing up for the two-state solution and standing with vulnerable communities when they are targeted by bigotry and fear.  In addition to sponsoring pro-Israel, pro-peace events on campus, it is important that we recognize other pro-Israel and Jewish organizations for acting on our values and urge them to continue.  We challenge you, our fellow community members, to convey your own concerns and values to your local rabbis, your federation leaders and your lay leaders.

Thank them for what they’ve done, and urge them to continue. In the fight against bigotry, hatred and extreme policies in the highest levels of our government, our leaders need our support just as much as we need theirs.

SAMUEL HAINBACH is a junior at Brown University and wrote this on behalf of J Street U Brown.