Open Letter to the Jewish Communities of Canada

Open Letter to the Jewish Communities of Canada
from the Alliance of Concerned Jewish Canadians
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ACJC2006

The lives of Jewish Canadians, as well as the lives of Israelis, have been adversely affected by the policies carried out by the various governments of Israel. Despite growing international opposition to these policies, Israel continues to pursue a primarily military strategy while claiming to speak in the name of Jewish people around the world. In the absence of an alternative public Jewish voice, all Jewish people are tainted by default with the fallout from such policies.

It is time for those of us who have a different vision to come forward publicly to present our views to the Canadian Jewish community and to the people of Canada. We need to make it clear to the people and government of Canada that Jewish Canadians do not think as one with respect to current Israeli policies, and that thousands oppose them. For these reasons we have joined together to create a cross-Canada alliance of Jewish anti-occupation forces and to make our case both within the Jewish community of Canada and before the general public.

The goal of the Alliance of Concerned Jewish Canadians is to serve as a Canada-wide umbrella organization for Jewish individuals and groups whose views are not represented by the government of Israel or by the uncritical positions taken by the leadership of the major Jewish organizations in Canada.

Canadians, especially Jewish Canadians, seeking a peaceful resolution to the seemingly endless Israel-Palestinian conflict should no longer remain silent in the face of Israel’s actions in the Occupied Territories. Israel is taking over increasing amounts of land that the Oslo process had envisaged for the creation of a viable Palestinian state, leaving ever-diminishing prospects for this vital element of a lasting peace. Patently illegal Israeli government policies, such as the Separation Wall recently condemned by the International Court of Justice, greatly diminish our moral stature throughout the world and, far from increasing our security, actually sow hatred against us.

We call on those who share our profound dissatisfaction with the direction in which the leaders of our community have taken us to join with us as we carry an alternative vision into our communal institutions. To this end we have applied to take our rightful place as an affiliate organization of the Canadian Jewish Congress; but our affiliation is being opposed, unfairly in our opinion, by the National Office. We appeal to the Congress to be a true representative of the wide range of Jewish opinion in Canada and not to close its doors arbitrarily to Jewish organizations such as ours that have legitimate and principled differences with the current leadership of the CJC. Above all, we urge Jewish Canadians to take a greater role in supporting and promoting a peaceful and just resolution to this tragic conflict.
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For ACJC membership, send your name, email address / telephone number to :
ACJC2006@yahoo.ca

Tax-deductible donations to: La Galerie Fokus (designating the ACJC) and sent to: ACJC, 68 Duluth Ave. East, Montreal QC, H2W 1G8