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Letter to Prime Minister Carney
Shalom Chaverim,
Earlier today the Reform Rabbis of Canada and ARZA Canada sent this letter to Prime Minister Carney regarding his announcement that Canada will recognize a Palestinian state in September.
We share your yearning for a future in which Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side in peace, security and dignity. However, we believe your intention to recognize a Palestinian State in September — without a negotiated agreement between Israelis and Palestinians — undermines the very principles upon which a just and lasting peace must be built.
The Jewish calendar is now turned to the month of Av, when we recall the destruction of the 1st and 2nd Temples of Jerusalem and how our people were taken as captives to foreign lands. Although these historic events took place more than two thousand years ago, the aftershocks of loss of homeland are felt acutely to this very day. The Biblical book of Lamentations recounts the brutal assault by our enemies and the equally painful abandonment of our neighbours.
Bitterly she weeps in the night, her cheek wet with tears. There is none to comfort her among all her friends. All her allies have betrayed her; They have become her foes. (Lamentations 1:2)
As we prepare for Shabbat Nachamu, the Sabbath of Comfort, we articulate these beliefs in hopes of bringing comfort to our congregations, clarity to our Canadian neighbours, and counsel to our Canadian elected officials.
We believe Canada can become a force for moral clarity by first helping to lay the groundwork for peace and security among Israelis and Palestinians. Only then can Palestinian statehood become a reality.
We believe the matter of Palestinian statehood is too important to be addressed in the form of a political threat or a symbolic gesture. We believe recognizing a Palestinian State now is premature and irresponsible. Real peace cannot be imposed from the outside. It must be created from within and with significant support from many friends and allies. It must be earned through real, measured progress toward peaceful coexistence. Without clear pre-conditions, recognition will not lead to peace; we fear it will lead to even greater instability.
We believe everyone has failed the hostages and that a coordinated, international effort must restore them to their families immediately.
We believe all governmental and non-governmental parties responsible for providing humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, including Israel, must act together and swiftly. Hunger must never be used as a weapon of war.
We believe that Hamas, which is recognized by Canada as a terrorist organization, is the enemy of peace for Gazans and Israelis, and therefore must be disempowered. We believe that recent statements calling upon Hamas to disarm made by the Arab league, the EU, and over a dozen other countries, including Canada, is a significant step towards freeing the Palestinian people and the world from the terror of Hamas.
We, like 70% of Israelis, believe the Israel-Hamas War must now come to an end. How will the many countries which signed onto The New York Declaration, including Canada, take responsibility for a comprehensive plan for “The Day After” and for the years required for the responsible rehabilitation of Gaza. For example, how will they disempower Hamas and destroy its terror tunnels? How will they create an education system that denounces hatred of Israel and Jews?
We believe the extremist thread that runs through Israel’s current government is a danger to Israel’s democracy. We stand with the majority of Israelis who have been demonstrating for change.
We believe Mahmoud Abbas has shown little ability to responsibly govern the West Bank. His “pay to slay” policy and Holocaust denial are evidence that Canada and the countries who plan to invest in a future Palestinian State should look elsewhere for true Palestinian partners in peace.
We believe the Jewish civilians who are violent against West Bank Palestinians and their property must be held to account by Israel and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
We believe the future of Israel is bound up with the Palestinian people and vice versa.
We believe the destiny of The State of Israel is bound up with the destiny of the Jewish People everywhere.
L’Shalom
Rabbi Yael Splansky & Rabbi Daniel Mikelberg, Incoming & outgoing Chairs of the Reform Rabbis of Canada
Jeff Denaburg & Judith Wiley, Co-Chairs of ARZA Canada
