JTA – The National Sunrise Movement, an environmental advocacy group, said a statement from its Washington DC chapter was “unacceptable and anti-Semitic” because it called for separation from progressive Jewish organizations for their Israel policies.
“To be clear, Sunrise DC’s statements and actions are not in line with our values,” Sunrise Movement said on Twitter on Friday. “Separating Jewish organizations to remove them from a coalition, despite others having similar views, is anti-Semitic and unacceptable.”
Sunrise DC this week called for the removal of three progressive Jewish groups from the voting rights coalition: the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW), the Reform Movement’s Religious Action Center (RAC) and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs.
Allied cited its Israel relations and policies, even though several non-Jewish groups in the coalition shared many of their stances towards Israel.
It condemned Jewish organizations, as well as calling on the National Sunrise Movement to distance itself from its Washington DC chapter.
Sunrise DC seemed ready to change its tune. After making its Twitter feed private for two days, it reopened the feed on Friday afternoon with a more introspective tone.
“We are taking the time to reflect, learn and think carefully about what has happened since we issued our statement,” Sunrise DC said in a tweet. “We are in talks with our membership and the local community and will comment further in the near future.”
Since we issued our statement, we are taking the time to reflect, learn, and think carefully about what has happened. We are in talks with our membership and local community and will comment further in the near future
— Sunrise DC (@SunriseMvmtDC) 22 October 2021
Several commentators noted that other groups in the Voting Rights Coalition, the Declaration for American Democracy, shared the Israel-related views of the three Jewish groups, named Sunrise DC, including a commitment to a two-state solution. Was. A larger group, the American Federation of Teachers, is closely related to the Jewish state, yet was not separated by Sunrise DC.
The national movement said Thursday that it had not seen the DC ally’s statement and vaguely opposed anti-Semitic and anti-Palestinian racism in a statement, without taking an outright position on Sunrise DC’s call to boycott Jewish groups.
To be clear, Sunrise DC’s statements and actions are not in line with our values. Separating Jewish organizations to remove them from the coalition, despite others having similar views, is anti-Semitic and unacceptable. pic.twitter.com/PRsRVCpYvg
Sunrise Movement???? (@sunrisemvmt) 22 October 2021
This enraged the RAC of the Reform Movement, which called the equation of the National Sunrise Movement “shameful”.
The change in tone of the national movement on Friday, with a direct call for “antisemitism,” came after Jewish groups targeted by Sunrise DC representing the national movement.
“Had a fruitful conversation with the @sunrisemvmt leadership today,” NCJW CEO Sheila Katz said on Twitter. “Glad to see this important clarification @SunriseMvmtDC’s recent statement calling it anti-Semitic.”
