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Petition to Demand an End to Racist Policies and Projects of the Simon Wiesenthal Center

Whereas...the Simon Wiesenthal Center's stated purpose is to promotetolerance and fight bigotry, hatred and discrimination:

YET, when the Park51 Islamic Cultural Center was targeted by bigoted stereotypes and accusations, the Chair of the Board, Rabbi Hier, issued a statement equating all Muslims with the actions of extremists;

AND

The educational program at the NYC Simon Wiesenthal Center portrays bigoted images of Muslims almost exclusively as terrorists and extremists.

Jewish Daily Forward publishes op-ed slandering Holocaust survivors and relatives who signed on to NYT “Justice in Gaza” letter

On August 28th, 2014, The Jewish Daily Forward published an outrageous op-ed by Alvin H. Rosenfeld entitled, “Moral Emptiness of Holocaust Survivors Who Took on Israel”. Rosenfeld’s piece was written in response to a letter published in the New York Times and signed by over forty Jewish survivors and over 300 descendents of Jewish survivors and victims of the Holocaust demanding justice in Gaza. Not only did the Forward provide editorial space to Mr. Rosenfeld, who used it to personally slander and minimize prominent human rights activists, but it then denied the original letter’s signatories an opportunity to respond.

The holiday of Tu B'Shvat, Planting Trees in Palestine and Stopping the JNF

After more than 100 years, the JewishNational Fund (JNF) still plays an integral part in the ethnic cleansing andcolonization of Palestine. Aninternationally coordinated campaign against the JNF is about to launch and IJANis helping to build the campaign in the US and the UK, with additional activistsinvolved in several European countries. Campaign organizers recently returnedfrom a delegation to Palestine to build relationships with Palestinian, Bedouinand Jewish organizations in the lands occupied in 1948 (Israel) and in 1967(the West Bank) in preparation for partnering in the campaign against theJNF. Look out forevents marking the international launch of the Stop the JNF campaign on LandDay, March 30, 2011.

Also, join us thisweek in celebrating Tu B'Shvat. TuB'Shvat, known as the "New Year of Trees", is a Jewish holiday with along history. In ancient times, it was when farmers gave a portion of theirfruits and nuts to the poor. In the 17th century, Jewish mystics started havingservices, or seders, on Tu B'Shvat, eating symbolic foods.

In the 20th century, Tu B'Shvat was co-opted by the JewishNational Fund (JNF) as an occasion to raise money for the creation of the stateof Israel. The Jewish National Fund buys land in Palestine/Israel exclusivelyfor Jewish use. Through calling on Jews worldwide to donate and "plant atree in Israel", the JNF has helped create an apartheid system inPalestine/Israel where Jews are able to buy land and houses while non-Jews,including indigenous Palestinians, cannot. After 1948 and until today, the JNFplants forests and parks over Palestinian and Bedouin villages depopulated bythe Israeli government. This exploitation of ‘environmentalism' is a way togreenwash atrocities against Palestinians.