350 Jewish rabbis in the United States have signed an ad published in the New York Times, expressing their opposition and categorical rejection of President Donald Trump’s plan to expel Palestinians from Gaza.
The ad, published today, Thursday, was a full-page ad titled: “Trump Calls for All Palestinians to Be Removed from Gaza; Jewish People Say No to Ethnic Cleansing.”
The ad included the names of 350 Jewish rabbis, including Sharon Bruce, Rollie Matalon, and Alissa Weiss, in addition to Jewish creatives and activists, including Tony Kushner, Ilana Glazer, Naomi Klein, and Joachim Phoenix.
This ad came after Trump proposed taking control of Gaza and leaving two million Palestinians who survived the deadly Israeli attack on the Strip with no choice but to leave their homes forever.
Cody Edgerly, director and founder of the In Our Name campaign and one of the organizers of the ad, said it came at a “critical time when political red lines that were previously thought to be immovable are shifting rapidly as the Trump-Netanyahu alliance is once again solidifying.”
He said it was “heartening to see such a rapid outpouring of support from across the sectarian and
political spectrum,” adding that “our message to the Palestinians is that you are not alone, our concern is unwavering, and we are committed to fighting to our last breath to prevent the ethnic cleansing of Gaza.”
Rabbi Spitzer called Trump’s plan “vicious” and invoked Hitler’s massacre of Jews and the 1948 Nakba, the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes by Zionist militias.
In a press release accompanying the announcement, Spitzer, the chief rabbi of Congregation Dorshei Tzedek in Newton, Massachusetts, said: “It is vital that we in the American Jewish community add our voices to those who refuse to accept this evil plan. Hitler’s dream of a ‘Jew-free’ Germany led to the slaughter of our people.”
“We know as well as anyone the violence that such fantasies can lead to. It is time to make the ceasefire permanent, return all the hostages to their homes, and join the effort to rebuild Gaza for and with the people who live there,” Spitzer added.
As a reminder, in an interview with Fox News over the weekend, Trump said he would “own” Gaza and said it would be “a real estate development for the future, a beautiful piece of land, and not a lot of money will be spent,” a statement that was rejected and denounced by Arab states, the international community, and many international human rights and humanitarian organizations.