Yom Ha’Atzmaut Seder Packing List

We, the undersigned, who care deeply about the security and well-being of the State of Israel, are signing this letter to protest the racism and incitement of long-time settlement movement leader and Netanyahu-appointed Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich who is reportedly planning a trip to the United States. 

The Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association and Reconstructing Judaism condemn the killings of Hallel and Yagel Yamiv, and Elan Ganeles by terrorists in the West Bank. We also condemn those who used these tragedies as an excuse to rampage through the Palestinian town of Huwara, burning homes and cars and killing at least one Palestinian man, Samah Hamdallah Aktas, in what can only be described as a pogrom.

This letter, along with the growing number of statements of protest from many quarters of the Jewish community, is a clarion call. These statements communicate that this government and what it espouses are not normal and should not be normalized. They seize the opportunity to reassert the kind of Zionism championed by Justice Louis Brandeis, who equated Zionism with American democracy, and who believed in a Zionism dedicated to giving social justice and democratic values expanded expression.