"I commit to join the movement of American Jews fighting for freedom and dignity for all Israelis and Palestinians by taking nonviolent action to end our community’s support for endless occupation."

Friends,

The reelection of Bibi Netanyahu as Israeli Prime Minister presents the American Jewish community with a clear choice: support racism and endless occupation, or freedom and dignity for all Israelis and Palestinians.

This Passover, we declare that we are on the side of freedom and dignity; that we cannot celebrate freedom and dignity for Jews if our community is denying that Palestinians deserve those very same rights.

Sign The Commitment to Act and we’ll bring you with us when we have a Seder in the Streets outside of the National Jewish Federation offices on Thursday.

In the face of Netanyahu’s outright rejection of a Palestinian State, race-baiting his electorate against Arabs “voting in droves”, and his pledge to build more settlements to intentionally undermine the viability of any Palestinian state, how can we stand idly by?

The Passover tradition commands us to remember our historic oppression. We insist that our liberation cannot exist absent liberation for our Palestinian brothers and sisters.

Increasingly, pressure is being directed at President Obama and other leaders in Washington to publicly oppose Netanyahu’s policies, yet there remains much work to be done in our own community.

It is time to Commit to Act. We, #IfNotNow, are asking that you commit to join us this year in meaningful, nonviolent, dignified public actions to make clear that we, members of the American Jewish community, are against endless occupation and committed to freedom and dignity for all Palestinians and Israelis.

Most of the American Jewish Establishment hailed Bibi’s victory and pledged to work with him in the future. They celebrated democracy in Israel, though this election made clear that Netanyahu and others like him intend that democracy only for Jews. Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza are still denied civil rights, while Palestinians within Israel who exercised their right to vote were characterized as a national security threat.

Our Jewish community wields incredible power; it is time for our generation to demand it be used responsibly. If we remain silent, the American Jewish Establishment will continue to thwart efforts to end the occupation and give Netanyahu the green light to continue his destructive policies in the name of all Jews.

We reject inaction. We refuse to sit comfortably as violence and occupation are waged in the name of our Jewish values. In this moment that demands courage and foresight, too many of our communal leaders abdicate responsibility.

Many of us are scared. We’re scared for dark times ahead in Israel and Palestine, and scared of what will happen if we speak out in our communities. But there is too much at stake to remain silent. To despair is a privilege we must reject in the name of action.

Thousands of American Jews committing to take public action across the nation is power that cannot be ignored. We are the American Jewish community and we refuse to let the indifference of our leadership speak louder than our own convictions. It is time to grow the movement for freedom and dignity for all Israelis and Palestinians.

May we see an end to occupation, next year in Jerusalem.

If Not Now, When?

- #IfNotNow