In response to reports that the State Department may baselessly label prominent human rights organizations ‘antisemitic,’ nine organizations from the Progressive Israel Network released the following statement:

The Progressive Israel Network (PIN) strongly condemns the Trump administration’s reported intentions to declare Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Oxfam, and potentially other human rights organizations as antisemitic and to urge other governments not to support them. As leading Jewish progressive organizations committed to pursuing democracy, equality, and peace in Israel, we oppose any attempt to smear or silence human rights organizations because they criticize Israeli government policies. Standing up for human rights is a core Jewish value.

Human rights organizations document abuses to hold governments accountable. This role is essential to ensuring the transparency necessary for democracies to function. Attempting to delegitimize human rights groups is a characteristic of authoritarian regimes. 

This attack is part of a broader trend to silence Israeli and Palestinian human rights defenders and their allies. Likewise, the Trump administration’s actions undermine these organizations’ ability to report on human rights abuses everywhere — including those perpetrated by the United States. Furthermore, the Trump administration’s baseless smearing of human rights organizations as antisemitic makes it harder to counter actual acts of antisemitism. 

We refuse to stand by while organizations that shed light on human rights violations — by Israelis, Palestinians, and countries all over the world, including the United States — are falsely maligned by the Trump administration.

This statement was issued jointly by Ameinu, Americans for Peace Now, J Street, The New Israel Fund, T’ruah, Partners for Progressive Israel, Jewish Labor Committee, Habonim Dror North America and Reconstructing Judaism.

Go HERE for the Progressive Israel Network website which includes this and all previous statements.