APN Joins in letter to ZOA's Mort Klein condemning his racist tweets

APN was one of the first organizations to publicly condemn the President of the Zionist Organization of America Mort Klein's racist tweets about Black Lives Matter. APN now joins with fellow member organizations of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in sending this letter to Mr. Klein, which concludes with:

"At this delicate and critical juncture in American history, Jews of all colors must stand up for black lives and against senseless hatred and divisive bigotry. It is time to find our common humanity, not to search for ways to keep us apart. There is no room for hate in organized Jewish life."

June 12, 2020

Mort Klein, President
Zionist Organization of America

Dear Mr. Klein,

We, the undersigned members of the of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, condemn the tweets regarding Black Lives Matter that you sent out last weekend.

The specific tweets to which we are referring are: "BlackLivesMatter is an antisemitic, Israel hating Soros funded racist extremist Israelophobic hate group." And "BLM is a Jew hating, White hating, Israel hating, conservative Black hating, violence promoting, dangerous Soros funded extremist group of haters."

We hope that you agree that the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Aubrey have ignited a much needed and long-overdue push to address institutionalized racism, police violence and white supremacy that plague the United States.

At this delicate and critical juncture in American history, Jews of all colors must stand up for black lives and against senseless hatred and divisive bigotry. It is time to find our common humanity, not to search for ways to keep us apart. There is no room for hate in organized Jewish life.

Respectfully,

Kenneth Bob, President
Ameinu

Hadar Susskind, President and CEO
Americans for Peace Now

Rabbi Bennett Miller, National Chair
ARZA

Rabbi Hara Person, Chief Executive
Central Conference of American Rabbis

Robert Aronson, Chair 
HIAS

Stuart Applebaum, President 
Jewish Labor Committee

Meredith Jacobson, CEO
Jewish Women International

Janet Gurvitch, President
Na'amat USA

Marilyn Wind, President
MERCAZ USA

Sheila Katz, CEO
National Council of Jewish Women

Rabbi Jacob Blumenthal, Chief Executive
Rabbinical Assembly

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, President
Union of Reform Judaism

Ann Toback, CEO
The Workers Circle

Leslie Lichter, Interim CEO
United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism

Rabbi Marla Feldman, Executive Director
Women of Reform Judaism

Rabbi Ellen S. Wolintz-Fields, Executive Director
Women’s League for Conservative Judaism