Declaration

Israel’s latest attack on Iran led, once again, to cries of “Why does the Jewish community remain silent?” This sentiment is the result of Israel’s unilateral claim and self-anointed status as the “nation-state of the Jews,” a claim which is the foundation stone of Zionism, and which non-Zionist Jews have always rejected, considering it anathema to Judaism, Jewish identity, and human decency.

No citizen of this country is under any obligation to account for, interpret, or comment on any event that takes place elsewhere in the world, and in which he/she has no involvement. There is no onus on the Jewish community of Europe, therefore, to declare an opinion on any matter at all.

It is, besides, not possible for a multinational religious community to declare a unified opinion. No human community can be monolithic, and the Jewish community is not. Its members include people of all kinds, with a great variety of views.

The Jewish community of Europe cannot be held responsible for what the state of Israel does. It is bigotry to hold a whole people responsible for the actions of a foreign state, and we wish to declare that we are opposed to this. Israel’s attacks on Iran and Gaza are the acts of the government of Israel, not the Jews of the world.

We, United European Jews, are children of Jewish families in Europe. It is incumbent upon us to express an opinion on the attacks on Gaza and Iran precisely to the same degree that it is on any other resident of Europe, no less, and certainly no more.

Therefore, United European Jews hereby reiterates what it has stated since its inception: The State of Israel does not represent world Jewry, is not the nation-state of the Jews but rather the state of the Israelis, and does not represent in any way or fashion the Jewish people or the religion of Judaism. Israel’s actions are its own, and it alone is responsible for them.