New York, NY – The Rabbinical Assembly, the rabbinical association of the global Conservative/Masorti movement, joins with Mercaz Olami, Mercaz Canada, Mercaz USA, and the Cantors Assembly in strong opposition to the decision by the Executive Committee of Keren Kayemet L'Yisrael (KKL - JNF) to establish more expansive guidelines for the purchase of land in the West Bank territories. We reject these plans, approved by the executive committee on February 14, and oppose the new leadership’s efforts to fund settlement expansion, which fundamentally weakens the prospect of a two-state solution – an issue on which the Rabbinical Assembly and its members have spoken out in support in 2011, 2012, and as recently as 2020.
The proposed framework will damage KKL’s legitimacy in Israel and among Jews around the world, and may even endanger its very existence.
We believe that, as it has done in the past, KKL must act according to the principle of Zionist consensus - recognizing and respecting different approaches to the actualization of Zionism. The current action attempts to impose a structure that reflects and favors the settlement policy of Israel's extreme right, an act which is inconsistent with what has been a basic tenet of KKL throughout its history.
We believe that the proposed action will severely damage Israel’s foreign relations. Allocating organizational funds to purchase land in the West Bank unnecessarily politicizes an essential and broad-based Zionist institution, at a time when Israel instead seeks to enhance the special U.S.-Israel relationship with incoming Biden administration officials and diplomats.
We are taught in Psalms (34:15) to "Seek peace and pursue it." In that spirit, we call on KKL-JNF stakeholders to reject the plan in its current proposed state and to contact relevant board representatives and KKL leadership to share their concerns.