We Remember:  Rescind the Antisemitic Resolution!

On April 16, 2018, the Durham, North Carolina, City Council unanimously passed a statement, referred to as “The Israel Resolution,” banning any interaction between Durham police and their law enforcement counterparts in only one country on earth:  Israel.  In passing this shameful and discriminatory statement, the Durham City Council linked its municipal policing policies with the “Deadly Exchange”, a virulently anti-Israel campaign initiated and promoted by the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement which aims to end the Jewish State of Israel. “Deadly Exchange” does not present a legitimate criticism of Israeli policy. It instead traffics in repugnant tropes, canards, and conspiracies about Jewish power and money, and has been widely condemned as antisemitic.

In recent years, the world has come to recognize that BDS is antisemitic in both its intent and in its effect.  BDS has been condemned by the Austrian and German Parliaments, the governments of Canada and the Czech Republic, 28 states in the USA, and the UN.  Much to our great shame and regret, to date the Durham City Council is the only government entity to endorse the “Deadly Exchange” campaign in the form of a resolution.

We remember what you did.  We remember how it made us feel. We, the undersigned, demand that the Durham City Council rescind this decidedly discriminatory, anti-Israel, and antisemitic resolution!

NC Coalition for Israel

[1] Miriam F. Elman, “Jewish Voice for Peace’s antisemitic Deadly Exchange campaign,” Fathom Magazine, June 2019; Andrew Mark Bennett, “JVP’s Anti-Semitic Obsession with Jewish Power,” The Forward, January 9, 2018; Judy Maltz, “ADL slams pro-BDS Jewish Group’s ‘anti-Semitic’ New Video Campaign,” Haaretz, July 21, 2017; Mira Sucharov, “Jews Drive U.S. Police Brutality Against People of Color? JVP Crosses Over Into anti-Semitism,” Haaretz, July 10, 2017.