I share with you my distress as a leader in the Berkeley community in response to the UC Berkeley ASUC Student Senate bill calling upon the UC Berkeley administration and the UC Regents to divest from companies due to their business relationship with the Israeli government.
I am the rabbi of a community with many diverse opinions about Israel, and am not unaware of valid critiques of Israeli governmental policy. Indeed, I have written publicly on this topic, and will continue to do so. The ASUC bill unfairly singles out Israel and worsens the very hopes for peace that unites every party at the table. This bill fosters animosity, and presents a terrible picture of the UC Berkeley campus to the community.
It is my hope that the tolerance and diversity which typify UC Berkeley's reputation, and is the shared aspiration of Zionists and their detractors alike, will cry loudest in the near future in response to the ASUC bill.
Blessings,
Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Congregation Netivot Shalom, Berkeley
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Rabbi Menachem Creditor
-- www.netivotshalom.org
-- www.shefanetwork.org
-- menachemcreditor.org
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