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By Morton A. Klein and Elizabeth Berney, Esq.
(APRIL 7, 2022 / JNS) At first, it seems like a cruel April Fool’s joke when a “congregation” misleadingly named “Tzedek Chicago” officially and “proudly” announced last week that it was adopting “anti-Zionism” as its “core value.” Palestinian Arab terrorists murdered 11 innocent Jews, Druze, Christians and Ukrainians in Israel the same week, and were threatening and planning more terror. Jews in synagogues throughout the world were mourning and offering heartfelt prayers for the well-being of Israel and her people. Why, then, was a supposed Chicago congregation siding with, and giving aid and comfort to, the murderers of innocent fellow Jews and others?
Since we had never previously heard of this “congregation,” we decided to investigate. It turns out that Tzedek Chicago is essentially an anti-Israel political group, an offshoot of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) that distorts and omits the essence of Judaism—the Jewish people’s 2,000 years of prayers for “Next Year in Jerusalem!”
Tzedek Chicago’s address is a P.O. box. A Twitter contributor noted that the group’s sole live event in March was a 30-minute meeting in a church basement. “Anti-Zionism” is actually nothing new for Tzedek Chicago. It previously described its same “core value” as “non-Zionism.” Its Israel-bashing website repeatedly defames Jews and Israel, and relies on hyperlinks to vicious anti-Israel defamation groups B’Tselem; Human Rights Watch (HRW); and JVP.
Tzedek Chicago was founded in 2016 by Reconstructionist Rabbi Brant Rosen, who is a leader of some of the worst anti-Israel organizations. Rosen simultaneously works as the Midwest regional director for the virulently anti-Israel American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). He also co-founded and co-chairs the Israel-hating JVP “rabbinical council.” These anti-Zionist groups are leading promoters of anti-Israel boycotts, divestment and sanctions, and every imaginable calumny against Israel and the indigenous Jewish people living in the Jewish state.
In addition, Rosen founded “Jewish Fast for Gaza” to protest against the weapons blockade that prevents Hamas from obtaining even more missiles with which to murder innocent Jews. What soullessness and insanity impels a supposed rabbi to side with Hamas, which is dedicated to murdering every Jewish man, woman and child throughout the world?
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