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Community Resource Kit

The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
and Your Community:

Resources for Making a Responsible Decision

The campaign to vilify and delegitimize Israel—not any specific policies or borders but the very idea of a Jewish state—is as widespread as it is misguided. In recent years we have seen these efforts in the political and legal arenas, in the mass and alternative media, and on college campuses. One common strategy is the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (or “BDS”) movement, that singles out Israel for opprobrium and defamation out of any reasonable proportion to its alleged offenses.

Typically, anti-Israel initiatives target policy makers and decision makers who are not experts on foreign policy in general or on Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. These are local elected officials, university staff members, investment managers, co-op board members, and transit-authority administrators—people who often lack context and background to evaluate the proposals. They may be subjected to one-sided and inflammatory rhetoric that demonizes Israel while attempting to cloak BDS initiatives in the language of “human rights” or “justice.”

In response to these and many other similar incidents, a number of Jewish organizations in Seattle have joined forces to create a set of informative and educational materials for organizations targeted for BDS and similar initiatives. The Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle generously supported the development of these materials, and was joined by American Jewish Committee, Hillel at the University of Washington, J Street, StandWithUs and other concerned community members in putting together the materials. Our goal is to provide a counterbalance to the incendiary anti-Israel messages and rhetoric used by BDS proponents and others who seek to delegitimize Israel, by presenting an overview of the other side of the debate in a factual, positive, and non-confrontational way.

The kit includes:

Additional Resources: