Wiesenthal Center Urges UTLA President To Act Against Extremists Anti-Israel Campaign

October 4, 2006

WIESENTHAL CENTER URGES UTLA PRESIDENT TO ACT AGAINST EXTREMISTS’ ANTI-ISRAEL CAMPAIGN

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is urging President A.J. Duffy of the United Teachers of Los Angeles UTLA to publicly condemn two activities that promote an agenda against Israel. One is a campaign endorsed by the Los Angeles chapter of the Movement for a Democratic Society and the Los Angeles Palestine Labor Solidarity Committee that seeks to punish the State of Israel for what it calls “aggression, dispossession and oppression” with boycotts, divestment and sanctions. The campaign calls for a boycott of Israeli products and services, a divestment of companies that do business in Israel and for the US government to stop military and foreign aid to Israel as well as imposing a trade embargo on the State. It is being launched at an event hosted by the Human Rights Committee of the UTLA at UTLA headquarters on October 14. 

Center officials spoke yesterday with President Duffy to press these concerns. “Our community is deeply disturbed the UTLA could allow its facility and good name to be used by some of the most extreme anti-peace organizations whose sole agenda is to demonize and delegitimize the State of Israel,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of  the Wiesenthal Center.  “While we appreciate President Duffy’s assurances that they are looking into legal avenues to block these meetings, we have urged him to publicly denounce those who spur antisemitism by applying a double standard on Israel--the only true democracy in the Middle East,” added Cooper.

Cooper said that the divestment campaign is just part of an ongoing international campaign to cast Israel as an international pariah by specifically targets unions, churches and local NGOs. The Wiesenthal Center has been on the forefront in protesting these actions, which have included efforts by teachers unions in the UK, the largest public sector union in Canada, and such mainline Protestant bodies as the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) and the United Church of Christ.

The other UTLA activity protested by the Jewish community is a credit course for teachers on the Middle East by American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) scheduled for next week at the union’s headquarters. The AFSC has long been accused of associating with anti-Israel causes. The Wiesenthal Center is urging the Union to drop the current course and instead develop its own course that would offer a fair and balanced course that “reflects the narratives of both people in the Holy Land.”

“The UTLA, which is one of the senior partners in teaching and mentoring our children, must not allow extremists to cut and paste an ongoing anti-Israel campaign onto UTLA’s agenda,” concluded Rabbi Cooper.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS and the Council of Europe.

For more information, please contact the Center's Public Relations Department, 310-553-9036.

To read letter to UTLA President Duffy, click here.