COALITION FOR A UNITED JERUSALEM TO HOLD PRESS CONFERENCE TUESDAY TO PROTEST OBAMA’S JERUSALEM FLIP FLOP
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The Coalition for a United Jerusalem (spearheaded by the Worldwide Young Israel Movement and the Zionist Organization of America) is to hold a news conference Tuesday evening opposite the King David Hotel in central Jerusalem, to call upon visiting Senator Barack Obama to reaffirm his positive views for the future of Jerusalem. In welcoming the Presumptive Democratic Presidential Nominee, the Coalition's aim is to remind Obama of his remarks in June of this year, to the AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington DC, where he stated the need to insure that Jerusalem remain the undivided Capital of Israel.
The Coalition, comprising of the American Israeli Action Coalition, the Council of Young Israel Rabbis in Israel, Emunah Women, the Rabbinical Council of America in Israel, the Worldwide Young Israel Movement, and the Zionist Organization of America, intends to highlight the views of some of the major American/Israeli organizations and dual American/Israeli voting citizens living in Jerusalem. The Coalition aims to voice their deep concern over the future of the historical capital of Israel and the Jewish people. "We hope that the Democratic Senator's stay in Israel will provide him with opportunities for learning, as he comes to appreciate the full import of the Jewish struggle to secure our rights and ensure our national safety in a region constantly awash in violence", explained Jeff Daube, director of the Israel office of the Zionist Organization of America.
The Coalition for a United Jerusalem also intends to call on Obama to:
* Disavow subsequent retractions which qualified his original calls for an undivided
Jerusalem to mean only that it would not be separated by barbed wire as in 1948-67
* Declare that security and access to all holy places can only be guaranteed by Israeli sovereignty, as demonstrated during the past 41 years
* Acknowledge that Israeli withdrawals from Southern Lebanon and Gaza in the past have led to destabilization and increased violence and terror, and that these withdrawals presage a similar deterioration likely to occur in Eastern Jerusalem if Israel were to withdraw and turn the area over to Fatah, which would likely be usurped by Hamas
* Take immediate steps to introduce balance and a pro-Israel perspective by appointing a number of foreign policy advisors more likely to consider an undivided Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty.
Rabbi Aaron Tirschwell, Director of Israel Operations for the Worldwide Young Israel Movement, explained that "approximately 250,000 American voting citizens are currently living in Israel. Although they are not by any means monolithic in their political views, many here as well as their families and friends in America, view the issue of a unified Jerusalem as a litmus test for a candidate’s pro-Israel bona fides. We sincerely hope Mr. Obama factors this into his campaign calculus as he goes forward."
Press conference: Tuesday, July 22nd at 7:30pm
Eldan Hotel, 24 King David Street, Jerusalem
The Eldan Hotel is on the corner of Paul Emile Botha St. to the right of the YMCA when facing it, diagonally across the street from the King David Hotel.
For further information please contact:
Rabbi Aaron Tirschwell - Worldwide Young Israel Movement
(Director of Israel Operations), 972.52.608.9756, aaron@youngisrael.org
or
Jeff Daube – Zionist Organization of America (Director of Israel Office)
972.52.5380840, jrmail@rcn.com
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Worldwide Young Israel Movement
Shlomo Z. Mostofsky - President
Rabbi Pesach Lerner - Executive Vice President
Rabbi Aaron S. Tirschwell - Director, Israel Operations
CYIR: Council of Young Israel Rabbis in Israel
Rabbi Jeffrey Bienenfeld, Rabbi Chaim Wasserman - Presidium
Rabbi Meyer Fendel, Rabbi Nachman Kahana - Vice Presidents
Rabbi Yosef Wolicki - Secretary
Rabbi Yisrael Fass - Treasurer
Rabbi Michael K. Strick - Executive Director
Israel: Heichal Shlomo, 58 King George Street, Suite 109, Jerusalem 94262 ISRAEL
Tel: 02-625-4983 Fax: 02-623-0275 Email: info@youngisraelrabbis.org.il Web: www.youngisraelrabbis.org.il
USA: 111 John Street, Suite 450, New York, New York 10038
Tel: 212-929-1525 Fax: 212-727-9526 Email: ncyi@youngisrael.org Web: www.youngisrael.org
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