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Before the Tribunal of the American Zionist Movement PREAMBLE

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Before the Tribunal of the American Zionist Movement PREAMBLE Before the Tribunal of the American Zionist Movement COMPLAINT THE COORDINATING COUNCIL FOR THE JEWISH HOMELAND/ERETZ HAKODESH, Complainant v. Hatikvah, Respondents TO THE CHAIR AND JUDGES OF THE TRIBUNAL: The Coordinating Council for the Jewish Homeland (“Eretz Hakodesh” or “EHK”) hereby submits its Complaint Hatikvah slate (“Complaint”) concerning their abandonment and contravention of the Jerusalem Program. EHK respectfully requests the American Zionist Movement (“AZM”) Tribunal annul the Hatikvah slate of delegates to the 38th World Zionist Congress and bar the certification of mandates to persons listed on those slates, in accordance with the directive of the Zionist General Council. PREAMBLE As a new entrant into the elections for the World Zionist Congress, Eretz HaKodesh focused its energies upon positive election efforts, rather than negativity from other campaigns. The filing of utterly baseless and denigrating complaints from multiple liberal slates forced us to carefully examine the election rules and requirements, and what we discovered was an alarming double standard. Hatikvah openly discards the Jerusalem Program via and beyond its support of partial BDS. This is entirely in opposition to the Constitution of the World Zionist Organization, and especially the explicit ruling of the Zionist General Council that an organization supporting even partial divestment from territories controlled by Israel is in violation of the Jerusalem Program, and must be excluded from the Zionist movoment. EHK Complaint v. Hatikvah page 1 RULES I. The WZO Constitution and Jerusalem Platform Provide Clear Regulations and Guidelines. The World Zionist Organization (WZO) is an institution premised on the fundamental principles of Zionism, as defined in the WZO Constitution. That Constitution (Article 1, Section 1) states that the aim of Zionism is “to create for the Jewish People a home in Eretz Yisrael secured by public law.” The first manifesto of the Zionist movement was the Basel Program, adopted unanimously at the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland on Aug. 30, 1897. That manifesto required clear actions, without which the modern State of Israel would not have come into existence. Specifically, it called for the settlement of “Jewish agriculturists, artisans, and tradesmen in Palestine,” organizing a federation of all Jews, strengthening Jewish feeling and consciousness, and pursuing governmental grants necessary to achieve the Zionist purpose. The Basel manifesto was replaced by the Jerusalem Program in the 1950s. The Jerusalem Program of 1953 stated that “the task of Zionism is the consolidation of the State of Israel, the ingathering of exiles in Eretz Israel, and the fostering of the unity of the Jewish people.” Once again, Zionism was defined as having a task, requiring action. Specifically, it described “the ​ ​ program of work of the World Zionist Organization” as the following: 1. Encouragement of immigration, absorption and integration of immigrants; support of Youth Aliyah; stimulation of agricultural settlement and economic development; acquisition of land as the property of the people. 2. Intensive work for halutziut (pioneering) and hachsharah (training for halutziut). ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ 3. Concerted effort to harness funds in order to carry out the tasks of Zionism. 4. Encouragement of private capital investment. 5. Fostering of Jewish consciousness by propagating the Zionist idea and strengthening the Zionist Movement; imparting the values of Judaism; Hebrew education and spreading the Hebrew language. 6. Mobilization of world public opinion for Israel and Zionism. 7. Participation in efforts to organize and intensify Jewish life on democratic foundations, maintenance and defense of Jewish rights. In its current version, the Jerusalem Program is incorporated into the WZO Constitution as Article 2, Section 2. It “views a Jewish, Zionist, democratic and secure State of Israel to be the expression of the common responsibility of the Jewish people for its continuity and future.” As with the Basel Program and earlier versions of the Jerusalem Program, the current Jerusalem EHK Complaint v. Hatikvah page 2 Program offers a clear plan of actions to be encouraged and implemented by those who accept and support it. Per Article 5, Section 1, individual membership in the World Zionist Organization is limited to those over the age of eighteen who accept the Jerusalem Program and pay membership dues. A national Zionist Federation must likewise accept the Zionist Program (Article 5, Section 2a) and admit members who accept the Constitution and the program of the WZO (Article 7(a)). The Rules for the 2020 United States Election to the 38th World Zionist Congress require that both an individual voter accept the Jerusalem Program (Article I, Section 2(b)), and that an Election Slate “express the group’s full acceptance of and compliance with the WZO Constitution, the Jerusalem Program and the AZM Constitution.” II. According to the Determination of the Zionist General Council, “Any organization or person supporting BDS must be excluded from the Zionist movement.” Resolution 1.2 of the Zionist General Council XXXVII/5, approved in November 2019 (attached hereto as Ex. I) (“ZGC Anti-BDS Resolution”), states that direct or indirect support for either ​ “‘full’ or ‘partial’ BDS is inconsistent with and shall be deemed a violation of the Jerusalem Program… any organization or person supporting BDS must be excluded from the Zionist movement” (emphasis added). ​ The resolution expressly includes and restates “territories controlled by Israel.” It is the ZGC’s position that one who supports any form of boycott directed against Jewish residents of Israel-held territories in Judea, Samaria, the Golan Heights or elsewhere is in violation of, rather than a supporter of, the Jerusalem Program. The resolution highlights the fact that “anti-Jewish boycotts and imposts (the equivalent of ​ sanctions)” were described by Theodor Herzl as “types of persecutions against Jews that made a Jewish State necessary” — decades prior to the advent of the Nazi boycott of ​ 1932. Thus support for BDS is tied to an ancient and hateful Anti-Semitic pattern deplored by Herzl himself. The resolution also says that the Israel Supreme Court called BDS “political terrorism” — and that “BDS directed at territories controlled by Israel is unlawful.” ​ ​ The text of the ZGC Anti-BDS Resolution specifically does not limit its application to new slates or individuals joining an election, national Federation or the World Zionist Organization. Rather, ​ ​ it demands that an organization or person be excluded, removed, if at any time that organization ​ ​ or individual expresses support for BDS. Neither is there grounds to “grandfather in” a slate that ran prior to the 2019 passage of this Resolution. Any slate that now supports even partial BDS, even indirectly, is in violation of the Jerusalem Program and must be excluded from further participation in the Zionist movement. EHK Complaint v. Hatikvah page 3 VIOLATIONS III. The Hatikvah slate openly espouses Divestment by the WZO itself from territories held by Israel. During a televised election forum on February 25, 2020, Hatikvah representative and delegate Nomi Colton-Max called for the WZO to divest itself from Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria over the 1948 Armistice Green Line.1 Divestment from territories controlled by ​ Israel is specifically identified by the ZGC Anti-BDS Resolution as a violation of the Jerusalem Program, requiring that the organization or person be excluded from the Zionist Movement. Kenneth Bob, the President of Ameinu, Treasurer of the Board of Directors of J Street and the Chair of the Hatikvah Slate, produced a letter describing the importance of voting in the elections for the World Zionist Congress and what he described as its “archaic, out of touch institutions.” This quotation appears on a web page attributed to “Ameinu Office” on thirdnarrative.org, a self-described “sister site” to Ameinu.net. The title of that web page is “You Can Vote Now to ​ Curtail Funding Settlements!” (attached hereto as Ex. U). Hatikvah does not merely “oppose the ​ current policy of permanent occupation and annexation” as it says in its platform. Rather, ​ ​ divestment from territories controlled by Israel was a core message of the Hatikvah campaign to prospective voters. ​ IV. The Hatikvah Slate explicitly rejects the Jerusalem Program, and supports Partial BDS while claiming that Partial BDS is Not BDS. Kenneth Bob writes: “you need to ‘affirm the Jerusalem Program’ as the platform of the World Zionist Organization (WZO). While the language is not how Ameinu necessarily frames Zionism in 2020, clicking on it is simply acknowledging that it is the platform of the WZO, and it is necessary to do so in order to vote” (see Ex. U). This is a clear rejection of the Jerusalem Program, and an instruction to voters that they need not personally accept it “in order to vote.” During the election forum mentioned above,2 Hatikvah’s Nomi Colton-Max first stated that “the slate does not support BDS.” But when pressed by moderator Rabbi Mark Golub, she admitted that there are members of the HaTikvah coalition who support boycotts against Jewish businesses in Judea and Samaria beyond the 1948 Armistice Line, but declaimed that “I do not 1 Debate hosted by Jewish Broadcasting Service. https://jbstv.org/wzc-election-forum-1/ ​ 2 See footnote 1 EHK Complaint v. Hatikvah page 4 believe that a settlement product boycott alone” is support of BDS. This position cannot be ​ reconciled with the ZGC Anti-BDS Resolution. Delegates and member organizations of the Hatikvah slate have demonstrated their support for Partial BDS in practice. In 2016, Hatikvah delegate Peter Beinart helped spearhead a letter ​ calling for “a targeted boycott of all goods and services from all Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories, and any investments that promote the Occupation” in The New York Review of Books (attached as Ex. K). Young delegate Rikki Baker Keusch, an intern at Ameinu, likewise states clearly: “I support a settlement boycott” (see “The entry law bars too many ​ Zionists,” attached as Ex.
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