{"id":2171,"date":"2019-03-03T11:04:40","date_gmt":"2019-03-03T11:04:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/?p=2171"},"modified":"2019-03-12T11:06:37","modified_gmt":"2019-03-12T11:06:37","slug":"jewish-rohingya-justice-network-statement-on-the-genocide-of-the-rohingya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/en\/jewish-rohingya-justice-network-statement-on-the-genocide-of-the-rohingya\/","title":{"rendered":"JEWISH ROHINGYA JUSTICE NETWORK STATEMENT ON THE GENOCIDE OF THE ROHINGYA"},"content":{"rendered":"

The American Jewish community stands united against the genocide of the Rohingya people and the persecution of all ethnic minorities in Burma.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Inspired by the Jewish commitment to justice, the Jewish Rohingya Justice Network (JRJN)* works to promote a robust U.S. and international response to the Rohingya genocide. Convened by American Jewish World Service (AJWS), we are the coalition of 19 American Jewish organizations that together encompass the support of millions of American Jews, including all four major branches of American Judaism. Together, we are committed to ending the atrocities against the Rohingya people.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, we stand up as Jews and Americans against the ongoing genocide of the Rohingya people by the Burmese military, as we believe deeply from our own historical experience and understand from our ethical values that we cannot remain silent when any people is on the brink of destruction simply because of race, ethnicity or religion. American Jewish World Service, which provides direct support to the Rohingya and other oppressed ethnic minorities and human rights activists in Burma, is proud to join with the millions of Jews represented by the Jewish Rohingya Justice Network to demand that the killing cease and that justice is pursued, \u201c said Robert Bank, President and CEO of American Jewish World Service.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe American Jewish community is united in the belief that the atrocities being perpetrated against the Rohingya people constitute a genocide\u2014the deliberate and intentional destruction of a community based on ethnicity and religion,\u201d said David Bernstein, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and a member of the Jewish Rohingya Justice Network. \u201cRecently, JCPA\u2019s members, which include the four denominations, unanimously voted to adopt a resolution expressing this belief and calling on the United States government and the international community to take immediate action.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Jewish Rohingya Justice Network recognizes that the Rohingya people are facing a genocide.\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cThe Myanmar [Burmese] military has been slowly erasing the Rohingya for quite some time, fanning the flames of hate and dehumanization,\u201d said Ann Strimov Durbin, director of advocacy and grantmaking at JRJN member Jewish World Watch. Burmese military forces escalated their coordinated campaign against the Rohingya people on August 25, 2017. Soldiers, along with Burmese civilians, burned Rohingya villages to the ground and indiscriminately massacred Rohingya men, women and children. More than 720,000 people were forced to flee to refugee camps in Bangladesh.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will not stand idly by while this calculated destruction of human beings continues apace. We are committed to calling this act of genocide by its name, and to taking action before it\u2019s too late,\u201d expressed Rabbi Jay Kornsgold, chair of the Rabbinical Assembly Social Justice Commission. Naomi Steinberg, Vice President for Policy and Advocacy at HIAS, said, \u201cIn the face of another genocide that aimed to rid a country of an entire ethnic and religious group, we must let our elected officials know where we stand. HIAS wants the U.S. to take a leadership role to help ensure that the rights of Rohingya refugees, and those still in Rakhine State, are respected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Credible reports from the\u00a0<\/strong>UN Fact Finding Mission<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0<\/strong>the Public International Law & Policy Group (PILPG)<\/strong><\/a>, and\u00a0<\/strong>The US Holocaust Memorial Museum<\/strong><\/a>, now say sufficient evidence exists that the Burmese military maintained a clear intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the Rohingya people \u2013 the legal hallmarks of the crime of genocide.<\/strong>\u00a0The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum\u00a0confirmed<\/a>\u201ccompelling evidence that the Burmese military committed ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity, and genocide against the Rohingya.\u201d These statements are based on irrefutable facts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the Talmud, our sages teach that if we can speak out against injustice but choose not to, we become complicit in said injustices. Our history as the Jewish people has shown us the grave consequences when people fail to act in the face of genocide. Now, as we witness the genocide of the Rohingya people, we call upon the United States government to hold those responsible accountable and work toward ensuring the complete restoration of human rights for the Rohingya community,\u201d said Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.<\/p>\n

Throughout Jewish history, we have known what it is like to face genocide, expulsion, and exclusion from society.<\/strong>\u00a0The persecution and government-sanctioned brutality against Rohingya people echoes the persecution suffered by Jews throughout history. The JRJN is acting powerfully on our promise that \u201cnever again\u201d means no genocide ever again against\u00a0any\u00a0people.<\/p>\n

The Jewish community calls upon the U.S.\u00a0<\/strong>government to respond to the magnitude of this genocide by leading in bringing justice for the Rohingya people.<\/strong>\u00a0We will continue be at the forefront of this fight, working together to build a unified response to the Rohingya crisis.<\/p>\n

The Jewish Rohingya Justice Network<\/strong>\u00a0is the powerful consortium of Jewish NGOs advocating for the rights of the persecuted Rohingya people of Burma. JRJN\u2019s membership includes\u00a019 organizations and all four major branches of American Judaism.<\/p>\n

*Members include American Jewish World Service, Jewish Council for Public Affairs, American Jewish Committee, Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, Union for Reform Judaism, HIAS, Anti-Defamation League, Jewish World Watch, JACOB, The Orthodox Union, T\u2019ruah, Reconstructing Judaism, Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, and the Rabbinical Assembly. Allies include Hebrew College, The New York Board of Rabbis, Uri L\u2019Tzedek, Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, The Shalom Center.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0 * * *<\/em><\/p>\n

About American Jewish World Service (AJWS)<\/strong><\/p>\n

American Jewish World Service (AJWS) is the leading Jewish organization working to pursue justice and fight poverty in the developing world. By supporting hundreds of social change organizations in 19 countries, we respond to the most pressing issues of our time\u2014from disasters, genocide and hunger to the persecution of women and minorities worldwide. With Jewish values and a global reach, AJWS is making a difference in millions of lives and bringing a more just and equitable world closer for all. Learn more at\u00a0www.ajws.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

About American Jewish World Service\u2019s work in Burma<\/strong><\/p>\n

For more than 15 years, AJWS has supported the human rights of ethnic minorities in Burma, including the Rohingya people. AJWS provides direct financial support to more than 30 human rights organizations in Burma that have been working to advance the rights of minority ethnic groups and to create a truly pluralistic and democratic society.\u00a0Please read more about our work in Burma here.<\/a><\/p>\n

For all media inquiries, please contact:
\nDavid L. Marcus
\n212.792.2857<\/p>\n

Source: https:\/\/ajws.org\/press-releases\/jewish-rohingya-justice-network-statement-on-the-genocide-of-the-rohingya\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The American Jewish community stands united against the genocide of the Rohingya people and the persecution of all ethnic minorities in Burma. Inspired by the Jewish commitment to justice, the Jewish Rohingya Justice Network (JRJN)* works to promote a robust U.S. and international response to the Rohingya genocide. Convened by American Jewish World Service (AJWS), […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8,18,4,19,37,39,42,3,12,15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2171"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2171"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2173,"href":"https:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2171\/revisions\/2173"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}