The goal of the ad was not to influence policy but to smear Israel and associate it with a crime it hasn’t committed.

By Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt, JNS

New York Times readers opened the newspaper last week and saw a full-page advertisement declaring, “Trump has called for the removal of all Palestinians from Gaza. Jewish people say no to ethnic cleansing!” The ad was signed by a few dozen Jewish celebrities and hundreds of rabbis. If you found this ad odd, you’re not alone.

For starters, the ad was not intended to influence policy. No one should believe that a full-page ad in The New York Times, of all places, will sway this president. Moreover, no plans have been put in place or are even seen as remotely feasible to forcibly remove the population of Gaza.

So what was its purpose?

It was intended to smear Israel and associate it with a crime it hasn’t committed. The entities behind the ad, while hoping to remain secret, are groups that want to see Israel destroyed. In fact, days before the ad appeared, it was revealed that anti-Israel groups were recruiting celebrities to sign on. One report said the “ad will include no mention of ‘organizational affiliations,’” since “signatories could be reluctant to publicly associate with anti-Israel groups, many of which have been linked to antisemitic and pro-terrorist protests on college campuses.”

They’re right to not want to associate with the ironically named Jewish Voice for Peace. Despite their attempt to brand themselves as a Jewish organization, a Feb. 12 poll from the Jewish Majority demonstrates that the organization does not represent any substantial segment of the Jewish community. Moreover, anti-Zionism, a term JVP uses to describe its movement, is a pro-war, maximalist position that would only lead to more violence and suffering.

As soon as the ad was published, pro-war, anti-Zionist groups like Jewish Voice for Peace, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice and IfNotNow promoted the ad and sought out additional signatories. While some well-meaning rabbis and celebrities undoubtedly added their names before the ad was published, after it appeared in the Times, the intention of the ad and its organizers should have been obvious.

In a thread on X, writer Amelia Adams details some of the signatories of the ad. She begins with the academic Judith Butler of the University of California, Berkeley, who, in addition to insisting that Hamas and Hezbollah are progressive groups, has called the terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, an “act of armed resistance.”

Adams then details some of the rabbinic signatories, including Rabbi Alissa Wise, the former acting co-executive director of Jewish Voice for Peace; Rabbi Abby Chava Stein who attended a meeting with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, whose government seeks to destroy Israel, in the run-up to the one-year anniversary of Oct. 7; Rabbi Lynne Gottlieb, who had previously led a propaganda trip to Iran to soften the Islamic regime’s image in the United States; Rabbi May Ye, who has said that being Jewish means that you have “blood on [your]hands”; and Rabbi Brant Rosen, founder of a pro-war, anti-Zionist synagogue in Chicago. All of these rabbis are members of JVP’s rabbinic council, as are 25 other rabbinic signatories of the ad.

These rabbis are wildly out of step with the American Jewish community. A more representative position is held by the Zionist Rabbinic Coalition, a group of more than 1,000 Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist rabbis from North America committed to the unity of the Jewish people and unbreakable bond with Israel.

Regardless of how one feels about U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal, we can all agree that the vast majority of American Jews are committed to Israel being a free and democratic Jewish state, which is the goal of Zionism, the national liberation movement of the Jewish people.

With this in mind, the Zionist Rabbinic Coalition firmly rejects the approach taken by the unnamed organizers and the signatories of The New York Times ad. As Israeli hostages still languish in Hamas captivity, now is not the time to align with forces that want to see Israel destroyed. And to the broader public, hopefully, you see the relatively small number of signatories to the ad as a demonstration of just how strong and widespread support for Israel is in the Jewish community.