Upset over Sarsour at ‘Settlement’

Rabbi Zvi Romm of the Lower East Side’s Bialystoker Synagogue this week distributed the following open letter to David Garza, executive director of the Henry Street Settlement, another LES institution.

Dear Mr. Garza,

I hope you are well. I’m writing you with regard to the upcoming “Lilian Wald Symposium” on “Immigrant New York: The New Majority,” to be held at the Abrons Art Center on May 16th. The Henry Street Settlement is proudly promoting Linda Sarsour as a panelist at the symposium.

We, the members of the Bialystoker Synagogue, are happy to be next-door neighbors of the Henry Street Settlement. But we are profoundly disturbed by the fact that our neighbors have given Ms. Sarsour this platform.  

Ms. Sarsour has been an outspoken supporter of the BDS movement, seeking to damage the State of Israel economically. She has declared that one cannot be a Zionist and a feminist … ignoring the many, many abuses of women’s rights which are rampant in the Arab world surrounding Israel. She has tweeted that a young Palestinian boy going to throw stones at Israeli soldiers is the “definition of courage.” She has stated that there is “nothing creepier than Zionism.”

We, who love and support the State of Israel, are appalled by these positions and statements. By giving Linda Sarsour such a prominent platform, we feel that the Henry Street Settlement is indirectly expressing its tolerance of these anti-Israel positions.

We feel that it is incredibly important that the Henry Street Settlement clearly and unambiguously state that it does not endorse Ms. Sarsour’s positions on Israel and Zionism. As Israel marks its 69th anniversary, we would greatly appreciate a statement from Henry Street Settlement celebrating the State of Israel, the only full democracy in the Middle East.

—Rabbi Zvi Romm