JTA — The JFNA (Jewish Federations of North America) has removed advocacy for gun control, awareness of electoral rights issues and protections for LGBT communities from the organization’s agenda. A senior manager said, for his part, that this change in no way diminished the group’s commitment to these issues.
Compared to recent years, the “Jewish Federations Public Priorities” document for 2022, which was sent Monday to the federations that make up the organization, has changed substantially. While the 2021 and 2022 documents are roughly the same length – at around 500 words – the most recent version is written more generally and does not mention justice-related issues or legislation. social.
While the 2021 document included “the promotion of reasonable measures to prevent gun violence as a means of safeguarding the Jewish community from violence and combating anti-Semitism”, the 2022 document does not make any mention of firearms.
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Also missing from the 2022 document are the protections for LGBT communities — which have featured in the annual document for years — and electoral rights issues.
The new version establishes that the umbrella organization is “focused on combating all forms of hate, discrimination, racism and extremism, including by supporting the legislation and resources needed to combat hate crime, policies guaranteeing justice and equality and resources to combat abuse and harassment”.
A senior JFNA official said that this initiative did not reflect any political change, but that the new document was intended to establish more clearly its priorities for the Federations which constitute the group and the Jewish Community Relations Councils, allowing them to be more “flexible” during lobbying campaigns with MPs. JFNAs and local federations employ lobbyists who advocate for federal and state legislation.
The JTA article on our public priorities is misleading. In the past year, we have worked with bipartisan coalitions and redoubled our efforts on justice, equity, diversity and inclusion, issue areas that are clearly specified in our priorities. pic.twitter.com/cl0ttnxqqZ
— The Jewish Federations of North America (@jfederations) February 17, 2022
“We are focusing on the same defining, bipartisan values that have long been cherished by Jewish communities while approaching our lobbying work in a way that will allow us to become a more flexible political force,” commented Elana Broitman, vice -president of public affairs at the JFNA.
Illustrative: Protesters gather outside the Supreme Court in Washington as legislation to better protect LGBTQ communities stalls in the Senate, October 8, 2019. (AP/Susan Walsh)
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The shift comes as the JFNA has recently been accused of seeking to avoid controversy or identifying with causes that conservatives may have opposed – such as, for example, the Black Lives Matter movement.
The order in which the priorities appeared has also gradually changed in recent years. In 2018, the most defining issue was the need to protect Medicare at a time when then-U.S. President Donald Trump and Republican congressional leaders were planning substantial changes in healthcare access policy. In 2019, the JFNA again focused on older Americans. In 2020 and 2021, priority was given to the safety of Jews following an upsurge in anti-Semitic violence.
This year, priority is given to “Jewish community security and support for Israel.” A JFNA official who requested anonymity said the organization had seen an increase in anti-Israel criticism and activity following May’s latest conflict between the Jewish state and Gaza, in addition to security threats that hover continuously over Jewish institutions. The official thus took the example of the hostage-taking that took place last month in Colleyville, Texas.
The omissions noted in the list do not mean that arms control, for example, does not remain decisive, continued the official who noted that “weapons naturally fall into the category of security” – which is the very first category. mentioned in this document 2022.
JFNA noted the recent launch of JEDI – a “Jewish Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Program” – which is finalizing a program for Jewish professionals dealing with issues of race, LGBT and other issues related to inclusion.
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