TBJ News

Dear all,

We wanted to pass along this Israel action alert from Jewish Federation of Metrowest New Jersey:

Contact State Senate President Today and Every Day 
We are disappointed by the decision announced yesterday by New Jersey state senate leadership to remove two bills from the Senate Government Committee agenda which address the disturbing rise of antisemitism in our state. Hundreds of Jewish community members who support these bills, including college and high school students and faculty, rabbis, and Jewish communal professionals were planning to rally in Trenton this Thursday, May 16. And many were scheduled to testify.

Senate leadership claims there were “security concerns” which led them to pull the two bills from the agenda. In doing so, however, they are preventing elected leaders from hearing constituents’ concerns, evaluating the testimony on its merits, and deciding whether to forward two critical bills designed to combat antisemitism to the floor of the senate for a vote.  

We’ve been advised that there’s a chance this hearing will be rescheduled next month. We also appreciate that Senator James Beach, chair of the Senate Government Committee, is refusing to hold a committee meeting on May 16 unless these bills are posted. 

At a time when the U.S. Congress and 36 states across the country have adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, the State of New Jersey, which has the fourth largest Jewish population in the country and the third highest number of incidents of antisemitism, must do more to protect its Jewish population. 

We urge you to send emails through the link below to Senate President Nick Scutari every day, asking that he put these bills back on the Senate Government Committee agenda.