People watch as a loggerhead sea turtle is released back to sea following months recovering from an injury at Israel’s Nature and Park Authority’s National Sea Turtle Rescue Centre, at Palmahim Beach National Park, Israel August 5, 2021. REUTERS/Amir Cohen
The Sierra Club on Tuesday reversed its cancellation of trips to Israel, saying the decision was “hastily” made and did not accord with the conservation group’s mission.
The turnabout comes after the California-based club last week capitulated to an ultimatum by “one Jewish American activist” and a coalition of anti-Zionist and progressive groups to nix the trips by March 7, or else be publicly rebuked. Details of an upcoming outing to Israel were subsequently removed, as well as references to past tours.
The groups behind the demand include the anti-Zionist Adalah Justice Project and Jewish Voice for Peace, as well as the climate change group Sunrise Movement, the Indigenous activism group NDN Collective, and the Movement for Black Lives.
In a Tuesday statement, acting Sierra Club director Dan Chu confirmed that new Israel trips would be announced later this year.
“Recently, the Sierra Club hastily made a decision, without consulting a robust set of stakeholders, to postpone two planned outings to Israel,” Chu wrote. “The process that led to this was done in ways that created confusion, anger, and frustration.”
He continued, “Let me be clear: the Sierra Club’s mission is to enjoy, explore, and protect the planet, and we do not take positions on foreign policy matters that are beyond that scope. We do not have a deep understanding or knowledge necessary to do so, nor is it our place to do so. Furthermore, we have and always will continue to loudly condemn antisemitism and any and all acts of hate.”
Chu’s announcement was welcomed by the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, which applauded the Sierra Club “for quickly reversing course” and committing to continue sponsoring trips to Israel. The caucus noted that the club’s senior leadership recently met with Jewish community leaders in California for “frank, thoughtful, and productive conversations.”
The Simon Wiesenthal Center on Wednesday described the reversal as “the right thing to do.”
“We appreciate that the Sierra Club acted quickly to reverse the announced cancellations of trips to Israel which placed the famed American conservation organization directly into the crosshairs of BDS, anti-Israel, and anti-peace zealots,” said the center’s associate dean and director of global social action, Rabbi Abraham Cooper.
Cooper also warned the Jewish community of the possibility that “extremist anti-Israel and antisemitic organizations will continue to try to insert their anti-peace position pill into the mainstream of American corporate culture as they have already done on American campuses.”
In October, the Washington, DC chapter of the Sunrise Movement pulled out of a voting rights rally “due to the participation of a number of Zionist organizations,” namely the Jewish Council on Public Affairs, National Council of Jewish Women, and Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.
Following criticism that the move to boycott Jewish organizations was overtly antisemitic, the Sunrise Movement’s national office sought to distance itself from the DC branch, while affirming that “the rights of Palestinians” are part of their “fight for collective liberation.”
