Consensus Statements
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Antisemitism
January 4, 2022
The Jewish American community has been grappling with alarming levels of antisemitism in recent years. From hateful attacks on social media and destructive vandalism, to brazen acts of violence, antisemitism has recently been felt more broadly and acutely in the Jewish community, including in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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The Democracy of the United States
June 18, 2019
A vigorous defense of democratic values and institutions and proactive efforts to foster a strong and cohesive civil society serve both the Jewish community’s prophetic calling to pursue justice and our self-interest in maintaining a society in which we, and other religious minorities and historically marginalized groups, can continue to be secure and thrive.
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The Delegitimization of Israel
June 12, 2018
Criticism of particular Israeli government policies often morphs into questioning Israel’s right to exist and the legitimacy of its founding. JCRC therefore decided to focus on an examination of this movement to delegitimize Israel...
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Racial Justice
June 6, 2017
Our Jewish traditions and our JCRC mission compel us to seek justice and to stand up for the rights of all people without prejudice or bias...
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Economic Justice
January 19, 2016
The Jewish Community Relations Council has a strong interest in the subject of economic justice because we believe an equitable and just society helps promote strong democratic institutions...
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Reproductive Rights
March 23, 2013
The Jewish Community Relations Council has a strong interest in the subject of family planning and reproductive choice...
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National Oil Independence
May 12, 2009
The Jewish Community Relations Council of Northern California of San Francisco supports development of a U.S. policy to achieve independence from imported oil...
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Immigration Issues
May 12, 2009
Historically, the American Jewish community has supported generous and rational immigration laws and policies...
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Religion and Elections
August 12, 2008
The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), representing nearly 80 synagogues and Jewish organizations, joins with the Anti Defamation League in expressing concerns about the growing prominence of religion as a part of the political election process...
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The Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process
November 13, 2007
The Jewish Community Relations Council continues its strong support of constructive efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East...
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Iran's Nuclear Weapons Program
May 8, 2007
The prospect of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons and obtaining the ability to launch missiles against countries throughout the Middle East, and even Europe, should alarm every American...
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Same-Sex Civil Marriage
February 14, 2006
One of the JCRC's core values is B'Tselem Elohim - the belief that all people are created in God's image and accordingly each person's life is of infinite value...
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Hamas Victory in Palestinian Elections
January 26, 2006
This is a sad day for peace...
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Israel's Disengagement Plan and the Future of the Peace Process
June 21, 2005
The Arab-Israeli conflict is often framed as a dispute over land between Israel and the Palestinians. This is only partially true...
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Atrocities and Urgent Human Rights Crisis in the Sudan
July 21, 2004
Over the last seventeen months an estimated 30,000 civilians have lost their lives in an ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing carried out by a government-backed Arab militia known as "Janjaweed", committed to wiping out the native black African inhabitants of the territory...
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Advocacy for Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries
December 9, 2003
Jews have been part of Middle Eastern culture and life for nearly 4,000 years, since the beginnings of Judaism...
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Iraq
January 14, 2003
The Metropolitan JCRC approved a Iraq. The statement was adopted after a 3-month deliberative process that included numerous opportunities to discuss the important issues...
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Proposition 47 - California Public Education Facilities Bond Act
October 8, 2002
JCRC supports quality public education for all pupils...
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9/11 Terror Attack and Its Aftermath
October 23, 2001
We, along with all Americans, were horrified and saddened by the loss of innocent life inflicted by the terrorists' act of war against our nation on September 11...
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International Debt Relief and the Jubilee 2000 Campaign
September 12, 2000
Many poor countries in the developing world must pay back foreign debts incurred in decades past...
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The Knight Initiative (Proposition 22) and Discrimination Against Gay Men and Lesbians
February 8, 2000
Based upon our examination of the broader issues, we have decided to oppose Proposition 22...
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Joerg Haider
February 8, 2000
This shocking development has raised serious questions about the direction of Austria's government as it relates to both the past and the future...
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Gun Control and Gun Violence
October 12, 1999
Recent months have brought a sharp increase in high profile shootings around the country...
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International Human Rights
September 14, 1999
The safeguarding of international human rights is central to Jewish religious values and inextricably linked to American strategic values and interests...
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Endorsing an Eruv in Palo Alto
August 31, 1999
The Jewish Community Relations Council endorses the efforts of the Palo Alto Community Eruv Corporation to build an Eruv in Palo Alto...
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Religion and State in Israel: Community Objectives and Strategies of Engagement
June 8, 1999
In recent years, issues of religion and state have occupied an increasingly prominent place on the Israeli political and societal agenda...
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Kosovo Conflict
April 13, 1999
We are proud of the U.S. humanitarian response to date...
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Educational Vouchers
February 10, 1998
The JCRC opposes school voucher proposals and other methods of funding private school education with public funds...
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Jerusalem
May 13, 1997
The Jewish Community Relations Council continues its strong support of the Middle East peace process as outlined in the Oslo Accords...
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Domestic Violence
March 12, 1997
Domestic violence touches upon the lives of people from all socioeconomic levels, ethnic groups, sexual orientations, and religious groups, including the Jewish community...
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The California Civil Rights Initiative (Proposition 209)
June 25, 1996
The initiative, which will be on the November, 1996 ballot, would write into the California Constitution language which prohibits all gender and race-based preferences in the public arena...
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Affirmative Action
October 12, 1995
The Jewish community has a critical stake in and an historic commitment to the democratic principle of a pluralistic society with equal opportunity for every individual, and in the American ideal of measuring people on the basis of their individual merit rather than their group identity...
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Immigration Issues
September 14, 1993
The American Jewish community has long supported a liberal immigration policy, both because of modern Jewish historical imperatives and because the pluralistic nature of American society, which is rooted in our immigrant tradition, is good for the Jews...
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Israeli/Palestinian Agreement
September 14, 1993
We support the efforts of the negotiators on all sides who worked tirelessly to arrive at an initial IsraelilPalestinian agreement...
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Statement on Jonathan Pollard
October 13, 1992
With respect to Johnathan Pollard, now serving life in prison...
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Cultural Exchange
March 14, 1972
Most Americans support the concept of cultural exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union as a means to improve international understanding and the cause of world peace...
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Policy on 'Academically Talented'
December 1, 1971
...the strength of the schools depends in part on the support of all the parents of the city, who are properly concerned vith the diverse educational needs of their children, whatever they may be...
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Integration
May 18, 1970
The Jewish Community Relations Council has from the outset supported the objective of racial integration of San Francisco's public schools within a context of educational quality...
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Integration
March 1, 1969
The Jewish community has a historic stake in a)a strong public school system; b) a well-educated general citizenry; c) the reduction of interracial conflict and violence. The JCRe believes strongly that the reduction of racial imbalance in the schools is an indispensable element in all three of these goals...
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NLRA Coverage for California Agricultural Workers
September 10, 1968
The issue of equal rights under the law for farm laborers has great import in our community today...
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Education for All
March 1, 1967
Everybody who desires and who is qualified for a higher education should get it and economic disadvantage should not be allowed to stand in his way...
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Statement to the Curriculum Commission
November 1, 1966
The Jewish Community Relations Council of San Francisco having received over the years a small but steady stream of expressions of concern on this subject by parents of Jewish children attending public schools, urges the Curriculum Commission in reviewing song-books for use...
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Right of Protest and Dissent
October 1, 1966
The principle of the free expression of opinion and the right therefore to dissent is the cornerstone of the American democratic process...
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General Education
May 17, 1966
The Jewish Community is, of course, made up of individual citizens, taxpayers and parents whose interests are as broad and whose viewpoints are generally as diverse as those of the total population...
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Integration
August 10, 1965
...the Jewish Community Relations Council is deeply troubled by the pervasive racial imbalance which exists in the San Francisco school system...
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The Jewish Community and the Public Schools
February 1, 1965
The Jewish community has a special stake in the American public school system. It is within this school system that a working American pluralism has been most effectively developed and tested...
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Proposition 14: Housing Discrimination
August 1, 1964
Proposition 14 would do more than wipe the state fair housing law off the books. It would freeze into the State Constitution a prohibition against any state or local public body ever doing anything about the problem of housing discrimination...
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Birmingham and Related Matters
May 1, 1963
The events in Birmingham have not revealed any new interracial problems; but they have dramatized some of the consequences of allowing our old problems to fester unsolved...
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First Amendment
July 30, 1962
We look with a deep concern on any attempt to tinker with the constitutional formula under which religious liberty has flourished in America as it has nowhere else in the world...