New Alliance Fills Jewish Leadership Vacuum

WEEK OF MAJOR CHALLENGES TO THE JEWISH COMMUNITY MARKED BY STUNNING INACTION OF ESTABLISHMENT JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS

 JEWISH LEADERS ACROSS AMERICA LAUNCH POWERFUL NEW UMBRELLA ORGANIZATION TO FILL VACUUM OF LEADERSHIP

Contact: Dr. Herbert I. London [email protected]

Lori Lowenthal Marcus (610) 664-1184[email protected]

 Beth Gilinsky (212) 726-1124 [email protected]

New York, September 18, 2011 – In response to the silence, once again, of the major Jewish organizations in the face of increasingly outrageous and dangerous attacks against Israel and the Jewish community, Jewish leaders and organizations from across America have united to create a new umbrella leadership organization.

The National Conference on Jewish Affairs (NCJA) is addressing significant issues of concern to the Jewish community in stark contrast to the failure to lead and lethargy of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, and most establishment Jewish officials.  In addition to taking the actions and making the statements that are necessary, the NCJA will also expose and confront Jewish organizations and leaders who are enabling and supporting those undermining the security of Israel, America and the Jewish People.

In a week of extraordinary challenges to the Jewish community, NCJA constituent groups and leaders are organizing, participating or supporting many of those events where Jewish establishment groups are nowhere to be found. 

Dr. Herbert I. London, a member of the NCJA’s Policy Committee, stated: “The establishment Jewish organizations have been deficient in standing with Israel and the Jewish People at crucial times. This week is yet another of those times where they are absent.  We need the leadership of the National Conference on Jewish Affairs to address with strength the most pressing issues of our time.”

Another NCJA Policy Committee member, Z Street President Lori Lowenthal Marcus, stated: “Leadership requires independence: the ability to sometimes stand alone, outside of the comfort zone of popularity, and it also requires independent thought, an assessment of what is truly best, not what is most likely to be comfortable or acceptable to the broadest audience or the largest donors.”

Rabbi Aryeh Spero, a member of the NCJA’s Honorary Advisory Committee, adds:  “The Jewish community has been looking for strong and vigorous statements or public demonstrations by the major Jewish organizations in support of Israel’s position regarding Jerusalem, UDI, and other questions.  Where have the major organizations been throughout the last three years of the current Administration’s derisive and hostile actions against Israel? How come they have not come to the defense of young Jewish students on college campuses physically and vocally harassed by Muslims and leftwing professors?  It has become evident to the grassroots Jewish community that the Jewish establishment organizations and their staffs live in a world separate from real Jewish concerns.”

Adds Richard Allen, Founder of JCC Watch and a member of NCJA’s Policy Committee, “The failure of establishment Jewish leadership is so pronounced, and we see that breakdown again in the stark environment of this current week with the U.N., that a fresh, new voice is needed to represent the Jewish People.”

NCJA invites Jews and non-Jewish friends of Israel to join this dynamic initiative  by contacting [email protected] or (212) 726-1124.