We condemn the Israeli Parliament's decision to prevent Israel's court from using the legal standard of reasonableness to overturn Parliament's decisions. We stand in solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of people protesting to Demand Democracy in Israel.

The Workers Circle has been engaged in a comprehensive campaign to protect democracy and voting rights in the United States. As an organization rooted in Jewish culture and social and economic justice since our inception in 1900, we cannot remain silent about the alarming efforts to undermine democracy in Israel. We stand in solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of Israelis protesting the government’s effort to weaken the judiciary. While Israel has a long way to go in advancing human rights fairly and fully to all, particularly to Palestinians and other marginalized communities, any such progress in this endeavor will be that much more challenging to achieve if the independence of the nation’s institution responsible for enforcing laws and protecting rights is compromised.

The persistent, unprecedented campaign by Prime Minister Netanyahu and right-wing leaders in Israel to remove the ability of the court to check legislative power has been alarming. Netanyahu’s announcement that they will delay the court overhaul by one month while simultaneously creating a civilian National Guard under the command of Israel’s extremist minister of national security raises deep concern and demonstrates the threat to Israel’s democracy is not over. The Workers Circle stands in solidarity with the millions of people, civil society organizations, labor unions, diplomats, lawmakers, and members of the military as they protest this fundamental attack on Israel’s democracy.

The rapid escalation of violence and the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza requires us to speak out now. As a global superpower and Israel’s closest ally, the US has a responsibility to do much more to end this escalation and to pursue policies that address the root causes of this conflict, including the ongoing occupation.

The Workers Circle, a 121-year-old social justice organization that powers progressive Jewish identity through Jewish cultural engagement, Yiddish language learning, multigenerational education, and activism, issued the following statement regarding the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations’ (COP) announcement that it was adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)’s new Working Definition of anti-Semitism. The Workers Circle, a member of COP, did not join the 51 other member organizations that agreed to adopt the definition.