JWI calls on President Trump to resign.
Dear Friends,
Since last Wednesday, I’ve been struggling with what to say. Like so many, I watched in horror as our Capitol building, the symbol of our democracy, was invaded and desecrated. How could this be happening in the hallways that I had the honor to walk down so many times — to celebrate the signing of major legislation; to welcome new Jewish members of Congress; to light Chanukah candles; to meet with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle alongside hundreds of young women during JWI’s annual advocacy days? Although I had feared what President Trump could do in the remaining weeks of his administration, I believed that we were safe from a true civil insurrection; that as a nation, we were better than that.
Wednesday proved that we are not.
As an organization, we have signed on to calls for Trump’s resignation, impeachment, and removal. Let me be very clear: JWI is a nonpartisan organization. Our mission is to build a world in which all women and girls may thrive — which means ending violence against women and systemic racism, ensuring economic security, pay and workplace equity, reproductive choice and rights, and women’s leadership. As a Jewish organization, we are firmly and proudly pro-Israel. This is not a question of Democrat versus Republican. This is a question of democracy; of who we are as a nation. Wednesday’s mob, and the people Trump has embraced and emboldened over the past four years, include neo-Nazis, anti-Semites, racists — people who proudly wear shirts that read, “Camp Auschwitz: Work Brings Freedom” (a translation of the sign that hung over the death camp entrance). They raised flags bearing symbols of the KKK and the neo-Nazi movement. They erected a noose on the Capitol grounds. And they came to my beloved city because Trump called on them, and once here, he further stoked the embers of rage that he has fueled with lies and deceit. That there were Jews in the crowd especially sickens me. How can Jews march in coalition with those who would seek to destroy us?
Since I joined the staff of JWI, and even more so when I was named CEO just a year ago, I have looked to the history of our organization for guidance — not only on building our future, but on when to make statements. Over the decades, hundreds of our B’nai Brith and JWI Women have volunteered their time to teach elementary school children about democracy. They used 38 dolls, crafted by artisans into the likenesses of Martin Luther King, Jr., JFK, Marian Anderson, Dr. George Washington Carver, Golda Meir, Jonas Salk, and many other change-makers from all walks of life, to illustrate the potential for greatness in all people, regardless of race, religion, or ethnicity, and the importance of tolerance, diversity, and democracy.
In honor of that work, those women, and the children they reached, and on behalf of JWI’s 75,000 members, donors, and supporters, we call on President Trump to resign and for Congress to vote to bar him from ever holding office again. It’s time to say “enough,” turn away from humanity’s most base and ugly impulses, and reclaim the good. It’s time to heal our sickness.
For now, I’ll find hope and faith in the words of the 15-year-old Anne Frank: “It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.”
With prayers for safety, peace, and health,
Meredith Jacobs, CEO
Jewish Women International
Jewish Women International (JWI) is the leading Jewish organization working to empower women and girls by ensuring and protecting their physical safety and economic security, promoting and celebrating inter-generational leadership, inspiring civic participation and community engagement, and engaging men as allies in ending gender-based violence. JWI is a Steering Committee member of the National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence and convenes the Interfaith Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence and the Clergy Task Force on Domestic and Sexual Abuse in the Jewish Community.