Jewish Labor Committee

March 20th, 2017: New York , NY - The Jewish Labor Committee today issued the following statement:

The Jewish Labor Committee condemns the United Nations Economic Commission for Western Asia's report that asserts that "Israel has established an apartheid regime." It is not surprising that the Commission, comprised entirely of 18 Arab states, most of which do not recognize Israel, would issue a report that appears to be the first time that apartheid has been used in document with the United Nations stamp to criticize Israel. Moreover, the authors included a former U.N. investigator, Richard Falk, who has regularly criticized Israel, and has, among other things, cast doubt on the "official version" of the 9/11 attacks as the work of Islamic terrorists. And the report was issued without it being cleared by relevant departments or the U.N. secretary general.

The analogy of Israeli policies and those of the former South African apartheid rule is factually wrong. While the internal movement of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza is restricted by the Israeli government primarily for security reasons, the territories are governed by the leaders of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, respectively. Within the State of Israel, the laws are the same for Jewish and Arab citizens.

We are encouraged that U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said he had no advance knowledge of the report and that it did not reflect his views. He asked Rima Khalaf, a U.N. Undersecretary-General and the Commission's Executive Secretary, to take the report down from the Commission's website. She decided instead to resign from her position, which had been set to expire at the end of the month.

The U.N. spokesman made it clear that "[t]he Secretary-General cannot accept an undersecretary general or any other senior U.N. official that reports to him would authorize the publication, under the U.N. name, under the U.N. logo, without consulting the competent departments and even himself."

We hope that this is an indication that there will be a more balanced and less discriminatory approach toward Israel at the United Nations going forward.

Posted by Arieh Lebowitz at 04:50 PM | Permalink

Barbara Mehlsack speaks with students at Rutgers Newark Photo by Rachael Cain

March 7 2017: Newark, NJ -- Over 35 law students engaged in conversation this afternoon at Rutgers Law School with two attorneys on the challenging work of labor law. The Jewish Labor Committee, the local branch of the Jewish Law Student Association and the school's Labor and Employment Law Society organized the event.
Barbara Mehlsack, a litigation lawyer, spoke about her thirty years in the field, the skills she had to learn to effectively represent her clients, and the changing nature of the labor movement. Sam Wenocur, who graduated in 2010 from Cardozo Law School, spoke of his experiences as a plaintiff attorney, and how they related to experiences and values he first found at Camp Galil, a summer camp of the Habonim Dror Labor Zionist Youth Movement.
The Jewish Labor Committee organized a similar program for law students at the same campus in February, 2016; the JLC has also organized such events with Jewish Law Student Associations at NYU School of Law, Fordham University School of Law, Seton Hall University School of Law (also in Newark), and Temple University Beasley School of Law in Philadelphia. [If you are interested in helping organize similar programs, just contact us at info@jewishlabor.org]

Posted by Arieh Lebowitz at 10:17 AM | Permalink