The g-word was so 2007 — now it’s the b-word

Looks like we could have a replay of the whether-to-call-it-a-genocide debate.

Yesterday we had a brief about a statement from 185 rabbis and other communal figures calling on Jewish tourists to skip the Beijing Olympics. Well, today the ADL is out with a statement coming out against a Jewish boycott. It appears to be meant as a rebuttal.

Read the ADL statement here.

Below is the full statement calling for a tourist boycott, along with the list of signatories.

April 30, 2008

A Yom Hashoah Declaration:
The China Olympics Are Not Kosher

We are deeply troubled by China’s support for the genocidal government of Sudan; its mistreatment of the people of Tibet; its denial of basic rights to its own citizens; and its provision of missiles to Iran and Syria, and friendship for Hamas.

Having endured the bitter experience of abandonment by our presumed allies during the Holocaust, we feel a particular obligation to speak out against injustice and persecution today.

We remember all too well that the road to Nazi genocide began in the 1930s, with Hitler’s efforts to improve the public image of his evil regime. Nazi Germany sought to attract visitors to the 1936 Olympics in order to distract attention from its persecution of the Jews. Hitler’s propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, called the 1936 games “a victory for the German cause.” We dare not permit today’s totalitarian regimes to achieve such victories.

Beijing’s authorization of the creation of a kosher kitchen at the Olympics village is apparently intended to help attract Jewish tourists to the games, as part of its broader strategy of improving its image and deflecting attention from its complicity in severe human rights abuses at home and abroad.

Jews should not be party to the whitewashing of such a regime, kosher kitchen or no kosher kitchen. Regimes that practice or enable oppression, terrorism, or genocide are not kosher. Therefore on this occasion of Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, the day on which we remember the Nazi genocide, we call upon world Jewry to refrain from attending the Beijing Olympics.

Rabbi Dr. Yitz Greenberg
Past President, Jewish Life Network
Past Chairman, United States Holocaust Memorial Council (2000-2002)

Rabbi Dr. Haskel Lookstein
Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun / Ramaz School
Author of Were We Our Brothers’ Keepers? The Public
Response of American Jews to the Holocaust

Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie
President
Union for Reform Judaism

Richard Gordon, President and Neil Goldstein, Executive Director
on behalf of the American Jewish Congress
New York, NY

Rabbi Dan Ehrenkrantz
President
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College

Rabbi Dr. David Ellenson
President
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion

Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm
Chancellor, Yeshiva University
Head of Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary

Rabbi Dr. David Golinkin
President, Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies
Jerusalem, Israel

Rabbi Joel H. Meyers
Executive Vice President
Rabbinical Assembly

Rabbi Peter Knobel
President, Central Conference of American Rabbis

Rabbi Steven A. Fox
Executive Vice President, Central Conference of American Rabbis

Rabbi Charles A. Kroloff
Vice President, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
Past President, Central Conference of American Rabbis

Rabbi Daniel Hillel Freelander
Vice President
Union for Reform Judaism

Rabbi Deborah Prinz
Director of Program and Member Services,
Central Conference of American Rabbis

Rabbi Sheldon Zimmerman
The Jewish Center of the Hamptons
Past President, Central Conference of American Rabbis
Past President, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion

Rabbi Dr. David A. Teutsch
Director, Center for Jewish Ethics
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College

Rabbi Steven M. Brown, EdD
Dean, William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education
Director, Melton Research Center for Jewish Education
Jewish Theological Seminary of America

Hon. Edward I. Koch
Mayor of New York City, 1978-1989
Member, United States Holocaust Memorial Council

Seymour D. Reich
President, Israel Policy Forum; Past President, B’nai B’rith International
Past Chairman, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations

Rabbi Norman J. Cohen
Provost
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion

Rabbi Saul J. Berman
Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School

Rabbi Dr. Eugene B. Borowitz
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
Past President, American Theological Society
Past National Director, Union of American Hebrew Congregations

Rabbi Joshua Gutoff
William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education
Jewish Theological Seminary of America

David I. Bernstein, Ph.D.
Dean, Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies
Jerusalem, Israel

Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner
Director, Just Congregations
Union for Reform Judaism

Rabbi Nancy Fuchs-Kreimer
Director, Religious Studies Department
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College
Past President, Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association

Prof. Steven Fine
Professor of Jewish History, Yeshiva University
Director, Yeshiva University Center for Israel Studies

Lawrence M. Katz
President, Jewish Educators Assembly

Rabbi Deborah A. Hirsch
Director of Regions
Union for Reform Judaism

Rabbi Kenneth Brander
Dean, Yeshiva University Center for the Jewish Future

Nancy Hersh
Co-Chair, Reconstructionist Educators of North America
Education Director, Congregation Beth Hatikvah, Summit, NJ

Dr. Joe Freedman
Director, Ramah Programs in Israel

Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb
Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation, Bethesda MD
President, Washington Board of Rabbis

Rabbi Shalom Z. Berger, Ed.D.
The Lookstein Center for Jewish Education
Bar-Ilan University

Mindy B. Davids, RJE
First Vice President, National Association of Temple Educators
Director of Education, Temple Shaaray Tefila, New York, NY

Rabbi Dov Linzer
Rosh HaYeshiva and Dean
Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School

Rabbi Marc D. Angel
Rabbi Emeritus, Congregation Shearith Israel, New York, NY

Rabbi Moshe Waldoks
Temple Beth Zion , Brookline MA
Chair, Holocaust Commemoration Committee,
Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston

Rabbi Reuben J. Poupko
Congregation Beth Israel Beth Aaron, Montreal
Past President, Montreal Board of Rabbis

Rabbi Stanley T. Schickler, RJE
Executive Director
National Association of Temple Educators

Rabbi Dr. Gail Labovitz
Assistant Professor of Rabbinic Literature
Chair, Department of Rabbinics, Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies
American Jewish University

Dr. Shulamit J. Laderman
Assistant Dean, Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies;
Lecturer, Art History, Bar Ilan University

Dr. Walter Reich
Past Executive Director, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum;
Yitzhak Rabin Memorial Professor of International Affairs, Ethics,
and Human Behavior – George Washington University

Rabbi Joshua Boettiger
Congregation Beth El; Bennington, VT

Rabbi Alan Goldman
Masgiach Ruhani Tochnit Shalem
Young Judaea Year Course

Rabbi Paul S. Laderman
Past Director of Jewish Programming
Israel Associaton of Community Centers

Rabbi J. Rolando Matalon
Congregation Bnai Jeshurun, New York, NY

Rabbi Ellen Lippmann
Kolot Chayeinu / Voices of Our Lives, Brooklyn NY

Rabbi Daniel Polish
Congregation Shir Hadash
Poughkeepsie, NY

Dr. Gary P. Zola
Executive Director, American Jewish Archives;
Associate Professor of the American Jewish Experience
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion

Rabbi Dov Fischer
Rabbi, Young Israel of Orange County
Adjunct Professor of Law, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles

Lisa Lieberman Barzilai, RJE
Regional Educator, Union for Reform Judaism, Greater New York Council
Vice President – National Association of Temple Educators

Rabbi Dayle A. Friedman
Director
Hiddur: The Center for Aging and Judaism

Rabbi Scot A. Berman
Executive Director
Seryl & Charles Kushner Family Foundation

Rabbi Sara Sapadin
Assistant Rabbi
Temple Beth-El of Great Neck, NY

Rabbi Avis D. Miller
Adas Israel Congregation
Washington, DC

Rabbi Evan Shore
Young Israel Shaarei Torah of Syracuse
Dewitt, NY

Rabbi Daniel M. Bronstein
Congregational Scholar, Congregation Beth Elohim, Brooklyn, NY,
Jewish Theological Seminary of America

Rabbi Dr. Lewis M. Barth
Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, Los Angeles
Past Dean and Professor Emeritus of Midrash and Related Literature

Rabbi Leonard B. Troupp
Rabbi Emeritus
Temple Beth David of Commack, NY

Rabbi Jeffrey A. Wohlberg
Adas Israel Congregation
Washington DC

Rabbi Adam D. Fisher
Rabbi Emeritus, Temple Isaiah
Stony Brook, NY

Rabbi Richard J. Shapiro
Temple Beth-El
Great Neck, NY

Rabbi Amy Schwartzman
Temple Rodef Shalom
Falls Church, VA

Rabbi Stephanie D. Kolin
Temple Israel, Boston, MA

Rabbi Ethan Seidel
Tifereth Israel Congregation
Washington, DC

Rabbi Jeremy S. Morrison
Temple Israel
Boston, MA

Rabbi Shalom Carmy
Yeshiva University
Editor, Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Thought

Rabbi Jonathan A. Schnitzer
Senior Rabbi
B’nai Israel Congregation, Rockville, MD

Rabbi Pesach Sommer
Rebbe, Yeshiva University High School for Boys
New York, NY

Rabbi David Leibtag
Head of School
Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns & Rockaway
Lawrence, NY

Rabbi Sue Ann Wasserman
Director, Department of Worship, Music and Religious Living
Union for Reform Judaism

Rabbi Bernard H. Mehlman
Rabbi Emeritus, Temple Israel, Boston, MA

Rabbi Avi Weiss
Founder and President, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah
Senior Rabbi, Hebrew Institute of Riverdale

Rabbi Jeffrey Kobrin
Headmaster, Ramaz Middle School

Dr. Racelle R. Weiman
Executive Director, The Dialogue Institute, Temple University;
Foundating Director, Center for Holocaust and Humanity
Education, Hebrew Union College

Rabbi Alan Berkowitz
Ramaz School

Rabbi Dr. Steve Glazer
Congregation Beth Emeth, Herndon, VA

Rabbi Dr. Gershon C. Gewirtz
Young Israel of Brookline

Cantor Alane S. Katzew
Director of Music Programming
Union for Reform Judaism

Rabbi Ronne Friedman
Temple Israel, Boston, MA

Nathan Lewin, Esq.
Honorary President, American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists

Cantor Roy B. Einhorn
Temple Israel, Boston MA

Rabbi Benjamin Blech
Professor of Talmud, Yeshiva University

Rabbi Marci N. Bellows
Temple Shaaray Tefila
New York, NY

Rabbi Andy Bachman
Congregation Beth Elohim
Brooklyn, NY

Rabbi Elie Weinstock
Associate Rabbi, Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun
New York, NY

Reb Mimi Feigelson
Mashpiah Ruchanit, Lecturer of Rabbinics and Chassidic Thought
Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, The American Jewish University
Los Angeles, CA

Rabbi Dan Shevitz
Congregation Mishkon Tephilo
Venice, CA

Rabbi Joseph Polak
Chairman, Halacha Committee,
Bet Din of Boston

Rabbi Deborah Schuldenfrei
Assistant Rabbi, Congregation Shir Ha-Ma’a lot
Irvine, CA

Rabbi Stephen A. Klein
Scarsdale, NY

Rabbi Leah Lewis
Leo Baeck Temple, Los Angeles, CA

Rabbi Mordechai Y. Scher
Kol BeRamah/Santa Fe Torah Learning Coop
Santa Fe, NM

Rabbi Joshua Lookstein
New York, NY

Rabbi Jeffrey Gale
Rabbi of The Suburban Temple of Wantagh

Rabbi David Adelson
East End Temple
New York, New York

Rabbi Dr. Avi Berkowitz
Rabbi Emeritus, Community Synagogue Max D. Raiskin Center, New York City
Member of Faculty Young Judaea Year Course, Jerusalem

Dr. Yaakov Elman
Yeshiva University

Rabbi Shira Koch Epstein
Director of Youth and Family Education
Congregation Beth Elohim, Brooklyn NY

Rabbi Arthur F. Starr
Hebrew Congregation of St. Thomas
Rabbi Emeritus, Temple Adath Yeshurun, Manchester, NH

Cantor Dana Anesi
Temple Beth El of Northern Westchester
Chappaqua, NY

Cantor Chanin Becker
Scarsdale Synagogue-Temples Tremont and Emanu-El
Scarsdale, NY

Rabbi Mordechai Rackover
Assistant Rabbi and Director of Education
Beth Sholom Congregation, Potomac, MD

Rabbi Joshua M. Davidson
Temple Beth El of Northern Westchester
Chappaqua, NY

Rabbi Ira Ebbin
Beth Zion Congregation, Montreal, Quebec

Rabbi Mayer Waxman
Associate Director
Yachad/The National Jewish Council for Disabilities

Rabbi Alysa Mendelson Graf
Temple Israel, Westport, CT

Rabbi David Wirtschafter
Temple Beth Sholom
Irvine, CA

Rabbi Chava Koster
The Village Temple
New York, NY

Rabbi Scott Corngold
Temple Emanu-El of Lynbrook
Lynbrook, NY

Prof. Michael Chernick
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
New York, NY

Rabbi Scott B. Weiner
The Hebrew Tabernacle
New York, NY

Rabbi Jocee Hudson
Director of Education
Temple Beth Sholom, Santa Ana CA

Cantor Arianne Brown
Sinai Temple
Los Angeles, CA

Rabbi Brian Schuldenfrei
Sinai Temple
Los Angeles, CA

Rabbi Carey Brown
Temple Isaiah
Lexington, MA

Rabbi David J. Gelfand
Temple Israel of the City of New York

Rabbi Stephen Wise
Shaarei-Beth El Congregation
Oakville, Ontario, Canada

Rabbi Daniel Friedman
Beth Israel Synagogue
Edmonton, Canada

Rabbi Allen Krause
Temple Beth El
Mission Viejo, CA

Rabbi Randy Sheinberg
Temple Emanuel/Temple Israel
New Hyde Park, NY

Rabbi Dennis Linson
Temple Judea
Laguna Hills, CA

Rabbi Susan Conforti
Board-Certified Chaplain, VITAS Innovative Hospice

Rabbi Dov Gartenberg
Temple Beth Shalom
Long Beach, CA

Rabbi Dr. Meir Sendor
Young Israel of Sharon, MA

Rabbi Ari Segal
Head of School, Robert M. Beren Academy
Houston, TX

Rabbi Mayer Schiller
Mashgiach Ruchani
Yeshiva University High School for Boys

Rabbi Yitzchok Feldman
Congregation Emek Beracha, Palo Alto, CA

Rabbi Peter Levi
Temple Beth El South Orange County, Aliso Viejo, CA

Rabbi Douglas B. Sagal
Senior Rabbi
Temple Emanu-El, Westfield NJ

Rabbi Norman Koch
Temple Sholom, New Milford, CT

Rabbi Judith Schindler
Temple Beth El, Charlotte, NC

Rabbi Phil Cohen
Temple B’rith Shalom, Prescott, AZ

Rabbi Barry Gelman
United Orthodox Synagogues, Houston, TX

Rabbi Amy Joy Small
Congregation Beth Hatikvah, Summit, NJ

Rabbi Richard Litvak
Temple Beth El, Aptos, CA

Rabbi Michael Zedek
Emanuel Congregation, Chicago, IL
Past President, Hebrew Union College Alunmi Association

Rabbi Paul Kipnes
Congregation Or Ami, Calabasas, CA

Rabbi Melanie Aron
Congregation Shir Hadash, Los Gatos, CA

Rabbi Allen B. Bennett
Temple Israel, Alameda, CA

Rabbi Joel R. Schwartzman
Congregation B’nai Chaim, Morrison, CO

Rabbi Andrew Straus
Temple Emanuel, Tempe, AZ

Rabbi Adam M. Morris
Temple Micah, Denver, CO

Rabbi Aaron Frank
Principal, Lower School
Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School, Baltimore, MD

Rabbi Paula Marcus
Temple Beth El, Aptos, CA

Rabbi Douglas Kohn
Congregation Emanu El, San Bernardino, CA

Rabbi Michael Pincus
Congregation Beth Israel, West Hartford, CT

Rabbi Hesch Sommer
Temple Beth Tikvah, Madison, CT

Rabbi Stephen Fuchs
Congregation Beth Israel, West Hartford, CT

Rabbi Kenneth Chasen
Leo Baeck Temple, Los Angeles, CA

Rabbi Anne Persin
North Tahoe Hebrew Congregation, Tahoe Vista, CA

Rabbi Rena H. Kieval
Congregation Ohav Shalom, Albany NY

Rabbi Leonard Zukrow
Temple Beth El, Pensacola, FL

Rabbi Scott Looper
Congregation Or Shalom, Vernon Hills, IL

Rabbi Dr. Pinchas Giller
American Jewish University, Los Angeles, CA

Rabbi Mark N. Goldman
Temple Bet Yam, St. Augustine, FL
Rabbi Emeritus, Rockdale Temple/KK Bene Israel, Cincinnati, OH

Rabbi Richard D. Agler
Congregation B’nai Israel, Boca Raton, FL

Rabbi David Fox Sandmel, Ph.D.
KAM Isaiah Israel Congregation, Chicago, IL

Rabbi Rachel Gurevitz
Congregation B’nai Israel, Bridgeport, CT and CLAL Associate

Rabbi David Oler
Congregation Beth Or, Deerfield, IL

Rabbi Peter B. Schaktman
Temple Emanu-El, Honolulu, HI

Rabbi Leon Wiener Dow
Jerusalem, Israel

Rabbi Steven Bob
Congregation Etz Chaim, Lombard, IL

Rabbi Brian Strauss
Congregation Beth Yeshurun, Houston, TX

Rabbi Carie Carter
Park Slope Jewish Center, Brooklyn, NY

Rabbi Aaron M. Petuchowski
Temple Sholom, Chicago, IL

Rabbi Perry Netter
Temple Beth Am, Los Angeles, CA

Rabbi Gideon Shloush
Congregation Adereth El, New York, NY

Rabbi Joel L. Levine
Temple Judea, Palm Beach Gardens, FL

Rabbi C. Michelle Greenberg
Temple Jeremiah, Northfield, IL

Rabbi Stephen F. Moch
Congregation B’nai Emmunah, Tarpon Springs, FL

Rabbi Michelle Missaghieh
Temple Israel of Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA

Rabbi Mimi Weisel
Jewish Community High School of the Bay, San Francisco, CA

Rabbi Harry Brechner
Congregation Emanu-El, Victoria BC, Canada

Rabbi Uri Topolosky
Congregation Beth Israel, New Orleans, LA

Rabbi Daniel Cohen
Agudath Sholom Stamford, CT

Rabbi Yossi Pollak
Congregation Bnai Jacob Anschei Brzezan-The Stanton Street Shul
Lower East Side, New York City

Rabbi Yitzchok Adler
Beth David Synagogue, West Hartford, CT

Rabbi Dov R. Katz
Baltimore, MD

Rabbi Yaffa-Shira Sultan
Congregation Dor Hadash, San Diego, CA

(Institutions listed for identification purposes only.)