US Synagogue Organization: Palestinian Land Policy Is ‘Racist’

The National Council of Young Israel (NCYI), a national American synagogue organization comprising 150 synagogues throughout the United States, issued a harsh condemnation yesterday of the Palestinian Authority’s decision to sentence a Palestinian man to death after he was accused of selling land to Jews.

The death sentence, issued by the Palestinian Authority’s military court, was based on a longstanding Palestinian policy that prohibits Palestinians from entering into real estate transactions with Jews.

The court’s decision comes in the wake of a recent reminder to Palestinians by Palestinian Authority Chief Justice Sheik Tayseer Rajab Tamimi that selling land to Jews is considered “high treason,” a crime that carries with it a death sentence.

“The Palestinian Authority’s decision to punish people for selling land to Jews is a racist policy that should be viewed by the entire international community with disgust and disdain,” said NCYI President Shlomo Z. Mostofsky, Esq. “Equating a real estate transaction with a death sentence is unconscionable and must be condemned in the strongest terms possible.”

The National Council of Young Israel also called on the Obama administration and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to denounce the Palestinian policy and to demand its renunciation by the Palestinian Authority.

“The United States cannot in good faith engage in a conversation about peace with the Palestinians while they continue to advocate a policy that is so deeply rooted in hatred,” said Mr. Mostofsky. “Before the U.S. can contemplate partnering with the Palestinian Authority in an attempt to achieve peace in the Middle East, it must insist that they abandon these bigoted policies that incite hatred and ill-will against the State of Israel and the Jewish people.”

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com