Democracy is the issue of our time

Democracy is the issue of our time. “The future of democracy” is the number one issue for Jewish American voters for a second year in a row because its fragility has been exposed in the U.S. and other countries, including Israel.

Over the past few months, the current Israeli government has pursued an overhaul of its judicial system that would erode Israel’s system of checks and balances by undermining the ability of its courts to overturn executive actions deemed “unreasonable.” Earlier today, the Israeli Knesset repealed the “reasonableness standard.” In the past, this law has served as a critical check on governmental overreach, allowing the Israeli High Court to protect minority rights and prevent corruption. JDCA has consistently opposed the Israeli government’s proposed judicial overhaul and today announced that we strongly oppose the passage of this bill.

Read our full statement on today’s vote in the Knesset and read the White House’s statement expressing that “it is unfortunate that the vote today took place with the slimmest possible majority.”

Defending democracy is not a spectator sport. It’s up to us to protect it. Fortunately, there are opportunities to get involved in the efforts to protect democracy at home, and we are counting on you to help. We have two opportunities for you to take action:

PHONE BANK IN OHIO

We need your help to defend democracy and reproductive freedom in Ohio. Republican state legislators in Ohio introduced an anti-democratic ballot initiative for a special election this August. If this initiative passes, it would be virtually impossible to pass a citizen-led constitutional amendment. This could permanently end reproductive healthcare in Ohio in November and create major barriers to future citizen-led ballot initiatives.

The Ohio Democratic Party and our friends at Jewish Democratic Women for Action (JDWA) have teamed up to phone bank on Tuesdays from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. ET through Election Day on August 8th. Please join them by clicking on the link below.

JOIN MARC ELIAS AND JEWISH DEMS

As our country continues to face Republican-led threats to the future of democracy, Jewish Dems are taking action. Please join us for a virtual event with Marc Elias, the leading voting rights attorney in the country, for “The Fight for Voting Rights,” on August 3rd at 1:00 P.M. ET/10:00 A.M PT. Marc is the founder of Democracy Docket and founding partner at the Elias Law Group, and he was the recipient of JDCA’s 2021 Ruth Bader Ginsburg Justice Award.

Click here to RSVP for this special event on the future of voting rights and democracy.

Thank you for your continued support and partnership,

Halie Soifer
CEO, Jewish Democratic Council of America