Dr. Steve Feldman donates $500 honorarium, which state initially refused to pay, to Jewish Voice for Peace
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 5/31/23) – The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and Jewish Voice for Peace today welcomed North Carolina Dr. Steve Feldman’s decision to donate a $500 honorarium he received from the State of Arkansas, which initially refused to pay him because he would not sign a state-mandated pledge not to boycott Israel, to the support of activism for Palestinian human rights.
In May, CAIR applauded his “principled stance.” [cair.com] He has donated the honorarium to JVP in order to support human rights activism for Palestinian families.
Dr. Feldman, a Jewish dermatologist from North Carolina, was denied a $500 honorarium [rawstory.com] for a lecture in Arkansas because he would not check a box agreeing to not boycott Israel. As reported in the Arkansas Times, during Dr. Feldman’s multiple trips to Israel and the West Bank, he recounted seeing “Palestinians suffer at Israeli hands” and noted that “Arkansas’s law requiring anyone who does business with the state to sign a pledge not to boycott Israel clashes with my religious and moral views.”
Dr. Feldman also recently told CAIR that during his trips to Israel he also saw “caring Jewish Israeli and non-Jewish Palestinian families” and “Palestinian men, women and children suffering in what looked to my American Jewish eyes as apartheid.”
Dr. Feldman ultimately received that payment and donated it to JVP.
In a statement, Dr. Feldman said:
“I know that Americans wouldn’t support mistreating anyone. Even some of Israel’s most vocal supporters have spoken out against the pogrom that was inflicted on Palestinian families in Huwara this year. I think many people will find themselves rethinking their views on Israel’s treatment of Palestinian men, women, and children after realizing that what was done to Palestinian families in 1948—making entire villages of non-Jewish families refugees— was far worse than what was done in Huwara.
“The lesson I learned from my family’s suffering in the Holocaust is to stand up against all injustice. Making and keeping so many families refugees from their homes and inflicting violence on them is not something we should be supporting, nor is it consistent with our values. I’m no lawyer, but I can’t imagine that it is constitutional for the state to punish someone for speaking out against such horrible injustice. Hopefully this obvious violation of our First Amendment rights will have a beneficial outcome, making more Americans realize how wrong our support for the mistreatment of Palestinian families has been.
“I’m happy that Arkansas decided that paying me for the lecture was the right thing to do, and even happier to donate this money to Jewish Voice for Peace so that they can continue their efforts to support peaceful measures—including boycott, divestment, and sanctions—to hasten the day when we see peace, justice and equality for Israeli Jews and Palestinian Christian and Muslim families in completely equal measure. I’m optimistic we will see this in our lifetimes, because I’m confident it is what everyone truly wants.”
JVP and CAIR welcomed Dr. Feldman’s donation and support.
“Dr. Feldman’s brave commitment to Palestinian rights is inspirational, and we are thrilled that his constitutionally protected right to boycott was legally upheld,” said Jewish Voice for Peace Executive Director Stefanie Fox. “We all have the right — and obligation — to withhold our complicity in injustice. Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions were key tools in historic social justice victories and are just as critical for building economic pressure to end Israeli apartheid. We are so grateful for Dr. Feldman’s generous donation to our work – and will use it to continue our efforts toward a future of justice, equality and freedom for Palestinians, and for all people.”
“We once again applaud Dr. Feldman’s principled stance on Palestinian human rights and freedom of speech,” said CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell. “If every American defended the rights of all people – including the Palestinian people – our nation’s policies in the Middle East and worldwide would be realigned in support of universal values of justice.”
Earlier this year, CAIR said that the fight against unconstitutional, anti-BDS laws will continue after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review an Arkansas newspaper’s appeal against an anti-free speech law in that state.
CAIR has successfully won court rulings against unconstitutional anti-BDS laws in Georgia and twice in Texas. The victories in those free speech lawsuits are being reviewed on appeal in the Fifth and Eleventh Circuits.
SEE: Top US court refuses to review anti-BDS law. Here’s what it means.
The law is one of a number of similar anti-free speech measures nationwide targeting the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. CAIR has challenged those laws [cair.com] as violations of the First Amendment [cair.com] right to free speech.
CAIR-NJ OP-ED: Anti-boycott laws are an affront to free speech. They also don’t address anti-Semitism
CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com, CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com