Press Releases
Ameinu Applauds Jewish Camps' Boycott of Agriprocessors
New York, NY, July 1, 2008. Ameinu expresses its solidarity with the Jewish summer camps that have chosen to join the boycott of kosher meat processed in the Agriprocessors facility in Postville, Iowa.
“The commitment to justice exhibited by Jewish summer camps associated with the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization (BBYO), Habonim Dror, Ramah, Union of Reform Judaism, Young Judea and others is commendable,” said Kenneth Bob, President of Ameinu. “At a time when too many voices in the American Jewish community remain silent in the face of the eye witness accounts of illegal and immoral activity taking place at the Agriprocessors facility, it is heartening that institutions serving Jewish youth are setting such a good example,” he continued.
Ameinu enacted a boycott of Agriprocessors after receiving first hand testimony by several Ameinu members who have visited the Agriprocessors facility personally.
After returning from the plant, Ameinu member Rabbi Amy Eilberg reported that a “humanitarian crisis is unfolding in Postville.” There was “an atmosphere of intense fear, harassment, and dehumanization. Serious accidents were common, including lost limbs and managers regularly humiliated workers and occasionally struck them Sexual favors were demanded of female workers, in exchange for work or better work assignments and 40-80 teenagers, age 14-16, worked illegally in the plant.”
Ameinu board member Avram Lyon, who also visited Postville, stated that, “abuse is abuse. It knows no religious or ethnic boundary. What makes this particular case a Jewish issue is that this plant would not exist were it not for the fact that it produces kosher meat and poultry. The Jewish community can solve the problem by a) withholding "kosher certification" from a product made in a plant that oppresses workers, and; b) hitting the company where it hurts most - in the pocketbook.”
“Ameinu will continue to support the boycott of Agriprocessors until the company begins to treat its employees ethically. We will not stand by in silence,” added Bob.
About Ameinu
Ameinu, the leading progressive Zionist organization in the United States and the U.S., is dedicated to promoting a negotiated peace between Israel, the Palestinians and the Arab states, and to social and economic justice for all in Israel and America. Ameinu reinforces Jewish continuity through support for Habonim Dror, the Labor Zionist youth movement, and the Union for Progressive Zionists national campus organization. Ameinu is the affiliate of the World Labor Zionist Movement.
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