In response to calls from within the Jewish community to
boycott the Beijing 2008 Olympics, Agudath Israel issued the
following statement:
A number of American Jewish leaders have publicly called upon
Jews to boycott the Beijing 2008 Olympics Games.
We at Agudath Israel of America understand the motivation
behind the effort. We too are deeply concerned about reports
of human rights violations in China. We believe, however,
that it is presumptuous, and perhaps even counterproductive,
for a group of private citizens to urge a boycott of the
Beijing Olympics Å and to direct their appeal specifically at
members of the Jewish community.
The Jewish leaders' call for a boycott includes language that
may be seen as suggesting some moral equation between the
1936 Olympics in Berlin and the 2008 Olympics in China. In
Agudath Israel's view, any such comparison is entirely
misplaced. The differences between the Nazi government and
the Chinese government are not mere differences of degree;
they are fundamental differences of kind. For Jewish leaders,
of all people, to mention the two in the same breath is
highly inappropriate.
We further note that Jews escaping the horrors of the
Holocaust found refuge in China during the Nazi era; and that
China currently interacts in a number of positive ways with
both the United States and Israel. None of this excuses
China's reported shortcomings on the human rights front, but
the fuller historical and contemporary record by which China
may be judged should have given the boycott promoters pause
before issuing their public statement.
