Jewish Federations CEO privately opposed letter against arrests of campus activists

Last week, a coalition of 10 large US Jewish groups released an open letter decrying the Trump administration’s approach to antisemitism.

Hours later, Eric Fingerhut, the CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America, sent his own letter. Writing privately to leaders of local Jewish federations, he said the anti-Trump letter did not adequately “reference the diverse views we hold” in the Jewish community.

The text of Fingerhut’s email was shared with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. It was first reported by Ron Kampeas, a political reporter who retired in December from JTA and now publishes an independent Substack.

The dispute points to ongoing anxiety within the Jewish world over how, or whether, to respond to Trump’s attempted deportations of foreign student activists in the name of fighting antisemitism.

Signatories to the first letter — spearheaded by the Jewish Council on Public Affairs and including leaders of the Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist movements — join a broad range of Jewish organizations that have critiqued or condemned Trump’s campus crackdown.

But JFNA, an umbrella for nearly 150 local federations that often act as their community’s main address, is standing by its CEO’s insistence on reflecting a broader range of perspectives.

The anti-Trump letter rejected “any policies or actions that foment or take advantage of antisemitism and pit communities against one another” and condemned “the exploitation of our community’s real concerns about antisemitism to undermine democratic norms,” due process and First Amendment rights.

It added, “It is both possible and necessary to fight antisemitism — on campus, in our communities, and across the country — without abandoning the democratic values that have allowed Jews, and so many other vulnerable minorities, to thrive.”

Fingerhut: Letter doesn’t represent American Jews broadly

In his email, Fingerhut objected to the letter’s claim to represent “a broad swath of mainstream American Jewry.” He pointed to several Jewish groups — including the Anti-Defamation League, the Orthodox Union and the Conference of Presidents — that had not signed it, and also expressed disappointment over not being consulted about the letter.

Fingerhut also criticized the open letter for being circulated during Passover, which he said proved it could not speak for the entire Jewish community since some Jews, particularly in Orthodox communities, take the entire holiday off from work.

A JFNA spokesperson defended Fingerhut’s objections in a statement. “The North American Jewish community holds a wide diversity of views, especially on politically controversial topics, including those referenced in the open letter,” the spokesperson said.

“If we are to stay united in politically fraught times such as these, it is critical that statements claiming to represent the broad mainstream of our community acknowledge and include the diversity of views we hold.”

The disagreement has echoes of another recent split between JCPA, which led the letter, and JFNA, which is criticizing it.

JCPA used to set its policies via consensus across a network of local Jewish Community Relations Councils, which are often affiliated with Jewish federations. But in 2022, JCPA loosened those ties, allowing it to make statements such as the open letter without being beholden to federations.

JCPA’s CEO, Amy Spitalnick, declined to comment on Fingerhut’s letter. Her group has in the past criticized government efforts to detain immigrants without charge, including under the Obama administration.

The signatories of the open letter also included the Jewish immigrant-rights group HIAS and the National Council of Jewish Women.

Fingerhut: Targeted students are receiving due process

Fingerhut’s email expressed its own stance on the campus crackdown. He defended civil liberties, opposed campus antisemitism and urged federations to let the deportation cases play out in court.

“Our community has never sought to restrict free speech rights on campus or elsewhere, but we have and will continue to seek action by universities and government against those who incite against Jewish students,” he wrote. “Whether the cases that are currently before the courts are examples of such incitement will be determined in due course.”

He also disputed the open letter’s contention that students were being deprived of their rights, writing that “we do not support the curtailment of due process rights” but that the targeted students “are receiving due process and are represented by able legal counsel.”

Some international student protesters have been rapidly transferred to detention centers across the country without a hearing, which has led legal observers to contend their due process rights are being violated; a Federations spokesperson said many of those cases were still being adjudicated in court.

On Friday, a federal judge ordered one of the highest-profile detainees, Tufts University graduate student Rumeysa Öztürk, transferred from a detention facility in Louisiana back to one in Vermont while her case awaits trial, noting that the handling of her case “has raised significant constitutional concerns.”

Publicly, JFNA has engaged more closely than some other mainstream Jewish groups with the Trump administration. The group recently hosted officials from the US Department of Education for a “campus briefing” to “share insights on protecting students and ensuring civil rights compliance.”

And following Trump’s reelection in November, the group’s vice president of government relations joked at a conference that Jews could soon buy property in the West Bank and Gaza, angering many attendees and prompting Fingerhut to reiterate a commitment to nonpartisanship.

The only statement from JFNA to mention Trump since his inauguration appears to be one in February, thanking him for decrying the treatment of Israeli hostages. (JFNA also congratulated Mike Huckabee on his confirmation to ambassador to Israel.)

Fingerhut’s letter has earned him and JFNA criticism from some who believe it is a mistake to avoid criticizing the Trump administration.

“Some Jewish leaders have called for a conciliatory approach. They believe that cozying up to power will earn the Jewish community some protection from antisemitism,” Rabbi Jill Jacobs wrote in a message to supporters of Truah, the rabbinic human rights group she helms, which signed the JCPA letter. She linked to Kampeas’ Substack. “Generations of Jews before us have learned that this approach does not work for long.”

Meanwhile, the Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Committee, and Hillel International have all sounded notes of concern about the deportations and the defunding of university research in recent weeks, though none signed onto the JCPA-led letter.

A few local federations and Jewish Community Relations Councils had also criticized the Trump administration prior to Fingerhut’s letter.

Local federation: Where speech is silenced, Jews will be too

In March, the federation of Ann Arbor, Michigan — where the University of Michigan played host to particularly restive anti-Israel protests and attacks on Jewish students — issued a statement defending “due process and free speech, which are fundamental principles of our democracy.” Like the open letter, it suggested the crackdown could ultimately hurt Jews.

“We know all too well from our own history: in places where speech is suppressed and due process not followed, Jews, too, will inevitably be silenced,” the Ann Arbor federation’s statement continued.

JCRCs in Boston and the Bay Area, both regions of intense pro-Palestinian student activity, have also issued statements opposing the arrests of international students in the name of fighting antisemitism. Both groups, unlike many other JCRCs, operate independently of their local federations.

But Fingerhut’s letter didn’t discourage everyone. The day after he sent it, the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island, the state’s federation arm, announced it had also signed onto the JCPA-led statement.