Over 600 Jewish clerics pledge to press Trump on human rights

More than 600 rabbis and cantors sign a pledge to hold the Trump administration accountable for protecting the human rights and civil liberties of all people.

T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights is circulating the pledge, which was posted on the organization’s website two weeks ago. It had garnered 635 signatures as of this morning.

A woman protests against US President-elect Donald Trump in front of Trump Tower on November 20, 2016 in New York. (AFP/Kena Betancur)

“As rabbis and cantors, we fervently pledge to raise our voices, and those of our communities, to hold the new administration accountable for protecting the human rights and civil liberties of all people as precious creations in the divine image,” the pledge reads.

“Jewish history has taught us that fascism arrives slowly, through the steady erosion of liberties. And we have learned that those who attack other minorities will eventually come to attack us. To our great dismay, we learned this truth again when, during this election campaign, anti-Semitism rose to the fore, along with racism, Islamophobia, xenophobia, misogyny, and homophobia.”

— JTA