Voorhees Committee commends legislators on bill standing against companies that boycott Israel
At the July 11 meeting of the Voorhees Township Committee, Deputy Mayor Jason Ravitz took some time on behalf of committee to commend state legislators for their work on recently passed state legislation NJ S1923 that would require the state’s public workers pension fund to divest from companies that boycott Israel.
Ravitz specially presented a commendation to Voorhees representatives state Sen. James Beach and Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt for sponsoring the legislation, as well as Assembly Majority Leader Louis Greenwald for helping move the legislation forward.
The legislation mainly works to counteract the efforts of the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
The movement seeks to increase political and economic pressure on Israel by convincing companies and organizations to boycott doing business with Israel to achieve the movement’s stated goals of ending Israel’s “occupation and colonization of Palestinian land,” granting “equality for Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel,” and allowing “the right of return of Palestinian refugees.”
Ravitz, who is Jewish and was raised in neighboring Cherry Hill before moving to Voorhees a decade ago, said it was more than a year ago when Beach first reached out to him so he could share some background and concerns of the area’s Jewish community regarding the BDS issue.
“Jim and I got together … and discussed some of the discriminatory business practices that were taking place in this country regarding doing business with the state of Israel,” Ravitz said. “There were a lot of companies that were boycotting doing business with Israel, taking a moral position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
After what Ravitz described as many long discussions, he said Beach worked in the senate, along with Lampitt and Greenwald in the assembly, to bring forward a bill that would allow New Jersey to be in forefront of ending what Ravitz described as “discriminatory” business practices.
“I want to say thanks on behalf of the residents of Voorhees, also the residents of Cherry Hill, for your hard work in getting this important piece of legislation through for the state of New Jersey, the Jewish community, for all the residents of New Jersey,” Ravitz said.
Ravitz described New Jersey as a role model for what he said he believed should be national legislation, and in the text of the commendation he and committee urged Gov. Christie to sign the legislation a to take a stand against “veiled discrimination.”
In turn, Beach thanked Ravitz for his many hours in helping develop the legislation.
“Without his support and guidance, this may not have happened,” Beach said.
Greenwald described Israel as one of the nation’s largest trade partners and a “remarkable ally” to the country, and he said the commendation from committee reflected the work the legislature did and why insight from people such as Ravitz and the Jewish community mattered.
“We are blessed to live in Camden County — a county that has such a diverse population of people and faiths and people from all different backgrounds, and it is the beauty of that county that we represent that gives us the privilege to understand the need for this,” Greenwald said.
