A 2004 Report of the respected American Jewish Committee, “Progressive Jewish Thought and the New Anti-Semitism, ” written by Alvin H. Rosenfeld, condemned the anti-Israel activities of Brad Lander, a Pratt University academic running for City Council in New York City’s 39^th Councilmanic District (Borough Park, Kensington, Park Slope, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Windsor Terrace).

“Marek, we inscribe you today into the Jewish covenant. We are imposing upon you a set of overlapping identities, inscribing you with a name of our choosing and with the ritual violence of circumcision

…We hope that you will learn to embrace this gift without thinking that you are better than others, or that your identity ought to endow you with special privileges. In particular, we are thrilled to pronounce you a Jew without the Right of Return. Your name contains our deep hope that you will explore and celebrate your Jewish identity without confusing it with nationalism.

Your last name is your mother’s -- a non-Jewish one -- by the fact of which you are ineligible for the nationalist privilege of automatic Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return. We believe that law confuses the wonderful and painful inheritance of identity with unearned advantages -- legal, political, and financial -- granted by a militarized state over other people, including so many it oppresses daily….