WASHINGTON (JTA) — The umbrella body that sets consensus on issues for American Jewish public policy adopted stances on guns and on unions that are at odds with the Trump administration.
The Jewish Council for Public Affairs, meeting here last week for its annual conference, adopted six new public policy positions through a months-long process involving consensus building among its national constituents and local Jewish community relations councils.
One JCPA resolution advocates for a ban on assault weapons and closing loopholes on background checks. The Trump administration opposes bans on assault weapons and President Donald Trump has equivocated on whether to close background check loopholes.
Another resolution, advanced at the behest of the Jewish Labor Committee, affirms the right of collective bargaining for federal and state government workers at a time that the Trump administration and some Republican state governments are trying to roll back collective bargaining rights for government workers.
A resolution on appointments to the judiciary does not directly take on the administration but calls for the approval of judges who are not “partisan” and have the approval of the American Bar Association. Trump has assailed judges who do not uphold his policies and nominated a number of candidates for judgeships whom the ABA has rated as not qualified.
Two JCPA resolutions comported with Trump administration policy, on rehabilitation for prisoners and adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism, which includes some types of attacks on Israel.
The sixth resolution called on Jewish organizations to provide food at events that meets “religious requirements of every segment of their community,” and noted that JCPA has always met the kashrut requirements of one of its constituent groups, the Orthodox Union.
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