Climate group refuses to rally with 'Zionist organizations'

The Washington, DC chapter of US climate action group Sunrise Movement is being accused of antisemitism for turning down a role in a voting rights rally taking place this Saturday over the participation of "Zionist organizations."

“Given our commitment to racial justice, self-governance and indigenous sovereignty, we oppose Zionism and any state that enforces its ideology,” Sunrise DC said in a statement it posted Tuesday on Twitter.

The group named the National Council of Jewish Women, the Reform movement’s Religious Action Center and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs as groups supporting Israel, which it calls a "colonial project."

The Freedom to Vote Relay and Rally is a bike ride from West Virginia to Washington, DC in support of voting reform legislation in the US Congress. The participants of the ride will be greeted by demonstrators in the nation's capital.

Sunrise DC called for Declaration for American Democracy, one of the main organizers of the rally, to remove the pro-Israel Jewish groups from the coalition it put together.

The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism posted a response on Twitter, calling it "unfortunate that any organization would refuse to join together to protect voting rights."

Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted that the action by Sunrise DC is "the vilification of Jewish nationhood and a litmus test for all who support it. This is antisemitic – plain and simple."