TO:
Mr. Fred Wilpon, Chairman of the Board of the New York Mets
CC:
Mr. Bud Selig, Commissioner of Major League Baseball
Ms. Hillary Clinton, United States Secretary of State
Mr. George Mitchell, United States Special Envoy for the Middle East
Ms. Rachel Robinson, Chairman of the Jackie Robinson Foundation
SUBJECT:
Cancel Hebron Fund’s Fundraising Dinner at Citi Field over Group’s Support for Human Rights Violations & Discrimination
Date:
November 3, 2009
As diverse organizations working for human rights, social justice, and peace, we call on the New York Mets to cancel the November 21st fundraising dinner for the Hebron Fund that is scheduled to be held at the Caesars Club at Citi Field, the stadium of the New York Mets. By allowing the Hebron Fund to fundraise on its premises, the New York Mets will be directly aiding Hebron’s Jewish settlers, who are regularly described, both worldwide and among Israelis, as violent racists. The New York Mets will be facilitating activities that directly violate international law and the Obama administration’s call for a freeze in settlement construction, and that actively promote racial discrimination, and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their homes in Hebron. A review of last year’s and this year’s Hebron Fund dinners also shows that some dinner honorees support violence and the terrorizing of Palestinians (see below).
Finally, The Hebron Fund has been the subject of complaints to the I.R.S. regarding its tax-exempt status. The complaints request investigations of allegations that it raises funds for the development of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.
