(JTA) – Nine Jewish groups wrote to President Trump asking him to preserve the two-state solution in the face of a pledge by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to annex West Bank territory. It is unusual for mainstream Jewish groups pleading with a U.S. president to take steps to restrain an Israeli prime minister. “We believe that it will lead to greater conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, severely undermine, if not entirely eradicate, the successful security coordination between the State of Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and galvanize efforts such as the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement that are intended to isolate and delegitimize Israel,” said the letter released April 12 to JTA. “It will create intense divisions in the United States and make unwavering support for Israel and its security far more difficult to maintain.” 

Signing the letter were the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Union for Reform Judaism, affiliated with the Reform movement; the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, its Rabbinical Assembly, and Mercaz, the Conservative movement’s Zionist affiliate; the Anti-Defamation League; Ameinu, a liberal Zionist group; the National Council of Jewish Women; and the Israel Policy Forum, a group focused on reaching a two-state solution. In addition, constitutional lawyer and author Alan Dershowitz, one of the best-known defenders of Israel, tweeted his support of a two-state solution. “Mazal tov to @IsraeliPM @netanyahu, who I’ve known since he was a student at MIT,” Dershowitz said. “Waiting for the new peace plan to be implemented. Time for a fair two-state solution that assures Israel’s security.”