We must stop U.S. support for Israel's genocide.
We aren’t going anywhere. Ceasefire NOW.
Over 100 days into the genocide in Gaza, we are overwhelmed with sorrow and rage. The Israeli military has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians. Nearly two million people have been forced to flee their homes. Infectious diseases are rampant, particularly in the tent cities where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been forced to take shelter. Gaza is teetering on the brink of famine.
But even in the bleakest moments, we keep fighting. Not just because it’s what we do, but because the tide is turning. Last week, the International Court of Justice found South Africa’s genocide case against Israel “plausible,” meaning it will go forward with the trial: a historic ruling that we’re using to push even harder for an immediate ceasefire.
This week, Chicago became the largest U.S. city yet to pass a ceasefire resolution. They join dozens of other cities across the country, representing the majority of Americans who want a ceasefire now. That’s why, from Seattle to New Orleans, Madison to Raleigh, JVP continues to build power towards ending U.S. complicity in the genocide of Palestinians — and all U.S. support for Israel’s apartheid regime.
Photo: Fernando Lopez
Jewish Activists Mobilizing Against War Are Finding a New Community, New Lines Magazine, January 15, 2024
“The desire to marginalize us is a desire to kind of make impossible or make invisible what is actually true about us, which is that we represent a real and growing and furious constituency of the Jewish community in the U.S.”
-Stefanie Fox, Executive Director, JVP
‘Everyone and their bubbie is here’: a lively Jewish Sabbath at a Palestinian restaurant in Brooklyn, The Guardian, January 29, 2024
“The majority of the people here have been at actions to free Gaza. Shabbat is a time to rest and renew. And when Shabbat ends, we’re back at it.”
-Rabbi Miriam Grossman, JVP Rabbinical Council
Are We Sliding Toward McCarthyism?, The New Republic, January 29, 2024
“Anti-Zionist Jewish organizing is a fact, is growing by the day. More and more Jews of all ages are saying they’ve had it, they see clearly what is happening, they want to be on the side of justice and freedom.”
– Stefanie Fox, Executive Director, JVP
Doug Emhoff’s fight against antisemitism meets a fraught new moment, The Washington Post, January 29, 2024
“What we’d like to see from the second gentleman is a much stronger separation between what are actually attacks on Jewish communities for being Jewish and what is free speech.”
– Beth Miller, Political Director, Jewish Voice for Peace Action
Moore Square vigil: 200 gather to remember Holocaust and advocate for peace in Gaza, WRAL News, January 27, 2024
“Never again means never again, and for me as a descendant, my family didn’t survive for there to be another genocide.“
– Marlo Kalb, JVP-Triangle
The American Jewish Left in Exile, The New York Review of Books, January 28, 2024
“One sign of this generational divide is the increased visibility of young, left-wing, anti-Zionist American Jews—a cohort to which I and many of my friends belong. For months our most prominent representatives have been two activist groups calling for a ceasefire in Gaza: IfNotNow (INN) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP).”
– David Klion
More than 1,300 attend a free Shabbat dinner at Ayat, a Palestinian restaurant in Brooklyn, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, January 28, 2024
“Local members of Jewish Voice for Peace, which describes itself ‘the largest progressive Jewish anti-Zionist organization in the world,’ provided guidance on the ritual aspects of the evening, advising him on challah, candles and wine.”
Madison anti-war groups demand Gaza ceasefire in Capitol demonstration, The Daily Cardinal, January 29, 2024
“One hundred and eleven. One hundred and eleven. That is how many days that we have been seeing, unprecedented, unwavering, unrelenting genocide against the land and the people of Palestine.”
– Samantha Bosco, JVP-Madison
Column: Jewish Voice for Peace Hawaii supports a free Palestine, Star Advertiser, January 11, 2024
“We call on Hawaii residents to hear our perspective as anti-Zionist Jews. We invite you to join us and our allies — including Palestinians, Native Hawaiians and local social justice, demilitarization and human rights organizations — in our fight for a Free Palestine and Free Hawaii.”
– JVP-Hawaii
Opinion: Why, as a Jew, I oppose Indiana’s bill defining antisemitism, Indy Star, January 23, 2024
“My beloved parents taught me that the lesson of the Holocaust was that “never again” must be for all of us. HB 1002 effectively smears the Palestinian pursuit of freedom and equality as something antisemitic, doing so, moreover, at a time when the Israeli state is engaged in mass murder in Gaza. HB 1002 thus targets Palestinians and effectively betrays that essential lesson of the Holocaust.”
– Dan Segal JVP Indiana
Cleveland public commenters renew call for a Gaza ceasefire resolution, Signal Cleveland, January 15, 2024
“So if you need to hear it from another Jew, let me be that Jew. My message is simple: Show some spine; pass a ceasefire resolution.”
– Koby Picker, JVP-Cleveland
Alachua County gathers for celebratory parades of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, The Independent Florida Alligator, January 16, 2024
“We’re here today to be in solidarity with the African American community and also to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr., who was a powerful civil rights activist and also an anti-war activist. We believe that if he was alive today he would be against the war in Gaza.”
– Abigail Fletcher, JVP-Gainesville
DOE Investigations of Campus “Antisemitism” Suppress Criticism of Gaza Genocide, Truthout, January 14, 2024
“Just as young people were at the forefront of the protests against the Vietnam War and the movement to end South African apartheid, young people are once again on the right side of history in standing unequivocally for the freedom and dignity of the people of Palestine.”
– Liv Kunins-Berkowitz, Media Coordinator, JVP
Letter to the Editor: Our event was a mourning procession for murdered Israeli and Palestinian children, not an ‘antisemitic incident’, Forward, January 18, 2024
“The procession was organized by mostly elders from Jewish Voice for Peace, as well as other organizations. The flyer that we handed out made clear that we were mourning the death of innocent children in both Israel and Gaza.”
– David Bragin
Is Israel Part of What It Means to Be Jewish?, The New York Times, January 14, 2024
“The weekly newsletter of Jewish Voice for Peace, an anti-Zionist group, went to 43,000 people on Oct. 4, said a spokeswoman, and to 350,000 two months later.”
Why Hasn’t Senator Patty Murray Called for a Ceasefire in Gaza? AIPAC., The Stranger, January 18, 2024
“So we call on you, Senator Murray: Stop taking money from AIPAC, and stop allowing money to interfere with what you know is moral, ethical and what your constituents across the state want. Call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.”
– JVP-Seattle
Letter: Jewish Voice for Peace saddened to read BAJC’s letter, Brattleboro Reformer, January 18, 2024
“As Jews, we must face the fact that what happened to us is being done again, this time in our name. We stand unequivocally with Palestinians against their genocide. Never again, for anyone. We urge other Jews to examine the sources of their fear and find safety in solidarity with people committed to a liberated Palestine for all who live there. None of us are free until all of us are free. Join us.”
– JVP-VT/NH
Queens Congresswoman Grace Meng ignores ceasefire calls, but local coalition refuses to quit, People’s World, January 18, 2024
“Listen to the 80% of your constituents who want peace and demand a ceasefire, not the 1% of your funders who benefit from war”
– Rafael Shimunov, JVP-NY
Black and Jewish Activists Have Allied for Decades. What Now?, The New York Times, January 18, 2024
“I am one of so many Jews around the country and around the world who, with our whole beings, reject Zionism as the racist, colonial ideology that it is.”
– Morgan Bassichis, JVP-NY
How watermelon imagery, a symbol of solidarity with Palestinians, spread around the planet, The Associated Press, January 18, 2024
“Our reinvented image shows that our fight for liberation and fight to end the epidemic is intrinsically connected to the Palestinian struggle.”
– Jason Rosenberg, JVP-NY
Black Activists Began Traveling to Palestine in the 1960s. They Never Stopped., Mother Jones, January 15, 2024
“The entire left owes a debt of gratitude to Black and Palestinian leaders.”
– Stefanie Fox, Executive Director, JVP
Counterpoint: Cease-fire resolution neither distracting nor divisive, Star Tribune, January 15, 2024
“Jews in Minneapolis call on City Council members to vote yes on the cease-fire resolution that is slated for a vote on Jan. 25. The language of this resolution is aligned with our value of Tzedek tzedek tirdof or “Justice, justice, you shall pursue,” which calls on Jews to act on our consciences so that we may live in alignment with each other. The path towards justice starts with an immediate and permanent cease-fire.”
– JVP-Twin Cities
Activists Protest Jewish National Fund Conference in Denver, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, January 14, 2024
“A growing number of Jews are taking responsibility to use our voices. We wanted to let the Jewish National Fund know they were not welcome in Denver.”
– Siena Mann, JVP-Denver/Boulder
American rabbis hold protest calling for ceasefire during United Nations General Assembly in New York, The Arab American News, January 12, 2024
Various U.S. Jewish groups were among the organizations that played a role in organizing the protests, including Rabbis for Ceasefire, Jewish Voice for Peace and Jews for Racial and Economic Justice.
Could a divided Jewish base upend US Democrats’ presidential hopes?, Al Jazeera, January 22, 2024
“There’s a stonewalling that’s happening by Democrats where their constituents overwhelmingly, unprecedentedly want a ceasefire [in Gaza], and they’re just not listening”
– Dana Kornberg JVP-Michigan
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