Media Roundup: How we’re keeping up the fight.

As we face down a looming Trump administration, JVP and our sister organization, JVP Action, are keeping up the fight: defending our movements against attacks from MAGA and working to protect freedom of speech on campuses across the country; exposing far-Right institutions like the ADL and the JNF for their anti-Palestinian, anti-progressive agenda; and building a grassroots movements of U.S. Jews and allies demanding an end to U.S. weapons transfers to Israel.

Below, you’ll find a roundup of JVP chapters and pods making headlines across the U.S.

Dion disappoints with apology for divestment support, Portland Press Herald, November 6, 2024.

“As Jews, we squarely reject the notion that divestment harms Portland’s Jewish community. This idea reveals a dangerous conflation between the Jewish identity and the ethnonationalist, racist, settler colonial ideology behind Israel’s apartheid system: Zionism.”

JVP-Maine

Genocide is not a Jewish value! says Jewish Voice for Peace – Milwaukee, Wisconsin Muslim Journal, November 1, 2024.

“As the death toll in Gaza rises and Israeli violence spreads through the region, we call for a ceasefire and an arms embargo by the United States, which continues to send billions of dollars in support of the Israeli military.”

JVP-Milwaukee 

NY lawmakers supported House bill harmful to nonprofits, Public News Service, November 14, 2024

“It’s very clear that the far-right MAGA Republicans are planning to take every step they can to dismantle our fundamental freedoms including our right to free speech, our right to protest, and attacking the nonprofit civil-society sector and social justice movements and progressive movements.”

Beth Miller, Political Director, JVP Action

Northwestern’s campaign against Palestine and anti-Zionist Jews, Mondoweiss, November 13, 2024.

I am the descendant of Jews who endured genocide and ethnic cleansing in Eastern Europe, and my history and faith demand that I stand up for justice. I refuse to allow Northwestern to destroy that faith, no matter how hard they try.”

_{Paz Baum, JVP-Northwestern}

Divest From Death from Appalachia to Gaza, Yes! Magazine, November 7, 2024.

“We have always opposed the Israeli military’s destruction of Gaza—one that began long before Oct. 7, 2023—but in observing the destruction in our own backyards and neighborhoods that day, we felt more committed than ever before to ensuring that our government stops sending the bombs that destroy life, land, and infrastructure in Palestine. In our grief, we committed to working toward the restoration of life from Asheville to Gaza.”

Rebecca Croog & Noa D’ror Dettwyler, JVP-Asheville

University of Rochester investigates ‘wanted’ posters targeting staff, The Guardian, November 13, 2024.

“The administration’s hasty jump to attribute these posters to antisemitism, without any proper investigation, comes across as an attempt to censor any discussion of the University of Rochester’s complicity in the Israeli army’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.”

JVP-University of Rochester 

Ben & Jerry’s accuses Unilever of silencing it over pro-Palestine stance, Middle East Eye, November 14, 2024.

“According to the legal filing, Unilever is required to give Ben & Jerry’s $5m so the brand can donate to human rights groups of its choosing. Ben & Jerry’s selected two organisations, the anti-Zionist Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and the San Francisco chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, but Unilever objected. The lawsuit states that Unilever said JVP was ‘too critical of the Israeli government‘”

Pro-Palestine protesters detained after blocking road, planting olive tree in Downtown Dallas, Fox 4 News, November 14, 2024.

Protesters against Gaza war halt traffic in Dallas outside Jewish National Fund conference, CBS News Texas, November 14, 2024

12 arrested Thursday while protesting Jewish National Fund Conference, ABC 8, November 14, 2024

“We invite all people of conscience to join us in opposing genocide and working towards a future of freedom and safety for all from Dallas to Palestine”

_{Judith Norman, JVP-San Antonio}

Protesters arrested for blocking road in Dallas as pro-Israel conference begins, The Dallas Morning News, November 14, 2024.

“We will not have business as usual as long as genocide is happening in our name. There is no such thing as an innocent bystander.”

_{Deb Armintour, JVP Dallas}

“People are scared”: Activists brace for “unprecedented assault on human rights” under Trump, Common Dreams, November 16, 2024.

“We’re viscerally aware of the threat that the ascendent MAGA movement poses to so many of our communities, to the environment, and to our Democratic institutions. We are resolute in continuing to organize for collective safety and collective freedom. We are already doing so.”

Sonya Meyerson-Knox, Communications Director, JVP

Ben & Jerry’s Sues Parent Company for Silencing Support for Palestine, Truthout, November 16, 2024.

“The lawsuit adds that Unilever rejected Ben & Jerry’s selections of human rights groups to make donations to. The company took issue with the Jewish Voice for Peace, saying the organization was “too critical of the Israeli government,” according to the lawsuit.”

NY lawmakers supported House bill harmful to nonprofits, Finger Lakes 1, November 18, 2024.

“It’s very clear that the far-right MAGA Republicans are planning to take every step they can to dismantle our fundamental freedoms including our right to free speech, our right to protest, and attacking the nonprofit civil-society sector and social justice movements and progressive movements”

Beth Miller, Political Director, JVP

Activists call on Hilton Anatole to cancel scheduled JNF conference, The Dallas Voice, November 6, 2024.

“We see it as our mandate to decouple our rich religious and cultural heritage from the settler-colonial ideology that is Zionism. The JNF has lied to our people, pretending that their blue boxes in many of our synagogues merely raise funds to plant trees in the Holy Land — ignoring the fact that these trees are planted on stolen land, often to cover up the ruins of displaced Palestinian villages.”

William Josef, JVP-Dallas 

‘Fund Housing Not Genocide’: Arrests at Capitol Protest Over US Complicity in Gaza, Common Dreams, November 19, 2024.

“Caterpillar builds armored D9 bulldozers that the Israeli military uses in its genocidal campaign in Gaza and to demolish homes in the occupied West Bank. This protest comes at a historic moment: This week Congress is set to vote on legislation to block U.S. weapons sales to the Israeli government.”

_{JVP Chicago}

Protests Rock Senate Office Building Ahead of Vote on U.S. Military Aid to Israel, Democracy Now!, November 20, 2024

“In Chicago, more than a dozen Jewish peace activists were arrested as they nonviolently blocked escalators and elevators to shut down business operations at Caterpillar’s Business and Analytics Hub. Caterpillar supplies Israel’s military with armored bulldozers used to demolish homes and businesses in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.”