Jewish Voice for Peace
Encyclopedia
Jewish Voice for Peace (קול יהודי לשלום Kol Yehudi la-Shalom) is a United States
Jewish organization which describes itself as "a diverse and democratic community of activists inspired by Jewish tradition to work together for peace, social justice, and human rights
[to] support the aspirations of Israelis and Palestinians for security and self-determination
." JVP seeks "an end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem" and opposes Israel Defence Forces operations in the Gaza Strip
and the West Bank
, and supports Israeli refuseniks
. In June of 2010, JVP launched a divestment campaign to get the pension fund TIAA-CREF
to stop investing in companies that profit from the Israeli occupation.
JVP was formed in September, 1996 by Julia Caplan, Julie Iny
, and Rachel Eisner and has been a national organization since 2005, with 27 local chapters as of 2011. Rebecca Vilkomerson is currently the executive director and Cecilie Surasky is the deputy director; there are six other staff members. There are currently over 100,000 people that are JVP online activists. Members of the advisory board include Tony Kushner
, Michael Ratner
, Judith Butler
, Noam Chomsky
, Naomi Klein
, and Wallace Shawn
. There are over 30 Rabbis and Rabbinic students on the Rabbinical Council.
and Gaza Strip
. It has published articles criticizing what it describes as the "severe human-rights violations that Israel engages in every day," such as the construction of the Israeli West Bank barrier
on Palestinian land, the blockade of the Gaza Strip, and military operations in Gaza and the West Bank. While calling for an end to the occupation, it has not endorsed a particular solution to the conflict, saying it "endorses neither a one-state solution
, nor a two-state solution
."
and critics of Israeli policy have ceded the fight against antisemitism to the Jewish right
, and why criticism of Israel or Israeli policies is not necessarily antisemitic. As of March 2007, Reframing Anti-Semitism was in its sixth printing.
In early 2007, Jewish Voice for Peace launched MuzzleWatch, a blog
dedicated to tracking and exposing allegations of intimidation and suppression of voices who are critical of certain Israeli policies. MuzzleWatch was nominated for 2007 Jewish and Israel Blog Awards in three categories: Best New Blog, Best Left-Wing Political Blog, and Best Jewish Anti-Establishment Blog. After the first round of voting, MuzzleWatch was a finalist in all three categories, but it did not win any awards in the final vote. The Jewish and Israel Blog Awards describe themselves as "an informal annual award contest" whose purpose is to "direct new readers towards Jewish, Israeli, and pro-Israel blogs."
MuzzleWatch said, for example, that Hasbara Fellowships
, a program started in “conjunction with Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” was recruiting paid employees and unpaid volunteers to edit Wikipedia articles to "make sure Israel is presented fairly and accurately."
, and puts a spotlight on the intensifying struggle for human rights
largely ignored by the mainstream media
. It chronicles the struggles waged by people on the ground, everyday, as they seek to maintain and expand full civil and human rights for all people in the region, even as their lives are shaped, curtailed and directed by the unending Israeli-Palestinian conflict and especially the Israeli occupation of Palestinian Territories".
and has hosted events in which Israeli refuseniks spoke before American audiences. December 18th, the JVP website, is a vehicle for those to protest imprisoned refuseniks, specifically Shministim.
companies that profit from Israel's occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem... The boycott/divestment/sanctions movement (BDS) encompasses a variety of tactics and targets. JVP rejects the assertion that BDS is inherently anti-Semitic, and we encourage discussion both within our own community and outside of it of the growing BDS movement. JVP defends activists' right to use the full range of BDS tactics without being persecuted or demonized." According to reporter Gal Beckerman of The Forward
, "Moreover, it is a group that has demonstrated a guerilla-like savvy in staging actions that get its message out to a broader national audience. In its use of BDS, for example, JVP has staked out a position distinct from those who target any and all entities related to Israel, which for many Jews implies a rejection of Israel’s very legitimacy. JVP instead targets only entities involved in one way or another with Israel’s occupation of the West Bank." JVP's executive director Rebecca Vilkomerson stated “We do feel connected to the global BDS movement. We consider ourselves a part of it."
In June of 2010, JVP launched a divestment campaign against the pension fund TIAA-CREF
. The petition to divest reads, “We are participants and investors in TIAA-CREF funds who are deeply concerned that TIAA-CREF invests in many companies that profit from Israel’s occupation of the Gaza Strip
and the West Bank
, including East Jerusalem
. Some of these companies provide weapons and covert surveillance supplies that maintain the occupation by force. Others take or exploit Palestinian
resources, including scarce water and even the land itself. All are profiting from Israel’s violations of international law and international human rights standards.” The five companies targeted by the campaign are Caterpillar
, Elbit, Veoila, Motorola
, and Northrop Grumman
.
In September of 2010, Israeli artists came to JVP asking for U.S. support to an artistic boycott of the theater in the illegal settlement Ariel. JVP developed a statement that has been signed by over 150 theater and film professionals representing some of the most respected and renowned artists in theater, film and television. Some of the signatories include Stephen Sondheim
, Rosanne Barr, Tony Kushner
, and Mandy Patinkin
. On the significance of the action, JVP says, “This was the first time such mainstream figures had drawn a line around normalizing settlements which are illegal according to international law
, and which constitute one of the main impediments to a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.”
During 2004 and 2005 Jewish Voice for Peace protested against Caterpillar Inc.
for selling bulldozer
s to Israel
, and claimed that Israel's use of the D9
armoured bulldozer
s in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is a violation of human rights
and Caterpillar's business code of conduct. Along with four Christian
groups, JVP introduced a shareholder resolution
calling on Caterpillar to re-examine its sales of bulldozers to Israel, but the resolution was rejected by 97 percent of the votes at the 2005 shareholders' meeting. JVP has continued to introduce shareholder resolutions at Caterpillar shareholder meetings every year since 2005. In 2010 the resolution received nearly 27% of the vote.
In a speech to the Chicago Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in February 2005, then-JVP Co-Director Liat Weingart said that "JVP was the first Jewish group to publicly support the Presbyterian Church's decision to investigate selective divestment." She described the Church's decision "to investigate selective divestment from companies profiting from Israel's occupation" as "incredibly brave" and said that there is "very little evidence" that "divestment from Israel's occupation will hurt Israel's economy."
outside the meeting of American Israel Public Affairs Committee
(AIPAC) in Sacramento, California
. The stated purpose of the protest was to argue that AIPAC doesn't represent the views of all American Jews regarding Israel.
As part of a coalition of over 100 organizations, JVP participated in the 2011 Move Over AIPAC conference. Move Over AIPAC is a campaign that aims to counter the influence of AIPAC in US policy towards Israel and the Middle East. This event was a counter-conference organized around AIPAC’s yearly meeting in Washington DC. One of the actions that was largely organized by JVP was a flash mob
in Union Station
to the song Hava Nagila.
against the sale of homes in Israeli settlement
s in the West Bank. The organizations said that in the past, such homes have "been sold exclusively to Jewish people" and that Palestinians were not allowed to buy them "because of their religion and their ethnicity." The groups said that the home sale, which took place at Congregation Bnai Yeshurun in Teaneck, may violate international law
and New Jersey laws against discriminatory sales practices
.
is that Israel's actions are "an opportunistic agenda for short-term political gain at an immense cost in Palestinian lives" which are "illegal and immoral and should be condemned in the strongest possible terms." JVP joined marches and demonstrations condemning Israel in many cities, including Racine, Wisconsin,
Seattle, and others.
In September 2011, Rabbi Doug Kahn, executive director of the San Francisco-based Jewish Community Relations Council said “Jewish Voice for Peace routinely allows itself to be used as political cover by organizations promoting anti-Israel boycotts and divestment so that they can claim that they have Jewish backing for their positions, even though JVP represents a tiny fraction of the community.” In response, Rabbi Alissa Wise, a national organizer for JVP who co-founded JVP’s rabbinical council, speaking on behalf of the JVP, said "we’re not responsible for the language used by others", that some "groups do more harm than good" and that she regarded the work done by JVP as "trying to promote self-determination and equality for all people...a fruition of Jewish values, the path of living a Jewish life."
In March 2011, Brandeis University
’s Hillel
organization voted not to accept the membership bid of the local campus chapter of JVP, citing JVP's association with the larger Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
movement (BDS). The decision, said the group's e-board, was founded on Hillel International's guidelines for inclusion. Upon review of JVP's statement of mission, past and proposed events, Hillel leadership was quoted saying, “While we understand that JVP at Brandeis considers itself a pro-Israel club, based on positions and programming JVP has sponsored, we do not believe that JVP can be included under Hillel’s umbrella.” In response, JVP formulated a petition in favor of its inclusion in the Hillel that over a third of the student body signed.
Leonard Fein
, in the The Forward
wrote in regards to the tent of Jewish thought and opinion, “I remain quite uncomfortable with the notion that JVP should be barred from the communal tent.”
In February 2011, the New York Times published a piece on JVP activism in the Bay Area that noted, “The activists say they are not working against Israel, but against Israeli government policies they believe are discriminatory.” In an Editor's Note, the Times later wrote that one of the article's two authors was a pro-Palestinian advocate and he should not have been allowed to write it.
In October 2010, the Anti-Defamation League
(ADL) identified JVP as one of the top 10 anti-Israel groups in the United States. JVP responded by saying the ADL was wrong about several key points—among them, that JVP is not anti-Israel or anti-Zionist. JVP also invited its supporters to make financial contributions to JVP in honor of Abraham Foxman
, the leader of the ADL.
Writing in the Jerusalem Post in 2008, Jon Haber
described JVP as an organization that "exists largely to declare anyone accused of anti-Jewish bias 'not guilty' (with a Jewish accent)."
In February 2007, Rabbi Ira Youdovin, executive vice president of the Chicago Board of Rabbis, wrote a column in The Forward
about Jewish critics of Israel, and the way in which many Jews and Jewish organizations "squash" such dissent. In his column, Youdovin wrote that "the line separating calumny from legitimate dissent is unclear and ever shifting," but he added that "Jewish Voice for Peace, which supports divestment and is currently circulating a petition urging Congress to heed [former president Jimmy] Carter’s
words
, is certainly beyond the pale." Mitchell Plitnick, Director of Education and Policy for JVP, responded by calling Rabbi Youdovin's line "arbitrary" and saying that "Youdovin misrepresents JVP’s position" concerning divestment. Plitnick emphasized that JVP supports "selective and targeted divestment that is aimed exclusively at the occupation, not at Israel itself." Plitnick wrote that "[m]ost Jews believe that there should be pressure on both Israelis and Palestinians to make peace" and that "JVP advocates nothing more or less than that."
On January 28, 2007, the Anti-Defamation League
(ADL) convened "Finding Our Voice", a conference co-sponsored by more than 50 Jewish organizations for the purpose of discussing the rise in antisemitism. Its co-sponsors represented a wide range of Jewish opinion, including the ADL and AIPAC on the right and Americans for Peace Now
and the Jewish Labor Committee
on the left. Tikkun
and Jewish Voice for Peace were not invited to co-sponsor the conference. A spokesperson for JVP said, "From our perspective, you cannot get to the roots of anti-Semitism in the progressive movement without honestly addressing the severe human-rights violations that Israel engages in every day. Judging by the lineup, that kind of honest examination is not likely to happen at this conference."
In 2004, Jewish Voice for Peace was denied permission to set up a booth at "Israel at the Ballpark," described by one writer as "the Bay Area's biggest Jewish community event of the year." The event's sponsors told the organization that it "didn't sufficiently support Israel."
The Jewish Bulletin of Northern California wrote in 2003 that "the mainstream Jewish community has viewed A Jewish Voice for Peace [sic] as a group of radical Jews who air dirty laundry by criticizing Israel when the Jewish state is under attack. Some go as far as to label the members self-hating Jews."
Selected policy papers
Selected op-eds
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Jewish organization which describes itself as "a diverse and democratic community of activists inspired by Jewish tradition to work together for peace, social justice, and human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
[to] support the aspirations of Israelis and Palestinians for security and self-determination
Self-determination
Self-determination is the principle in international law that nations have the right to freely choose their sovereignty and international political status with no external compulsion or external interference...
." JVP seeks "an end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem" and opposes Israel Defence Forces operations in the Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
and the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
, and supports Israeli refuseniks
Refusal to serve in the Israeli military
Refusal to serve in the Israeli military includes both refusal to obey specific orders and refusal to serve in the Israel Defense Forces in any capacity due to pacifist or anti-militarist views or disagreement with the policies of the Israeli government as implemented by the army, such as the...
. In June of 2010, JVP launched a divestment campaign to get the pension fund TIAA-CREF
TIAA-CREF
Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association – College Retirement Equities Fund is a Fortune 100 financial services organization that is the leading retirement provider for people who work in the academic, research, medical and cultural fields...
to stop investing in companies that profit from the Israeli occupation.
JVP was formed in September, 1996 by Julia Caplan, Julie Iny
Julie Iny
Julie Iny is an American activist and author of The Flying Camel: Essays on Identity by Women of North African and Middle Eastern Jewish Heritage, she is committed to ending oppression, racism, and antisemitism...
, and Rachel Eisner and has been a national organization since 2005, with 27 local chapters as of 2011. Rebecca Vilkomerson is currently the executive director and Cecilie Surasky is the deputy director; there are six other staff members. There are currently over 100,000 people that are JVP online activists. Members of the advisory board include Tony Kushner
Tony Kushner
Anthony Robert "Tony" Kushner is an American playwright and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1993 for his play, Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, and co-authored with Eric Roth the screenplay for the 2005 film, Munich.-Life and career:Kushner was born...
, Michael Ratner
Michael Ratner
Michael Ratner is an attorney, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights , a non-profit human rights litigation organization based in New York, New York and president of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights based in Berlin.Ratner is known for his human rights...
, Judith Butler
Judith Butler
Judith Butler is an American post-structuralist philosopher, who has contributed to the fields of feminism, queer theory, political philosophy, and ethics. She is a professor in the Rhetoric and Comparative Literature departments at the University of California, Berkeley.Butler received her Ph.D...
, Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
, Naomi Klein
Naomi Klein
Naomi Klein is a Canadian author and social activist known for her political analyses and criticism of corporate globalization.-Family:...
, and Wallace Shawn
Wallace Shawn
Wallace Michael Shawn , sometimes credited as Wally Shawn, is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, author, voice artist, and intellectual. His best-known film roles include Wally Shawn in My Dinner with Andre , Vizzini in The Princess Bride , and debate teacher Mr...
. There are over 30 Rabbis and Rabbinic students on the Rabbinical Council.
Opinions and stances
JVP opposes the Israeli occupation of the West BankWest Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
and Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
. It has published articles criticizing what it describes as the "severe human-rights violations that Israel engages in every day," such as the construction of the Israeli West Bank barrier
Israeli West Bank barrier
The Israeli West Bank barrier is a separation barrier being constructed by the State of Israel along and within the West Bank. Upon completion, the barrier’s total length will be approximately...
on Palestinian land, the blockade of the Gaza Strip, and military operations in Gaza and the West Bank. While calling for an end to the occupation, it has not endorsed a particular solution to the conflict, saying it "endorses neither a one-state solution
Binational solution
The one-state solution and the similar binational solution are proposed approaches to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Proponents of a binational solution to the conflict advocate either a single state in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip, or a single state in Israel and the West...
, nor a two-state solution
Two-state solution
The two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the consensus solution that is currently under discussion by the key parties to the conflict, most recently at the Annapolis Conference in November 2007...
."
Distinguishing criticism of Israel from antisemitism and Muzzlewatch
In 2004, Jewish Voice for Peace published a collection of essays entitled Reframing Anti-Semitism: Alternative Jewish Perspectives. Among the topics discussed in Reframing Anti-Semitism are antisemitism and stereotypes of Jews in modern America, how the Jewish leftJewish left
The term "Jewish left" describes Jews who identify with or support left wing, occasionally liberal causes, consciously as Jews, either as individuals or through organizations. There is no one organization or movement which constitutes the "Jewish left," however...
and critics of Israeli policy have ceded the fight against antisemitism to the Jewish right
Jewish right
The term Jewish right refers to Jews who identify with or support right-wing or conservative causes. The Jewish right is not a monolithic designation. Its application ranges from advocacy of religious morals to conservative politics...
, and why criticism of Israel or Israeli policies is not necessarily antisemitic. As of March 2007, Reframing Anti-Semitism was in its sixth printing.
In early 2007, Jewish Voice for Peace launched MuzzleWatch, a blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
dedicated to tracking and exposing allegations of intimidation and suppression of voices who are critical of certain Israeli policies. MuzzleWatch was nominated for 2007 Jewish and Israel Blog Awards in three categories: Best New Blog, Best Left-Wing Political Blog, and Best Jewish Anti-Establishment Blog. After the first round of voting, MuzzleWatch was a finalist in all three categories, but it did not win any awards in the final vote. The Jewish and Israel Blog Awards describe themselves as "an informal annual award contest" whose purpose is to "direct new readers towards Jewish, Israeli, and pro-Israel blogs."
MuzzleWatch said, for example, that Hasbara Fellowships
Hasbara Fellowships
Hasbara Fellowships is an organization that brings students to Israel and trains them to be effective pro-Israel activists on college campuses. Based in New York, it was started in 2001 by Aish HaTorah in conjunction with the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs...
, a program started in “conjunction with Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” was recruiting paid employees and unpaid volunteers to edit Wikipedia articles to "make sure Israel is presented fairly and accurately."
Young, Jewish and Proud
The Young Jewish Declaration is a project created by young leaders within Jewish Voice for Peace. YJP was debuted at the 2010 Jewish General Assembly where five young jewish and proud members disrupted Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu'sspeech. This event prompted worldwide media coverage including that of the Washington Post, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and Tikkun. The Young Jewish Declaration reads, "We will not carry the legacy of terror. We refuse to allow our identities to be cut, cleaned, packaged nicely, and sold back to us. We won’t be won over by free vacations and scholarship money. We won’t buy the logic that slaughter means safety. We will not quietly witness the violation of human rights in Palestine."The Only Democracy?
In February 2010, JVP launched The Only Democracy?, a blog that, by its own description, "questions the very notion of Israel as “the only democracy” in the Middle EastMiddle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, and puts a spotlight on the intensifying struggle for human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
largely ignored by the mainstream media
Mainstream media
Mainstream media are those media disseminated via the largest distribution channels, which therefore represent what the majority of media consumers are likely to encounter...
. It chronicles the struggles waged by people on the ground, everyday, as they seek to maintain and expand full civil and human rights for all people in the region, even as their lives are shaped, curtailed and directed by the unending Israeli-Palestinian conflict and especially the Israeli occupation of Palestinian Territories".
Support for Israeli refuseniks
JVP supports the Israeli refuseniksRefusal to serve in the Israeli military
Refusal to serve in the Israeli military includes both refusal to obey specific orders and refusal to serve in the Israel Defense Forces in any capacity due to pacifist or anti-militarist views or disagreement with the policies of the Israeli government as implemented by the army, such as the...
and has hosted events in which Israeli refuseniks spoke before American audiences. December 18th, the JVP website, is a vehicle for those to protest imprisoned refuseniks, specifically Shministim.
Selective divestment and BDS
According to its website, JVP supports "divestment from and boycotts ofBoycott, Divestment and Sanctions
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions refers to a campaign first initiated on 9 July 2005 by 171 Palestinian non-governmental organizations in support of the Palestinian cause ".....
companies that profit from Israel's occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem... The boycott/divestment/sanctions movement (BDS) encompasses a variety of tactics and targets. JVP rejects the assertion that BDS is inherently anti-Semitic, and we encourage discussion both within our own community and outside of it of the growing BDS movement. JVP defends activists' right to use the full range of BDS tactics without being persecuted or demonized." According to reporter Gal Beckerman of The Forward
The Forward
The Forward , commonly known as The Jewish Daily Forward, is a Jewish-American newspaper published in New York City. The publication began in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily issued by dissidents from the Socialist Labor Party of Daniel DeLeon...
, "Moreover, it is a group that has demonstrated a guerilla-like savvy in staging actions that get its message out to a broader national audience. In its use of BDS, for example, JVP has staked out a position distinct from those who target any and all entities related to Israel, which for many Jews implies a rejection of Israel’s very legitimacy. JVP instead targets only entities involved in one way or another with Israel’s occupation of the West Bank." JVP's executive director Rebecca Vilkomerson stated “We do feel connected to the global BDS movement. We consider ourselves a part of it."
In June of 2010, JVP launched a divestment campaign against the pension fund TIAA-CREF
TIAA-CREF
Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association – College Retirement Equities Fund is a Fortune 100 financial services organization that is the leading retirement provider for people who work in the academic, research, medical and cultural fields...
. The petition to divest reads, “We are participants and investors in TIAA-CREF funds who are deeply concerned that TIAA-CREF invests in many companies that profit from Israel’s occupation of the Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
and the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
, including East Jerusalem
East Jerusalem
East Jerusalem or Eastern Jerusalem refer to the parts of Jerusalem captured and annexed by Jordan in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and then captured and annexed by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War...
. Some of these companies provide weapons and covert surveillance supplies that maintain the occupation by force. Others take or exploit Palestinian
Palestinian territories
The Palestinian territories comprise the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Since the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in 1988, the region is today recognized by three-quarters of the world's countries as the State of Palestine or simply Palestine, although this status is not recognized by the...
resources, including scarce water and even the land itself. All are profiting from Israel’s violations of international law and international human rights standards.” The five companies targeted by the campaign are Caterpillar
Caterpillar
Caterpillars are the larval form of members of the order Lepidoptera . They are mostly herbivorous in food habit, although some species are insectivorous. Caterpillars are voracious feeders and many of them are considered to be pests in agriculture...
, Elbit, Veoila, Motorola
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
, and Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American global aerospace and defense technology company formed by the 1994 purchase of Grumman by Northrop. The company was the fourth-largest defense contractor in the world as of 2010, and the largest builder of naval vessels. Northrop Grumman employs over...
.
In September of 2010, Israeli artists came to JVP asking for U.S. support to an artistic boycott of the theater in the illegal settlement Ariel. JVP developed a statement that has been signed by over 150 theater and film professionals representing some of the most respected and renowned artists in theater, film and television. Some of the signatories include Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
, Rosanne Barr, Tony Kushner
Tony Kushner
Anthony Robert "Tony" Kushner is an American playwright and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1993 for his play, Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, and co-authored with Eric Roth the screenplay for the 2005 film, Munich.-Life and career:Kushner was born...
, and Mandy Patinkin
Mandy Patinkin
Mandel Bruce "Mandy" Patinkin is an award-winning American actor of stage and screen and a tenor vocalist. He is a noted interpreter of the musical works of Stephen Sondheim, and is best-known for his work in musical theatre, originating iconic roles such as Georges Seurat in Sunday in the Park...
. On the significance of the action, JVP says, “This was the first time such mainstream figures had drawn a line around normalizing settlements which are illegal according to international law
International law
Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
, and which constitute one of the main impediments to a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.”
During 2004 and 2005 Jewish Voice for Peace protested against Caterpillar Inc.
Caterpillar Inc.
Caterpillar Inc. , also known as "CAT", designs, manufactures, markets and sells machinery and engines and sells financial products and insurance to customers via a worldwide dealer network. Caterpillar is the world's largest manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas...
for selling bulldozer
Bulldozer
A bulldozer is a crawler equipped with a substantial metal plate used to push large quantities of soil, sand, rubble, etc., during construction work and typically equipped at the rear with a claw-like device to loosen densely-compacted materials.Bulldozers can be found on a wide range of sites,...
s to Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, and claimed that Israel's use of the D9
Caterpillar D9
Caterpillar D9 - General Characteristics Engineering Role: Heavy bulldozer Propulsion: Caterpillar tracks Engine model:CAT C18 ACERT 3408 HEUI Gross power: 464 hp D9T 474 hp D9R...
armoured bulldozer
Armored bulldozer
The armored bulldozer is a basic tool of combat engineering. These combat engineering vehicles combine the earth moving capabilities of the bulldozer with armor which protects the vehicle and its operator in or near combat. Most are civilian bulldozers modified by addition of vehicle armor/military...
s in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is a violation of human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
and Caterpillar's business code of conduct. Along with four Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
groups, JVP introduced a shareholder resolution
Shareholder resolution
With respect to public companies in the United States, Shareholder resolutions are proposals submitted by shareholders for a vote at the company's annual meeting. Typically, resolutions are opposed by the corporation's management, hence the insistence for a vote...
calling on Caterpillar to re-examine its sales of bulldozers to Israel, but the resolution was rejected by 97 percent of the votes at the 2005 shareholders' meeting. JVP has continued to introduce shareholder resolutions at Caterpillar shareholder meetings every year since 2005. In 2010 the resolution received nearly 27% of the vote.
In a speech to the Chicago Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in February 2005, then-JVP Co-Director Liat Weingart said that "JVP was the first Jewish group to publicly support the Presbyterian Church's decision to investigate selective divestment." She described the Church's decision "to investigate selective divestment from companies profiting from Israel's occupation" as "incredibly brave" and said that there is "very little evidence" that "divestment from Israel's occupation will hurt Israel's economy."
Opposition to AIPAC
In 2006, Jewish Voice for Peace helped organize a demonstrationDemonstration (people)
A demonstration or street protest is action by a mass group or collection of groups of people in favor of a political or other cause; it normally consists of walking in a mass march formation and either beginning with or meeting at a designated endpoint, or rally, to hear speakers.Actions such as...
outside the meeting of American Israel Public Affairs Committee
American Israel Public Affairs Committee
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is a lobbying group that advocates pro-Israel policies to the Congress and Executive Branch of the United States...
(AIPAC) in Sacramento, California
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
. The stated purpose of the protest was to argue that AIPAC doesn't represent the views of all American Jews regarding Israel.
As part of a coalition of over 100 organizations, JVP participated in the 2011 Move Over AIPAC conference. Move Over AIPAC is a campaign that aims to counter the influence of AIPAC in US policy towards Israel and the Middle East. This event was a counter-conference organized around AIPAC’s yearly meeting in Washington DC. One of the actions that was largely organized by JVP was a flash mob
Flash mob
A flash mob is a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and sometimes seemingly pointless act for a brief time, then disperse, often for the purposes of entertainment, satire, artistic expression...
in Union Station
Union Station (Washington, D.C.)
Washington Union Station is a train station and leisure destination visited by 32 million people each year in the center of Washington, D.C. The train station is served by Amtrak, MARC and Virginia Railway Express commuter rail services as well as by Washington Metro subway trains and local buses...
to the song Hava Nagila.
Opposition to Israeli settlements in West Bank
On February 25, 2007, JVP was one of twelve groups that sponsored a demonstration in Teaneck, New JerseyTeaneck, New Jersey
Teaneck is a township in Bergen County, New Jersey, and a suburb in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 39,776, making it the second-most populous among the 70 municipalities in Bergen County....
against the sale of homes in Israeli settlement
Israeli settlement
An Israeli settlement is a Jewish civilian community built on land that was captured by Israel from Jordan, Egypt, and Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War and is considered occupied territory by the international community. Such settlements currently exist in the West Bank...
s in the West Bank. The organizations said that in the past, such homes have "been sold exclusively to Jewish people" and that Palestinians were not allowed to buy them "because of their religion and their ethnicity." The groups said that the home sale, which took place at Congregation Bnai Yeshurun in Teaneck, may violate international law
International law
Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
and New Jersey laws against discriminatory sales practices
Fair housing
In the United States, the fair housing policies date largely from the 1960s. Originally, the terms fair housing and open housing came from a political movement of the time to outlaw discrimination in the rental or purchase of homes and a broad range of other housing-related transactions, such as...
.
2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict
The JVP position on the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict
The Gaza War, known as Operation Cast Lead in Israel and as the Gaza Massacre in the Arab world, was a three-week bombing and invasion of the Gaza Strip by Israel, and hundreds of rocket attacks on south of Israel which...
is that Israel's actions are "an opportunistic agenda for short-term political gain at an immense cost in Palestinian lives" which are "illegal and immoral and should be condemned in the strongest possible terms." JVP joined marches and demonstrations condemning Israel in many cities, including Racine, Wisconsin,
Seattle, and others.
Reception
The Jewish Federations of North America removed Rebecca Vilkomerson, executive director of JVP, and Cecilie Surasky, deputy director of JVP, from its Jewish Community Heroes competition because JVP "is a supporter of the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign targeting investment in Israel". Joe Berkofsky, JFNA managing director of communications added “our Israel Action Network is working to challenge the boycott, sanctions and divestment movement and other efforts to isolate and weaken the Jewish state. We cannot therefore support a group that seeks to harm Israel through its support for BDS."In September 2011, Rabbi Doug Kahn, executive director of the San Francisco-based Jewish Community Relations Council said “Jewish Voice for Peace routinely allows itself to be used as political cover by organizations promoting anti-Israel boycotts and divestment so that they can claim that they have Jewish backing for their positions, even though JVP represents a tiny fraction of the community.” In response, Rabbi Alissa Wise, a national organizer for JVP who co-founded JVP’s rabbinical council, speaking on behalf of the JVP, said "we’re not responsible for the language used by others", that some "groups do more harm than good" and that she regarded the work done by JVP as "trying to promote self-determination and equality for all people...a fruition of Jewish values, the path of living a Jewish life."
In March 2011, Brandeis University
Brandeis University
Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...
’s Hillel
Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life
Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life is the largest Jewish campus organization in the world, working with thousands of college students globally...
organization voted not to accept the membership bid of the local campus chapter of JVP, citing JVP's association with the larger Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions refers to a campaign first initiated on 9 July 2005 by 171 Palestinian non-governmental organizations in support of the Palestinian cause ".....
movement (BDS). The decision, said the group's e-board, was founded on Hillel International's guidelines for inclusion. Upon review of JVP's statement of mission, past and proposed events, Hillel leadership was quoted saying, “While we understand that JVP at Brandeis considers itself a pro-Israel club, based on positions and programming JVP has sponsored, we do not believe that JVP can be included under Hillel’s umbrella.” In response, JVP formulated a petition in favor of its inclusion in the Hillel that over a third of the student body signed.
Leonard Fein
Leonard Fein
Leonard Fein is a writer and teacher. He founded the National Jewish Coalition for Literacy, and was co-founder and for 12 years editor of Moment Magazine....
, in the The Forward
The Forward
The Forward , commonly known as The Jewish Daily Forward, is a Jewish-American newspaper published in New York City. The publication began in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily issued by dissidents from the Socialist Labor Party of Daniel DeLeon...
wrote in regards to the tent of Jewish thought and opinion, “I remain quite uncomfortable with the notion that JVP should be barred from the communal tent.”
In February 2011, the New York Times published a piece on JVP activism in the Bay Area that noted, “The activists say they are not working against Israel, but against Israeli government policies they believe are discriminatory.” In an Editor's Note, the Times later wrote that one of the article's two authors was a pro-Palestinian advocate and he should not have been allowed to write it.
In October 2010, the Anti-Defamation League
Anti-Defamation League
The Anti-Defamation League is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects...
(ADL) identified JVP as one of the top 10 anti-Israel groups in the United States. JVP responded by saying the ADL was wrong about several key points—among them, that JVP is not anti-Israel or anti-Zionist. JVP also invited its supporters to make financial contributions to JVP in honor of Abraham Foxman
Abraham Foxman
Abraham H. Foxman is the National Director of the Anti-Defamation League.-Early life:Foxman, an only son, was born in Baranovichi, just months after the USSR took the town from Poland in the Nazi-Soviet Pact and incorporated it into the BSSR. The town is now in Belarus...
, the leader of the ADL.
Writing in the Jerusalem Post in 2008, Jon Haber
Jon Haber
Jon Haber is an American writer and political activist who has written internationally on the subject of divest-from-Israel campaigns and their impact on civil institutions such as municipalities, religious institutions and schools....
described JVP as an organization that "exists largely to declare anyone accused of anti-Jewish bias 'not guilty' (with a Jewish accent)."
In February 2007, Rabbi Ira Youdovin, executive vice president of the Chicago Board of Rabbis, wrote a column in The Forward
The Forward
The Forward , commonly known as The Jewish Daily Forward, is a Jewish-American newspaper published in New York City. The publication began in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily issued by dissidents from the Socialist Labor Party of Daniel DeLeon...
about Jewish critics of Israel, and the way in which many Jews and Jewish organizations "squash" such dissent. In his column, Youdovin wrote that "the line separating calumny from legitimate dissent is unclear and ever shifting," but he added that "Jewish Voice for Peace, which supports divestment and is currently circulating a petition urging Congress to heed [former president Jimmy] Carter’s
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
words
Palestine Peace Not Apartheid
Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid is a New York Times Best Seller book written by Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States and winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize. It was published by Simon and Schuster in November 2006....
, is certainly beyond the pale." Mitchell Plitnick, Director of Education and Policy for JVP, responded by calling Rabbi Youdovin's line "arbitrary" and saying that "Youdovin misrepresents JVP’s position" concerning divestment. Plitnick emphasized that JVP supports "selective and targeted divestment that is aimed exclusively at the occupation, not at Israel itself." Plitnick wrote that "[m]ost Jews believe that there should be pressure on both Israelis and Palestinians to make peace" and that "JVP advocates nothing more or less than that."
On January 28, 2007, the Anti-Defamation League
Anti-Defamation League
The Anti-Defamation League is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects...
(ADL) convened "Finding Our Voice", a conference co-sponsored by more than 50 Jewish organizations for the purpose of discussing the rise in antisemitism. Its co-sponsors represented a wide range of Jewish opinion, including the ADL and AIPAC on the right and Americans for Peace Now
Americans for Peace Now
Americans for Peace Now , the United States partner of Israel’s Shalom Achshav organization, is an American coalition working to help Israel achieve a secure peace with the Arab states and the Palestinian people...
and the Jewish Labor Committee
Jewish Labor Committee
The Jewish Labor Committee is an American secular Jewish organization dedicated to promoting labor union interests in Jewish communities, and Jewish interests within unions. The organization is headquartered in New York City, with local/regional offices in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago...
on the left. Tikkun
Tikkun (magazine)
Tikkun is a quarterly English-language magazine, published in the United States, that analyzes American and Israeli culture, politics, religion and history from a leftist-progressive viewpoint, and provides commentary about Israeli politics and Jewish life in North America...
and Jewish Voice for Peace were not invited to co-sponsor the conference. A spokesperson for JVP said, "From our perspective, you cannot get to the roots of anti-Semitism in the progressive movement without honestly addressing the severe human-rights violations that Israel engages in every day. Judging by the lineup, that kind of honest examination is not likely to happen at this conference."
In 2004, Jewish Voice for Peace was denied permission to set up a booth at "Israel at the Ballpark," described by one writer as "the Bay Area's biggest Jewish community event of the year." The event's sponsors told the organization that it "didn't sufficiently support Israel."
The Jewish Bulletin of Northern California wrote in 2003 that "the mainstream Jewish community has viewed A Jewish Voice for Peace [sic] as a group of radical Jews who air dirty laundry by criticizing Israel when the Jewish state is under attack. Some go as far as to label the members self-hating Jews."
See also
- Americans for Peace NowAmericans for Peace NowAmericans for Peace Now , the United States partner of Israel’s Shalom Achshav organization, is an American coalition working to help Israel achieve a secure peace with the Arab states and the Palestinian people...
- Breira (organization)Breira (organization)Breira full name "Breira: A Project of Concern in Diaspora-Israel Relations" was an organizational founded to express a left-wing position on Israel in 1973 and it lasted until 1977.-History:...
- Brit Tzedek v'ShalomBrit Tzedek v'ShalomBrit Tzedek v'Shalom, also known as Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace, is an organization of United States Jews and describes its members as "deeply committed to Israel's well-being through the achievement of a negotiated settlement to the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict"...
- Independent Australian Jewish VoicesIndependent Australian Jewish VoicesIndependent Australian Jewish Voices is an Australian Jewish advocacy organisation that opposes some of the current Israeli government's policies...
- Independent Jewish VoicesIndependent Jewish VoicesFor the Canadian group see Independent Jewish Voices . For the Australian group see Independent Australian Jewish Voices.Independent Jewish Voices is an organization launched on 5 February 2007 by 150 prominent British Jews such as Nobel laureate Harold Pinter, historian Eric Hobsbawm, lawyer Sir...
- J StreetJ StreetJ Street is a nonprofit liberal advocacy group based in the United States whose stated aim is to promote American leadership to end the Arab-Israeli and Israel-Palestinian conflicts peacefully and diplomatically. It was founded in April 2008....
- Peace Movement - Israel
External links
Selected policy papers
- Mitchell Plitnick & Henri Picciotto, One State or Two? A Jewish Voice for Peace position paper, Jewish Voice for Peace, January 2007
- Eytan Bronstein, Position Paper on Posting Signs at the Sites of Demolished Palestinian Villages, Zochrot, October 2004
- Jewish Voice for Peace Statement on Selective Divestment, Jewish Voice for Peace, March 2008
Selected op-eds
- Dr. Alice Rothchild, "The other side of Israel's birth", Baltimore Sun, May 14, 2008
- Mitchell Plitnick & Cecilie Surasky, "A disservice to Jews, with best intentions", Minneapolis-St. Paul StarTribune, October 9, 2007