In a recent video essay on the current Israeli government and its support for West Bank settlements, The Washington Post relied on an interview with Beth Miller, the political director of Jewish Voice for Peace Action, to provide both analysis and context.
This was but the latest instance in which a mainstream media organization cited Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) in discussions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the American Jewish community, or domestic American politics.
However, contrary to the impression given by its name, JVP is not a moderate, peace-seeking, good-faith actor when it comes to Israel and the Palestinians. Rather, JVP is a radical anti-Israel organization that actively aligns with those seeking to harm the Jewish state while also providing a veneer for its extreme politics through a revision of traditional Jewish rites and texts.
In this piece, we will look at how JVP uses its nominal identity as a Jewish organization to promote the boycott of Israel, tacitly support Palestinian terrorism and whitewash the antisemitism that exists among its political allies.
6. “The event even garnered support from other cultural groups…including ‘Jewish Voice for Peace’.”
No, @fox12oregon, JVP is not a “cultural group.” It’s a radical anti-Israel activist group that advocates for BDS and spreads antisemitic canards. https://t.co/baqHX969np pic.twitter.com/PDeO2eMlLv
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) May 25, 2023
Jewish Voice for Peace: Celebrating Judaism, Demonizing the Jewish State
Jewish Voice for Peace was founded in 1996 by a group of student activists in California who were upset with Israel’s decision to open an exit to the Western Wall Tunnels in the Old City of Jerusalem’s Muslim Quarter.
Initially an umbrella organization for both Zionist and anti-Zionist Jews who were critical of Israeli policies, JVP officially adopted an anti-Zionist stance in 2019.
With its exponential growth in membership and chapters (especially since 2010), JVP is considered “probably the largest and most influential Jewish anti-Zionist group in the United States.”
JVP’s anti-Zionist worldview includes support for the “right of return” of Palestinian refugees, adoption of the Nakba narrative, promoting the inflammatory libel that Israel is threatening the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and falsely accusing Israel of practicing apartheid.
Related Reading: Debunking Another Anti-Israel Myth: Jewish Self-Determination is Not a ‘Colonial’ Enterprise
While it is officially opposed to Jewish self-determination and is not exclusively Jewish, JVP proudly states that it is “an organization that is inspired by Jewish values and traditions to work towards peace and justice.”
JVP misappropriates Jewish tradition by adapting Jewish rites and texts to fit its extreme political message. This includes a refashioning of the traditional Passover Haggadah, using Tisha B’av (the Jewish day of mourning) as a day on which to lament Israeli actions, reciting the Jewish mourner’s prayer for Palestinians killed in Israeli military operations (including terrorists) and using the traditional lulav ritual as a time to reflect on how to actualize the fight against Israel within one’s community.
Along with its political reinvention of Jewish tradition, JVP sees its role as a Jewish organization to “make sure the world knows that many Jews are opposed to their [Israel’s] actions.” In effect, JVP sees its mission as providing a “kosher stamp” to anti-Israel activities, including the international BDS campaign.
Jewish Voice for Peace: ‘Proudly’ Boycotting Israel
On its website, Jewish Voice for Peace states that it “proudly endorses the Palestinian civil society call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS)” and that it is the “only major Jewish group” to support BDS.
Originally, JVP’s boycott focused solely on the Jewish communities in the West Bank but, since 2015, it has extended its boycott to include the entire State of Israel.
For JVP, the purpose of BDS is to weaken Israel’s position vis-à-vis the Palestinians before any negotiations can take place between the two parties.
The following are just some of the ways that JVP has undertaken to boycott and sanction the Jewish state:
- It campaigned to end exchange programs between Israeli and American police forces.
- It urges the US government to stop providing Israel with military aid (including funding for the defensive Iron Dome system).
- It campaigned to have Microsoft cut ties with the Israeli company, AnyVision.
- It initiated a campaign to boycott the Israeli company SodaStream.
- In 2014, it was instrumental in getting the Presbyterian General Assembly to divest from three companies that had business ties with Israel.
- Its “Return the Birthright” campaign seeks to dissuade young Jews from visiting Israel on Birthright trips.
- It participated in “Block the Boat” demonstrations that were aimed preventing Israeli cargo ships from offloading in the port of Oakland.
- It campaigned to end an educational trip to Israel for student leaders by New York University.
- In 2022, it joined other organizations in calling on the International Criminal Court Prosecutor to investigate Israeli actions.
Related Reading: The BDS Movement Against Israel: Harming Coexistence, Inhibiting Peace
JVP’s Defense of Palestinian Terrorism and Violence
As part of its anti-Israel activities, Jewish Voice for Peace not only seeks to harm the Jewish state through economic and cultural boycotts but it also has taken up the cause of those who have perpetrated terrorism and violence against Israeli civilians.
The following are some notable examples of JVP’s infatuation with Palestinian terrorism and violence:
- In 2017, JVP hosted Rasmea Odeh at its national conference. Odeh was guilty of planting two separate bombs in Jerusalem, including one that killed two students at a supermarket in 1969.
- The San Diego chapter of JVP took part in a campaign on behalf of Ahmad Sa’adat, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (a US-designated terror organization) who is currently serving time in Israeli prison for his role in a number of terror attacks, including the assassination of Israel’s culture minister in 2001.
- In 2017, JVP expressed support for Marwan Barghouti, a senior member of Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade (another US-designated terror organization) who is serving time in Israeli prison for five murders, including directing the 2001 drive-by shooting of a Greek Orthodox monk.
- JVP has campaigned for the right of Leila Khaled, a PFLP member who unabashedly took part in airplane hijackings in the 1960s and 1970s, to speak on Zoom, Facebook and YouTube.
- In 2015, JVP co-sponsored a speaking tour for Bassem Tamimi, a Palestinian activist who spouts antisemitic conspiracies and was previously indicted for inciting Palestinian youth to throw stones at Israeli soldiers.
- During the Knife Intifada (2015-2016), which saw a steep rise in Palestinian terror attacks against Israeli civilians, JVP publicly lauded the “Palestinian popular resistance.”
- Beth Miller, JVP Action’s political director, previously worked for Defense for Children International – Palestine, an organization with alleged ties to the PFLP.
Related Reading: Hijackers, Bombers and Masterminds: The Top 5 Most Popular Palestinian Terrorists in the West
JVP’s Whitewashing of Antisemitism
When it comes to the scourge of antisemitism, Jewish Voice for Peace encourages the fight against “Christian” antisemitism and “racial” antisemitism while turning a blind eye to antisemitism found within the extreme left and anti-Israel camp.
This selective concern with antisemitism includes:
- Casting doubt on allegations of antisemitism within the British Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn.
- Supporting Ilhan Omar despite accusations of antisemitism (including giving new members a tote bag with Omar’s face imprinted on it).
- Opposing adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism.
- Expressing concern for Islamophobia following the 2015 Paris attacks while completely ignoring the antisemitism that led to the targeting of a kosher supermarket during the attacks.
- Following the revelation that several leaders of the 2019 Women’s March had made antisemitic comments and had personal relationships with Louis Farrakhan, JVP proudly endorsed the march, lashed out at those who raised their concerns and glossed over Farrakhan’s overt antisemitism.
- JVP endorsed the ban on Jewish stars at the Chicago Dyke March.
- On two separate occasions, JVP’s then-Executive Director Rebecca Vilkomerson appeared on podcasts for AmericanFreePress.net, a white supremacist website. After this was exposed, JVP claimed that the second interview was obtained “under false premises.”
- According to CAMERA, JVP openly supported BDS Boston’s Mapping Project (which targeted Jewish institutions and organizations).
- In regard to concerns about another Holocaust, JVP leader Rabbi Brant Rosen opined that “we currently live in an age of unprecedented Jewish power” and then accused the US and Israel of perpetrating policies akin to those of Nazi Germany.
As one commentator has noted, JVP’s approach to antisemitism is that “anyone who criticizes Israel must perforce be held innocent of anti-Semitism [sic].”
Thus, JVP turns a blind eye to the toxic antisemitism that has pervaded certain parts of the far-left and anti-Israel communities and even justifies it in the name of the fight against Zionism and the Jewish state.
Related Reading: BDS ‘Mapping Project’: US National Media Ignores Sinister List That Encourages Targeting of Jewish Institutions
In conclusion, Jewish Voice for Peace is an extremist organization that actively endorses economic and cultural warfare against Israel, sympathizes with Palestinian terrorism, and whitewashes certain expressions of antisemitism.
This should preclude any mainstream media organization from giving JVP a platform or citing their words with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or the American-Jewish community.
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