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More about JVP's campaign for divestment here: http://bit.ly/JVPdivest4peace

Jewish Voice for Peace Statement on Presbyterian Church (USA) Vote on Boycott and Divestment from Companies Profiting from the Israeli Occupation  

Contact: Sydney Levy, sydney AT jvp.org Rabbi Alissa Wise, alissa AT jvp.org

To the delegates of the Presbyterian church General Assembly,

We at the Coalition of Women for Peace, Israeli citizens who are Muslim, Christian and Jewish grassroots activists, would like to thank you for considering your investments in companies that are part of the Israeli occupation industry. We express our support for the recommendation of the committee for socially responsible investment (MRTI) to divest from three companies and hope that this recommendation will be adopted by the Presbyterian Church General Assembly.

“We applaud this decision,” said Rabbi Alissa Wise, Director of Campaigns at Jewish Voice for Peace and National Coordinator of the We Divest Campaign

On Friday evening, May 25th, at 8 pm Eastern, Steven Arnoff, Executive Director of the 14th Street Y, called to cancel the “Go & Learn” event organized by Young, Jewish, and Proud less than 48 hours before the event was scheduled to begin. YJP, the young adult wing of Jewish Voice for Peace, had a signed contract and had paid to rent the space from the 14th Street Y for a room that holds 75 people. Arnoff cited concerns about attendance exceeding our agreed limit even though there were only 40 RSVP’s as of Friday evening.

The Methodist delegates in Tampa, primarily occupied with proposals for church reorganization plans, were lobbied heavily on the divestment question. Divestment advocates dressed in bright yellow T-shirts passed out literature and sponsored free luncheons for delegates. Jewish Voice for Peace, a liberal American Jewish group that supports divestment, sent several organizers.

Jewish Voice for Peace is disappointed that the resolution calling for divestment from three companies that profit from the Israeli Occupation (Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard, and Motorola Solutions) failed to pass at the United Methodist Church’s 2012 General Conference on May 2nd.

A quarter-century ago I barnstormed around the United States encouraging Americans, particularly students, to press for divestment from South Africa. Today, regrettably, the time has come for similar action to force an end to Israel's long-standing occupation of Palestinian territory and refusal to extend equal rights to Palestinian citizens who suffer from some 35 discriminatory laws

In these pages, you’ll see the breathtaking breadth of work that JVP’ers have been doing in the last few months —‑ from solidarity actions with the Freedom Ride in Palestine, to fighting “pinkwashing” in Seattle, to supporting church divestment across the U.S., to extending the JVP Rabbinical Council’s remarkable outreach, to bringing the TIAA-CREF campaign to campuses.  This amazingly diverse work is supported by the common threads that run through each project and campaign.

We, the undersigned, condemn efforts, both on and off campus, to silence student speech
in support of Palestinian rights, and affirm the First Amendment rights of students to engage in
such speech.

Journalists who tell the truth about Palestinian life under occupation deserve our thanks, not political attacks.