From Rebecca Vilkomerson
Executive Director, Jewish Voice for Peace
April, 2010
Dear Jewish Voice for Peace Supporter,
I've been eager to give you an update on how much JVP has
accomplished these past months-largely thanks to your help. We mailed a letter to thousands
today,
but I realize you may prefer to get your news online, so here it is.
I’m deeply torn, because while I am elated by all the ways that JVP is growing, my heart breaks every time I hear another story about a Palestinian child taken into a custody, a family thrown out onto the street so that Jewish settlers can move in, or a non-violent activist jailed on trumped up charges or no charges at all. There is no question that the price of dissent is growing—most dramatically in the occupied Palestinian territories, but also in Israel, in other countries like Canada, and in the U.S.
That’s why Jewish Voice for Peace’s role has never been more critical. In the last year, we have built a strong infrastructure with the ability to reach 100,000 online activists. Our nationwide network of members and chapters, our media and online presence, and our relationships with allies around the world means we have growing power to make a difference. And we’ll need to keep on growing to meet the challenges that are just ahead.
Battle Lines Being Drawn
As Israel comes under increasing international pressure to abide by international law, some in the mainstream Jewish community are reacting by “circling the wagons.” At last year’s San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, the Quaker group the American Friends Service Committee and the Bay Area JVP chapter were invited to co-sponsor the movie Rachel about the death of Rachel Corrie. Rachel’s mother, human rights activist Cindy Corrie (pictured), was asked by the festival and the film’s French-Israeli filmmaker Simone Bitton to speak after the film.
The response from the right wing of the Jewish community was immediate, astonishing and unrelenting. The Federation responded with
new McCarthyite guidelines that mean that anyone who criticizes Israeli policies, or advocates making Israel accountable through boycotts, divestment and/or some form of sanctions, may now be banned from Federation-funded Jewish spaces in the Bay Area.
Meanwhile, in Israel, the Reut Institute
released a report that
essentially called on the Israeli government, including its intelligence
services, to declare war on global peace and justice groups. It said
that “delegitimization networks” need to be “attacked” and “sabotaged,”
and specifically mentioned “hubs” such as the Bay Area and Toronto where
JVP is widely known.
Rest assured, JVP members and staff are working hard to respond to these threats to free speech, open debate, and legal nonviolent resistance through
documentation,
media outreach,
publicly challenging key players, organizing
collective responses from respected thinkers and more.
We also know that these strategies of isolating critics of Israeli policies are starting to be deployed in other major cities, and we will work in opposition where we have chapters and supporters.
In the last few months, we’ve greatly strengthened our work in preparation for this fight. Here are some highlights:
Launch of New Website
In February we launched a new website called
The Only Democracy? whose primary editors are JVP board member Jesse Bacon and member Carol Sanders. It highlights the disturbing deterioration of democratic rights within Israel, as well as the ongoing denial of rights in the Occupied Territories. In less than two months, the site has become a crucial source of information worldwide and has been praised by Palestinian and Israelis alike.
Our other blog
Muzzlewatch continues to offer cutting edge analysis on the muzzling of dissent in the U.S. Muzzlewatch editor and JVP Deputy Director Cecilie Surasky is now featured regularly on
WBAI Radio's Beyond the Pale in New York.
Solidarity with Political Prisoners
After our highly successful work last year with the
Shministim (12th grade Israeli Army refuseniks) and Israeli peace activist
Ezra Nawi, this past fall and winter we were very active in the successful fight to get Palestinian non-violent activists Mohammad Othman (pictured), Jamal Juma’ released from jail, where each were detained without charges. We are still calling for the release of and Abdullah Abu Rahme, who was charged with and incarcerated for weapons possession for collecting spent tear gas canisters that had been shot at fellow protesters against the Wall!
Defending the Goldstone Report
When the Goldstone Report, commissioned by the U.N to examine “Operation Cast Lead,” was released in September 2009, it set off a storm that has yet to abate. Shockingly, rather than focusing on the meticulously reported findings of the report, critics from Elie Wiesel and Alan Dershowitz to Israeli President Shimon Peres instead attacked Judge Goldstone himself, a Jewish South African with impeccable credentials in international law who had been deeply involved in the struggle against apartheid.
JVP, again the only major Jewish organization to do so, swung into action and created a
website to defend the report and put it in the context of Israeli, Palestinian, and international investigations that had made similar findings.
Commemorating Gaza and the Gaza Freedom March
Many of our chapters sponsored or co-sponsored events to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Gaza attack. For example, our Washington, D.C. chapter pulled together a wide coalition of groups, bringing out 250 people to their event, and securing local and international media coverage.
JVP endorsed the Gaza Freedom March that went to Egypt and attempted to break the siege of Gaza in December, and several of our members, including Advisory Board member Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, participated in this action.
Divesting from the Occupation
JVP has been active in divestment campaigns from occupation-profiting industries since our work on Caterpillar began in 2005. In the last few months we've been building a strong coalition of peace and campus groups across the
country to work on a nationwide campaign with the potential to make a huge difference in the U.S. Stay tuned for when we go public.
In other divestment news, we’ve been working steadily with
our colleagues in the Presbyterian and Methodist churches who have been doggedly pursuing divestment policies that respect human rights and international law.
In Detroit, the University of Michigan-Dearborn passed a resolution supporting divestment in February. The speaker of the student Senate gave special mention to the educational efforts of groups like JVP-Detroit that helped pass the resolution. JVP is also
actively supporting UC Berkeley’s historic divestment vote. It is ongoing local work like this around the country that is so critical to building the movement.
Calling for the US to withhold aid to Israel until it abides by international law
In just a few days, JVP supporters
sent over 11,000 letters to Congress and President Obama calling on them to continue to press for a settlement freeze but to also go further and withhold aid until the Israeli government agrees to abide by the law.
So Much More!
There’s so much more to tell you about…. our new national organizer, Stefanie Fox, a JVP member from Seattle with a wealth of organizing experience who has joined our staff to help us build chapters and membership. Our media presence in outlets from the Jerusalem Post to Foreign Policy to the Huffington Post. Our JVP-NY chapter work on
exposing private organizations that raise money to support West Bank settlements.
Jews and Allies Together
I am so proud to be part of JVP. Many of us are deeply rooted in our Jewish identities and traditions, and draw from them the lesson that all people, regardless of ethnicity or religion, deserve full and equal human rights. No more. No less.
We see our work with other Jews and non-Jewish allies as an absolutely essential part of a much broader movement for justice that we are continuing to build strategically. Our strength is growing, and that is the source of my optimism as we enter this new phase of the fight.
It is more clear than ever that we can’t depend on the U.S. government to change its policies. We need to make it happen. In the words of the Center for Constitutional Rights’ Michael Ratner, who along with actor and playwright Wallace Shawn, writer Deborah Eisenberg, journalist Naomi Klein, and Israeli filmmaker Udi Aloni, held a fundraiser for JVP recently, "This has got to end. You can’t be a human being, you can’t be a Jew, you can’t be a humanitarian, and allow this situation to exist.”
We Couldn’t Do It Without You
In this current political climate where Israel right-or-wrong groups are trying to harm human rights organizations by explicitly going after funding sources, we feel fortunate that we don’t rely on foundations or governments that could pull the rug out from us if we speak out too strongly. We can maintain our political independence and speak the truth, thanks entirely to our thousands of supporters.
Please click here to make a generous gift so we can continue this vital work on your behalf!
Thank you so much for making all this work possible.
In Solidarity,
Rebecca Vilkomerson
Executive Director
Jewish Voice for Peace
