[November 8, 2010, New Orleans] A
group of young Jews with the Young Leadership Institute of Jewish Voice
for Peace has traveled to the largest gathering of Jewish leaders in
the US, the Jewish Federation General Assembly, to confront leaders on
an approach to saving Israel's reputation and building young Jewish
identity they say actually turns young Jews away. Five of the young adults, including 3 Israelis and
Israeli-Americans, disrupted a speech this morning by Israeli Prime
Minister Bibi Netanyahu with banners that said:
YoungJewishProud.org and one of the below- The Settlements Delegitimize Israel The Occupation Delegitimizes Israel The Siege of Gaza Delegitimizes Israel The Loyalty Oath Delegitimizes Israel Silencing Dissent Delegitimizes Israel and The Settlements Betray Jewish Values
(and in Hebrew:) Justice justice you shall pursue - Deuteronomy 16:20.
The young Jews faced a violent backlash from some audience members. Some
audience members attempted to hit and gag Rae Abileah, a young Jewish
protester and member of CODEPINK. Three of the young Jews, Matan Cohen, Matthew Taylor and
Emily Ratner, were temporarily detained, but not before they interrupted
Netanyahu's speech five times with chants, and forced him to address
them directly. Two of them were captured on the conference live TV feed
as they were removed from the crowd. Flipcam footage will be available
soon. The young Jews' website, www.YoungJewishProud.org,
presents the group's Young Jewish Declaration, a compelling vision of
collective identity, purpose and values written as an invitation and
call to action for peers who care about Israel and Palestine. It is
also a strong challenge to elders. These actions are in part a protest of the Jewish Federations of
North America (JFNA) and Jewish Public Affairs Council (JCPA) newly
announced $6 million dollar program to target campus, church, peace and
human rights groups that are working to end Israel's human rights
violations through nonviolent Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions pressure
campaigns. The Federations and JCPA are calling this initiative the
“Israel Action Network.” Critics say it is a "Shoot the Messenger"
approach. “We're here to call out the elephant in the middle of the room.
Israel continues to expropriate Palestinian land for Jewish-only
communities, passes increasingly racist laws in the Knesset, the foreign
minister wants to strip Palestinian citizens of their citizenship --
these are the reasons Israel is becoming a pariah in the world, NOT the
human rights groups that are using nonviolent economic pressure to hold
Israel accountable. We would be dismissing the values we were raised on
if we did not speak up,” says Eitan Issacson, Israeli-American, Seattle.
“The Jewish
establishment thinks that all we want are free trips to Israel and
feel-good service projects. That is in insult to our intelligence and to
the Jewish values we were brought up on. What we want is for the
American Jewish community to stand up and say that Israel's ongoing
violations of Palestinian human rights are wrong and that we will not
continue to support it with our dollars, our political strength and our
moral abilities. We are the next generation of American Jews, proud of
our heritage, strongly committed to Jewish life. We live our Jewish
values in opposing Israel's human rights violations and we invite – no,
implore –all Jews to join in this urgent struggle.”
Hanna King, Swarthmore College, Philadelphia
“We were surprised
by how many other young Jews were enthusiastic about the perspective
that we brought to the General Assembly. It was scary to ask questions
of sometimes hostile panelists, but in fact many people our age were
supportive and even asked their own critical questions. We realized this
is a terrific opportunity to organize.” Antonia House, graduate
student, NYU “Right now, the choice for those of us who care about the future of
Israel and Palestine is between the status quo--- which includes
continued settlement expansion, the siege of Gaza, and the racist
Israeli foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman-- or Boycotts, Divestment and
Sanctions. Given that choice, Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions will
win every time.” Matan Cohen, Israeli, Hampshire College The students also announced the creation of a spoof Birthright Trip called Taglit-Lekulanu http://taglit-lekulanu.org/ , Birthright for All, open to Palestinian and Jewish-Americans which they followed up with a spoof denial. The goal of the spoof was to highlight the
one-sided narrative that Birthright presents, the ways it renders
Palestinians invisible. The rebuttal laid bare the problematic
assumptions underlying Birthright such as the emphasis on marrying Jews
and procreating. http://taglit-lekulanu.org/ Participants in the institute include students from schools as diverse as UCLA, NYU, UC Berkeley, Hampshire, and Swarthmore.
A new Jewish Voice for Peace campus chapter was recently started at Brandeis University.
__________________________________________ ABOUT JEWISH VOICE FOR PEACE
Jewish
Voice for Peace is America's largest Jewish grassroots peace group
dedicated to reaching a just peace between Israelis and Palestinians
based on the principles of equality and international human rights law. JVP recently led a campaign to support Israeli artists' boycott of
the Ariel settlement. The campaign secured the signatures of over 200
artists dozens of Broadway and Hollywood's leading figures including
Stephen Sondheim, Hal Prince, Theodore Bikel, Eve Ensler, Julianne
Moore, Mandy Patinkin, Miriam Margolyes, Cynthia Nixon, Roseanne Barr,
Ethan Hawke, Ed Asner, the architect Frank Gehry and more. JVP works with activists in Palestine and Israel, and in broad
coalition with other Jewish, Arab-American, faith-based, and peace and
social justice organizations to support the aspirations of Israelis and
Palestinians for justice, security and self-determination. Jewish Voice for Peace calls for:
* A U.S. foreign policy based on promoting peace, democracy, human rights, and respect for international law * An end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem
* A resolution of the Palestinian refugee problem consistent with international law and equity * An end to all violence against civilians
|