The new platform associated with the Black Lives Matter movement that calls Israel’s treatment of Palestinians “genocide” and “apartheid” has shocked and upset many of the movement’s Jewish allies. Most of the platform’s readers are likely unaware that its Israel/Palestine section was written by an activist who was born and raised as a Jew, although Rachel Gilmer says she no longer identifies as Jewish.
..Haaretz asked Gilmer if she or her co-author consulted with any Jewish allies before issuing that section of the platform, “Using the word genocide wasn’t a haphazard piece of work,” Gilmer said. “It was a yearlong process of bringing together 60 organizations about our vision for the world as black people. We’ve been in community with Jewish Voice for Peace, If Not Now and individual Jewish people who are against the occupation.”