Tag: Jewish Voice for Peace

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Selective Outrage And The Damnable Jewish Silence On Gaza by Tom Pessah

Please TAKE ACTION RIGHT NOW and send your letter to the UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and the International Criminal Court Prosecutor.

One of the authors of the platform related the use of the word to the history of black activism in the U.S., such as the group entitled “We Charge Genocide” which opposes police violence in Chicago. The Jews of Color Caucus of JVP embraced the platform and recognized the multiple meanings of the word “genocide”. But apart from them, the reaction of Jewish American organizations was overwhelmingly negative.

… A year since the controversy, where is the outrage? Is the word “genocide” worse than the actual death of babies and adult patients from completely preventable causes? When will the same Jewish American organizations raise the alarm about Israel’s responsibility for the lethal conditions in Gaza? And how many will die by then?

Continue reading at http://forward.com/scribe/381626/selective-outrage-and-the-damnable-jewish-silence-on-gaza/

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Church Leaders: Take a Courageous Stand on Gaza’s Human Tragedy! by Philip Farah of Washington Interfaith Alliance for Middle East Peace

Please TAKE ACTION RIGHT NOW and send your letter to the UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and the International Criminal Court Prosecutor.

A United Nations report published two years ago warned that Gaza would become unlivable by the year 2020, but a new UN report finds that the deterioration in conditions there has worsened faster than expected. The Red Cross has also warned that a “systemic collapse of an already battered infrastructure and economy is impending.” In a recent article, Dr. Alice Rothchild, a physician who is active with Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP,) wrote:

The steady deterioration of the lives of the people in Gaza in the face of occupation, siege, internal discord, and the willful blindness of the international community can only be described as a not so slow genocide that is obvious to anyone who chooses to see.

JVP, including the group’s Rabbinical Council, has consistently expressed solidarity with the people of Gaza. Progressive Jewish rabbis have joined Palestinian Christians in calling on U.S. churches to take meaningful actions to protest Israeli policies towards the Palestinians. A number of U.S. churches have already answered the Palestinian Christian call— contained in the historic Kairos Palestine document, for solidarity with the Palestinian people.

It is now high time for U.S. church leaders to head the call of their Palestinian Christian brothers and sisters and take a courageous public stand for peace and justice in the Holy Land.

Continue reading at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/church-leaders-take-a-courageous-stand-on-gazas-human_us_5975461fe4b0f1feb89b44b1

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“If you’re offended by it [terms of Apartheid or Genocide] then don’t do it” Miko Peled on Jewish Voice for Peace

Please TAKE ACTION RIGHT NOW and send your letter to the UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and the International Criminal Court Prosecutor.

People say that also [they] are offended when Israel’s actions are described as genocide, but if you look at the United Nations’ definition of the crime of genocide, and you compare it to Israeli authorities and policies over the last 7 decades, it reads almost identical… So not to call it genocide is offensive.

Watch at https://www.facebook.com/JewishVoiceforPeace/videos/10155851243894992/?pnref=story.unseen-section

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Letter: Counter argument by Peter Shanley on Jamaica Plain Gazette

Please TAKE ACTION RIGHT NOW and send your letter to the UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and the International Criminal Court Prosecutor.

In the Oct. 28 Jamaica Plain Gazette, Allen Spivack attacks the movement for Black Lives Matter statement for containing “virulently anti-Semitic language.” Apparently, he is referring to the terms “apartheid” and “genocide” used to describe Israeli policy and practice toward Palestinians. These terms have been used by many, including Palestinians, Israelis, and Jews to indict Israeli actions towards Palestinians… Spivack has decided that because he disagrees with the use of certain words, he is now liberated from supporting the basic anti-racist statement, “Black Lives Matter.” He will not enter a religious institution that displays this sentiment. He is essentially placing himself in the company of those who refuse to recognize the unique and horrendous experience that people of color have had and continue to have in this country. If he can call those who object to Israeli policy towards Palestinians “virulently anti-Semitic,” then I call him and his supporters “virulently racist.”

Continue reading at http://jamaicaplaingazette.com/2016/11/11/counter-argument/

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Jews of Color Caucus Statement in Solidarity with the Movement for Black Lives

Please TAKE ACTION RIGHT NOW and send your letter to the UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and the International Criminal Court Prosecutor.

Furthermore, we condemn the delegitimization of Black and Palestinian struggle, especially by white Ashkenazi Jews that attempt to assert sole claim to the limits and bounds of what constitutes “actual” genocide.  As a heterogenous Jewish people who have endured multiple genocides, the historical retellings of which have often erased the narratives of Jews of Color, we embrace rather than shut down the multiple uses of the term “genocide” for what it can reveal about our current crises.  The violence experienced by Palestinians and by Black people at the hands of the state is well-documented, and is arguably genocidal, as many activists have claimed.  To respond with specific markers that are unmet in the current genocide against Black people and Palestinians is an act of violence and complicity in the systemic, state-sanctioned murder of Black people and Palestinians.

Continue reading at http://jocsm.org/jews-of-color-caucus-statement-in-solidarity-with-the-movement-for-black-lives-matter/

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Jewish Voice for Peace Response To The Movement For Black Lives Policy Platform

Please TAKE ACTION RIGHT NOW and send your letter to the UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and the International Criminal Court Prosecutor.

Jewish Voice for Peace is following the leadership of Jews of Color in partnership with JVP as to how we can best contribute to realizing the demands and vision for Black lives laid out in the inspiring, bold Movement for Black Lives platform… JVP endorses the Movement for Black Lives platform in its entirety, without reservation.

Continue reading at https://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/jvp4bl/

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Jewish leaders rally against Trump’s ‘hate’ speech at AIPAC conference on RT

Please TAKE ACTION RIGHT NOW and send your letter to the UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and the International Criminal Court Prosecutor.
Hundreds of people have taken to the streets of Washington, DC to demonstrate against an upcoming speech by Republican front-runner Donald Trump, who will address the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference on Monday night… The people marching along Washington’s streets carried banners with various slogans, calling to “Boycott Israel,”“Free Palestine,”“Stop Genocide of Palestine” and others.

Continue reading at https://www.rt.com/usa/336382-trump-aipac-rabbis-protest/

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This is Netanyahu’s horror: “An open unleashing of raw racism that has always been a part of Israeli society” by Cecilie Surasky

Please TAKE ACTION RIGHT NOW and send your letter to the UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and the International Criminal Court Prosecutor.

The irony, of course, or perhaps it’s no coincidence, is that for so long, it has been a truism that one is simply forbidden to raise any comparison whatsoever between Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians and the Nazis’ treatment of the Jews. And it’s true, nothing can compare to the enormous killing machine the Nazis created whose only goal was to efficiently murder as many “inferior people” as possible.

But Nazism was not only the gas chambers of Auschwitz and Treblinka. It was based on a system of biological superiority. And when I first heard older leftist Israeli Jews who had been refugees from Hitler’s policies say they recognized some similarities in modern day Israel, I was too shocked to process it. But over time, for me, those linkages have become inescapable, and I have come to believe that remaining silent about them only increases the likelihood of them worsening.

Continue reading at http://www.salon.com/2015/10/27/this_is_netanyahus_horror_an_open_unleashing_of_raw_racism_that_has_always_been_a_part_of_israeli_society/

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Pro-Palestinian activists disrupt New York City Council meeting

Protesters in the balcony of the Council chamber unfurled a Palestinian flag and began yelling “Palestinian lives matter,” “Don’t support genocide,” and “Melissa, you’re a hypocrite,” a slam on Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, who will lead the Israel delegation…

“I’m a Jewish New Yorker. I live in the Bronx, and I do not support so-called progressive City Council members taking a trip to Israel. It is a trip to legitimize the discriminatory practices of Israel,” said Pam Sporn of the group Jewish Voice for Peace.

Protester Nastaran Mohit said it was hypocritical for pols who push for racial justice to support the Jewish state’s actions. “If you want to do a die in on the steps of City Hall saying black lives matter, then Palestinian lives matter as well.”

Continue reading at http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/pro-palestinian-activists-disrupt-city-council-meeting-blog-entry-1.2088801

TAKE ACTION now and write a letter to the UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide. Make sure to post a copy of the letter in our comments as well, so we can publish it.