Jewish Voice for Peace

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Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) is an American Jewish advocacy organization that opposes some of the current Israeli government's policies, such as the construction of the Israeli West Bank barrier and military excursions into Gaza and the West Bank, and supports Israeli refuseniks. Unlike many other organizations concerned with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Jewish Voice for Peace "endorses neither a one-state solution, nor a two-state solution."[1]

Contents

[edit] Activities

In 2004, Jewish Voice for Peace published a collection of new essays entitled Reframing Anti-Semitism: Alternative Jewish Perspectives. Among the topics discussed in Reframing Anti-Semitism are antisemitism and stereotypes of Jews in modern America, how the Jewish Left and critics of Israeli policy have ceded the fight against antisemitism to the Jewish Right, and why criticism of Israel or Israeli policies is not antisemitism.[2] As of March 2007, Reframing Anti-Semitism was in its sixth printing. Many[attribution needed] criticize the publication of this book as just to excuse Jewish Voice For Peace's harsh criticism of Israel and to immunize them and their allies from charges of anti-Semitism when they are preceived to have gone too far in their activities.[citation needed]

During 2004 and 2005 Jewish Voice for Peace targeted Caterpillar Inc. for selling bulldozers to Israel, and claimed that Israel's use of the D9 armoured bulldozers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is a violation of human rights and Caterpillar's business code of conduct. Along with four Christian groups, JVP introduced a shareholder resolution calling on Caterpillar to re-examine its sales of bulldozers to Israel, but the resolution was rejected by 97 percent of the votes at the 2005 shareholders' meeting.[3]

In a speech to the Chicago Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in February 2005, Jewish Voice for Peace Co-Director Liat Weingart said that "JVP was the first Jewish group to publicly support the Presbyterian Church's decision to investigate selective divestment." She described the Church's decision "to investigate selective divestment from companies profiting from Israel's occupation" as "incredibly brave" and said that there is "very little evidence" that "divestment from Israel's occupation will hurt Israel's economy."[4]

In 2006, Jewish Voice for Peace helped organize a demonstration outside the meeting of American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in Sacramento, California. The purpose of the protest, according to the organizers, was to demonstrate that AIPAC doesn't represent the views of all American Jews regarding Israel.[5] Present were protestors holding flags of Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah and anti-Semitic signs.[citation needed] Despite attempting to keep the bulk of the JVP protest away from the more offensive material, rally participants freely mingled between groups.[citation needed]

In early 2007, The Forward reported that Jewish Voice for Peace launched a blog called MuzzleWatch in order to track alleged intimidation of critics of Israel from pro-Israel lobbying groups.[6]

On February 25, 2007, JVP was one of twelve human rights groups that sponsored a demonstration in Teaneck, New Jersey against the sale of homes in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The organizations said that in the past, such homes have "been sold exclusively to Jewish people" and that Palestinians were not allowed to buy them "because of their religion and their ethnicity." The groups alleged that the home sale, which took place at Congregation Bnai Yeshurun in Teaneck, may violate international law and New Jersey laws against discriminatory sales practices.[7][8]

[edit] Controversy

In a 2007 article about Jewish Voice for Peace, The Forward wrote that "the tenor of hostilities between groups on opposite ends of the [Jewish] political spectrum seem to be reaching a fever pitch not felt in years." They added that "left-wing activists contend that they face increasingly hostile attacks from hawkish groups."[6]

The Jewish Bulletin of Northern California wrote in 2003 that "the mainstream Jewish community has viewed A Jewish Voice for Peace [sic] as a group of radical Jews who air dirty laundry by criticizing Israel when the Jewish state is under attack. Some go as far as to label the members self-hating Jews."[9] A recent research paper, while not specifically about JVP, concluded that "the term self-hate is commonly used in the Jewish press ... to discount Jews who criticize Israeli policies." [10]

In 2004, Jewish Voice for Peace was denied permission to set up a booth at "Israel at the Ballpark," described by one writer as "the Bay Area's biggest Jewish community event of the year." The event's sponsors told the organization that it "didn't sufficiently support Israel."[11]

In a column at FrontPageMag.com, Lee Kaplan and Bill Levinson alleged that the group's members attended "conclaves" held by the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs; also in attendance, they said, were members of the International Solidarity Movement and Al Awda, which they described as "an openly anti-Semitic organization." Kaplan and Levinson also claimed that "in the earliest JVP newsletters, [Mitchell] Plitnick [of Jewish Voice for Peace] even went so far as to write that it is doubtful that Jews ever lived in the Holy Land at all and that they were probably from Khazaria in Russia, thus not indigenous to the region like their Arab cousins." They also alleged that Plitnick has written "that the exodus and the First Temple were just myths, designed to legitimize a Jewish state in the region, and now used as a publicity ploy by modern Jews to steal a state from the Arabs" and wrote that "similar canards were used by the PLO to legitimize its terror war against Israel."[12] With one exception, the column didn't provide any evidence of its allegations, and these assertions have not been verified in other publications. Kaplan and Levinson did provide a link to an old JVP newsletter in which Plitnick referred to "the biblical myth of the exodus of the Hebrew slaves from Egypt." The newsletter didn't mention Khazaria or the Temple, nor did it contain any of the other things Kaplan and Levinson accuse Plitnick of writing.[13]

On January 28, 2007, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) convened "Finding Our Voice", a conference co-sponsored by more than 50 Jewish organizations for the purpose of discussing the rise in anti-Semitism. Its co-sponsors represented a wide range of Jewish opinion, including the ADL and AIPAC on the right and Americans for Peace Now and the Jewish Labor Committee on the left. Tikkun and Jewish Voice for Peace were not invited to co-sponsor the conference. A spokesperson for JVP said, "From our perspective, you cannot get to the roots of anti-Semitism in the progressive movement without honestly addressing the severe human-rights violations that Israel engages in every day. Judging by the lineup, that kind of honest examination is not likely to happen at this conference."[14] Jewish Voice For Peace was mentioned early in the conference when the cover photo for their "Muzzlewatch" website was cited by Engage's David Hirsch as an example of anti-Semitic imagery.[citation needed]

In February 2007, Rabbi Ira Youdovin, executive vice president of the Chicago Board of Rabbis, wrote a column in The Forward about Jewish critics of Israel, and the way in which many Jews and Jewish organizations "squash" such dissent. In his column, Youdovin wrote that "the line separating calumny from legitimate dissent is unclear and ever shifting," but he added that "Jewish Voice for Peace, which supports divestment and is currently circulating a petition urging Congress to heed [former president Jimmy] Carter’s words, is certainly beyond the pale."[15] Mitchell Plitnick, Director of Education and Policy for JVP, responded by calling Rabbi Youdovin's line "arbitrary" and saying that "Youdovin misrepresents JVP’s position" concerning divestment. He stated that JVP supports "selective and targeted divestment that is aimed exclusively at the occupation, not at Israel itself." Plitnick wrote that "[m]ost Jews believe that there should be pressure on both Israelis and Palestinians to make peace" and that "JVP advocates nothing more or less than that."[16]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Plitnick, Mitchell, and Picciotto, Henri (January 2007). One State or Two? A Jewish Voice for Peace position paper. Jewish Voice for Peace. Retrieved on April 5, 2007.
  2. ^ Picciotto, Henri, and Plitnick, Mitchell, eds. (2004). Reframing Anti-Semitism: Alternative Jewish Perspectives. Oakland: Jewish Voice for Peace. ISBN 0976080605. 
  3. ^ Rothstein, Jordana (2005-04-22). Caterpillar rejects anti-Israel motion. Jewish News of Greater Phoenix. Retrieved on February 5, 2007.
  4. ^ Weingart, Liat (March 2005). Speaking to the Presbyterians About Selective Divestment. Jewish Voice for Peace. Retrieved on March 17, 2007.
  5. ^ Scheide, R.V. (2006-12-14). The Lobby: Local activists take on the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Sacramento News and Review. Retrieved on February 5, 2007.
  6. ^ a b Spence, Rebecca (2007-02-09). Left-wing Critics of Israel Launch Blog To Combat Alleged Intimidation. The Forward. Retrieved on February 12, 2007.
  7. ^ Israeli settlement sale in Teaneck discriminatory, may violate international law and the roadmap. American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (2007-02-23). Retrieved on March 17, 2007.
  8. ^ Lee, Trymaine (2007-02-26). Seeking New Israeli Settlers, Synagogue Draws Protesters. The New York Times. Retrieved on March 17, 2007.
  9. ^ Wall, Alexandra J. (2003-01-24). Jewish Voice for Peace gets grants, opens area office. Jewish Bulletin of Northern California. Retrieved on February 5, 2007.
  10. ^ Finlay, W. M. L. (June 2005). "Pathologizing Dissent: Identity Politics, Zionism and the 'Self-Hating Jew'". British Journal of Social Psychology 44 (2): 201-222. 
  11. ^ Kaplan, Esther (2004-07-12). The Jewish Divide on Israel. The Nation. Retrieved on February 5, 2007.
  12. ^ Kaplan, Lee, and Levinson, Bill (2006-11-27). The ISM's "Jewish Voice for Peace". FrontPageMag.com. Retrieved on February 5, 2007.
  13. ^ Mitchell, Plitnick (2002-04-01). A Modern Day Pharoah Leading his People to Ruin. Jewish Voice for Peace. Retrieved on March 17, 2007.
  14. ^ Harris, Ben (2007-01-23). 'Progressive' anti-Semitism? S.F. meet considers phenomenon. Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved on February 12, 2007.
  15. ^ Youdovin, Ira (2007-02-23). Is Community Open to Critics of Zionism?. The Forward. Retrieved on March 4, 2007.
  16. ^ Plitnick, Mitchell (2007-02-28). Who’s "Beyond the Pale?", Part 2. Retrieved on March 17, 2007.

[edit] External links

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