Growing Movement of American Jews Speaking Out Against Assault On Gaza

[Israeli]

Jewish Voice for Peace activists across the US demand an end to the assault on Gaza and an end to the occupation of Palestine

August 4, 2014—Unprecedented numbers of Jewish Americans are organizing to call for an end to Israel’s devastating assault on Gaza. In a coordinated effort in dozens of cities across the US, Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) chapters have organized street protests, demonstrations and civil disobedience actions to call for an end to the invasion, an end to the 7-year-old siege, and an end to the 47-year occupation of Palestine. Since the initiation of the most recent assault on Gaza on July 7, upwards of 1822 Palestinians including at least 377 children and 67 Israelis, 3 of them civilians, have been killed.

“Every time Israel engages in high-profile repression of civilians, we get inundated. But we have never seen anything like this. Our mailing list grew by 50,000 in 3 weeks and we can’t keep up with the demand for new chapters. This is the final straw for many Jews, who have decided that their silence implies consent,” Said Rabbi Alissa Wise, JVP Co-Director of Organizing and Chair of the JVP Rabbinical Council.

Activists in Jewish Voice for Peace chapters across the US are targeting American companies that profit from the occupation, Congressional leaders, and Jewish institutions that rally behind Israel’s violence against civilians in Gaza:

JVP activists in Seattle, New York, DC, Boston, and San Francisco have risked arrest in targeted actions against institutions and companies that support the assault.

JVP chapters have organized and taken part in demonstrations in Seattle, Washington DC, Albany, Ithaca, Westchester, Atlanta, San Diego, St. Louis San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, Raleigh, Philadelphia, Tacoma, Twin Cities, Santa Cruz, Honolulu, Columbia, Houston, Las Vegas, Madison, Milwaukee, Montpelier, New Haven, Northhampton, Sacramento, Toronto, Asheville, Boston, and New York, among others.

Events are being planned this week in New York, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, the Bay Area, Albuquerque, the Twin Cities, Ithaca, White Plains, and Philadelphia, among others.

With the assistance of the Institute for Middle East Understanding, Jewish Voice for Peace also produced a video and photo project— Freedom4Palestine.org— showcasing Jewish luminaries, prominent Palestinians, Nobel Prize laureates, activists and other notables speaking out for Palestinian human rights. Featuring Mandy Patinkin, Jonathan Demme, Gloria Steinem, Tony Kushner, Diana Buttu, Chuck D, Eve Ensler, Brian Eno, Roger Waters, Mira Nair, Wallace Shawn, Naomi Klein, Mira Nair, Raj Patel, and Noura Erakat among others, the heartbreaking video has been watched nearly 175,000 times in its first few days online, and photos continue to be submitted.

Sample of recent actions:

In Seattle, JVP activists shut down the entrance to Boeing’s international headquarters for 3 hours on July 28 in protest against the company’s support for Israel’s assault on Gaza.

In Atlanta, JVP activists held a prayer vigil on July 24 to honor those who have been killed in Operation Protective Edge with 70 attendees in front of the Israel Consulate.

In Boston, JVP activists helped organize a 2,000 person rally in support of the people of Gaza that blocked the streets in front of the Statehouse on July 22.

In New York, nine JVP activists were arrested on July 22 in an act of civil disobedience at the offices of the Friends of the Israeli Defense forces.

In Chicago, 5 JVP activists were arrested in an act of civil disobedience inside the headquarters of Boeing on July 16. The Boeing Company was listed in 2012 as the second biggest arms supplier worldwide. Boeing has sold Israel F-15A fighter jets and Apache AH 64 helicopters currently being used in attacks on Gaza.

In the Bay Area, JVP activists staged a “die-in” at Hewlett-Packard (HP) Headquarters on July 17 to protest HP’s complicity in and profit from the violence being perpetrated by the Israeli government and army against the Palestinian people. Activists read the names of those killed and recited the kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead. HP’s information technology administers the Israeli navy’s electronic infrastructure, and provides all PCs used by the Israeli military.

In Washington DC, JVP activists interrupted a speech by Ambassador Ron Dermer on July 20 at the annual Christians United for Israel to call on Israel to be held accountable for the deaths of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

For information on upcoming actions, visit our website and get in touch with our chapters.

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Jewish Voice for Peace (www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org) is a national, grassroots organization dedicated to achieving a just and lasting peace that recognizes the aspirations of both Israelis and Palestinians for security and self-determination. Jewish Voice for Peace has over 170,000 online supporters, 40 chapters, a youth wing, a Rabbinic Cabinet, and an Advisory Board made up of leading U.S. intellectuals and artists.

http://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/blog/growing-movement-of-american-jews-speaking-out-against-assault-on-gaza
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[Israeli]

1. Jews in Britain against genocide in Gaza

We are Jews in Britain outraged at the Board of Deputies’ uncritical support for Israel as it commits genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews is condoning genocide in Gaza. They don’t represent us

At 3.30pm today, 4 August 2014, outside the London offices of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, on the 27th day of Israel’s military attack on the Gazan people, Jews in Britain against Genocide staged a die-in to commemorate the hundreds of Palestinian children deliberately targeted and killed by Israel. We displayed toys, clothes and replicas of mutilated children and babies smeared red to symbolise the blood of Palestinian children murdered by Israeli forces.*

We are Jews in Britain outraged at the Board of Deputies’ uncritical support for Israel as it commits genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza.

The Board of Deputies (the main representative body for Jews in the UK) claims to speak in our name when it lobbies in defence of Israeli violence. It organises rallies with the Zionist Federation in support of Israel’s slaughter. It demands that John Prescott be punished for comparing Gaza to a concentration camp (Daily Mirror, 26 July 2014). It attempts to intimidate local councils for flying the Palestinian flag as an expression of solidarity with Gaza, and has written to the prime minister thanking him for his support for Israel’s massacre in Gaza. It cynically uses the Nazi genocide of Jews to silence critics of the Israeli genocide of Palestinians.

continue reading @

http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/politics/activism/8376-jews-in-britain-against-genocide-in-gaza

[ellenrr]

20. I saw this on fb. Next time I demonstrate

I may call myself "Jew Against Genocide"

[Jefferson23]

2. Thank you posting that information..important for people to be aware of it. K&R

[Israeli]

6. Hold on a mo Jefferson....

...next one is even better .... around the world in 80 days

[Jefferson23]

7. ok, will do. :)

[Israeli]

9. best part of the French one ....

IMHO ....

Netanyahu is widely considered to have torpedoed Rabin's efforts to move toward peace with the Palestinians and also to be morally responsible for Rabin's assassination. Today, he is in power flanked by even more racist and war-mongering acolytes like Avigdor Lieberman and he strives to do everything to stop peace and justice for Palestine. He claims to act in defense of "the Jewish people," thus lassoing in all the Jews who oppose his policies, all the Jews who are active in movements for justice for the Palestinians, all leftists who are thrown in the same bag as Islamist terrorists in Israel itself, as Max Blumenthal convincingly shows in his book Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel.

In other words, Netanyahu uses a rhetorical tactic that is common among anti-Semites: He lumps all Jews together and attributes character traits or attitudes to all Jews. Not surprisingly many Jews, for instance those in Jewish Voice for Peace in the United States or Union Juive Française pour la Paix (French Jewish Union for Peace) loudly declare that what Israel is doing in Gaza is not in their name. In France, those who denounce anti-Semitism but support Israel never say a word about Israel's bombings and massacres, thus making their denunciations very lopsided. Decent people, of course, denounce both the massacres and anti-Semitism.

ref : http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/25255-in-france-progressives-fight-a-two-front-battle-against-israeli-propaganda-and-anti-semitism

[Jefferson23]

10. Yes, yes and yes: *Decent people, of course, denounce both the massacres and anti-Semitism.

I appreciate the OP, I want to highlight this too:

Today, the question is not about supporting Hamas or not. In the same way, as for the United States in Vietnam, the question was not about supporting the communists in Hanoi or among the Vietcong, but stopping an imperialist war. What is happening in Gaza is a matter of concern for all - Jews, Palestinians, Israelis, Americans and Europeans, indeed all humans. Netanyahu and the anti-Semites belong to the same ignoble racist category, and opponents of the massacres are fighters for justice and respect. Edward Said, the fighter for Palestinian rights, was a friend of Barenboim, an admirer of Freud who always told his audiences about the horrible crimes of the Holocaust. The "righteous" today fight both against Israeli bombings and anti-Semitism.

[Israeli]

13. yup ....

then there is this :

Like Avnery or Barenboim, we need to move away from any ethnic or religious affiliation to deal with what is basically a political problem. Being on the side of justice means pointing out the "dispossession" of Palestinians (Edward Said) and denouncing the support for Israel's military devastation without ever confusing Jews with Israelis or Zionists, and without supporting war crimes committed in retaliation for other war crimes.

Never heard of this Pierre Guerlain before today .... but WOW ...

[Jefferson23]

18. Yea, defintely..Guerlain keeps watch on the war hawks, which is a good thing:

The New Neocons Are "Socialist" (They Say)
Saturday, 25 January 2014 09:22 By Pierre Guerlain, Truthout | Op-Ed

snip*Hollande calls himself a socialist, although he promotes typical neoliberal policies in economics and is more willing to cut social spending than to think twice before launching a war. He is said to have felt betrayed when President Obama, finally, decided not to use military force in Syria. France officially supported the Syrian opposition and is only now realizing that the situation in that country is more complex than a nasty regime fighting democrats who want a new Arab spring. Precisely at the point when Obama is moving toward a more sensible approach to Iran, and maybe the whole Middle East, France is stepping into the boots of the neocons. In foreign policy, Hollande is to the right of Jacques Chirac and much to the right of the latest incarnation of Obama.

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/21387-the-new-neocons-are-socialist-they-say

[Israeli]

23. strange dont you think .....

how poster @ post # 22 seems to have entirely missed the point of post # 13 ....

ref : " Like Avnery or Barenboim, we need to move away from any ethnic or religious affiliation to deal with what is basically a political problem. Being on the side of justice means pointing out the "dispossession" of Palestinians (Edward Said) and denouncing the support for Israel's military devastation without ever confusing Jews with Israelis or Zionists, and without supporting war crimes committed in retaliation for other war crimes. "

[brer cat]

3. Thank you for posting this, Israeli.

I was not aware of this organization. K&R

Shalom.

[bemildred]

4. U.N. Reports Dire Impact on Children in Gaza Strip

GENEVA — As a 72-hour cease-fire took hold in the Gaza Strip, a United Nations official said Tuesday that Israel’s nearly monthlong offensive against Hamas, the militant Islamist organization that runs Gaza, had had a “catastrophic and tragic impact” on children in the territory and that reconstruction would require many hundreds of millions of dollars.

The conflict has killed 392 children and injured 2,502, Pernille Ironside, the head of the Unicef office in Gaza, said, briefing reporters in Geneva by telephone. About 370,000 children have had traumatic experiences and need psychosocial support, she said.

“There isn’t a single family in Gaza which hasn’t been touched by direct loss,” Ms. Ironside said. “The impact that has on the ability of children to cope cannot be overstated.”

The weaponry used in the assault on Gaza caused amputations and maiming, she added. “This happened before the eyes of children,” she said. “They have seen their friends and their parents die.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/06/world/middleeast/un-reports-dire-impact-on-children-in-gaza-strip.html

[bemildred]

5. How to get Hamas to lay down its weapons

Israelis and Palestinians are still burying their loved ones as Gaza's third war in six years continues. Since July 8, when this war began, more than 1,600 Palestinian and 65 Israeli lives have been sacrificed. Many in the world are heartbroken in the powerless certainty that more will die, that more are being killed every hour.

This tragedy results from the deliberate obstruction of a promising move toward peace in the region, when a reconciliation agreement among the Palestinian factions was announced in April. This was a major concession by Hamas, in opening Gaza to joint control under a technocratic government that did not include any Hamas members. The new government also pledged to adopt the three basic principles demanded by the Middle East Quartet comprising the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia: nonviolence, recognition of Israel and adherence to past agreements. Tragically, Israel rejected this opportunity for peace and has succeeded in preventing the new government's deployment in Gaza.

Two factors are necessary to make Palestinian unity possible. First, there must be at least a partial lifting of the seven-year-old sanctions and blockade that isolate the 1.8 million people in Gaza. There must also be an opportunity for the teachers, police and welfare and health workers on the Hamas payroll to be paid. These necessary requirements for a human standard of living continue to be denied. Instead, Israel blocked Qatar's offer to provide funds to pay civil servants' salaries, and access to and from Gaza has been further tightened by Egypt and Israel.

There is no humane or legal justification for the way the Israeli Defense Forces are conducting this war. Israeli bombs, missiles and artillery have pulverized large parts of Gaza, including thousands of homes, schools and hospitals. More than 250,000 people have been displaced from their homes in Gaza. Hundreds of Palestinian noncombatants have been killed. Much of Gaza has lost access to water and electricity completely. This is a humanitarian catastrophe.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/chi-how-to-get-hamas-to-lay-down-its-weapons-20140805-story.html

[FBaggins]

11. Carter is right about much of this...

... but Hamas is a terrorist orgainization. You don't get terrorists to lay down their weapons by giving them what they want.

Particularly when "what they want" includes so much more than what is in this article.

For instance - Hamas was moving toward accepting this new political structure. But they made it clear that they (as an organization) would not renounce further violence or recognize Israel. So it's hard to pretend that this supposed "move toward peace" would actually result in Hamas "laying down its weapons"... since they explicitly denied that.

[bemildred]

12. You know, I'm getting really tired of this terrorist bullshit.

If what the IDF just did in Gaza is not terrorism, the word has no meaning.

[Jefferson23]

19. Well said. n/t

[bemildred]

16. Gaza conflict: If Israel wants peace, it must talk to Hamas

I suspect that there is growing anger among our population as they’ve watched on television the daily slaughter and destruction in Gaza – and the mealy-mouthed statements from both our Government and the Americans’ in response.

Spokesmen for the Israelis regularly recount the huge number of rockets fired from Gaza into Israeli territory, but fail to tell us that the vast majority of these have been successfully intercepted without casualties. In fact, over the entire past decade they have killed two dozen Israeli citizens. Unacceptably dreadful though these figures are, there is neither political nor moral equivalence with the 1,600 civilians killed in Gaza currently and the 1,400 killed in the previous Operation Cast Lead in 2009. So those “on the one hand and on the other” balanced utterances are made in shameful disregard of the facts.

I write as one who has visited Ashkelon and Siderot – two of the most regularly hit towns in the south of Israel – and talked with their people and their members of Knesset. So I fully understand their mixture of fear and justified rage. Yet as the 2009 operation amply demonstrated, bombing and blasting Gaza does not stop the rocket attacks.

I am a member of the “Friends of Israel” because I always seek to draw a clear distinction between the State of Israel and the current Israeli government. It is becoming sadly increasingly difficult to maintain that distinction in today’s world. The damage done to Israel’s standing is incalculable. In my student days in the late Fifties, many spent their vacations working in kibbutz, fired by the idealism of Israel – that has stopped. Instead, we see a revival of vicious anti-Semitic incidents all over the world in response to what is seen to be mass murder.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/gaza-conflict-if-israel-wants-peace-it-musttalk-to-hamas-9650332.html

[Israeli]

8. In France .....

In France, Progressives Fight a Two-Front Battle Against Israeli Propaganda and Anti-Semitism

Progressives in France have to fight a two-front battle: one against the murderous attacks carried out by the Israeli far right that some Israelis call "fascist," and a domestic one against the strange alliance between some genuinely anti-Semitic far right and Islamist groups.

In a recent article published by The Guardian, Daniel Barenboim mentions that he's the holder of both an Israeli and a Palestinian passport. He also states what should be obvious to anyone following events in the Middle East: that there is no military solution to the Gaza or more largely to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. This attitude is rare among analysts or commentators who often take one side versus the other.

There is no doubt that Israel bears the chief responsibility for the terrible loss of human lives taking place now. It started the current bout of fighting before Hamas launched its rockets; it indiscriminately bombs mostly civilian populations and justifies its bombing by using the canard that Hamas hides among civilians when, according to Human Rights Watch, it is mostly Israel that uses that particular tactic. Hamas responds violently although the death toll shows the disparity in power and therefore in the deaths caused by military actions. All this is well known to anyone wishing to be informed.

In France, demonstrations against the Israeli massacres in Gaza have sometimes been banned by a very pro-Israel government calling itself socialist. In a democracy, of course, it is rather rare and unconstitutional to ban demonstrations - as the example of many other democracies shows. Britain did not ban demonstrations; among democracies, France only did. The bans were justified by the French prime minister who argued that they were organized by anti-Semites or that anti-Semites would escape the control of the organizers. Whenever demonstrations were allowed outside Paris, there were no rampages or anti-Semitic declarations.

Continue reading @

http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/25255-in-france-progressives-fight-a-two-front-battle-against-israeli-propaganda-and-anti-semitism

[bemildred]

14. Palestinian Authority seeks ICC war crimes case against Israel

THE HAGUE, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki said there was "clear evidence" of war crimes by Israel during its offensive in Gaza as he met International Criminal Court prosecutors on Tuesday to push for an investigation.

Malki visited The Hague shortly after Israel and the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement that dominates Gaza entered a 72-hour truce mediated by Egypt in an effort to secure an extended ceasefire.

Last week, the United Nations launched an inquiry into human rights violations and crimes alleged to have been committed by Israel during its offensive, given the far higher toll of civilian deaths and destruction on the Palestinian side.

"Everything that has happened in the last 28 days is clear evidence of war crimes committed by Israel, amounting to crimes against humanity," Malki said. "There is no difficulty for us to show or build the case. Evidence is there for people to see and collect. Israel is in clear violation of international law."

http://www.trust.org/item/20140805170730-yjdxu/

[bemildred]

15. Gaza calm as truce takes hold after weeks of deadly shelling

RAMALLAH // Israel and Hamas appeared to adhere to a temporary ceasefire that came into effect on Tuesday in Gaza, part of Egypt-brokered negotiations to end their month-long conflict that has killed nearly 2,000 people.

Residents of the Israeli-besieged territory took advantage of the 72-hour truce that began at 8am to shop or look for possessions and loved ones still buried under the rubble from neighbourhoods that Israel’s military flattened during its ferocious land and air campaign that began on July 8.

Israel withdrew its remaining ground troops from Gaza just before the shaky ceasefire took hold, saying that it had completed its mission of destroying the network of tunnels that Hamas fighters had used to infiltrate its territory.

Israel has billed its military actions as an attempt to stop Hamas fighters from firing rockets into its territory as well as an effort to neutralise the group’s tunnels. Coupled with a ground invasion that began on July 17, its military’s airstrikes, shelling and incursions laid waste to huge swathes of Gaza, killing nearly 1,900 people, injuring thousands more and likely inflicting billions of dollars worth of damage.

http://www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/gaza-calm-as-truce-takes-hold-after-weeks-of-deadly-shelling

[4now]

17. This is great

The world is speaking out against Israeli atrocities.

[ellenrr]

21. this is good news-- amid a sea of bad. nt

[King_David]

22. I'm glad your starting to care what Golah Jews are thinking

I agree with your change in thinking that the Jewish attachment to the Jewish State is important and how Golah Jews feel about Israel's actions are paramount .

It's most important thing for everyone --- everyone posting here , what The Jews think .

After all it is the Jewish State

Kol Hakavod Israeli