Jews are saying No: feedback from the USA
Published
by
Leah Levane
JVL Introduction
Robert Cohen writes with enthusiasm of attending the Jewish Voice for Peace gathering of anti-Zionist Jews in the US. The focus is on building the movement, centring it firmly as part of antiracist and anti colonial struggles, resisting the Trump regime’s deportations as well as restrictions on pro Palestinian discourse, opposing the conflation of antizionism with antisemitism. Robert notes that the numbers of Jews across the world opposed to Israel’s genocidal actions is growing as is the number opposed to the ideology of Zionism.
In the UK our numbers are much smaller than in the US and yet Jewish groups are springing up in town after town as more and more Jews proclaim that Israel’s heinous actions are not done “in our name”. Global Jews for Palestine, to which JVL as well as JVP belong, now has national member organisations from Argentina, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Israel, most countries in western Europe and promising developments in the East.
We are part of the movement and as the genocide and the brutal occupation continue, it is important to keep up the pressure and also to take the time to learn and strategise for the next steps in the struggle. Our thanks to Robert Cohen for his permission to repost this, which was originally on his Facebook page.
LL
Greetings from Baltimore, Maryland! I’ve spent the last four days attending the largest multi-day gathering of anti-Zionist Jews in U.S. history. More than 2,000 people have been at the Baltimore convention centre for a national member meeting of Jewish Voice for Peace. It’s the first such gathering for several years.
The focus has been on equipping attendees to build and sustain a rapidly growing mass movement across the country, especially in the face of far right authoritarian attempts to close down left wing discourse across a host of interrelated social and political issues (including Palestine). We were asked not to post on social media until after the close of the gathering.
Workshops and plenaries have drawn on local and national experiences and a breadth of Jewish resources to build and celebrate a ‘Judaism beyond Zionism’.
There were big name guest speakers too from the North American left including Angela Davis, Cori Bush, Rashida Tlaib, Naomi Klein and Linda Sarsour.
A few immediate takeaways from my UK Jewish perspective. Attendees were thoroughly cross-generational with every age demographic represented but skewed slightly to those in their 20s, 30s, and then late 50s to mid 70s; JVP is attracting religious and secular Jews in all their varieties including patrilineal and matrilineal backgrounds and those with mixed ethnic heritages. Such backgrounds enrich the conversations here and bring new and insightful analysis. Queer and Trans identities are welcomed and well-represented, and their collective experiences of marginalisation are helping to shape the movement’s politics and sensibilities.
JVP’s political analysis of Israel/Palestine situates it firmly within a broader anti-racist and anti-colonial discourse; its leaders and activists are succeeding in building meaningful alliances with American Palestinian leaders and those working across a range of marginalised and discriminated groups.
There’s little doubt that JVP (often co-ordinating locally with IfNotNow) has been highly significant in shifting the language of post 7/10 from ‘Israel’s right to self-defence’ to ‘ceasefire now’ and ‘stop the genocide’.
Some other observations from a visitor from across the pond. Just as in the United Kingdom, the heritage Jewish institutions in the United States remain locked in an Israel-centric paradigm of Jewish identity which has failed to respond to the magnitude and horror of what has taken place in Gaza over the last 18 months. As a result, many thousands of Jews are feeling unrepresented and rejected by those who claim to speak for ‘the Jewish community’. Sounds familiar!
I was listening this morning to a panel of ‘JVP Elders’ (four left-wing Jewish feminist activists now in their 70s). They reminded us of the long heritage of progressive Jewish activism and intersectional solidarity in the United States. Trumpism is throwback as much as an innovation in American politics. The Elders had lived lives which demonstrated ways to build Jewish safety and self-determination which did not rely on the oppression of another people. In turn, these elders were taking their own inspiration from the up-coming generations in the room.
Being here in Baltimore has been personally affirming as well as inspiring. JVP remains a minority within American Jewry, but it would be foolish to underestimate its influence and its ability to articulate an alternative Jewish outlook as part of a broader response to authoritarianism founded on racism and imperialism.
On a much smaller scale, established and new Jewish groups in the UK, looking to navigate a progressive, Jewish, values-led response to Gaza are following similar paths to JVP. This is a trend within diaspora Jewish life which is not going away.
Robert Cohen speaking at a Holocaust commemoration event in Leeds on Sunday January 26, 2025
Hastings Jews for Justice, Empty pot protest May 2025
This movement has a stronga Judaic thread, as it must; but the argument is not about Judaism. It is solely about Zionism. Judaism is the religion of Jews, but it has always been the case that there have been non-Judaic Jews. This has always been a subject of dispute within the Jewish community, but it has not caused any kind of fatal rift. Jewish identity is too strong to let that happen. Zionism, on the other hand, is a political philosophy of the greatest divisiveness. Ultimately it pits Jew against Jew, as Zionist Jews insist all Jews identify as being Zionist or they lose their right to identify as Jewish. For too long they were winning this particular argument because the truth of Israel was not being told by the world’s media as it should have been. Now it is, and more and more Jews are understanding now just how far the Zionist confidence trick has warped their thinking, and how dogmatically Zionists supports and encourage the most barbarous crimes against humanity. There must come a time when the likes of Starmer will no longer be able to mantain that they are defending the Jewish people. Jews in increasing number know better.
Very devastating to realise the vast majority of US Jews still support Israel.. I don’t know why I’m so devastated when it’s been obvious. I’ve obviously been concentrated on the fact there has been Jewish Anti Zionist protests which have been my main motivation to believe & share that Zionism is NOT Judaism..