The Radical, Anti-Israel Jewish Voice for Peace

An Upward News review finds that anti-Israel organization Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) has a consistent pattern of endorsing terrorism and Hamas, particularly within local chapters — calling into question its credibility as a Jewish organization that supposedly seeks peace.

Founded in 1996, JVP describes itself as a “progressive Jewish anti-Zionist organization” working within the tradition of “generations of Jewish leftists.” Anti-Zionism refers to the belief that Israel should cease to exist as a nation-state. However, JVP maintains that it’s “a loose term referring to criticism of the current policies of the Israeli state, and/or moral, ethical, or religious criticism of the idea of a Jewish nation-state.”

In recent months, it has gained significant popularity — in large part due to identifying as Jewish, amid criticism directed at the anti-Israel movement as being antisemitic. Today, on Instagram, JVP boasts 1.2 million followers and has been profiled by mainstream news outlets such as PBS.

JVP’s Radicalism

Despite outward appearances, JVP has embraced strikingly radical stances. Two days after Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre in Israel — when it killed 1,200 people and took more than 240 hostages — JVP’s chapter at Columbia University wrote, in conjunction with Students for Justice in Palestine, that it “stands in full solidarity with Palestinian resistance against over 75 years of Israeli settler-colonialism and apartheid.”

At George Washington University, the JVP chapter was more direct. On Oct. 11, it wrote, "This is an active moment of decolonization. As such, our solidarity with Palestine must encompass any and all modes of resistance they use in their efforts toward liberation.” It further stated that "challenging (...) the modes of resistance presently unraveling in Palestine is unmistakably a stance against Palestinian livelihood and liberation.”

The GWU chapter also posted an Instagram story after some hostages were released by Hamas. It claimed that Israel would not allow former hostages to speak to the media because “the resistance [Hamas] treated hostages with dignity and respect.” It wrote, “The resistance [Hamas] continues to show its humanity and continues to demonstrate that it is not a threat to Jewish people.”

Since then, released hostages have detailed the torture, violence, and even sexual abuse they endured while in Hamas captivity.

This radicalism, however, is not confined to campus chapters. On Jewish Voice for Peace's official Instagram account, it posted a “story” depicting Houthi terrorists holding a banner with arrested Columbia University students — and many other banners in Arabic that read, “Death to America,” “death to Israel,” and “curse the Jews.”

New York and New Jersey chapters co-sponsored rallies calling to “globalize the intifada.” For context, the second intifada — which lasted from 2000 to 2005 — featured over 130 suicide bombings against soft targets such as busses and cafes, and countless shooting and stabbing attacks.

In the midst of the second intifada, JVP produced a poster commemorating the first intifada which read, “L’Chaim Intifada.” The poster featured a picture of Leila Khaled, a terrorist who hijacked a plane in 1969 and attempted another hijacking in 1970. JVP chapters still distribute these posters today on college campuses and around major cities.

The organization doesn’t limit its terrorist support to rhetoric. JVP National announced it was “proud to host Palestinian organizer Rasmea Odeh” for an event. She was a member of the Popular Front for Palestinian Liberation, a US-designated terrorist organization, and was convicted by Israel in the 1970s for her involvement in two fatal Jerusalem bombings.

The Big Picture

JVP receives money from thoroughly mainstream sources while simultaneously receiving funds from Hamas-linked NGOs.

Since 2017, its political wing — JVP Action — has received at least $650,000 “from various branches of George Soros’s philanthropic empire” and $340,000 from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, according to Tablet Magazine. More than $1.5 million has been donated anonymously by wealthy individuals.

JVP Action is funded to a lesser degree by groups such as American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) — an organization founded and partly staffed by former employees of the Holy Land Foundation (HLF), a Muslim charity that was shut down after it donated $12 million to support Hamas in the early 2000s.

On campuses, JVP often works closely with chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine, which was created under the broad umbrella of AMP.

Salah Sarsour is an AMP board member and was chairman of the organization’s conference in 2015. However, he was reportedly directly involved with financing Hamas through HLF in 2001. More disturbing — he and his brother apparently passed money through a family business to a leader in Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades, according to “Israeli sources cited in a book by former FBI and U.S. Treasury official Matthew Levitt.”

Takeaway

JVP’s actions and sources of funding appear to stand in direct conflict with its name, which makes it appear primarily dedicated to a peaceful solution between Israelis and Palestinians. Rather, it has strategically aligned itself with those who wish to wage perpetual war on Israel until its destruction.

A growing number of young people hold this position. However, large segments of Jews involved with JVP are merely opposed to the war against Hamas and are unaware of its broader worldview. Shedding light is necessary so people can decide which organizations they wish to support based on full disclosure.