Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on July 9, 2021

Tova Fry| Special to the USA TODAY Network

WATCH: North Jersey's most visible Jewish supporter of Palestinian rights

Rich Siegel of Teaneck, who is a professional musician and North Jersey's most visible Jewish supporter of Palestinian rights, answers some questions at his home in Teaneck.

Mitsu Yasukawa, NorthJersey.com

Contrary to the image presented in columnist Mike Kellys recent piece on a lone Jewish protester ata pro-Israeli rally held in Teaneck, New Jersey, as a member of Northern New Jersey Jewish Voice for Peace, I can say that we are part of a groundswell of Jews nationwide who say No! to apartheid in Israel and that nation'scampaign of ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people.

JVP is a national, grassroots organization. JVP members are inspired by Jewish tradition to work together for peace, social justice, equality, human rights, respect for international law and a U.S. foreign policy based on these ideals. We work to build Jewish communities that reflect the understanding that being Jewish and Judaism are not synonymous with Zionism or support for Israel. Our work is part of a broader struggle and commitment to end racism, anti-Jewish, anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bigotry and all forms of oppression. Other Jewish groups and individuals are sharply critical of Israeli policy as well such as the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, Jews for Palestinian Right of Return, and If Not Now.

Nationally, JVP has more than 500,000 online supporters, more than 70 chapters and 15 student chapters, a Rabbinic Council, Artist and Academic Advisory Councils, and an Advisory Board made up of leading U.S. intellectuals and artists. Our chapter has about 200 people on our mailing list, meets regularly, and holds educational and activist events, on our own and in coalition with others. Although most JVP members identify as Jews, we also have non-Jewish members.

The Israeli government continues to allow the provocative "Flag Marchers" to trample Palestinian Jerusalem, with fanatic mobs shouting Death to Arabs, resulting in the killing of a Palestinian woman and arrests of dozens more Palestinians, while conducting another bombing of Gaza. It is now even more important to expose the fact that there are hundreds of thousands of Jews who say Not in My Name.

We cant let Kelly's image of the lone Jewish protester stand, because it's not the reality. Weve been out there alongside our Palestinian siblings in countless marches and rallies in New Jersey, New York and across the country.

For subscribers: A lifelong NJ Jew became an advocate for the Palestinian cause here's why | Mike Kelly

Casualty of Israeli-Hamas fighting:: The Palestinian two-state solution?

Our very Jewish history of fighting against discrimination and oppression of Jews and against discrimination and oppression of all kinds doesnt fit the dystopian world of Israeli Zionism, where Palestinians are ruled by a different set of laws, courts and prisons than Jews, who occupy ever-increasing areas of land by expropriating the homes, land, and villages of the Palestinian people. We agree with Human Rights Watch and with the Israeli human rights group BTselem that Israel is an apartheid state.

In reaction to Hitlers Holocaust against the Jewish people, countless Jews have followed the false flag of Zionism, based on an ideal of building a Jewish state in a land without a people. But the land has a people Palestinians from whom the Zionists have stolen homes and land, and whom they have expelled, walled off, and closed off from their own fields, with separate roads only for the Israeli settlers. Gaza is an open-air prison, where residents must apply to leave, even for medical care or education.

Jews who criticize the settler-colonial state of Israel for these practices are called self-hating Jews as a way to shut down criticism and keep billions of U.S. dollars rolling into Israeli military coffers. Some in Congress have attempted to pass laws equating criticism of Israel with antisemitism.

JVP endorses the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which is also attacked by reflexive supporters of Israel as antisemitic.

BDS demands that the Israeli government:

Ends its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands occupied in June 1967, dismantles the Wall; recognizes the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and respects, protects and promotes the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN Resolution 194.

We cannot and will not accept the status quo of Israeli apartheid and colonialism, which is funded by our U.S. government. Now is the time to build on the momentum for freedom created by Palestinians across Palestine/Israel and throughout the diaspora and to bring everything we have to the struggle for Palestinian liberation, self-determination, and a future of equality, freedom and safety for all people.

We are determined to reset the path of the Jewish people in solidarity with the Palestinian people. We must all live together in peace, justice, and democracy.

Tova Fry is amember of the Northern New Jersey Jewish Voice for Peace, as well as a member of both the Oakland, California and New York/New Jersey Block the Boat campaigns,

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Jewish opposition to Israel's oppression of Palestinians is growing. Here's why | Opinion - NorthJersey.com

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