The Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), established in 1996, calls itself as the "largest progressive Jewish anti-Zionist organization in the world". JVP claims to have over 300,000 supporters, 1 million followers on social media platform X, and has formed branches on American campuses after the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. In its federal tax report for 2021, JVP reported almost $2.9 million in revenue, said to come from individual donations.
"We manage a grassroots, multiracial, cross-class, and cross-generational movement among the Jewish community in the US in solidarity with the struggle for Palestinian freedom, guided by a vision of justice, equality, and dignity for all human beings," reads the vision and mission of JVP on their official website."
Another anti-Israel Jewish group is the organization IfNotNow. This organization was established in 2014 during the Hamas-Israel war of that year. In that war, more than 2,000 Palestinian residents were killed. As is the case now, at that time Israeli forces launched air strikes and ground attacks on Gaza in retaliation for rocket attacks from Gaza on Israel. At the beginning of the current Hamas-Israel war, IfNotNow strongly condemned the killing of civilians on both sides, while continuing to criticize Israel's policies. "We cannot and will not say that Palestinian actions are without provocation," the organization said regarding Hamas' attack on October 7, 2023.
The goal of IfNotNow, as stated on their website, is to "organize a community to end US support for Israel's apartheid system and demand equality, justice, and a shared future for all Palestinian and Israeli citizens."
Some other anti-Israel Jewish groups are
Neturei Karta (NK) in New York City, USA; the Jewish community in
Mea Shearim Village in East Jerusalem;
Na'amod in London, England; and
Breaking The Silence which was led by former Israeli soldiers. They all loudly reject Israel's occupation of Palestinian land.
Na'amod in Turkish media reports,
Anadolu, is said to regularly hold demonstrations against the Israeli occupation of Palestine around the city of London. Their actions became more frequent following Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip which resulted in the deaths of more than 12,000 Palestinians, most of whom were women and children. "The current violence is not a result of the events on October 7, 2023 (Hamas attack), but rather 70 years of violence since the Israeli military expelled Palestinians from their homes for decades," he said.
The group that is more hard-line against Israel is the NK. This is an ultra-Orthodox Jewish international movement with a support base in the US. The NK regards their institution as the official Jewish authority against Zionist theology and pray for the dissolution of the state of Israel through peaceful means. The name of the NK movement is taken from the Aramaic language used during the time of Jesus Christ, at the beginning of the AD era, which means 'Gatekeepers'. The movement was founded in 1938 to oppose the establishment of the state of Israel. In an interview with Al Jazeera in 2012, Weiss claimed that Israeli Zionism created a river with blood flow. This goes against the will of God and is inconsistent with Jewish values.
Former Israeli soldiers are also not sitting idly. They formed the organization Breaking The Silence. This organization emerged since the Second Intifada (Palestinian Resistance). Former Israeli soldiers are exposing the behavior of Israel's military as occupiers in the West Bank, Jordan River, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. A series of testimonies that have been aired on various social media platforms reveal more deeply the sad condition and collapse of moral standards among Israeli soldiers through various acts of violence under the guise of Israel's security reasons. Various testimonies have been collected since March 2004 by the group of Israeli soldiers who were assigned in the city of Hebron, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel. Until now, Breaking The Silence has opened the eyes of the Israeli public to direct testimonies from soldiers in the occupied territories. So far, 1,400 Israeli soldiers from various ranks and positions have testified about their actions as occupation forces.
The existence of these anti-Israel Jewish groups proves that Israel, with its apartheid Zionist ideology, is indeed an enemy of human values and equality of all people. With their capacity, these anti-Zionist Jewish groups are also one of the voices of humanity that want to fight for the fate of millions of people in the occupied territories of Gaza and the West Bank.
(AP/REUTERS)