BOSTON,
August 9, 2014 – (WAFA) – Hundreds of Boston Jews held demonstrations condemning
Israeli military aggression on Gaza Strip, marking a shift in Jewish communal
politics on Israel, said Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) in a press release issued
Friday.
This
week, three separate Jewish organizations held events on Israel and Palestine
with messages that contrasted sharply with that of the nation’s largest Jewish
organizations. While Combined Jewish Philanthropies (CJP) and the Jewish
Community Relations Council (JCRC) continue to advocate full support for
Israel’s actions against Palestinians, hundreds of Boston Jews this week felt
compelled to oppose Israel’s bombing and take part in peaceful vigils calling
for an end to Israel’s military occupation of Palestine.
On
Thursday, August 7, over 100 activists associated with Jewish Voice for Peace -
Boston held a silent vigil in opposition to a “Rally in Solidarity with Israel,”
sponsored by JCRC and CJP. They gathered to demonstrate sorrow and anger at the
massacre of Palestinians, to oppose Israel’s human rights violations, and to
condemn U.S. complicity with the Israeli war machine. They asked the Boston
Jewish community to join with the rest of the world in calling for a negotiated
ceasefire that ends the blockade and siege of Gaza.
“CJP
and JCRC claim to support citizens of Israel,” said JVP member Lisa
Stampnitzky, “but this war rally ignores what truly puts both Israelis and
Palestinians at risk: Israel’s unjust military occupation, sustained by US
support.”
August
5, a new organization led by young Jews called “If Not Now” held a vigil
outside of the CJP and JCRC offices in Boston, to observe Tisha B’av, a
traditional Jewish day of mourning. Over 100 Jewish people lit ritual
“yahrzeit” candles and recited the “mourner’s kaddish” to honor the dead.
They had invited the leaders of CJP and JCRC, Barry Shrage and Jeremy
Burton respectively, to join them in mourning, but received no response.
The
following day, the Boston Workmen’s Circle, a center of secular Jewish life for
over a century, hosted over 200 people in an interfaith vigil to end violence
from both sides. They spent nearly two hours reading the names of people killed
in Gaza in the past month, inviting Jewish, Muslim, and Christian faith leaders
to read with them.
“A
growing segment of the Jewish community opposes the violent policies of Israel
and its occupation of Palestine,” said JVP member Lina Morales, “yet CJP and
the JCRC claim to speak with a monolithic Jewish voice. They do not speak
for us.”
Across
the country, Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) chapters have organized dozens of
street protests, demonstrations and civil disobedience actions to call for an
end to the invasion, an end to the 7-year-old siege of Gaza, and an end to the
47-year occupation of Palestine. JVP has added 50,000 new people to their
national mailing list in the past three weeks, and '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.
Since
July 8, Israeli forces have killed over 1900 Palestinians, while 64
Israeli soldiers and two Israeli civilians have died since the fighting began.
JVP Boston calls on Jewish leaders within the organizations that
sponsored the rally to support Israel to join the international voices of
compassion and reason in demanding a negotiated ceasefire and an end to the
status quo of the blockade and siege on Gaza. It is time for Israel to
take real steps towards a policy of peace, to “beat their swords into
ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks” in the words of the prophet
Isaiah (2:4). The balance of power is tipped disproportionately in
Israel’s favor, and Gaza faces a desperate humanitarian crisis.
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.
K.F./
T.R.