I took my first of many trips to Israel in 1976, just three years after the Yom Kippur war, and nine since the Six Day War. In that earlier war, Israel had gained control over the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, each filled with millions of Palestinians, as well as the Golan Heights (which was recognized as Israeli territory more than five decades later, in 2019, by U.S. President Donald Trump) and the Sinai peninsula (which has since been returned to Egypt as part of a 1979 peace treaty).
Back then, and ever since, I have known that it was untenable for Israel to hold on to these occupied territories, and to maintain its stature as both a Jewish and a Democratic state. I was only seventeen years old, but the demographics were obvious even then, and they have become even more so in the decades since.
Yet here we are, nearly a half century later, and the cycle of terror and retribution continues unabated. Approximately 1,400 Israelis and foreign nationals in Israel were slaughtered by Hamas during the October 7 attack, and more than 200 Israelis and foreign nationals were taken as hostages. The Israeli onslaught on Gaza—the largest open air prison in the world— has now killed nearly 19,000 Gazans, including more than 9,000 children.
During this challenging time, Jewish leftwing groups in the United States have been grappling with how to both condemn Hamas’s atrocities and push back against Israel’s massive assault on Gazans. In full disclosure, until November 2022, I was chair of the Madison, Wisconsin, chapter of J Street. I resigned at that time, concluding that J Street was not impacting the situation in Israel as I had hoped it would.
J Street is the largest and most influential leftwing Jewish group. It describes itself as Pro-Israel, Pro-Democracy, and Pro-Two State solution. On December 7, J Street issued a statement on the war titled “Moment of Truth for Israel’s Government: Either Heed Biden Administration Limits or Lose U.S. Support for Military Operation.” In that statement, J Street makes clear that it “has been unwavering in support of Israel’s right—and the country’s moral obligation—to respond to this attack, to defend itself, and to ensure that Israeli civilians never again come under threat from Hamas’s terror stronghold in Gaza.” The organization added that it has been “unequivocal that Israel’s military response must accord with international law, centering the protection of civilians and the provision of requisite humanitarian assistance.”
J Street, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 DEED
J Street national conference in Washington, D.C., 2011.
J Street has not called for a ceasefire. Rather, it believes Israel has a right to remove Hamas from power while also seeking the release of the remaining approximately 130 hostages. But its support for Israel’s military assault on Gaza is not without limits. J Street concluded its statement by warning that if it does “not see evidence soon that the government of Israel is, in fact, making meaningful changes to its conduct of the war and its attitudes regarding post-war arrangements, then J Street will no longer be able to provide our organizational support for the current military campaign.” It does not set a deadline for its demand that Biden and Congress call for an immediate ceasefire, the release of hostages, and an end to the siege on Gaza. Thus, it is unknown what J Street’s decision making process is which would result in it no longer supporting Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
If Not Now is a smaller group whose activists are younger. Its members sometimes engage in protests and civil disobedience actions. Its primary purpose is to organize American Jews to “end U.S. support for Israel’s apartheid system and demand equality, justice, and a thriving future for all Palestinians and Israelis.” It deems what Israel is doing in Gaza as “genocide” and demands “that President Biden and Congress call for an immediate ceasefire, the release of hostages, and an end to the siege on Gaza.”
Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) calls itself “the largest progressive Jewish anti-Zionist organization in the world.” Not surprisingly, it calls for an immediate and permanent ceasefire. JVP also terms Israel’s military action against Gazans as “genocide.” JVP asserts that “a future of Jewish liberation is only possible through spirited commitment to liberation for Palestinians, too.” JVP does not believe that safety for Jews or Israelis can come at the expense of others.
Jess Benjamin
Under the banner of “Jews Against Genocide,” thousands of protesters gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., at noon on October 18 to hear from several speakers, including Democratic Representatives Cori Bush, of Missouri, and Rashida Tlaib, of Michigan, as well as comedian Mohammed Amer and Jewish Voice for Peace Executive Director Stefanie Fox.
T’ruah: the Rabbinic Call for Human Rights “brings the Torah’s ideals of human dignity, equality, and justice to life by empowering rabbis and cantors to be moral voices and to lead Jewish communities in advancing democracy and human rights for all people in the United States, Israel, and the occupied Palestinian territories.” It “calls on the U.S. Administration to pressure Israel to return to the negotiating table immediately to achieve another ceasefire and end the war as soon as possible.” Shortly after Israel began its military assault on Gaza, T’ruah circulated an open letter that has been signed by more than 750 Jewish rabbis and cantors. It states, in part, “We stand in solidarity with our Israeli family and friends who are mourning, healing, and defending their homes from continued attacks by Hamas and Hezbollah. We mourn the deaths and suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and in the West Bank. We call for the immediate, safe release of the hostages, and for all parties to follow the laws of armed conflict in order to ensure the safety of Israeli and Palestinian civilians.”
In sum, all four groups are uncomfortable with the level of assault that Israel’s military is perpetrating on Gaza’s civilian population. But only If Not Now and Jewish Voice for Peace are calling for an immediate ceasefire. T’ruah calls on the United States to pressure Israel to negotiate to achieve another ceasefire. J Street threatens the withdrawal of its support for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza if Israel does not follow international law in executing it.
It is my fervent hope that groups like these, filled with Israelis and Palestinians who understand that the only way to live in peace and justice is to share their small plot of land equitably together, will one day help to create radical change in Israeli and Palestinian political leadership.
None of these groups share membership numbers, but the ranks of If Not Now and Jewish Voice for Peace appear to have swelled in recent weeks. For me, after nearly fifty years of advocating for peace and justice between Israelis and Palestinians, I’m convinced that peace and justice will not be forced upon them from the outside.
Accordingly, I am currently putting my energy into supporting joint Israeli-Palestinian groups such as Standing Together, a grassroots movement mobilizing Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel in pursuit of peace, equality, social, and climate justice. The group recently stated that it put together the largest protest against the Israeli assault on Gaza in Israel since the war began. Another group, the Parents Circle, is a joint Israeli-Palestinian organization of more than 600 families, all of whom have lost an immediate family member to the ongoing conflict. This organization has concluded that the process of reconciliation between nations is a prerequisite to achieving a sustainable peace.
It is my fervent hope that groups like these, filled with Israelis and Palestinians who understand that the only way to live in peace and justice is to share their small plot of land equitably together, will one day help to create radical change in Israeli and Palestinian political leadership. These groups make up a coalition that understands that their destiny is shared and that the cycle of violence and retribution can and must end.