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National Statement from Jews for Palestine

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statement , national
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We are a coalition of Jewish and Israeli students and affiliates from Harvard, MIT, the University of Pennsylvania, and Jewish and Israeli organizations across the United States. In the past two months, there have been grave and chilling instances of antisemitism on our campuses. But when universities and political representatives wrongfully deploy the serious charge of antisemitism as a tool to silence criticism of the Israeli government and calls for Palestinian liberation, they undermine the severity of those horrific incidents. We are disturbed and frustrated by this dangerous conflation.

As Jewish students committed to peace and safety on our campuses and around the world, we stand in complete solidarity with the Palestinian advocacy groups on our campuses, including the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee, the MIT Coalition Against Apartheid, and Penn Against the Occupation.

On Tuesday, December 5th, the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania will testify before the Congressional Committee on Education and the Workforce in a hearing titled “Holding Campus Leaders Accountable and Confronting Antisemitism.” The hearing calls on our presidents to “answer for [the] mishandling” of “countless examples of antisemitic demonstrations on college campuses.”

Antisemitism is a legitimate and rising danger. We see and experience it on our campuses and in our communities. We’ve been horrified by last month’s neo-Nazi march in Wisconsin and the antisemitic threats on Cornell’s campus. At the same time, no discussion around antisemitism and how to eradicate it from our institutions can be honest or effective when it conflates all criticism of the Israeli state with antisemitism.

Our Jewish ancestors faced the horrors of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and expulsion; in our present moment, we are compelled to act in their memory and resist Israel’s militarized, colonial actions, which perpetuate the same violence towards the Palestinian people. Bearing our history and identities in mind, we find safety in solidarity and share with our campus groups a vision of peace for Palestinians, Israelis, and Jewish and Arab diasporic communities around the world.

For over 75 years, Palestinians have endured brutal and violent dispossession, displacement, and military siege. Today, we are witnessing a genocide of the Palestinian people and violent censorship of those who properly name it as such. This erasure of Palestinian culture, history, and people is paralleled by the silencing of Palestinian voices and advocates on our university campuses. We are disturbed by this silencing and the exacerbating of anti-Palestinian hate, Islamophobia, xenophobia, and racism on our campuses, abetted by national rhetoric.

At our universities, Palestinian, Arab, Black, and Muslim students have been disproportionately targeted for their advocacy. Their personal information has been leaked and their names and faces paraded on billboard trucks; they have been defamed in mass mail and mass social media campaigns and they have faced verbal and physical harassment on and around university campuses. Students have lost employment opportunities due to their participation in protests; student workers have faced job and housing insecurity. In Vermont, three Palestinian college students were shot simply for speaking Arabic and wearing keffiyehs.

These students are our peers, classmates, and friends. We condemn the violence perpetrated against Palestinians in the name of Jewish protection. We reject the idea that the safety of Jewish students requires the elimination of Palestinian organizing. Rather, we must recognize the intertwined nature of antisemitism and anti-Palestinian racism across our campuses, the nation, and beyond. Jewish students are not safe until Palestinian, Arab, Black, and Muslim students are also safe.

We, Jewish and Israeli students, share a vision of peace and justice with Palestinian organizers and advocates on our campuses and beyond. We echo their demands and call for immediate reconciliation with the following truths:

  1. Jewish safety — in Israel and the diaspora — is inextricably linked to Palestinian liberation; a permanent ceasefire is the only way towards peace for all people.
  2. Criticism of the Israeli regime is not inherently antisemitic.
  3. Free speech is not free until it protects Palestinian voices and advocates.

We have personally experienced the rise in antisemitism since October 7th. As we call for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the occupation of Palestine, we have had our Jewish identities questioned, ridiculed, and dismissed. We are Jewish and our advocacy for Palestine is rooted in our Jewish values — not in spite of them. Our Jewish history reminds us that never again means never again for anyone. Our Judaism tells us to struggle with and question authority when our moral autonomy comes into jeopardy.

As the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania prepare to testify before Congress about antisemitism on college campuses, we ask that they consider our perspectives they claim to represent and protect their Jewish students. We call on our presidents to shut down Congress’ efforts to denounce criticism of Israel as inherently antisemitic and reaffirm their commitment to freedom of speech, especially speech regarding Palestine.

University and government leaders, we implore you to listen to the students who will inherit this world, and join us on the path to peace and liberation for all people.

Signatories

  1. Harvard Jews for Palestine (J4P)
  2. MIT Jews for Ceasefire
  3. Penn Chavurah
  4. BrownU Jews for Ceasefire Now
  5. Harvard Law School Tzedek Association
  6. Jewish Voice for Peace at the Claremont Colleges
  7. NYU Jews Against Zionism (JAZ)
  8. Harvard Graduate School of Design Jews in Design
  9. Princeton Alliance of Jewish Progressives
  10. Yale Jews for Ceasefire
  11. Jewish Voice for Peace at the University of Maryland
  12. Jewish Voice for Peace at the George Washington University
  13. Jewish Voice for Peace Boston
  14. Jewish Voice for Peace at Rochester Institute of Technology
  15. Jewish Voice for Peace at Georgetown University
  16. Harvard Graduate School of Design Trans In Design (TID)
  17. Jewish Voice for Peace at Haverford and Bryn Mawr (Bi-Co)
  18. IfNotNow Boston
  19. Northeastern University School of Law Jewish Students for Palestine
  20. Jewish Voice for Peace Vermont and New Hampshire
  21. Debra Levine, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences
  22. Jewish Voice for Peace at Columbia-Barnard
  23. Clark University Jews Giving a Fuck
  24. Ne’ametz NYU
  25. Alternative Jews at Tufts (Alt-J)
  26. Harvard Divinity School Jews for Liberation
  27. Queer Jews for Liberation
  28. Jewish Voice for Peace DC Metro
  29. Oberlin Jews For a Free Palestine
  30. University of Cambridge Jews for Justice in Palestine
  31. Songs for Ceasefire
  32. Law Students for a Free Palestine Jewish Solidarity Committee
  33. Jewish Voice for Peace Rhode Island
  34. Nishmat of the Claremont Colleges
  35. Christos Nikolaou, University of Cambridge
  36. Jewish Voice for Peace Knoxville
  37. Jewish Voice for Peace at the University of Florida
  38. Jewish Voice for Peace Central New Jersey
  39. Williams College Jews for Ceasefire
  40. Jewish Voice for Peace at the University of Michigan
  41. Tzedek Chicago
  42. IfNotNow DC
  43. Benjamin Allen, Associate Professor of Mathematics at Emmanuel College
  44. NYU Jews Against Zionism
  45. JVP at UC Berkeley
  46. John Womack, Jr., Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences
  47. Columbia Jews for Ceasefire
  48. Jewish Voice for Peace Atlanta
  49. Dr. Robert Newman, Professor of Biology at the University of North Dakota
  50. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, University of New Hampshire
  51. Chloe Diamond-Lenow, Assistant Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies at SUNY Oneonta
  52. Queer Mikveh Project
  53. UChicago Jews for a Free Palestine
  54. Jewish Voice for Peace Kansas City
  55. Jewish Voice for Peace Hawai’i
  56. Independent Jewish Voices Hamilton
  57. Josh Dubnau, Professor of Neurobiology and Behavior at Stony Brook University
  58. Jewish Voice for Peace Gainesville
  59. David Joselit, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences
  60. Georgetown Law Jewish Students for Justice
  61. Judaism On Our Own Terms (JOOOT)
  62. Jewish Voice for Peace at Michigan State University
  63. Jewish Voice for Peace Cleveland
  64. Edinburgh University Kehillah
  65. Jewish Voice For Peace Western Massachusetts
  66. IfNotNow Bay Area
  67. Jewish Voice for Peace New Orleans
  68. Jewish Voice for Peace Triangle North Carolina
  69. Jewish Voice for Peace at Pratt Institute
  70. Jewish Voice for Peace New Orleans
  71. Jewish Voice for Peace Pratt
  72. Jewish Voice for Peace Pittsburgh
  73. The New Yiddish Bund of Binghamton
  74. Greg Afinogenov, Professor at Georgetown University
  75. Jewish Voice for Peace Syracuse
  76. The Progressive Jewish Law Society at Columbia Law School
  77. Nashville Jews for Justice
  78. Miryam Segal, faculty at CUNY