Jewish Voice for Peace and Bombers

This article first appeared in Times of Israel Blogs.


Hat tip Algemeiner




Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP)  is one of those curiously-named organizations that have very little to do with peace. They are a left-wing bunch who links arms with those who want to destroy the Jewish state of Israel. They are one of the closest allies of the Muslim Student Association (MSA) chapters as well as Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), who, in turn, are nothing more than Brown Shirts in my view.

So now, the organization ("for peace)" has done an interview with Laura Whitehorn, a former terrorist, who was involved in the 1983 bombing of the US Capital (She did it for peace).

Judging by the wording in the flyer, I would not expect a critical interview.

JVP not only supports the disruptive tactics of SJP and various MSA chapters on college campuses, they don't believe that those of us who oppose them should be heard. I attended an event at UC Irvine in 2011 featuring three JVP leaders. It was a total goat rodeo. The key words here were, "useless discourse", referring to any pro-Israel speech. The featured speakers were Rachel Roberts, Estee Chandler, and Matan Cohen, the latter an Israeli anarchist. You have no idea how offensive it was to hear some anarchist punk from Israel (of all places) tell us here in the US that whatever his opponents have to say in favor of  Israeli is "useless discourse".

In May 2017, the annual bash-Israel week of events came to UC Irvine, and, as I have done for several years, I attended much of the "activities". During the week, I spoke with one of the demonstrators, who told me he was a member of JVP. Later in the week, I saw him again as SJP disrupted a pro-Israel event. You can read about it and see the video here.

That disruption was carried out by SJP, and the UCI Muslim Student Union with at least one JVP member present, as well as a "legal observer" from the National Lawyers Guild. They all run together.

JVP is an organization that has nothing to do with peace. They are leftist, and they support disruption and intimidation of Jewish students on campus. When I and others were pleading to the Regents of the UC system in October 2015 to draft a meaningful statement against campus anti-Semitism, the JVP was there arguing that to do so would inhibit  the free speech of the pro-Palestinian bullies. The JVP speaker in question at UCLA was none other than Estee Chandler, whom I had previously seen at UC Irvine in the above-referenced 2011 event.

If JVP wants to support the Palestinian narrative in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, that is their right. The problem I see here is that they are not interested in open dialogue between the opposing sides. To them, disruption and bullying are OK because they support Students for Justice in Palestine and their disruptive tactics. I say that because I have been witness to it.

Jewish Voice for Peace is a fringe, radical organization, and they should be treated as such.