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RABBIS FOR PALESTINIAN RIGHTS COUNTER ‘WARMONGERING’ AIPAC IN DC
 
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Olivia Rosane
March 13, 2024
Common Dreams
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_ "We refuse to be bystanders as the Israeli government wages a
genocidal campaign in our name," one rabbi said. _

Rabbis and rabbinical students affiliated with JVP Action meet with
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) on March 12, 2024., (Photo: JVP Action)

 

As lobbyists with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or
AIPAC, went to the nation's capital on Tuesday to push for more money
for Israel as it continues its lethal onslaught in Gaza
[[link removed]], 17 rabbis and rabbinical
students showed up on the hill with a counter-proposal: negotiate a
permanent cease-fire and stop unconditionally funding and arming the
Israeli military as it commits war crimes.

The rabbis and rabbinical students, who were affiliated with Jewish
Voice for Peace (JVP) Action, wore black shirts reading "Rabbis for
Palestinian Rights" and met with members of Congress including
Sen. Ed Markey
[[link removed]] (D-Mass.), Rep. Jahana
Hayes (D-Conn.), Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), and Rep. Jan Schakowsky
(D-Ill.).

"AIPAC is warmongering and pro-apartheid," Rabbi May Ye with JVP
Action, who is also a member of the Jewish Voice for Peace Rabbinical
Council, said in a statement. "They do not represent Jewish people or
the Jewish tradition."

"If you want to know one large reason why more members of Congress
still aren't calling for a cease-fire—even though a cease-fire is
overwhelmingly popular among their constituents—look no further than
groups like AIPAC."

"We are rabbis representing hundreds of thousands of Jews affiliated
with Jewish Voice for Peace Action imploring our leaders to end their
complicity in the Israeli military's genocidal campaign in the name of
tzedek (justice) and real safety for all people," Ye added.

Also on Tuesday, JVP Action members occupied the office of Rep. Hakeem
Jeffries (D-N.Y.), one of the lawmakers who receives the most money
from AIPAC.

The mobilizations come at a perilous moment in Israel's invasion of
Gaza, which the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has
already deemed
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plausible genocide. Israel's offensive, which has already killed more
than 31,000 Gazans, could escalate further as Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu plans to invade the southern city of Rafah, where more than
1.5 million displaced Palestinians are now sheltering following
Israeli orders to evacuate the north.

"Our Jewish communities are rising up to say 'never again is now,'"
said Rabbi Leora Abelson with JVP Action and member of the Jewish
Voice for Peace Rabbinical Council. "We refuse to be bystanders as the
Israeli government wages a genocidal campaign in our name.

"We need our politicians to listen to Americans, including the
hundreds of thousands of Jewish Americans who are urgently calling for
a cease-fire," Abelson added.

According to a recent poll, 67% of all U.S. voters back
[[link removed]] a
cease-fire, as do 77% of Democratic voters. Yet only around 15% of all
members of Congress have called [[link removed]] for a
cease-fire.

"If you want to know one large reason why more members of Congress
still aren't calling for a cease-fire—even though a cease-fire is
overwhelmingly popular among their constituents—look no further than
groups like AIPAC," Beth Miller, director of Jewish Voice for Peace
Action, said in a statement. "AIPAC and other pro-genocide lobby
groups use massive amounts of money and racist bullying to ensure
congressional complicity in Israel's unfolding genocide of
Palestinians."

Tuesday's counter-lobbying comes amid an increased mobilization
against AIPAC by anti-war and progressive groups. More than 20 groups,
including JVP Action, launched
[[link removed]] Reject AIPAC on
Monday to encourage lawmakers to decline endorsements and donations
from the group. Members of the coalition point out that AIPAC takes
significant donations from right-wing billionaires and backs
candidates that take a far-right stance in U.S. domestic politics as
well, as it endorsed more than 100 legislators who voted to decertify
the results of the 2020 presidential election. At the same time, it
has pledged [[link removed]] more than
$100 million to unseat lawmakers who have called for a cease-fire, who
are also some of Congress' most progressive members, and also to
target moderate Democrats who it deems insufficiently supportive of
Israel.

The rabbis also met with many of the lawmakers who have called for a
cease-fire, including Reps. Rashida Tlaib
[[link removed]] (D-Mich.), Cori
Bush [[link removed]] (D-Mo.), Ilhan
Omar [[link removed]] (D-Minn.), Ayanna
Pressley
[[link removed]] (D-Mass.), Delia
Ramirez (D-Ill.), Jamaal Bowman
[[link removed]] (D-N.Y.), Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez
[[link removed]] (D-N.Y.),
and Summer Lee (D-Pa.)

"Our Jewish tradition calls upon us to stand up for justice and for
peace. Saving a soul, 'pikuach nefesh,' is the most holy commandment
in all of Judaism," Rabbi Brant Rosen, a member of JVP Action, a
co-founder of the Jewish Voice for Peace Rabbinical Council, and Rabbi
at Tzedek Chicago, said in a statement. "We are here asking our
representatives to call for a lasting cease-fire, to save lives in
Gaza now, and thanking the representatives and senators who are
already taking this stance."

_Olivia Rosane is a staff writer for Common Dreams._

* US rabbis
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* Jewish Voice for Peace
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* Ceasefire
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* AIPAC
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