For the past few months, I’ve been organizing with IfNotNow - an emergent millennial movement of young American Jews to end our community’s support for the occupation. IfNotNow is grounded in the belief that the liberation of Jews is bound up with other oppressed groups, both in this country and in Israel/Palestine.
Like so many others in this moment, I am afraid for myself and for my friends, family and neighbors, and the planet.
But I also have hope. Since the election, IfNotNow has brought more than 2000 people into the streets under the banner of #JewishResistance. You can see photos from our “Day of Jewish Resistance” in 30 cities here.
Following the largest protest in American history, the time has come to take the #JewishResistance to AIPAC’s doorstep. In this moment of crisis, we must be willing to dream big.
Donald Trump’s first year as president of the United States is also the 50th year of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories. The Israeli government stands poised to make the occupation a permanent reality, and Trump has given every indication that Washington will support them.
The American Jewish establishment has proven itself wholly unequipped to deal with the crisis. It has remained silent in the face of Trump policies -- like the nomination of David Friedman as ambassador Israel and the planned move of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem -- that will not only imperil democracy but inflame violence. It failed to register concern as anti-Semites, bigots, and misogynists became emboldened by Trump’s rise. And as we have long known, its defense of a status quo of endless occupation is a true moral disaster.
Against this grim backdrop, the American Isreali Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) will convene in late March. The annual AIPAC policy conference is always a festival of pandering, with American politicians jockeying for who can pay higher lip-service to the U.S.-Israel “special relationship,” even as the human rights crisis in Israel and Palestine deepens.
We know that this year, AIPAC will invite Trump and his advisors -- and that’s where we come in.
The day after the inauguration, Americans took to the street in the biggest coordinated demonstration in this country’s history, in a stand of defiance against Trump’s politics of hate. So too must the Jewish majority stand up against an organization that has done more to further the occupation than any other American institution.
However, we can’t make any of this happen without the support of our community. I have pledged to raise $100 to support this work, and I have already committed $10 myself. Can you make a gift this before March 24th?