Beyond Talk: 5 Ways the American Jewish Establishment Supports the Occupation
A REPORT BY IFNOTNOW
Beyond Talk: 5 Ways the American Jewish Establishment Supports the Occupation
For decades, the organized American Jewish community has played a key role in supporting, both directly and indirectly, the Israeli government’s military occupation of Palestinian people. In the era of President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu’s unholy alliance, the role of our communal leaders in upholding the occupation has become even clearer, proving how out of touch they are with the average American Jew. This report examines five concrete ways the American Jewish establishment actively supports the Occupation.
IfNotNow defines the Occupation as the military rule over Palestinians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza. We also know that the discrimination and displacement inside Israel’s 1948 borders are connected to its rule in those Occupied Territories. This system of violence deprives all Palestinians of civil, political, and economic rights.
The American Jewish establishment, as we use the term, is made up of well-resourced Jewish communal organizations that claim to serve and represent American Jewry. These groups perpetuate the Occupation when they: fund organizations and institutions that entrench the Occupation, lobby American politicians to unequivocally support the Israeli government, honor leaders that work to expand the Occupation, promote a political culture that denies Palestinian rights, and marginalize those who critique the Israeli government.