Pollak: Jewish Voice for Peace, IfNotNow Are Not ‘Jewish’ Groups; They Support Terror

Capitol insurrection Palestinian (Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty)
Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty
Joel B. Pollak

The media frequently cite two groups — Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow — as if they are “Jewish” organizations, when in reality both support terrorism.

In the month since Hamas terrorists murdered over 1,200 people in Israel, including pro-peace activists on communal farms and 260 young people at a rave, both of these groups have organized anti-Israel demonstrations, participated in anti-Israel rallies, and staged an “occupation” of a U.S. Capitol building.

In every case, they are cited by the media as “Jewish” groups.

Some of the participants may be Jewish by birth, and a few may attend radical synagogues, but Jewish Voice for Peace is a pro-terror organization that actively opposes current peace negotiations in the Middle East, and IfNotNow has also targeted Jewish organizations for abuse — a form of antisemitism.

As Breitbart News has documented, Jewish Voice for Peace invited a convicted Palestinian terrorist, Rasmea Odeh, to be its keynote speaker at a national convention in 2017. Odeh murdered two Israelis and was later deported from the United States for lying about her past terrorist activity to immigration officials.

More recently, Jewish Voice for Peace spoke at a “Free Palestine” rally in Daerborn, Michigan, after the October 7 terror attack, and before Israel had begun a serious response. One speaker at the rally specifically defended Hamas. In his own remarks, the Jewish Voice for Peace representative did not offer a single word of criticism for Hamas — but he did attack the peace agreements that Israel has recently signed with several Arab states in the region, the peace process known popularly as the Abraham Accords.

IfNotNow was launched in 2014 to protest against Israel defending itself from a war Hamas started with rocket attacks on Israel. It specifically singles out American Jewish community organizations and philanthropies and tries to force them to stop supporting Israel. It sends its members to infiltrate Jewish youth programs and summer camps in an attempt to disrupt events and indoctrinate potential members.

In 2018, IfNotNow members recited “kaddish,” the Jewish prayer for the dead, on behalf of so-called “protesters” who were killed at the Gaza border; in reality, nearly all of those who were killed were members of Hamas.

Both Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow support radical anti-Israel members of Congress, such as Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI). Neither has any significant support in the Jewish community.

They exploit the Jewish identity of some members to provide cover for Palestinian terrorism. They are pro-terror groups, and should be referred to as such by the media.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated to reflect a revised number on the death toll from the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel. The Israeli government estimate of 1,400 was revised to around 1,200, according to Reuters.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

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