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‘Deeply Traumatizing’: Jewish Voice for Peace Argues in Resurfaced Booklet Jews Shouldn’t Write Hebrew Liturgy
Anti-Israel demonstrators hold a ‘300 Days of Genocide’ rally and march through San Francisco, California, on Aug. 3, 2024, demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. Photo: J.W. Hendricks/NurPhoto via Reuters Connect
The anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) argued in a newly resurfaced 2021 booklet that Jews should not write Hebrew liturgy because hearing the language would be “deeply traumatizing” to Palestinians.
The JVP Havura Network produced a 59-page booklet — or “zine” — in 2021 in advance of Tisha b’Av, the Jewish day of mourning for the destruction of the first and second temples in Jerusalem.
JVP’s Havura Network describes itself as “an emergent network that gathers, supports, and resources diasporist, anti-Zionist and non-Zionist Jews, and Jewish spiritual communities.” In an effort to create a “Judaism beyond Zionism,” the network compiles and produces resources such as the Tisha b’Av zine.
In a section of the zine titled “Creating Liturgy,” the author notes it may be best not to include Hebrew in that liturgy.
“Hearing the Hebrew language can be deeply traumatizing for Palestinians,” it reads. “Therefore, prayers are best said in English or Arabic, rather than Hebrew. It is not our place to redeem our tradition on the backs of Palestinians. Enough has been taken.”
Many users on social media mocked the idea that Jews should not pray in Hebrew, as it is a language that long predated Arabic and English and has been the traditional language of Jewish prayer.
This is not the first time that JVP has caught people’s attention for questionable posts online.
In May, JVP claimed on X/Twitter that Israel’s “yearly cycle of state holidays that sequentially commemorates the Holocaust, Israeli militarism, and the creation of the state of Israel … was intentionally designed to conclude and obscure May 15, the day Palestinians mark the ongoing Nakba.”
However, critics noted that Nakba Day — meant to commemorate the Palestinian “Nakba,” or “catastrophe,” of the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948 — was inaugurated about 35 years after Independence Day and the other major Israeli national holidays near it, making it impossible for the latter to be intentionally established to desecrate the former.
Within local chapters, JVP has also explicitly supported Hamas and terrorism against Israelis.
At George Washington University, the JVP chapter wrote, on Oct. 11, referring to the Hamas attacks across southern Israel on Oct. 7: “This is an active moment of decolonization. As such, our solidarity with Palestine must encompass any and all modes of resistance they use in their efforts toward liberation.” It continued, “Challenging … the modes of resistance presently unraveling in Palestine is unmistakably a stance against Palestinian livelihood and liberation.”
In contrast, the national JVP organization has written it was “horrified by the massacre committed by Hamas against Israeli civilians” on Oct. 7.
The GWU chapter also posted an Instagram story after some hostages were released by Hamas claiming Israel would not allow former hostages to speak to the media because “the resistance [Hamas] treated hostages with dignity and respect” and that “the resistance [Hamas] continues to show its humanity and continues to demonstrate that it is not a threat to Jewish people.”
Released and rescued hostages have since testified that they were tortured, starved, and sexually assaulted while in Hamas captivity.
In the midst of the second intifada, JVP also produced a poster commemorating the first intifada which read, “L’Chaim Intifada,” aiming to normalize the idea of armed uprisings against Israel — which included suicide bombings, stabbings, and shootings.
The poster featured a picture of Leila Khaled, a terrorist who hijacked a plane in 1969 and attempted another hijacking in 1970.
JVP chapters still distribute these posters today on college campuses and around major cities.
Beyond its beliefs and public statements, JVP has also come under scrutiny for legal reasons. In June, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) filed a complaint with the US Federal Election Commission (FEC) accusing the political fundraising arm of JVP of misrepresenting its spending and receiving unlawful donations from corporate entities, citing “discrepancies” in the organization’s income and expense reports.
The post ‘Deeply Traumatizing’: Jewish Voice for Peace Argues in Resurfaced Booklet Jews Shouldn’t Write Hebrew Liturgy first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.