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Jewish Voice for Peace’s ‘Extremist’ Anti-Israel Agenda, Terror Group Ties Highlighted in Report

Anti-Israel protesters take part in a demonstration hosted by the Democratic Socialists of America, IfNotNow Movement, and Jewish Voice for Peace that turned violent in Washington, DC, Nov. 15, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Leah Millis

A pro-Israel nonprofit has published a new bombshell booklet detailing the inner workings and funding of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), a controversial and prominent anti-Zionist group that has helped organize widespread demonstrations against the Jewish state during the war in Gaza.

StandWithUs (SWU), an organization which promotes a mission of “supporting Israel and fighting antisemitism,” released the report examining how the far-left JVP — which defended the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s invasion of southern Israel last Oct. 7 — “promotes antisemitic conspiracy theories” and even partners with terrorist organizations to achieve its “primary goal” of “dismantling the State of Israel.”

According to the report, JVP weaponizes the plight of Palestinians to advance an “extremist” agenda which promotes the destruction of Israel and whitewashes terrorism, receiving money from organizations that have ties to Middle Eastern countries such as Iran.

“JVP and its allies slander and dehumanize Israelis as privileged, powerful, and racist white European colonizers,” the report says. “They promote dangerous conspiracy theories tying Israelis to injustices against various communities” around the world.

The booklet points out that JVP pushes a misleading history of Jewish presence in the Middle East, ignoring that Jews “faced systemic discrimination at best and brutal violence at worst under Muslim and Arab rule, until almost all of them fled or were expelled in the 20th century.” SWU also notes that JVP has routinely labeled Jews as “racist” for expressing fear about the prospect of living as minorities in Israel. 

“JVP simply refuses to acknowledge that most Jews genuinely see efforts to eliminate the world’s only Jewish state as a form of hate,” the report reads. 

In addition, the report alleges that JVP advances “antisemitic conspiracy theories,” such as the notion that American police are trained by Israeli forces. This narrative suggests that Israel exacerbates alleged police brutality in the United States through training law enforcement to brutalize black people. Prominent anti-Israel pundits such as Marc Lamont Hill and Linda Sarsour have cited this misleading information in various public statements.

StandWithUs also alleges that JVP harbors deep connections and support for international terrorist groups, highlighting JVP’s record of support for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), an internationally designated terrorist organization with the stated goal of dismantling Israel and replacing it with a Palestinian state. 

“JVP has campaigned in support of PFLP terrorists, hosted PFLP members at events, and partnered with groups that openly support PFLP and other terrorist organizations,” the report reads. 

In addition, the report states that JVP has collaborated with anti-Israel entities such as Samidoun, which identifies itself as a “Palestinian prisoner solidarity network, to hold rallies. Samidoun described Hamas’s Oct. 7 atrocities in Israel as “a brave and heroic operation.” The United States and Canada each imposed sanctions on Samidoun in October, labeling the organization a “sham charity” and accusing it of fundraising for terrorist groups such as PFLP. The US Treasury Department said that PFLP “uses Samidoun to maintain fundraising operations in both Europe and North America.”

“Organizations like Samidoun masquerade as charitable actors that claim to provide humanitarian support to those in need, yet in reality divert funds for much-needed assistance to support terrorist groups,” Bradley Smith, the US Treasury Department’s acting under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement at the time.

The SWU report also says that JVP has ties to “extremist” anti-Israel groups such as Within Our Lifetime (WOL) and the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM). Leadership for these groups have repeatedly expressed support for violence against Israel and terrorist groups. JVP has worked alongside these groups to hold anti-Israel demonstrations and marches. 

According to the new report, JVP has received substantial financial assistance from organizations tied to Lebanon and Iran. For example, the Maximum Difference Foundation, which has been accused of maintaining ties with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an internationally designated terrorist organization, donated $65,000 to JVP.

JVP has also received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, which according to SWU has funded other anti-Israel organizations, including Palestinian organizations linked with the PFLP.

The report additionally noted that JVP received $200,000 from The Quitiplas Foundation, which has allegedly donated to other organizations connected to Samidoun.

“JVP’s harmful rhetoric and alliances make it clear they are not a voice for peace,” StandWithUs CEO Roz Rothstein said in a statement accompanying the report’s release. “This organization fuels hate and shields extremists from accountability while doing nothing to bring about peaceful coexistence.”

“To help fight rising antisemitism, the public, media, and leaders across our society must finally recognize JVP’s dangerous agenda and reject it,” she said.

The Algemeiner has previously reported that JVP argued in a recently resurfaced 2021 booklet that Jews should not write Hebrew liturgy because hearing the language would be “deeply traumatizing” to Palestinians.

In June, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) filed a complaint with the US Federal Election Commission accusing JVP’s political fundraising arm of misrepresenting its spending and receiving unlawful donations from corporate entities, citing “discrepancies” in the organization’s income and expense reports.

The post Jewish Voice for Peace’s ‘Extremist’ Anti-Israel Agenda, Terror Group Ties Highlighted in Report first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Ousted US Reps. Jamaal Bowman, Cori Bush to Star in New Show on Anti-Israel Zeteo Network

Cori Bush, Jamaal Bowman and Rashida Tlaib (Source: Reuters)

US Reps. Cori Bush (left), Jamaal Bowman (right), and Rashida Tlaib (center). Photo: Reuters

Former US Democratic Reps. Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush are set to launch a new show on the controversial anti-Israel Zeteo network. 

On Thursday, Zeteo founder Mehdi Hasan, a prominent anti-Israel journalist, announced that Bowman and Bush have agreed to star in a new monthly show on his network. 

In the trailer, the former lawmakers say that their show “Bowman & Bush” will expose the shady inner-workings and backroom dealings of the federal government. 

“We’ll be breaking down what’s really happening in Washington, DC,” Bowman says. 

Bush, one of the most strident opponents against Israel during her term in office, laments in the trailer that “outside groups, including AIPAC, spent millions and millions of dollars to unseat me, to try to silence me.”

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the most prominent pro-Israel lobbying group in the US, spent millions of dollars last year in the Democratic primary races of Bush and Bowman, both progressive firebrands, successfully unseating them.

Bush explains in the trailer that her show will deliver an unvarnished look into the
the corruption, the lobbying, the big money” that influences federal politics, “and how it could all be working better for you.”

Following Hamas’s invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, both Bush and Bowman issued intense criticism of the Jewish state’s defensive military efforts in Gaza.

The progressive former lawmakers called for a “ceasefire” between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group less than a month removed from the Oct. 7 massacre. They each falsely accused Israel of engaging in an array of war crimes in Gaza, including “genocide,” “ethnic cleansing,” and imposing a “famine.” The duo also dismissed Israel’s counterterrorism initiatives in the West Bank as “apartheid.”

Bowman specifically, declared the mass rapes of Israeli women on Oct. 7 a “hoax,” before walking back his comments following widespread backlash. He has accused Israel of advancing “white nationalism” and “settler colonialism” and also suggested he may no longer support Israel’s unequivocal right to exist or defend itself. 

Bush ultimately lost her reelection campaign to St. Louis attorney Wesley Bell in August while making her opposition to Israel a key talking point of the race. Bowman came up short against Westchester County executive George Latimer. 

Zeteo, the network on which “Bowman & Bush” is set to air, has positioned itself as a major source of anti-Israel content creation. Hasan, the network’s founder and main host, has declared the ongoing war in Gaza a “genocide” and repeatedly pressured US lawmakers to implement an arms embargo against the Jewish state. 

Moreover, Zeteo’s high production value and elaborate sets have raised questions surrounding its funding sources, with critics alleging it has received money from Qatar. In response, Hasan has denied receiving “any money from foreign governments or foreign citizens,” adding that “every investor in Z is an American citizen [who] has nothing to do with Qatar.”

The post Ousted US Reps. Jamaal Bowman, Cori Bush to Star in New Show on Anti-Israel Zeteo Network first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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EU and Israel Resume Dialogue With Focus on Gaza’s Future

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar speaks next to High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas, and EU commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Suica as they hold a press conference on the day of an EU-Israel Association Council with European Union foreign ministers in Brussels, Belgium, Feb. 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Yves Herman

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called for a constructive dialogue but braced for criticism from some European countries as he arrived for talks on Monday in Brussels.

The Israeli minister is meeting senior European officials, reviving a dialogue with the European Union as the bloc considers a role in the reconstruction of Gaza following last month’s fragile ceasefire deal.

“I’m looking for a constructive dialogue, an open and honest one, and I believe that this is what it will be,” Saar told reporters on arrival.

“We know how to face criticism,” he said, adding “it’s okay as long as criticism is not connected to delegitimization, demonization, or double standards … but we are ready to discuss everything with an open mind.”

Saar will co-chair a meeting of the EUIsrael Association Council with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas in the first such session since 2022. Talks are set to focus on the humanitarian situation in Gaza, Israeli-Palestinian relations, and changing regional dynamics.

The Israeli foreign minister said that within the EU “there are very friendly countries, there are less friendly countries,” but that Monday’s meeting showed a willingness to renew normal relations.

The Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel‘s response, exposed sharp divisions within the EU. While all members condemned the Hamas attacks, some staunchly defended Israel‘s war in Gaza as others condemned Israel‘s military campaign and its toll on civilians.

COMPROMISE

In February 2024, the leaders of Spain and Ireland sent a letter to the European Commission asking for a review of whether Israel was complying with its human rights obligations under the 2000 EUIsrael Association Agreement, which provides the basis for political and economic cooperation between the two sides.

But ahead of Monday’s meeting, the bloc’s 27 member countries negotiated a compromise position that praises areas of cooperation with Israel while also raising concerns.

At the meeting, the EU will emphasize both Europe’s commitment to Israel‘s security and its view that “displaced Gazans should be ensured a safe and dignified return to their homes in Gaza,” according to a draft document seen by Reuters.

Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump shocked Arab nations and Western allies by proposing the United States “take over” Gaza, displacing its Palestinian inhabitants and creating the “Riviera of the Middle East.”

The war started when Hamas-led terrorists launched a cross-border attack on Israeli communities that killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.

Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.

The post EU and Israel Resume Dialogue With Focus on Gaza’s Future first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Merz Says He Will Find Way for Netanyahu to Visit Germany Without Being Arrested

Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party leader Friedrich Merz speaks at the party headquarters, after the exit poll results are announced for the 2025 general election, in Berlin, Germany, Feb. 23, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Angelika Warmuth

Germany’s likely next chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday he had invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit and would find a way for him to do so without being arrested under a warrant by the International Criminal Court.

“I think it is a completely absurd idea that an Israeli prime minister cannot visit the Federal Republic of Germany,” Merz said at a press conference, a day after his conservatives won the largest share of the vote in a national election.

Merz said he had told Netanyahu by phone “that we would find ways and means for him to visit Germany and leave again without being arrested.”

Netanyahu’s office said the Israeli leader had congratulated Merz. It also said Merz had told Netanyahu he would invite him to Germany “in defiance of the scandalous International Criminal Court decision to label the prime minister a war criminal.”

The Hague-based ICC has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former defense minister as well as Hamas officials for alleged war crimes committed in Gaza.

All 27 EU countries including Germany are signatories of the founding treaty of the court, the only permanent international tribunal for war crimes and crimes against humanity, which requires members to arrest its suspects on their territory.

The ICC said that states have a legal obligation to enforce its decisions, and any concerns they may have should be addressed with the court in a timely and efficient manner.

“It is not for states to unilaterally determine the soundness of the court’s legal decisions,” said the ICC.

Israel rejects the jurisdiction of the court and denies war crimes, noting its military forces in Gaza have been targeting Hamas terrorists, who hide their weapons, operations centers, and other military infrastructure within and underneath civilian sites.

Germans feel a special responsibility towards Israel due to the legacy of the Holocaust, and Merz has made clear he is a strong ally. But Germany also has a strong tradition of support for international justice for war crimes.

The Left party called Merz’s invitation a “disaster” and accused him of “double standards.”

Germany has always insisted that international arrest warrants must be implemented, said Left co-leader Jan van Aken.

“If Vladimir Putin comes to Germany, then this arrest warrant must be implemented. The same applies to Netanyahu,” said Aken, referring to an ICC arrest warrant issued for the Russian leader over the deportation of children from Ukraine.

The war in Gaza started when Hamas-led terrorists launched a cross-border attack on Israeli communities, killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages.

Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.

The post Merz Says He Will Find Way for Netanyahu to Visit Germany Without Being Arrested first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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