We invite our people and ancestors, allies and would-be resistors, to collectively face the fear we have inherited, to do our ancestors’ memories honor by fighting for the liberation owed to them and to the Palestinian people. We refuse the Zionist notion that standing with Palestine means abandoning our Judaism. We do not abandon our family histories in order to resist: Our sacred grief strengthens us, fortifies our courage and resolve, warms us in the light of struggle...
ANCESTORS AT OUR BACKInternational Holocaust Remembrance Day January 27, 2024
We welcome South Africa’s win in the World Court ordering Israel prevent all genocidal violence against Palestinians
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) today submitted the following statement for the Congressional Record on the Israel-Hamas conflict and the Netanyahu government’s intolerable bombing campaign and mistreatment of civilians in Gaza
SB 439 would bar the NH state government from investing in or contracting with businesses that are boycotting Israel. Hearing Date: Wednesday, January 24. Vote Not final
Vermonters for Justice in Palestine (VTJP) have successfully secured the required signatures to place the Apartheid Free City Referendum on Burlington’s ballot for the March elections. Everyone, anywhere can sign.
Demand Burlington City Council Respect DemocracyPut Apartheid Free City Referendum on Ballot
Read the Reformer story & the Statement https://www.reformer.com/local-news/white-supremacist-neo-nazi-graffiti-decried-in-brattleboro/article_2661bf88-a58b-11ee-a41f-df20b5cfd839.html
Jewish Voice For Peace VT/NH is horrified and appalled by the shooting of three Palestinian students that occurred on the evening of November 25th in Burlington, VT.
JVP welcomes reports of a temporary cessation in violence and return of Israeli and Palestinian women and children as a first step, and calls for a permanent ceasefire.
JVP CALLS FOR A PERMANENT CEASEFIRE NOW!BUT A POLITICAL SOLUTION IS NEEDED
On November 7th 2023, the House of Representatives voted to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American member of Congress, for “promoting false narratives” about Hamas’s October 7th attack and for “calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.” The censure came in the wake of Tlaib saying that “the apartheid system that creates the suffocating, dehumanizing conditions . . . can lead to resistance.”
Jewish Voice for Peace is guided by a vision of justice, equality and freedom for all people. We unequivocally oppose Zionism because it is counter to those ideals. We know that opposing Zionism, or even discussing it, can be painful, can strike at the deepest trauma and greatest fears of many of us.
JVP'S APPROACH TO ZIONISMGUIDED BY A VISION OF JUSTICE, EQUITY & FREEDOM FOR ALL PEOPLE
Amid Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, Secretary of State Antony Blinken notified Congress, on two separate occasions last month, that he had circumvented their review to sell weapons to the Israeli government. On December 9, the sale included nearly 14,000 tank shells worth $106.5 million; on December 29, more than 50,000 artillery shells worth $147.5 million. As Blinken’s second notice suggests, sales under $100 million need not be reported to Congress, meaning that other surreptitious deals may also have been made in recent weeks.
Biden’s CHIPs Act Is Being Used to Arm Israel$35 million in federal subsidies went to a multinational arms manufacturer with business ties to the country.
On Monday - 29 Jan - about half a dozen members of the antisemitic hate group, Goyim Defense League, joined the City Council meeting via Zoom to make public comment. In increasingly hateful remarks, speakers made calls for action to visit their website, by calling for an end to the genocide in Gaza and climate action, as well as a flood of dog whistles and outright derogatory comments.
Jewish Voice for Peace Vermont - New Hampshire’s statement on White supremacy, Antisemitism and Transphobia at Burlington City Council
“As an anti-Zionist Jewish organization for Palestinian freedom, we are horrified to learn that Meta is considering expanding when they treat ‘Zionism’ — a political ideology — as the same as ‘Jew/Jewish’ — an ethno-religious identity,” said Dani Noble, an organizer with Jewish Voice for Peace, one of the groups Meta has contacted to discuss the possible change. Noble added that such a policy shift “will result in shielding the Israeli government from accountability for its policies and actions that violate Palestinian human rights.”
Meta Considering Increased Censorship of the Word “Zionist”“I think it may actually harm the fight against antisemitism,” said the head of a Palestinian digital rights group briefed on the potential change.
DARTMOUTH PROTESTERS By Nancy Welch While it is Dartmouth students Kevin Engel and Roan V. Wade facing charges of criminal trespassing, it is Dartmouth President Sian Beilock who stands trial in the court of public opinion...
President Beilock can answer questions, or drop the caseUpper Valley for Palestine UV4Pal
I would like to add another Jewish perspective to Roberta Berner’s letter (“A divisive issue in Lebanon,” Forum, March 8) regarding the Lebanon ceasefire resolution. As she states, the Jewish community is diverse. I do support the ceasefire resolution for a number of reasons: I do not support a state that privileges Jews above non-Jews and that illegally steals land from Palestinians to construct settlements in violation of international law; I refuse to lend my support to a right-wing regime involved in ethnic cleansing and genocide and I reject the definition of antisemitism as anti-Zionist. Historically many Jews have never supported Zionism and do not support it now. We refuse to have our pain weaponized by those who call for the expulsion and murder of Palestinians. Israel has made Gaza into what has been called the world’s largest open-air prison. To make matters worse, because Israel controls most of the border crossings, it has not allowed aid to enter Gaza and is starving those who have not been killed. This is an issue that affects all of us because we pay taxes that support military aid to Israel, $3.8 billion each year, to uphold an apartheid regime. This does not reflect our Jewish values nor is it moral. Think what we could do with all that money here at home. I applaud O. Sami Saydjari’s commentary (“There must be room for debate on Palestine,” March 12) bringing to the fore the need to have more and open discussion about what is happening in our name in Palestine and Israel. President Biden could end this instantly by withholding US military aid to Israel and demanding a permanent ceasefire, negotiations, the reinstatement of aid and release of all hostages in Gaza and Israel. For these reasons, I support the Lebanon ceasefire resolution and the at least 12 others that have passed in Vermont towns so far and those that may be proposed in the future. I want peace, not genocide.
Support for Lebanon council’s ceasefire resolutionLiz Blum, March 16 2024 letter to the editor
Protesters in Norwich wanted to let Jill Biden know that they are not happy President Biden is allowing the genocide to continue in Gaza. A rally on the Norwich green was followed by a march up Elm St. where Jill Biden was dining at a $25,000 fundraiser while Gaza starves.
Jill Biden's Presence at a Fundraiser-Met By ProtestersSponsored by Upper Valley for Palestine
Safety Through Solidarity: Jewish Voice for Peace VT-NH 2024 Holocaust Remembrance
Brattleboro Representative Town Meeting Passed a Resolution urging Balint to work against any action that would send arms to Israel!
2024 Brattleboro Town Meeting ResolutionUrging Rep. Becca Balint to Join Sanders, Welch & Colleagues in Rejecting Funds Enabling War Crimes in Gaza
Rep. Becca Balint signed a letter to President Biden and Secretary Blinken, alongside 55 Democrats led by Representatives Pocan, McGovern and Schakowsky urging the Biden Administration to withhold pending and future weapons assistance to Israel. This comes following the seven humanitarian aid workers from World Central Kitchen, including one American, killed in an Israeli airstrike. Representatives also expressed grave concern about Israel’s consistent blocking of humanitarian aid as Gaza descends into famine.
VT REP. BECCA BALINTAmong Growing Group of Democrats Calling to Withhold Offensive Weapons Transfers to Israel
Douglas Smith lives in Sharon, Vt., just across the border from New Hampshire. He’s legally blind, asthmatic, epileptic and undergoing treatment for cancer. And since October, the 83-year-old has also carved out time for weekly vigils around the Upper Valley for the civilians killed in the war between Israel and Hamas. “When I see pictures of women and children in Gaza being dug out of the rubble, then I weep,” Smith said.
Douglas Smith and Jill Wilcox remember Vietnam protests...Now, they're facing charges after protesting the Gaza war at Dartmouth.
On May 1, Dartmouth President Sian Beilock called police to break up a peaceful student protest on the Dartmouth Green. The students were protesting Israel’s war on Gaza and calling on Dartmouth to divest from companies that support Israel’s military occupation. This was one of many such protests sweeping college campuses. New Hampshire state troopers in full riot gear arrived with armored vehicles in response to the Dartmouth students. Orleck joined other faculty and community members to stand between the police and students. The 65-year-old professor was body slammed to the ground and was one of 89 people arrested. Two reporters for the campus newspaper were also arrested, provoking national outrage from press freedom groups.
Vermonters must act Our tax dollars are funding and arming the military responsible for the litany of horrors unfolding in Gaza, and now we are complicit with the institutionalized torture of Palestinian prisoners.
HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT This summary of human rights violations and crimes against humanity in Occupied Palestine by the State of Israel is to inform national policy and legislation. JVP VT-NH will provide these summaries on a regular basis. In addition to a permanent ceasefire, we strongly support Senator Sanders’ call for a Joint Resolution of Disapproval to block an additional $20 billion in military aid to Israel, and we urge you to introduce a similar resolution condemning the murder of Aysenur Eygi and calling for her killer(s) to be brought to justice.
Human Rights Report to Vermont’s Congressional DelegationJVP-VT/NH Legislative Work Group/Edition 1, September 2024
Peter Schumann / Bread & Puppet Theater presents Linguists, a Fiddle Rant with Bedsheet Interpretation Dances Filmed on Sunday, October 27, 2024 at the Ballroom at the B&P Farm 01:00 - 02:35 Prelude 02:37 - 03:23 Introduction 03:23 - 06:26 Overture 06:27 - 09:33 Sheep Syndrome Cantastoria 09:43 - 30:58 Malcolm Goldstein - 3 Improvisations on Violin 30:59 - 42:05 Peter Schumann - Fascist Democracy 30 Days Spectacular Rant 43:12 - 47:27 Broadsides in the Woodshed Gallery 47:28 - 47:47 Potato Pancakes For more than 100 documentaries of Bread and Puppet performances and Sideshows, please visit jeromelipaniYoutube, and don't forget to Share and to Subscribe, to help the work of B&P to reach a larger audience.
Peter Schumann / Bread & Puppet Theater presentsLinguists, a Fiddle Rant with Bedsheet Interpretation Dances, a solo performance by visiting violinist Malcolm Goldstein and a Broadside Exhibit in the Woodshed Gallery, followed by a potato pancake dinner
Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) released the following statement: “Under international humanitarian law, Israel has an obligation to provide and allow—not impede—the free flow and facilitation of humanitarian aid to Gaza. The Leahy Law and other U.S. laws are clear: all countries are held to the same standard, and all countries that receive U.S. security assistance must follow international humanitarian law. Israel is no different.
Peter Welch: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 11, 2024Welch Urges Biden Administration to Withhold Offensive Military Aid to Israel