JVP does not back Hamas

To the Editor: 

State Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz sent two troubling emails to constituents after the most recent eruption of violence in Israel/Palestine. In his Oct. 12 email, Mr. Dinowitz dishonestly mischaracterized Jewish Voice for Peace, a group I have belonged to for almost a decade. 

He wrote, “There are even some supposed Jewish organizations that have attacked Israel and defended Hamas. One organization called Jewish Voice for Peace has sent out the most vile attacks you could imagine.” While JVP has long attacked the Israeli system of oppression of Palestinians, it has never said it supports Hamas. 

To quote from the JVP blog, “To point out Palestinian oppression is not, as so many commentators have alleged, to justify the unjustifiable killing of Israeli civilians by Hamas. It is simply another way of asking that we treat Palestinians with the empathy and decency that we ourselves long for, and to take the steps necessary to ensure the only real and lasting peace—the kind that will come with Palestinian freedom, justice, and equality.

As I write this the civilian death toll in Gaza from Israeli bombardments passes 5,000, 40 percent of whom are children, a million Gazans have been displaced.

Contrary to JVP’s principled calling for an immediate ceasefire and resolution to the root causes of violence in Israel/Palestine Mr. Dinowitz writes in his Oct. 8 email, “Israel not only has a right to defend itself but must respond in the most substantial possible way against these barbaric attacks without regard to proportionality.” 

Proportionality in war is covered by Article 51 of the Geneva Convention. It explicitly confirms the customary rule that innocent civilians must be kept outside hostilities as far as possible and enjoy general protection against danger arising from hostilities. Mr. Dinowitz’s call is alarming. The murder of 1,400 Israelis must not be weaponized to justify another war crime.   

Pam Sporn