JEWISH VOICE FOR PEACE STATEMENT: U.S. SETTLEMENT FUNDERS

As an organization that focuses on the critical role of the United States in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Jewish Voice for Peace is deeply concerned by the ongoing activities of U.S. organizations whose 501c3 (non-profit) status enables them to raise money from American donors to support and maintain settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

In the Washington Post last year, David Ignatius noted that from 2004-2007, 28 U.S. tax exempt organizations raised $33.4 million in funding for settlements and related organizations.[1]

The construction of settlements in occupied territory is a violation of international law.

Non-profit settlement funders include New York-based Hebron Fund, which supports the extremist Jewish settlement of 700 settlers in the center of Hebron, making the area inaccessible and unlivable to its 150,000 Palestinian residents. Israeli organizations such as B’tselem describe the settlement in Hebron as a severe violation of the most basic human rights of the Palestinians in the city and an ongoing war crime.[2] The Hebron Fund contributes almost $1 million dollars annually to support this settlement.[3]

An additional example is Friends of Ir David, which raises money to expand Jewish settlement in the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan in East Jerusalem. From 2004-2006, Friends of Ir David contributed over $10 million dollars to activities that include fraudulent home purchases and ideological archaeological excavations that are used as a pretext to demolish Palestinian homes. Since 1967, thirty five percent of East Jerusalem has been taken over by the Jerusalem municipality for the sake of housing Jewish citizens—and changing the facts on the ground in anticipation of a final status settlement.[4]

While many of these organizations claim to merely fund “social and educational” activities, the Center Fund, also based in New York, contributed over 100,000 shekels (over $27,000) to the Od Yosef Chai Shechem yeshiva in the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar near Nablus. This is the same yeshiva whose rabbi said it was permissible to kill gentile babies because of "the future danger that will arise if they are allowed to grow into evil people like their parents." [5] The Center Fund also funds settler organized “security” organizations—ie, militias[6]. Indeed the violence from the Yitzhar settlement has been so pronounced that former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert described it as "pogroms against non-Jews."[7]

The Colorado-based Christian Friends of Israeli Communities encourages churches and
ministries to connect with "the pioneers of Biblical Israel" through
the "adopt-a-settlement” program. The director of the organization’s Israeli office estimates that more than half the settlements in the West Bank receive direct or indirect support from Christian organizations.[8]

The impact of American dollars on helping settlers deepen and broaden their hold on Palestinian neighborhoods and cities is clear. These are just four examples of how U.S.-based organizations, taking advantage of their tax-exempt status, are contributing to creating “facts on the ground” in flagrant opposition to international law, as well as materially contributing to the ongoing human rights violations and daily misery of Palestinians struggling to survive and remain in the West Bank.

Unfortunately, these settlements, and their U.S. fundraising counterparts, are in no way outside the Jewish mainstream in either Israel or the United States. The Israeli beneficiary of Friends of Ir David, for example, known as Elad, has been in and out of a contractual relationship with the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. That relationship gives Elad control over the very archaeological site that itis using to pursue its political goal of increasing Jewish control over Silwan The yeshiva in Yitzar funded by the Central Fund received over a million shekels in funding from Israel’s Education and Welfare ministries in 2007 and 2008. [9]

Even mainstream American non-profit organizations like Nefesh B’Nefesh, which works in partnership with the Jewish Agency to promote North American immigration to Israel, receives one third of its aliyah related funding from the Israeli Absorption Ministry each year. Nefesh B’Nefesh encourages North American Jews to move to settlements in the West Bank, both by promoting those “communities” on their website, without mentioning that they are situated in the West Bank, and by helping new immigrants access increased fiscal benefit packages they receive from the Israeli government for settling in West Bank settlements.[10]

Thus the Israeli settlement enterprise, despite an avowed settlement “freeze,” is a conscious target for expansion, aided and abetted both by the Israeli government and the American organizations that support them.

A Moral Choice: Divesting from the Israeli Occupation

Moral choice

Resources on selective divestment

Jewish Voice for Peace statement on selective divestment
Jewish Voice for Peace informational booklet on divesting from the occupation
Survey of economic engagement to end the Israeli occupation
United Methodist Church and divestment
Presbyterian Church USA and divestment
Caterpillar and corporate accountability
Jews and allies speak up for selective divestment
Statement of support from Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions
Contact us to request more information


In the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, four million Palestinians live under military occupation. The Israeli government retains control over Palestinian land and lives but refuses to grant Palestinians equal rights under the law. For most Palestinians, most of the time, there is no recourse to stop injustice. Most Palestinians live in fear.

Though Israel has a right and duty to defend itself, occupying the Palestinian people by force has brought Israelis neither peace nor security. Instead, it has eroded Israeli civil society, causing a rise in post-traumatic stress disorder amongst Israeli soldiers and an increase in violence against women.

You can help end this.

Several Christian denominations have taken brave steps to ensure that their church investments are not funding injustice in Israel/Palestine. This year, the United Methodist Church and Presbyterian Church USA will vote on resolutions dealing with divesting from the Israeli occupation.

No body in either church has advocated for divesting from Israel. Rather, resolutions are on the table to divest from corporations, mostly multinational, that profit the Israeli occupation.

You can join us.

We welcome you to browse through the resources here, to familiarize yourself with the issues, and to get in touch with us if you have any questions. We welcome you to become a member of Jewish Voice for Peace. We count on our allies to support us and hope you will join us by clicking here.

Jewish Voice for Peace is asking you to make a moral decision during difficult times. Someone has to stand-up and speak against injustice. You are the prophetic voice.

In Peace,
Sydney Levy
Director of Campaigns

I've been thinking a lot about courage.

A message from Howard Zinn, Jewish Voice for Peace .

This message was sent to Abe Quadan Peacefriends

I've been thinking a lot about courage.

Right now, while I'm snug and fed this Thanksgiving holiday in the comfort of my home, halfway around the world a group of teenagers is sitting in a jail cell today, demonstrating the very definition of courage and sacrifice. It's frustrating. Humbling. And I'm damn glad to have the chance to do something big about it.

Send a letter to the
Israeli Minister of Defense now.

I am Raz Bar-David Varon.
I am one of the Shministim.
I need your help.

See that fresh-faced, bold young woman on the right? Her name is Raz Bar-David Varon. She's an 18-year-old Israeli who just graduated from 12th grade. And as I write this, she's sitting in jail in Tel Aviv because she refuses to join the Israeli army.
In my day we called them the "refuseniks" and here in the U.S. they're "conscientious objectors." In Israel, they're still in high school and they are the Shministim. Get used to that word because I'm going to ask you to know it, to say it, to use it. You see, Raz Bar-David Varon and another dozen or so Shministim have asked Jewish Voice for Peace for our help and this is one request we can't refuse.
The Shministim - all about ages 17, 18, 19 and in the 12th grade - are taking a stand. They believe in a better, more peaceful future for themselves and for Israelis and Palestinians, and they are refusing to join the Israeli army. They're in jail, holding strong against immense pressure from family, friends and the Israeli government. They need our support and they need it today.
They have asked people like us to let the Israeli government know we are watching, and that we support their courage. They're hoping to receive hundreds of thousands of postcards to be delivered to the Israeli Minister of Defense on December 18th, when they will hold a huge rally and press conference. They're hoping to stand strong on the steps of this majestic building - and on the steps of history - representing not only the thousands of refusers who came before them, not only the many young people to whom they are an example of a better world, but also to represent us. They have asked you, me, and every person who strives for peace to be on those steps with them, on that day. I will be there. See:

Will you join me? It's simple. Sign a letter now. And don't stop there - ask your loved ones to join you. During this week of giving thanks, signing a letter is the least we can do to give thanks for the courageous among us.
Raz is a Shministit. Raz is Courage. And with our support of her today, you and I are Shministim too.
Thank you - and go sign that letter.

Howard Zinn