Published: 16 July 2018
Last updated: 4 March 2024
The Jewish revolt (New York)
Can the young activists of IfNotNow change the conversation about Israel and the Palestinians, or will their contradictions hold them back?
Formed during the 2014 conflict between Israeli and Palestinian forces in Gaza, IfNotNow has experienced a stunning rise in prominence in the past year and a half. Their public demonstrations have drawn thousands of participants across the US, but they’ve recently moved into a new phase.
In this phase they emphasise pointed online campaigns that accuse the Jewish institutions their members emerged from — religious organisations, summer camps, youth groups, Birthright — of lying to them and supporting injustices against Palestinians.
In response, critics from the right and (perhaps more notably) the centre-left have become increasingly aggressive in their attacks on IfNotNow, inadvertently raising the group’s profile and making it a candidate for the new face of the American Jewish left.
Gaza Kaddish is a challenge to the status quo (Jewish Chronicle)
A small news item appeared in last week’s Jewish Chronicle, the significance of which should not be overlooked. For a second year in succession, the UK branch of the New Israel Fund (NIF) raised a record sum.
Its rise shows that British Jews are becoming more discriminating in their support for Israel. NIF invests in groups which promote human rights, equality, religious pluralism and social justice in Israel, appealing to those at the more liberal — rather than nationalist — end of the Zionist spectrum.
Eight left-wing activists stage second Birthright walkout in less than a month (Times of Israel)
Participants affiliated with IfNotNow leave trip four days early to meet with Palestinian family whose home is slated for demolition in East Jerusalem
'One Jewish life is worth more than 10,000 non-Jews': Why more US Jews will walk off Birthright this summer (Haaretz)
My Birthright guide's supremacist stance was extreme. But the program's claim to be 'apolitical' is not only demonstrably untrue; it frames every critical, inquisitive Jewish millennial who wants to meet Palestinians as Israel-haters
Photo: IfNotNow members block access to a Trump hotel in protest of Donald Trump's moving of the American embassy in Israel, Washington, DC, in May Gili Getz (New York magazine)
