Tipsheet

Let’s Take a Closer Look at That ‘Jewish’ Group That Took Over Capitol Hill Yesterday

Spencer Brown
Spencer Brown  |  October 19, 2023 12:00 PM

As Townhall reported on Wednesday afternoon, a large group of activists took over the rotunda of the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill to demand a "ceasefire now" to prevent Israel from eliminating the Iran-backed terrorists responsible for the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust as rocket attacks launched by Hamas terrorists continue.

The group organizing the disallowed demonstration — U.S. Capitol Police prohibit demonstrations of any size in congressional buildings — which also saw groups shut down streets around the Capitol Building is "Jewish Voice for Peace," a group that describes itself as "organizing toward Palestinian liberation."

While the Hamas sympathizers with the group made their position clear and resisted police instructions to disperse leading to, reportedly, roughly 300 arrests and at least three charges for assaults on USCP officers, it's hardly the group's first attempt to use the "Jewish" title to spread Hamas propaganda. 

Most recently, that included posting on X, formerly Twitter, the terrorist disinformation straight from Hamas terrorists claiming Israel bombed a hospital. The post was still up at the time of publication.

On October 13, the group posted a statement condemning Israel's justified response to Hamas terrorists' surprise slaughter of innocent Israelis titled "Genocide, ethnic cleansing, and another Nakba in Palestine."

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Before that, on October 7, Jewish Voice for Peace posted a press release blaming Israel for the Hamas attack that has killed more than 1,300 Israelis titled "The Root of Violence Is Oppression." In it, JVP spreads even more Hamas propaganda by claiming Israel's "war on Palestinians started over 75 years ago" with "apartheid and occupation" in which the United States is also complicit.   

As the NGO Monitor has documented for years:

Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) is a U.S.-based political organization, which refers to itself as the “Jewish wing” of the Palestinian solidarity movement. JVP provides the façade of significant Jewish support for BDS and other forms of demonization, including on university campuses and in churches, while also seeking to create “a wedge” within the American Jewish community and generate polarization over Israel.

As previously noted by NGO Monitor, JVP is not transparent about funding sources. Limited financial information on JVP is available through public IRS documents (990s) and databases, which report a total budget of $1,407,148 for 2014.

In light of this lack of transparency on the part of JVP, NGO Monitor undertook research into its funders and supporters. In total, between the years of 2014-2015, NGO Monitor was able to identify $626,793 in donations and grants awarded to JVP. Our research reveals that JVP received funding from a broad range of foundations and charitable trusts, many of which, unsurprisingly, also contribute to other anti-Israel organizations.

For other donors, however, grants to JVP seem to be inconsistent with their pattern of grantmaking, suggesting a lack of understanding of JVP’s agenda.

Among the visible donors, contributors to JVP include both private foundations that disburse funds at the discretion of directors, as well as public foundations that act as conduits for private giving.

In the 2014-5 period, the largest visible donations were provided by:

  • Rockefeller Brothers Fund- ($140,000 in 2015)
  • Tides Foundation- ($49,477 in 2014)
  • Firedoll Foudation- ($25,000 in 2014)
  • Schwab Charitable Foundation- ($158,800 in 2014)
  • Jewish Communal Fund- ($25,100 in 2015)
  • Most other grants were below $30,000.

Read more about JVP here from NGO Monitor, including their work organizations pushing the BDS — boycott, divestment, and sanctions — movement and other anti-Israel causes.

So, while Democrats and some media outlets reported on Wednesday's disallowed demonstration that took over a congressional office building as "Jewish calls for a ceasefire," it was — in reality — just another anti-Israel group seeking to stop Israel from defending itself against the terrorists who wish to erase it and its people from the earth. 

If any more evidence of Jewish Voice for Peace's questionable motives was needed, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) reportedly took a photo during the demonstration that appears to show a participant reading a group chat titled "Global Intifada."