In which JVP plays the Wicked Child

Bay Area anti-Israel groups have traditionally held an anti-Zionist "seder" some time during Passover to commemorate whatever it is they commemorate. This year was no different.

2012 Community Passover Seder Dinner
Co-sponsored by Bay Area Women in Black, International Jewish anti-Zionist Network
Friday, April 6, 2012
Doors open at 5:30pm, Program starts promptly at 6pm
Lake Merritt United Methodist Church
(1255 1st Ave at International Blvd, Oakland)

Dinner will be served.
$10-50 sliding scale ($25 donation suggested), no one turned away for lack of funds.

Funds raised will benefit IJAN, the Middle East Children's Alliance's Silwan Project and Bareed Mista3jil - Queer Arab Women's Stories Project.

I think I can guess what haggadah they used.


From Arutz Sheva:

"The Jewish anti-Israel organization, Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), has recently published a new type of Hagaddah, aimed not at celebrating the Jewish people’s exodus from Egypt, our journey from slavery to freedom, or the miracle of attaining national self-determination in our ancestral homeland. The Haggadah does, however, aim at demonizing the State of Israel, promoting the Boycotts, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) movement and rallying the ‘Palestinian’ cause."

Its not just Arutz Sheva that's shaking their head in disbelief. Jonathan Tobin of Commentary Magazine writes:

"...the anti-Zionist group Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP) has now gone completely beyond the pale with a new version of Passover in which Israel is transformed into Egypt and the Palestinians have become the Jews.

This Haggadah, which was brought to our attention by the Anti-Defamation League, isn’t merely an expression of dissent against the policies of the Israeli government about which Israelis and Americans may differ. By appropriating the symbolism of the Festival of Freedom to promote a cause whose purpose is to deny the Jewish people their rights and liberty, the group is committing an act of spiritual vandalism. Identifying Israel with Pharaoh and Egyptians is an effort at delegitimization that crosses the boundary from bad taste to anti-Semitic invective...

JVP has demonstrated that it has no place within the organized Jewish community or among the society of decent Americans. Their desire to wage economic war on Israel already places them outside the boundaries of normal political dissent. But their compendium of Passover-themed slurs is an act so despicable that it merits their being shunned the same way we would any other hate group."

And from the inimitable Jon Haber from Divest this

"...No amount of cynicism could possibly explain this latest release on the JVP hit parade: their own version of the Passover Hagaddah, complete with “The Israelis are the new Egyptian Pharos!” words and imagery, delivered with the same subtlety as having a cinder block dropped on your head.

One is first tempted to simply stare dumbfounded at the combination of historic ignorance and cultural contempt required to cast the Jews as the villains in their own foundation story. Even in an era when Passover readings and rituals have been leveraged for every imaginable political purpose (featuring Hagaddah’s written specifically for those of the woman’s rights, civil rights, Zionist and transgender perspectives), JVP’s foray into this long-abused genre sets a new precedent for utter tastelessness and self indulgence. It is truly a work that could only have been contemplated (much less executed) by those whose universe consists of nothing but themselves."

I understand we'll be hearing be hearing more from Jon regarding the JVP Haggadah. Stay tuned.