Jewish Voice for Peace is a left-wing, nominally Jewish group that opposes U.S. assistance to the state of Israel and supports allowing Palestinians to live on land within Israel vacated by Arabs during the Israeli War of Independence. The group supports the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement to delegitimize and isolate the Jewish state. 3
Background
Jewish Voice for Peace is an organization highly critical of the state of Israel. It explicitly seeks to create “a wedge” within the American Jewish community to weaken broader American support for Israel. 9 10
Focus on Election Advocacy
As of July 2025, Jewish Voice for Peace is restructuring to focus its advocacy on supporting specific policy proposals as well as the campaigns for specific candidates running for office. A statement released by the organization reads “The U.S. government has not budged from its commitment to sponsor Israel’s genocide. Public polling and public displays of opposition alone will not shift U.S. policy. Our movement must contend for real power.” 11
“No Wars, No Kings, No ICE” 2026 Demonstrations
In January 2026, a coalition of organizations and nonprofits organized a protest in New York City titled “No Wars, No Kings, No ICE,” to demonstrate against the Second Trump Administration, U.S Military Action in Venezuela, and operations conducted by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). These included the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) NYC, Rise and Resist, The People’s Forum, Federal Unionists Network, Jewish Voice for Peace NYC, Target Majority, Common Defense, Indivisible Brooklyn, Our Time, 50501, and the Brooklyn Resisters. Other groups that took part in similar protests in the city around January 2026 include the national DSA organization, the Revolutionary Internationalist Youth from the City University of New York, the International Communist League, Indivisible, and Refuse Fascism. 15
The Rockefeller Brothers Fund is most notable identified funder of Jewish Voice for Peace. 19
Controversies
Anti-Semitism
Jewish Voice for Peace regularly defends statements by left-wing and anti-Israel public figures that mainstream figures consider anti-Semitic. JVP defended U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) with a social media campaign of #IStandWithIlhan32
In March 2024, JVP advisory board member Judith Butler spoke at a panel in Paris, France hosted by international advocacy group Paroles d’honneur in which she defended the October 7 terrorist attacks against the state of Israel that killed over 1,200 Israelis as “armed resistance.” 33 Butler also commented on the attacks by claiming, “We can have different views as Hamas as a political party, we can have different views on armed resistance, but I think it is more honest and historically correct to say that the uprising of October 7 was an act of armed resistance…It is not a terrorist attack and it’s not an antisemitic attack, it was an attack against Israelis.” 33 According to the Jerusalem Post, Butler also voiced her support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement to delegitimize the state of Israel, claiming that BDS does not, “target individuals on the basis of nationality, but targeted corporations and institutions complicit with the State of Israel. 33 Shortly after the speech, she made a blog post in an attempt to clarify her comments, claiming that, “The Hamas attack in October came from the armed faction of a political party that administers Gaza and I remain willing to describe this attack as a form of armed resistance to colonization and the ongoing siege and dispossession. 33 In addition, her blog post stated, “Feminism, queer mobilization, trans mobilization have to all be in solidarity with Palestine now, because we all suffer from forms of state and regulatory violence that makes our live unlivable or makes us have to fight for our lives.”33
As of January 2025, JVP was ordered to pay $677,634 after it was discovered that the organization had defrauded the U.S government by signing up for the CARES Act Disaster Relief Program. 34
As of February 2025, international advocacy group StandWithUs released a report titled “JVP:
A Shield for Hate, Not a Voice for Peace” which criticized JVP for being “at the forefront of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign (BDS) in the United States,” 35 for attempting, “to “drive a wedge” within the Jewish community, positioning itself as the “Jewish wing” of the anti-Israel movement,” 35 and helps promote “antisemitic (anti-Jewish) conspiracy theories and works with partners that are connected to antisemitic terrorists.” 35 Claiming the JVP’s primary goal is to ” dismantle the State of Israel,” the report argues that “University administrations, elected officials, and other civil society leaders should reject JVP’s political agenda, hold them accountable for any legal transgressions, and condemn non-Jews who use JVP as a shield to dismiss concerns about antisemitism.” 35
In April 2025, the JVP chapter on George Washington University was suspended through May 2025 due to allegations that the chapter conducted “multiple instances of misconduct, including discriminatory harassment.” 36 The university’s Conflict Education and Student Accountability (CESA) office found that the chapter had hosted an event without advisory approval as well as its social media account sharing a post which created a “hostile environment” for Jewish students on campus. 36 As of August 2025, an anonymous JVP GW chapter member stated the organization would “disaffiliate” from George Washington University but also alleged, “anti-Zionist Jewish students will continue to organize and pressure the university to divest from genocide…” 36
Leadership
Stefanie Fox is the executive director at Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), taking over from Rebecca Vilkomerson in 2020 after the latter departed from the organization in 2019. She has previously worked with JVP starting as an organizer and later progressing to the roles of Co-Director of Organizing, Deputy Director, and Acting Co-Executive Director. https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-791928#google_vignette