We will end the British Jewish community’s support for Israel’s occupation.

Na’amod is a new movement of British Jews seeking to end our community’s support for Israel’s occupation, and to mobilise it in the struggle for freedom and equality for all Palestinians and Israelis.

Na’amod was born out of Kaddish for Gaza in May 2018. As Jews, we were appalled by the way members of our community were slandered and harassed for publicly expressing empathy for Palestinians. We are determined to resist attempts to marginalise anti-occupation voices in our community, and galvanised to demand that our leaders show courage and leadership in resolving the moral crisis of Israel’s occupation. As Jews, we cannot truly be free until all people are free.

We are a pluralistic movement, both politically and religiously, and do not take a common position on Zionism, BDS or borders. We are united by our opposition to an occupation which deprives Palestinians of their dignity and human rights, is contrary to Jewish values and, like every system of oppression, morally corrupts those who support and administer it. While our members are active in many different Jewish organisations, our movement is completely independent.

Our name, meaning ‘We will stand’ in Hebrew, references the word used to call Jews to read from the Torah in synagogue (ya’amod/ta’amod). It reflects our steadfast commitment to stand alongside Palestinians in their struggle for human rights, and to the Jewish values which drive our activism.

We aspire for our community to reaffirm the principle of ‘b’tselem elohim’ (that we are all created in God’s image). The way in which Palestinians are frequently dehumanised, and their oppression justified, by people who claim to represent UK Jewry runs in contrast to everything we were taught in our Jewish education.

We are inspired by the call ‘tzedek tzedek tirdof’ (justice, justice you shall pursue) to commit ourselves to fight for justice and equality for all in Israel-Palestine. These are the values our community raised us to hold. We cannot stand idly by as Israel dispossesses Palestinians of their land, strips them of their dignity, freedom and human rights, and violently suppresses their efforts to challenge the status quo.

For as long as that status quo is upheld, our community will continue to support an abhorrent structure which punishes, humiliates and restricts the livelihoods of Palestinians. Israelis are morally corrupted by the brutal system of occupation they administer, and so too is our community through its moral, tacit and financial support.

We welcome all those who share our mission to stand with us on the right side of history in building an inclusive and powerful movement within the British Jewish community.

We will win. The occupation will end. Join us.

We need your support to help build our movement: https://www.gofundme.com/naamod-seed-funding

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