A timeline of chapter activities going back to 2013.
Follow links to learn more about specific events and activities, including photos and media documentation.

2023

This was a year of incredible heartbreak, and also powerful organizing to call for CEASEFIRE and say that never again means never again for anyone.

  • Throughout the year, JVP Philly was an active member of the Philly Palestine Coalition, with many members joining actions including the January protest to free Ahmad Manasra, the May 13 Nakba Day Rally and March, and the near-daily rallies, marches, and events since October. Many chapter members also organized with Families for Ceasefire, Rabbis for Ceasefire, Freedom School for Palestine at UPenn, and other coalitions across the city and the country.

  • In March, JVP Philly joined in local action with over a dozen chapters across the country to protest Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s US visit to fundraise for Israeli apartheid and violence against Palestinians at the Israel Bonds annual conference. Smotrich has self-identified as a "fascist homophobe" and called for Huwara to be "wiped off the map"—an incitement to genocide as the Israeli military carried out devastating attacks on Nablus, Jericho, and Jenin.

  • In April, JVP Philly member Moriah Ella-Gabriel Mason launched an interactive art installation, durational performance, and community art project – Eser Hamakot / Ten Plagues including a series of events. Eser Hamakot seeks to visualize the terrible impact of the illegal Occupation of Palestine – adapted a ritual from the Passover seder, marking violations of human rights under the 10 Plagues of Occupation, with drops of red wine on white paper plates. Palestinian testimonies from human rights reports, news articles, and comrades in the West Bank are interwoven among the hanging sheets of wine-stained plates.

  • In June, a contingent from Philadelphia went to Washington, DC to discuss Palestinian liberation with our representatives. Representing the 7,000+ JVP members in Pennsylvania, the Philly group met with the offices of Congressman Dwight Evans, Senator John Fetterman, and Senator Bob Casey. With training by JVP Action leaders, we spoke with articulate urgency about preventing US taxpayer dollars from funding the imprisonment and torture of Palestinian children (HR 3103); seeking accountability for the murder of Shireen Abu Akleh; opposing the Abraham Accords; and opposing the conflation of anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism in the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism.

  • Later in June we held a picnic social and solidarity action, learning about solidarity with the Palestinians in a rural part of the West Bank known as Masafer Yatta facing eviction by the Israeli military as part of the Global Salon Against Eviction in Firing Zone 918.

  • In August we attended Jumana Manna's film, Foragers in the BlackStar Film Festival with the chapter as a screening partner.

  • Also in August, more than two years after JVP Philly launched a campaign to expose and disrupt local billionaires Jeff Yass and Arthur Dantchik's funding of the extremist Israeli think-tank Kohelet Policy Forum, Dantchik announced that he would cease funding the group!  Our campaign started with a May 2021 sit-in at Yass and Dantchik's Susquehanna International Group (SIG) office, followed by a giant shabbat service protest/teach-in on the Yass family lawn and then a Sukkot teach-in on the Yass lawn that Fall, launching the "All Eyes On Yass" campaign that continues with an intersectional focus on Jeff Yass' harmful funding locally, at the PA state level, throughout the U.S. and beyond. 

  • In September, many JVP Philly members attended the Palestine Writes conference, also meeting there with members of JVP Pittsburgh and other regional chapters.

  • Later in the month, we held a watch party for the launch event of JVP’s new strategic plan.

  • After October 7, we began to coalesce to find ways to channel our grief into action. Immediately, this meant contacting our friends and families in the region, mobilizing to call our elected representatives, joining JVP National’s “power hour” events, writing letters to the editor, and joining rallies. It also meant organizing a series of direct actions to call attention to cries for a lasting CEASEFIRE and to LET GAZA LIVE.

    • On October 18, 90+ JVP Philly members joined a 500-person sit-in at the Capitol Rotunda, and many hundreds more joined with over 5,000 people from around the country at the National Mall for a “Jews against Genocide” rally – the largest ever Jewish protest in solidarity with Palestinians.

    • On October 25, 30+ JVP Philly members and friends from allied groups showed up as constituents at Congressman Dwight Evans’ office today to ask him to sign onto the Ceasefire Now Resolution immediately. His office called the police as we stood in the office peacefully signing our names onto his sign in sheets for visiting constituents.

    • On October 26, 30+ JVP members and allies held a sit-in at Senator John Fetterman’s office pushing him to call for a ceasefire, with hundreds more joining in a related march and rally.

    • On November 2, over 300 people including a large interfaith clergy cohort participated in a JVP Philly sit-in demonstration at 30th Street station, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, while thousands more joined a coalition rally outside of the station. Short videos by PhillyCAM Voices and Hate5six capture the energy of this action.

    • On November 11, many members traveled to Delaware to join a march of over 500 people to Joe Biden’s house. (Video)

    • On November 15, over 100 Philadelphians participated in a JVP Action vigil outside of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). As hundreds of anti-war protesters assembled with 11,000 candles and signs calling for a ceasefire, DC police, many in riot gear, rushed the candlelight vigil and attacked protesters blocking some of the entrances to the doors of the DCCC. Read more from JVP Action.

    • On November 16, JVP Philly joined an action organized by CAIR Philadelphia and the Philly Palestine Coalition outside of Senator Bob Casey’s office, where Imams recited the Janazah (funeral prayer) and multi faith leaders led us in song and prayer. Over 100 JVP members sat, arms linked, forming a barrier around the crowd as they prayed. For over thirty minutes, speakers read the names of just a fraction of those who had been killed in the last month.

    • On November 30th, JVP Philly and allied groups held a prayerful candlelight vigil to decry the organization "Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces" hosting a fundraiser in Philadelphia, mourn those killed, and call for a permanent ceasefire.

    • On December 10, many JVP Philly members attended a statewide protest to end the siege on Gaza in Harrisburg.

    • On December 14, JVP Philly was the first of 8 cities to shut down traffic that night on 8 bridges for the 8th night of Hanukkah. We blocked rush hour traffic on major roadways to call for an immediate and lasting ceasefire in Gaza. Thirty demonstrators were arrested for blocking access to the Schuylkill Expressway, while hundreds others peacefully blocked the Spring Garden Street Bridge. Demonstrators held signs reading, “Let Gaza Live” and “Ceasefire NOW,” putting their bodies on the line to protest the extremely dire conditions in Gaza, where millions of Palestinians are running out of food, water, fuel, and medical supplies and (as of that night) over 17,000 had been killed.

  • On November 3, JVP Philly held a Shabbat event with over 50 members, and on November 30 over 100 members participated in our General Meeting. Both events included orientation to the organization and the chapter, reports from recent events, music, movement, and more.

2022

  • In March, JVP presented They Exist in Two Places at Once, a dance film event featuring Palestinian and Palestinian-American artists. The program included dances for the camera by four Palestinian and Palestinian-American artists and companies who live and work in the U.S. and The Levant.

  • JVP Philly joined in protest with a large coalition of groups on May 15, 2022 marking the 74th year since the Nakba of 1948 and demanding justice for the Israeli military assassination of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

  • The JVP Philly Book Club started up again, reading the autobiography of Leila Khaled.

  • The chapter’s Ritual Committee held a series of conversations exploring Judaism beyond Zionism, and ways of connecting elements of spiritual practice with political activism, including co-hosting a Pre-Passover Seder.

  • In June, we joined as a mobilizing partner for the Mass Poor People’s and Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly and Moral March on Washington and to the Polls.

  • In August, we held an ice cream social to eat Ben & Jerry’s together in celebration of their announcement that they would no longer sell ice-cream in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

  • In October, we joined a No Arena in Chinatown protest of the Jewish Federation Real Estate (JFRE) award ceremony, drawing attention to their honoring harmful developers threatening the future of Philly's Chinatown neighborhood and the UC Townhomes.

  • That same month, we joined Reclaim Philadelphia, PA Working Families, Make the Road PA, Free the Ballot, Philly Jobs with Justice, One Pennsylvania, Tax the Rich PHL, and ACRE for a rally outside Yass' Wall Street firm, Susquehanna International Group, to highlight that democracy belongs to the people—not billionaires like Jeff Yass! Soon after, POWER Interfaith held another protest at the Yass home.

2021

As Israeli violence against Palestinians escalated in Spring of 2021, Philadelphia’s wider Palestine-solidarity community responded, including JVP actions and renewal of the chapter after a hiatus. JVP Philly members joined with other local organizations in these events and more:  

  • A huge and powerful march on May 15, commemorating the 73rd anniversary of the Nakba, and against the state-sanctioned violence, settler-colonialism and apartheid occurring in Sheikh Jarrah and all of Occupied Palestine. Hosted by The Black and Brown Coalition of PHL, Black Lives Matter Philly, JVP Philly, Drexel SJP, Philly BDS, and JVP Swarthmore. 

  • On May 21, JVP held an action at the office of Jeffrey Yass (Susquehanna International Group), a local billionaire funding the Kohelet Policy Forum which advocates settlement expansion. (Read more)

  • On May 24th there was a protest at Senator Bob Casey's Philadelphia office to tell him that we don't want weapons sold to Israel, followed by an interfaith vigil and action hosted by FOSNA at the same office on May 26.

  • On May 28, JVP Swarthmore, Swarthmore Muslim Students Association and Swarthmore SJP hosted a moving Interfaith Vigil for Palestinian Martyrs.

  • In June, JVP held a shabbat ritual protest with 100 people on the lawn of Jeffrey Yass's Haverford home (see the video below!) and many Philly groups co-hosted a Block the Boat Solidarity Protest for a Free Palestine at City Hall. 

  • In July, JVP Philly joined with many other groups in the Philly 4 Palestine Coalition for a March Against Israeli Apartheid.

  • In September, JVP Philly held a Sukkot teach-in protest on the lawn at Jeffrey Yass’ home, launching the #AllEyesOnYass campaign (read more), and held a workshop on Jewish Cultural Work as Organizing. In December, we held a well-attended online teach-in/strategy session about why and how we are protesting Jeffrey Yass. Speakers from the Defund Racism campaign, JVP National, Philly Power Research, and the Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools joined to connect the dots between Yass' funding of Zionist settlement expansion and other harmful Israeli policies along with his local and US-wide funding of far-right extremist politicians and his campaign to undermine public education through a web of 501c3 and PAC organizations.

  • The chapter’s Ritual Committee held a series of conversations exploring Judaism beyond Zionism, and ways of connecting elements of spiritual practice with political activism, including a Chanukah event.

June 2021 Shabbat Protest at the home of Jeffrey Yass

2019-2020

Things slowed down in 2019, and the chapter paused entirely at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there were a few public events including Havdallah gatherings and a Chanukah party in 2019, and a virtual shabbat gathering in 2020. The JVP-Philly Book Club read Justice for Some, Law and the Question of Palestine and in 2020 hosted an online educational event and fundraiser For Beirut: What Led to the Explosion & How Lebanon is Rising Up.  [Below images are from other years]

2018

In 2018, JVP Philly members and partners held a Deadly Exchange direct action/intervention during the ADL’s Walk Against Hate to highlight the ADL’s hypocrisy. [Learn more about the movement to #DropTheADL]

We held an action at 30th Street Station as part of the Free The Tamimis Global Day Of Action, and signed on to the Philly Don’t Orchestrate Apartheid campaign, joining protests calling on the Philadelphia Orchestra to cancel its planned June tour in Israel, participating in multiple actions outside the Kimmel Center. We marched in Palestine contingents at a major End Detention Rally, and an Emergency Protest of Muslim Ban. We advocated in solidarity with Dr. Marc Lamont Hill, under attack for his support of Palestinian self-determination. JVP Philly was part of the Philly for Palestinian Return coalition organizing around the Great March of Return, including a film screening, a teach in on the cultural boycott, and a panel on “70 Years After Nakba: The Struggle for Freedom Continues.”

We also protested Mayor Kenney's Celebration of Israel event. After several meetings with JVP Philly members, US Representative Dwight Evans (D-PA-3rd) became a co-sponsor of Representative Betty McCollum's first legislation in support of the Human Rights of Palestinian Children, H.R.4391 ("No Way To Treat A Child"). Rabbinic students and JVP Philadelphia activists held a vigil at Rep. Brendan Boyle’s Olney office asking Boyle to condemn recent Gaza deaths. We protested at State Senator Scott Wagner's office to demand the GOP denounce white nationalism.

We held a new member orientation event. We shared an educational event with presentations of a documentary film-in-progress about the Neturei Karta movement, The Rabbis’ Intifada, and the article "The West Bank 'Alternative Peace Movement' and its transnational infrastructure." We hosted scholar Emmaia Gelman for a teach-in on ADL history. We held a film screening of “Hebron” with filmmaker Q&A, and hosted a JVP National Community Forum. We held a Chanukah party, a Sukkot event about radical diasporism, a Tashlich protest against ICE, and co-sponsored “Rising Tide: Purim Satire for the Revolution.” 

2017

Continuing our focus on challenging Islamophobia, JVP Philly held a key role in launching the Philadelphia airport action to protest refugee deportations. 

The chapter also advocated for a City Council Resolution to support Philly’s Muslim community (which passed), and continued anti-Islamophobia trainings and canvassing in South Philly, West Philly, Mt. Airy, and Center City. Later in the year, we held a Chanukah action at 30th Street, recommitting to #Rekindle Justice and fighting Islamophobia, Trump's embassy move, and the travel ban alongside the CAIR - Philadelphia Chapter and Kol Tzedek Synagogue congregants.  We also made a statement addressing the ZOA’s toxic annual gala.

The Deadly Exchange Campaign launched nationally, and JVP Philly action team was part of a launch action at the NYC Israel Day Parade. Locally, we held a creative Sukkot action at the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Conference to tell the ADL to End Deadly Police Exchanges. We also held an action at City Hall for the Deadly Exchange Campaign National Day of Action.  

JVP Philly participated/brought contingents to marches around the city, including protests of the Republican party’s retreat in Philadelphia soon after the inauguration, the Women’s March, and more. 

After desecration of a local Jewish cemetery, there was a large rally organized by Jewish institutions in Philadelphia. JVP and IfNotNow attended the Jewish-org led “Stand Against Hate” protest with a banner reading “Stand with Jews, Muslims, Black and Brown people, and Immigrants. White supremacy targets them all."  From the rally, JVP and IfNotNow marched to Senator Pat Toomey’s office to demand he condemn these anti-Semitic attacks as part of a broader trend of hate crimes against Muslims and immigrants, enabled and emboldened by Trump's rise to power.

JVP spoke out in support of Dr. Sa'ed Atshan when Friends' Central School in Wynnewood, PA cancelled a talk he was scheduled to give, and suspended the two teachers who arranged the talk. The two teachers joined a local JVP national house party fundraiser to speak about the events. 

About 40 JVP Philly members attended the National Member Meeting. We also held a steering committee retreat, a media training, many open meetings, and a camping retreat with Philly BDS. We held a Member Drive and raised over $2,000, supported by over 80 people. We held events for Tu B'Shvat, Purim (“No One Mourns The Wicked//The Wizard of Shushan”), Sukkot, and Chanukah. Members met with PA Senator Art Haywood and with Rep. Dwight Evans.  

The reading group/book club was active, reading at least 4 books together, and we held many public education events with speakers including Tim Hayes, Reuven Abergel, and Tanya Rubinstein. With the JVP artist council we hosted “A Dancing Body Offers Legitimacy to the State” following the Israeli Film Festival of Philadelphia screening of Mr. Gaga, and workshops and performances by Diyar dance troupe. 

2016

In 2016, we held a RE/MAX Valentine’s Day action Feb 14: “Tell Re/Max: sales of stolen land are breaking our hearts!” with a follow up action in May 2016. 

In July, the Democratic National Convention (DNC) was held in Philadelphia and JVP Philly hosted a number of trainings and events with JVP members joining from around the country. One public event was “The Next Four Years: (Neo)colonialism, U.S. Foreign Policy, and Strategies of Resistance,” a critical conversation about the state of U.S. foreign policy and (neo)colonialism in Palestine, Puerto Rico, Honduras, and Afghanistan. Sponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace - Philadelphia, the Global Grassroots Justice Alliance, and COPINH (Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras). Another event was “Boycott for Justice: Building Progressive Grassroots Power” – a slate of progressive leaders discussed the power of boycotts and divestment as tools for social justice movements, including Yousef Munayyer, US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation; Rahul Saksena, Palestine Legal; Gerardo Reyes-Chavez, Coalition of Immokalee Workers; Caroline Hunter, founder of the Polaroid boycott; Moderator: Rebecca Vilkomerson, Jewish Voice for Peace.

We continued to organize against rising Islamophobia, including co-hosting “Challenging Islamophobia: A Shabbat Learning Workshop” in collaboration with Kol Tzedek Synagogue, Tikkun Olam Chavurah, and the Jewish Labor Committee. We held two major canvassing events against Islamophobia. One in July, asking Center City shop owners to post Stop Profiling Muslims posters up in business windows, visible to those in town for the DNC. In November, after the presidential election, 65+ people gathered and spread out in West Philadelphia and Mt. Airy to knock on doors of local business owners and neighbors, engaging in conversations about racism and anti-muslim prejudice and asking them to post "Stop Profiling Muslims" posters. JVP Philly members gathered at Mayor Jim Kenney's public Chanukah ceremony, where we formed a human menorah and affirmed our solidarity with immigrants and refugees and our commitment to fighting white supremacy and Islamophobia. We had the opportunity to speak with the mayor, who gave us a shout-out in his speech and promised to maintain Philly's sanctuary city status.

We took action opposing “Anti-semitism Awareness Act" HR6421 and HB 2107, a bill explicitly aimed at suppressing the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, including a meeting with State Senator Bob Casey's aide. 

Led by local members of JVP's rabbinical council, Philly Rabbis and Jewish Community members protested the Dakota Access Pipeline – 9 Philadelphia rabbis, rabbinical students, and Jewish community members were arrested protesting the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.  

The reading group read 5 books, there were 3 film screenings, and there were multiple events around Palestinian Contemporary Dance with Palestinian dance artist Khaled Barghouthi and Palestinian-American dance artist Samar Haddad King, sponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace, Philly BDS, JVP-Philly, and Christian-Jewish Allies. 

The Steering Committee held a retreat, and there was a wider chapter strategy retreat. We launched official chapter membership and started “All-Committee” Monthly Meetings. We held a number of Open Meetings and new member educational events, including a session on Protecting the Right to BDS, reading the Divest/Invest section of Movement for Black Lives "Vision for Black Lives" Platform, discussion of Standing Rock and Palestinian support. We held a training on Lobbying for Justice. We held events for Shavuot, Tashlich, and Chanukah.

2015

In 2015, we responded to Islamophobic and Zionist SEPTA ads run by hatemonger Pamella Geller. We launched a satirical Tumblr about the ads with an invitation for culture-jamming responses, and chose one for a sticker campaign which garnered some press and upset Geller.

At the same time, JVP Philly focused attention on Anthony Williams’ mayoral campaign, including Williams’ ties with the islamophobic ZOA and his 2013 ZOA award. We launched a petition signed by 650+ voters, calling on all mayoral candidates to explicitly condemn Islamophobia and distance themselves from organizations that promote it, which was signed by both Williams and Jim Kenney. Williams lost the election despite massive funding from right-wing billionaire (and libertarian Zionist) Jeffrey Yass.

JVP Philly joined JVP DC Metro for a rally at DC’s National Building Museum, "No More US Tax $ for Israeli Occupation." JVP members held a meeting with Congressman Bob Brady’s aid regarding the “Skip the Speech” campaign encouraging members of Congress to skip a joint-session speech by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and met with Senator Casey advocating to support the Iran Nuclear Agreement, which Casey did vote in favor of.

Towards the end of the year, we chose to focus a campaign on RE/MAX, and launched Philly Tells RE/MAX: No Open House on Stolen Land with an educational event.

That year we launched this website, held a day-long retreat leading to development of a new model for our local organizing, a Chanukah party and many open meetings and shabbat events, and much more. The reading group read six books including a number focused on Mizrahi Jewish experiences. There were film screenings of “Out of Cordoba” and “The Dybbuk,” and there was a play reading of“Tennis in Nablus.”

In 2015, 20+ people from Philly attended the JVP National Member Meeting. Chapter reps were also active in a JVP National Base Building cohort, Artist Council, Rabbinic Council, and National Call series about BDS. We hosted the JVP Artist Council for a gathering weekend in Philly. 

2014

In 2014, there was a big JVP Philly direct action in solidarity with Gaza at the Jewish Federation. There was a We Divest National Day of Action in front of Williams-Sonoma focused on Sodastream. JVP Philly, Philly BDS, and local chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) staged a protest against Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company (KCDC) outside the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.

After a controversy about an Israeli embassy-supported trans speaker being challenged as pinkwashing, we co-presented “Queer Solidarity with Palestine! Queer Liberation and Resistance to Israel's Pinkwashing of Occupation and Apartheid” with SJP Temple and “Conversations on Queer Racial Justice” with GALAEI.

JVP Philly launched petition to oppose a bill put forward by Anthony Williams in the PA State Senate which sought to censure academic support of BDS, and members of JVP Philly also held a meeting with Chaka Fattah. 

We held a Hard Conversations Skill-Building Workshop; many JVP Philly members took an 11-week course on post-48 Israel at RRC; and we did a teach-in on Anti-Semitism and the Left with SJP Temple. The reading group read four books, and held conversation around antisemitism based on Reframing Anti-Semitism: Alternative Jewish Perspectives and "The Past Didn't Go Anywhere: Making Resistance to Antisemitism Part of All Our Movements."  We held two film screenings.

We held a Chanukah Party, and a #BlackLivesMatter Chanukah Action at 30th Street Station. We also handed out 100 flyers sharing information about Ferguson Demands related to police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement to attendees at Jewish social events in in Philly’s Chinatown on Christmas.

Chapter reps were part of the JVP national BDS Cohort, Artist Council, and Rabbinic Council.

2013

The JVP Philly chapter was active for many years earlier, but in 2013 the group picked up steam following a JVP National Member Meeting which inspired a group of local members to form a chapter steering committee together. This group started with making a power map of allies and targets, to move towards a BDS campaign that fit local context. There was a TIAA-CREF We Divest protest.

One early focus was pressuring State Senator Anthony Williams to reject an award from the Islamophobic Zionist Organization of America (ZOA). We joined with other groups in delivering a letter from over one hundred community members of all faiths to the Senator’s staff, detailing the ZOA’s record of bigotry and requesting that he decline the award. He instead doubled down, accepting the award and making a bunch of outrageous statements.