DALLAS — Jews with Jewish Voice for Peace, an organization against the occupation of Palestine, held a protest outside of the Jewish National Fund Conference Thursday in Dallas, ending in the arrest of several protestors.
Among those arrested included a Rabbi leading the protestors in prayer when she was arrested. The group held a banner reading, "Southern Jews say Stop Funding Genocide," and planted an 8-foot-tall olive tree in the road to symbolize solidarity with Palestine.
“The JNF is holding a conference to garner support for the apartheid state of Israel, which is waging an illegal campaign of mass destruction in Gaza," said Deb Armintor, a Jewish resident of Dallas who joined the protest. As a Jew, I can’t stand by as my sacred tradition is invoked to justify mass murder, apartheid, and war crimes. My grandfather, who escaped ethnic cleansing in Eastern Europe before the Holocaust, taught me to never be a bystander in the face of injustice, so I am here to say stop funding Israel’s genocide."
During the protest, 12 of the protestors were arrested and two more were cited with criminal trespassing. Armintor said there is a jail support plan in place to bail out those who were arrested.
"The Israeli military has killed over 43,000 people in Gaza and thousands in Lebanon and at the same time as this has been happening, JNF is holding this conference right now as we speak discussing how they can further support the state of Israel, which is committing war crimes," Armintor said.
Armintor said JNF has played a critical role since the 1900s in confiscating Palestinian land for Jewish settlements to create a Jewish majority state.
"That's the very definition of ethnic cleansing," Armintor said. "We reject any organization that invokes our sacred organization of Judaism to justify the expulsion of Palestinians from their land, to justify ethnic cleansing."
Just earlier this week, the Jewish National Fund of Canada lost an appeal after its charitable status was revoked after an audit revealed the group had used donations to help fund the Israeli military, violating Canada's Tax Code.
"We are ashamed and infuriated that the US continues to prop up this phony charity, which is really a funder of war crimes and genocide," Armintor said. "That's why we were there."
Protests of the Israeli occupation of Palestine have led to calls of anti-Semitism from some, but Armintor said Jewish Voice for Peace considers it anti-Semitic of NJF to justify genocide in the name of Judaism.
"Using the name of our faith tradition, which among other things preaches thou shalt not kill and thou shalt not steal, and what they are doing is killing and stealing in our name," she said. "To use the name of Judaism in committing these crimes that are not only international war crimes but crimes against our sacred faith tradition -- that, we feel, is the real anti-Semitism."
Judith Norman, another member of Jewish Voice for Peace in Texas, said Jewish tradition teaches them tikkun olam, to commit to repairing the world.
"We invite all people of conscience to join us in opposing genocide and working towards a future of freedom and safety for all from Dallas to Palestine," Norman said.
A Jewish National Fund-USA spokesperson said JNF is not aware of any disruptions to the conference.
"Our conference is about bringing people together who want to build a better future for the land and people of Israel – and we’re delighted to have achieved this with over 2,500 proud supporters uniting this weekend during this critical time for our community," the statement reads.
Several more protests are planned by the group outside of the conference at the Hilton Anatole, 2201 North Simmons Freeway. A full schedule of protests planned can be found on the organization's Instagram page.
