israel

For Israël
and Palestine

Against occupation and violence

Statement of Principles

Statement of Principles (2001) of A Different Jewish Voice (‘Een Ander Joods Geluid’ in Dutch):

  • Een Ander Joods Geluid is an action group which aims at stimulating debate and critical opinion on Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories without questioning the right to exist of the state of Israel itself. This all from the perspective of a felt connection with the fate and survival of Israel.
  • Een Ander Joods Geluid wants to get rid of the taboo that Jews should not criticize Israel and that they do not accept this from non-Jews as well. Een Ander Joods Geluid wants to get to the point that critical voices both within and outside Jewish circles can be heard without immediately being labeled as ‘anti-Israel’.
  • Een Ander Joods Geluid is concerned about the failure of peace in the Middle East, about suppression and discrimination of Palestinians and the consequences of all this for Israel and Israeli society. From the perspective of a felt connection with the fate and survival of Israel, Een Ander Joods Geluid wants to initiate debate and support peace initiatives where the starting points are the generally accepted principles of equality, tolerance and humanity as formulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Een Ander Joods Geluid stands for:

  • Dialogue and mutual respect instead of violence and abuse of power.
  • Equal opportunities and rights for all people.
  • Complete withdrawal of settlers and the military from the occupied territories, according to UN resolutions 242 and 338, in exchange for peace and security.
  • Realizing a viable Palestinian state next to Israel, with Jerusalem as the capital of two states.
  • A balanced solution to the problem of Palestinian refugees. A condition is that Israel recognizes its co-responsibility of the emerging of this problem. Only then negotiations can be started on the question how Israel can contribute to repairing this injustice without endangering its own existence.

Een Ander Joods Geluid will support peace movements and human rights organizations in Israel that are committed to these goals. Een Ander Joods Geluid will address the Dutch society in general and the Jewish community that is part of it. Een Ander Joods Geluid will make its voice heard by means of actions and declarations and will try to influence politics and policies.

EAGJ

Focuses on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the situation in Israel

EAGJ

Shows solidarity with the victims of the conflict

EAGJ

Interferes with matters related to this or that are involved in the debate by others

EAGJ

Wants to broaden and strengthen its reach.

It's Jewish to be EAJG!

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History EAJG

History of A Different Jewish Voice

A Different Jewish Voice (Een Ander Joods Geluid, EAJG) was founded in the Netherlands as a result of discontent about how debate and opinion making on Israel was taking place within Dutch-Jewish circles. Criticism on Israel tended to be translated as anti-Israel. Any sort of understanding of the Palestinian position was also portrayed as anti-Israel. Many people inside the Jewish community either kept silent or indiscriminately supported the official viewpoints of the Israeli government.

The excessive reaction of Israel to the Second Intifada, both in the occupied Palestinian territories and within Israel itself, urged a number of Jews to voice their outrage in public. Many Jews gave their support to the first ads of Een Ander Joods Geluid voicing this outrage and a great number of people were present at the first public gathering on January 14, 2001.

Some of the signatories of the manifesto organized themselves in an executive committee that wanted to propagate this different Jewish voice further and to organize all the necessary actions needed. From this executive committee the foundation “Een Ander Joods Geluid” emerged in the spring of 2001 on the basis of a Statement of Principles of which the most important parts were anchored in her statutes.

A Different Jewish Voice strives towards: 

  • Contributing to the public debate and critical opinion making on Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.
  • Breaking the taboo among Jews that they cannot utter criticism on the state of Israel and do not accept this from other people.
  • Supporting peace initiatives based on a felt connection with the fate and survival of Israel. Starting point here are the generally accepted principles of equality, tolerance and humanity as anchored in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and aiming at a sustainable peace in the Middle East that must be reached without oppression and/or discrimination from either side in any form whatsoever.
  • Performing any further action that relates to the items mentioned in the broadest sense or that might be conducive to them.
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