We are UCL Jews for Palestinian Justice, a new organization on campus made by and for Jewish students!
We understand that our identity and history as Jewish people compels us to speak out about the genocide still waging in Palestine.
We believe in Palestinian justice, and know that the longstanding history of antisemitism and oppression of the Jewish people cannot be an excuse for Israel's crimes against humanity happening at this very moment. Justice for Palestinians means true justice for Jews as well, because freedom and sovereignty for one cannot truly be had if it comes from the oppression of the other.
As Jewish students, we understand the difficulties in talking about the genocide in Gaza. But that is still not a reason to remain silent. We call on all members of our community and the wider UCL community to have those uneasy conversations, to address the elephant in the room, and to make the hard decisions that we need to make if we are to end this genocide.
A key one of those conversations is close to home - about our own university. UCL is complicit in this genocide, through its investments and academic ties to Israel, and we cannot and will not stand accept this. If we as students can use the platforms provided for us by this institution to educate ourselves about Israel's war crimes, then the institutions can also educate themselves about them too. If we can do that work, so can they
Jews for Palestinian Justice calls on UCL to divest from Israel and cut all academic ties with Israeli universities. We are also here to make our voices heard, to encourage the difficult but critical conversations we must be having about Palestine, and to show that Jews are here in solidarity with Palestinian liberation and justice. To all Jewish students and staff, please join us - together we can build a larger, stronger, more diverse, and more vocal coalition of Jewish voices.
Since we began our work as a society at the end of last year, we have:
Represented our group at rallies and protests.
Held fundraisers which helped directly in Gaza.
Collaborated with other groups on campus on rallies and walkouts.
Hosted a Shabbat potluck dinner and service which was attended by Jewish and non-Jewish people alike.
We hope to see you soon!