MMWC Networking Brunch: Jewish solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for liberation

Photo by Mouna Rashid

Co-founder of JVP Milwaukee and co-chair of Wisconsin Coalition for Justice in Palestine, Rachel Ida Buff, Ph.D., (center) at a press conference in April, following an armed vandalism of a Gaza memorial on Marquette University’s campus. 

The Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition (MMWC) Networking Brunch will be on September 27 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Islamic Resource Center, 5235 S. 27th St. in Greenfield. These monthly brunches serve as an opportunity for folks to meet and build relationships with one another as well as hear from speakers discussing different topics. Tickets are $15 per person and include a catered buffet from Taqwa’s Bakery and restaurant. Register here.

This month, MMWC welcomes members of Jewish Voice For Peace – Milwaukee Chapter (JVP Milwaukee) to speak on the cultural and sociopolitical shift that has been occurring within the American Jewish community in recent years as more and more Jews have come to reject Zionism in favor of solidarity with Palestinian liberation.

The Jewish Voice For Peace website reads, “Throughout the Jewish diaspora, we envision our communities beginning to heal from the Zionist movement’s attempts to dilute and erase many of our diasporic histories, languages, and traditions. We envision replacing Jewish institutions that use fear to keep us in line, and the proliferation of thriving and vibrant Jewish communities building safety for ourselves and all our neighbors, grounded in a vision of dignity, power, and love for all people.”

Photo by Kamal Moon

JVP Milwaukee’s branch formed in 2014 as a response to Israel’s Operation Protective Edge, which left over 2,000 Palestinians in Gaza killed and over 10,000 more wounded, according to the UN. 

Professor Rachel Buff is one of JVP Milwaukee’s founding members. She teaches history and ethnic studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with focuses on the immigrants’ rights movement, diasporic cultural citizenship, and international political mobilizations and repression from the Cold War to the present.

“In Milwaukee, there would always be these calls to “stand with Israel” in our community, and a lot of us felt completely alienated,” Buff recalls. “I and some other folks started meeting weekly, and no Jewish place would give us space.”

Since Israel’s horrifying, genocidal operation following the Hamas attacks last October 7, many Jewish organizations continued to unconditionally support Israel and still do, almost a year later. But for Jews who refuse to allow crimes against humanity to be committed in their name, Jewish Voice For Peace has become something of a political, religious, and cultural home all in one.

“Everything is intersectional, so for example, for the Movement For Black Lives and at Standing Rock, JVP had a presence,” Buff notes. “We understand how these things connect. We understand that Indigenous genocide and displacement is similar to Palestinian genocide and displacement, so we have been a place for intersectional organizing.”

Overtime, an increasing number of Jewish folks have distanced themselves from the conventional Zionist narrative conflating Israel with Jewish identity. They recognize Israel for what it is: a racist, settler-colonial and imperialistic state guilty of apartheid, war crimes and genocide.

Buff describes the influx of new JVP Milwaukee comrades as “beautiful” and “important,” saying, “The fluorescence of younger Jews and the diversity that’s come out in terms of age and religious background has been really lovely, and oddly, I think we all come of age in this incredibly repressive Zionist culture.”

JVP Milwaukee’s activities in solidarity with Palestine in the last year have included marches and protests, banner drops, panel discussions, community vigils, the UWM Gaza encampment and monthly Shabbat potluck dinners (“Shabbatlucks”). They are members of the Wisconsin Coalition for Justice in Palestine.

Chavurat Tziporah and Jewish Voice for Peace – Milwaukee hosted Shabbat Shirah May 4 at the UW-Milwaukee Popular University for Palestine encampment. Students hold up letters spelling Tikkun olam, Hebrew for “repairing the world.”

The September 27 Networking Brunch invites JVP Milwaukee to touch on anti-Zionist Jewish perspectives, as well as the growing Jewish solidarity movement with Palestine. “There’s always ways to be Jewish, and Zionism is bad for Jews,” Buff adds. “We are in the midst of a non- and anti-Zionist Jewish renaissance, and we are in the midst of this reshaping of what Judaism is.”

Rachel Buff will be one of the speakers, and joining her will be fellow JVP Milwaukee member Liat Mayer, who has worked as an individual life skills coach and mentor to at-risk youth with mental health or addiction diagnoses. Mayer recently traveled to the West Bank as part of a delegation with the Center for Jewish Nonviolence, where she joined Palestinian-led efforts in protecting and maintaining their lands.

Also joining Buff will be JVP Milwaukee’s Jess Annabelle, director of Brick & Bannister Milwaukee, a real estate agency driven to help marginalized folks achieve equity and inclusion in Milwaukee home ownership. Annabelle spoke at a press conference held by the UWM Popular University for Palestine Coalition earlier this year, where they countered the narrative that the encampments for Gaza were antisemitic by proudly proclaiming their support for the encampment at UWM and all of them across the country.

Click on the image to register for September 27th Networking Brunch

Editor’s note: Author Ben Slowey is a member of Jewish Voice For Peace – Milwaukee Chapter.