BALTIMORE (RNS) — When an organizer for Jewish Voice for Peace ran onstage shouting at the group’s member conference last weekend, the sprawling auditorium erupted in applause.
“Gaza!” the organizer shouted.
“We’ve got your back!” attendees replied.
The chant was repeated over and over, with the organizer switching out words to signal support for different groups — students, immigrants, transgender people and others. The crowd, some 2,000 strong, rose to its feet, fists pumping in the air. Many were donned in kiffeyehs, a black-and-white garment known as a symbol of Palestinian resistance. Others were adorned in yarmulkes made to resemble watermelons, which have become a pro-Palestinian emblem, as it shares the same colors as the Palestinian flag. Some, like the organizer onstage, wore shirts that read “Stop arming Israel.”
Suddenly, with a grin, the organizer — standing in front of a giant banner that read “Palestinian Liberation. Judaism Beyond Zionism. Justice for all” — shifted to a new, awkward chant.
A watermelon-styled yarmulke is worn at the Jewish Voice for Peace conference at the Baltimore Convention Center. (RNS photo/Jack Jenkins)
The organizer shouted: “I say ‘organizing dynamics’, you say, ‘can be really challenging!’”
The crowd bumbled through a first attempt, laughing all the while. But they eventually found the rhythm and began belting it out with gusto.
It was a light-hearted introduction to a group known for focusing on a decidedly serious topic: the Israel-Hamas war, which has claimed tens of thousands of lives over the past two years, the vast majority of them Palestinian, in what JVP members insist amounts to genocide. Since the outbreak of the violence, Jewish Voice for Peace, a progressive, anti-Zionist group, has emerged as an organizing powerhouse, gaining more than 20,000 members last year alone and a database of supporters that has swelled to more than 750,000, according to the group’s digital director.
The conference, held in Baltimore from April 31 through May 4, was by far the largest JVP has ever convened and featured big-name guests such as Rep. Rashida Tlaib, former congresswoman Cori Bush and activists Naomi Klein and Linda Sarsour.
An organizer engages the crowd, Friday, May 2, 2025, during the Jewish Voice for Peace conference held at the Baltimore Convention Center. (RNS photo/Jack Jenkins)
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