From Local Activism to a Global Rallying Cry

In the shadow of Operation Cast Lead, the three-week war in Gaza in late 2008–2009, a group of Jewish peace activists came together to say to the Israeli Government “No. Not in our name.”  Specifically, they have called for the end of Israeli occupation of Palestine, a stop to the physical and economic violence enacted upon the people living in Gaza, and a demand for peace and justice in the Middle East. This group, Jews Say No!, has met monthly on the Upper West Side of New York ever since, organizing protests, lending their support to peace coalitions, and publishing an online magazine dedicated to highlighting historical and contemporary atrocities committed against the Palestinian people called Ongoing Nakba.

But as international Palestinian support for Palestine and the Palestinian people has grown, so has the movement “Jews Say No.” No longer specifically tethered to one organization, the phrase “Jews Say No” has become a rallying cry for protests and international peace efforts aimed at halting the Israeli Occupation of both Gaza and the West Bank.

Who Are Jews Say No?

Jews Say No! is an organization of Jewish peace activists that stand together, once a month, on the Upper West Side in New York, to counter the narrative that “the Israeli government speaks for all Jews.” From protests in front of the Israeli consulate to coordinated chants at Mets games, Jews Say No! calls for an end to the killing of Palestinian people and the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

What Does Jews Say No Believe In?

Jews Say No says that they are Jews who say “Not in our Name” to the Israeli government.

Jews Say No calls for these actions:

• An immediate end to the massacre of the Palestinian People
• An immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of Israeli troops
• An immediate end to the blockade of Gaza
• Immediate steps taken to end the Israeli occupation

As a statement of belief, they write:
“We stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people, with protesters in Israel who are bravely opposing the brutality of their government, and with all those around the world calling for justice and peace in the Middle East.”

Showing Up In Force: Jews Say No to Profiting Off of War

In March 2010, IDF Chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi was the guest of honor at a $1,000-per-plate fundraiser dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria on Park Avenue. Hosted by The Friends of the IDF, this dinner ultimately raised more than $20 million dollars.

Jews Say No rallied 700 activists from over 30 peace organizations to stand in opposition to fundraising on the back of war. Starting by reading the Goldstone Report, the United Nation’s Fact Finding Mission which found that the IDF and Gaza militants had committed war crimes, the activists then encircled the Waldorf-Astoria in a single-file protest.

Multiple prominent publications covered their protest, such as The Nation and The Jerusalem Post.

Throughout the years, Jews Say No has continued to organize and lend support to New York-based protests against the Israeli government’s occupation of Palestine and violence the IDF has inflicted upon the Palestinian people. In 2014, both Jews Say No and Jewish Voices For Peace engaged in a sit-in at the New York City office of the Friends of the IDF, where they read aloud more than 600 names of Palestinian men, women, and children who had been killed by the IDF.

Ultimately, nine members of the protest were arrested while “saying no” to the Israeli government’s policy of violent occupation.

Ongoing Nakba

To commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, the 1948 Palestinian exodus during the Arab-Israeli War, Jews Say No published a special issue called Ongoing Nakba, dedicated to providing a “moral reckoning with history” to show how the Nakba was a “result of a deliberate policy of mass expulsion, dispossession, and ethnic cleansing.” In particular, Ongoing Nakba calls on readers to think critically about even beloved childhood traditions, such as collecting change for the Jewish National Fund under the slogan, “A Land without a People for a People without a Land.”

Ongoing Nakba asks, “How, after all, could 750,000 Palestinians flee a land without a people?”

Jews support Palestine: A Movement Beyond an Organization

As international attention to the suffering of the Palestinian People has grown, so too has the movement of “Jews Say No.”

Prominent international peace groups, Jewish Voices for Peace and IfNotNow, have adopted the mantra “Jews Say No” as a galvanizing cry for action. Since the Israeli-Gaza war in October 2023, both groups have led multiple mass protests, phonebanking operations, and mass-signed open letters — all under the banner “Jews Say No.” In February 2025, Say No to Ethnic Cleansing took out a full-page ad in the New York Times with more than 390 religious leaders adding their names to the cause: “Jewish People Say No to Ethnic Cleansing.”

Most recently, police arrested 40 activists protesting at the Trump International Hotel in New York. Their message? “Trump: Jews Say No. Stop Starving Gaza.”

The phrase, Jews Say No, has become a powerful rallying cry to focus each protest. “Jews Say No to Starvation,” “Jews Say No to War,” “Jews Say No to War Crimes,” and “Jews Say No to Ethnic Cleansing.”

Each of these protests serves to provide an unignorable rebuttal to the Israeli government’s position that its policies speak for all Jews. As these peace activists show, from a local New York group to thousands of rabbis and dissidents around the world, many Jewish people will not abide violence to be committed in their name – and they will protest and risk arrest to end the violence in Palestine.

How to Support Palestine? Say, “Not in my name.”

Many leading Jewish peace organizations provide the opportunity for all people to lend their voice to “saying no” and “Not in our name.” IfNotNow, who explicitly opposes “Trump and Netanyahu’s war in Iran” sells pins that say “Jews Say No to war,” while “Say No to Ethnic Cleansing” encourages all Jewish people to add their name to their statement to halt the killing and forced removal of people in Gaza.

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