“The greatest obstacle to peace in the Middle East is Israel.”
Alissa Wise, Jewish Voice for Peace statement, September 10, 2019
“This message that we [Jews] needed Israel as a refuge from a future genocide, that never sat right with me … I was instinctively repulsed by it.”
Alissa Wise, Facebook, December 15, 2020
Overview
Alissa Wise, who goes by “Rabbi Alissa Wise,” is a long-standing leader of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), an anti-Zionist organization that “proudly” supports the antisemitic Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) movement against Israel. Wise also supports the “right of return” of all Palestinian refugees, a claim discredited as a means to totally eliminate the state of Israel.Wise’s organization, JVP, strategically seeks to place a “wedge” in the Jewish community, creating disagreement and discord among Jews over their support for Israel. The group partners with antisemitic Palestinian groups, both for ideological reasons and as a way to provide cover for these groups whose goal is to destroy the state of Israel.
Supporting Terrorists
At their national membership meeting in 2017, JVP hosted Palestinian terrorist Rasmea Odeh, who masterminded a bombing in a Jerusalem supermarket that killed two college students. Wise, who appeared in a panel alongside Odeh, said, “We welcome you today, Rasmea, with love, with appreciation, with gratitude for all that you are.”
Later, defending JVP’s decision to invite Odeh to the meeting, Wise described Odeh as “a trusted and beloved community leader” and “a Palestinian elder who has faithfully served her community for decades.”
Odeh is not the only Palestinian terrorist with whom Wise is enamored. After Facebook took down JVP’s promo for a panel featuring terrorist Leila Khaled, Wise lamented Facebook’s decision “... to censor Palestine.”
Khaled, along with Odeh, was a leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. Khaled took part in the PFLP hijacking of TWA Flight 840 in 1969 and El Al Flight 219 in 1970.
Khaled has not moderated over the years. She maintains that the Second Intifada – the bloody 2000-2005 Palestinian uprising in Israel in which more than 1,000 civilians were murdered in bus and cafe bombings and shooting attacks – failed because it was not violent enough.
Khaled also advocates for the use of children in terror activities and compares Zionists to Nazis.
Barred From Israel
Wise was barred in 2017 from traveling to Israel as per an Israeli law that prevents entry for activists whose objective is to “harm the state.”
Wise, who was the deputy director of JVP at the time, was traveling to a Israel on a trip co-sponsored by JVP as well as American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), an antisemitic group whose leaders support and finance the terrorist group Hamas.
Harassment Campaign
Over the course of five months in 2021, Wise led a JVP Philly harassment campaign against Jeffrey Yass, a Philadelphia philanthropist and businessman.
The campaign began on May 21, 2021, when Wise led JVP activists in a sit-in at Yass’s business. Protesters held anti-Israel banners outside the company’s office and accused Yass and his partner, Arthur Dantchik, of “funding genocide, apartheid and ethnic cleansing” in Israel.
Occupying the lobby of the building, Wise led the group in the chant, “Israeli apartheid is funded here, Jews say Free Palestine.” In a Facebook live stream from the protest, Wise declared, “I’m here today to tell Jeffrey Yass and Arthur Dantchik that they are complicit in the genocide of Palestinians.”
The protest ended with Wise leaving a voicemail on Yass’s personal number, saying, “What you’re doing to the Palestinian people is a shanda [disgrace] … we’re really disgusted by what you’re funding and we want to urge you to cease funding it now … and we’ll keep coming back as long as it takes.”
Protesters placed flyers on the cars of Yass’ employees, accusing Israel of “the ethnic cleansing” and “violent murder and destruction” of Palestinians and Yass and Dantchik of funding “Israeli apartheid.”
On June 4, 2021, Wise ramped up the protest, taking it to Yass’ home. The group of close to 100 JVP activists accused Yass of funding “the displacement and murder of Palestinians” and demanded that he stop his support of pro-Israel initiatives.
In a Facebook live stream of the protest, Wise declared, “Last week we were at his office … this week we’re at his house because his employees, his staff, his colleagues, his neighbors, they know what he’s doing.”
She continued, “We must build outrage in everyone in his community until we get what we want.”
Protesters stood in Yass’s front yard holding a large sign that read: “ISRAELI APARTHEID FUNDED HERE” and shouted “shame” while banging on tables.
Wise brought the harassment back to Yass’ house on September 23, 2021, leading a JVP Philly protest on the Jewish festival of Sukkot. JVP Philly activists erected a tent on the Yass’ lawn and displayed signs that read, “YASS FUNDS FASCISTS,” “YASS FUNDS ISRAELI APARTHEID,” “YASS CASH HARMS OUR PLANET” and “YASS CASH HARMS OUR SCHOOLS.”
At the protest, dubbed “#AllEyesOnYass,” Wise spoke into a megaphone, saying, “We are everywhere, we’re gonna keep coming back because Yass … hello, can you hear us, indicate if you can hear us – you are funding apartheid, and that is wrong and shameful.” She then led the crowd in calling out “boooo.”
Wise also addressed Yass’ neighbors, calling out, “Hi neighbors, we’re here because Jeffrey Yass, your neighbor, is funding Israeli apartheid.”
At the protest, JVP Philly activists also passed out flyers to Yass’s neighbors that claimed Yass was financing “Israeli apartheid policies which cause great harm to Palestinians and any possibility of peace in the region.”
The flyer continued, “TIRED OF SEEING US HERE? TELL JEFF HIS CHOICES ARE NOT JUST HARMING THE WORLD, THEY’RE BUGGING HIS NEIGHBORS TOO. MAYBE THAT WILL MAKE HIM CHANGE HIS WAYS!”
Promoting a Conspiracy Theory Against Jewish Organizations
In 2017, JVP launched a campaign called the “Deadly Exchange,” which was based on the false claim that mainstream Jewish organizations in the United States, including the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), were coordinating exchange programs between American and Israeli security personnel to advance “worst practices” and “racist policies.”
As part of the campaign, JVP released a video that blamed these Jewish organizations for police violence against Black and Brown communities, immigrants and activists in the U.S.
On board with the campaign, Wise tweeted: “We must all organize and agitate in our own communities. The ADL dangerously claims to speak on behalf of the Jewish community and against antisemitism while really being a defender of Israel…”
Wise’s tweet included a tweet by JVP calling for the ADL to end police exchanges with Israel.
Partnering With the Worst Anti-Israel Agitators
On December 15, 2020, Wise moderated a JVP online event titled: “Dismantling Antisemitism.” In her introductory remarks, Wise said, “This message that we [Jews] needed Israel as a refuge from a future genocide, that never sat right with me … I was instinctively repulsed by it.”
The event featured a virtual “who’s who” of the worst anti-Israel agitators, including Marc Lamont Hill and Rashida Tlaib.
In November 2018, Hill was fired from his contributor position at CNN after giving a speech at the UN, where he called for a “free Palestine from the river to the sea,” a euphemistic phrase for the complete destruction of the state of Israel.
Rashida Tlaib, a congresswomen from Michigan, co-sponsored a pro-BDS bill in Congress in July 2019 with fellow antisemite, Rep. Ilhan Omar. Tlaib traffics in the classic antisemitic tropes of “dual loyalty” and that Jews, who operate from “behind the curtain … exploit the rest of us for their own profit.”
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Supporting Jeremy Corbyn
Jeremy Corbyn, a British politician and former leader of the Labour Party, has repeatedly called the terror organizations Hamas and Hezbollah his “friends.” He has shared platforms with antisemites and compared Israel’s government to ISIS. Under his leadership, accusations were rampant that the party leadership was plagued by antisemites and that Corbyn had dragged his feet on routing them out.
In October 2020, Corbyn was briefly suspended from the party after stating antisemitism in Labour had been overstated for political reasons.
Yet, Corbyn still had Wise’s support. In reference to his suspension, Wise tweeted, “For all those concerned about actual antisemitism, please know this is *not* it. This is a cynical ploy to undermine and intimidate advocates for Palestinian rights.”
History with Jewish Voice for Peace
Deputy Director, Acting Co-Executive Director, Co-Director of Organizing at JVP from January 2011 to April 2021.
Co-Director of Organizing at JVP in 2015 and 2016
Acting JVP Co-Executive Director from September 2019 to March 2020
Has worked for JVP since 2010 and was the organization’s sixth employee
Director of Campaigns at JVP in 2012
National Coordinator of JVP’s We Divest campaign 2012