Report 2018 – Vermonters for Justice in Palestine

Our sap buckets are getting low.
Please fill them with a generous donation.
VTJP needs your financial support.

In collaboration with JVP and other Vermont groups VTJP spearheaded a campaign to prevent Deadly Exchange training of VT Police in Israel. It was the first time a U.S. police force pulled out of such a program under public pressure.
We stood with UVM Students for Justice in Palestine as the Palestinian flag was flown at the University of Vermont campus in recognition of the International day of solidarity with the Palestinian people.
VTJP proudly marched in Solidarity with Migrant Justice legal action against ICE and DMV.
VTJP representatives met with Senator Sanders' Foreign Policy Advisor, Matthew Duss. and thanked Bernie Sanders for releasing a remarkable video giving a voice to Palestinian people.
Refugees, Border fences, and blaming the victim: VTJP supported co-sponsored and spoke at "Families Belong Together" rallies in Montpelier and Burlington.
With other New England groups and CodePink we endorsed and attended a Rally at Elbit Systems in Merrimack, NH. Elbit is an Israeli company that makes drones and surveillance equipment.
We were a co-sponsor of the 2nd Annual Race Against Racism by Montpelier High School in September.
A VTJP representative worked with other groups and was at the State House supporting legislation for new PreK-12 standards promoting inclusive cultural education in Vermont's schools.
We sustained our participation with organizations and fellow activists in the New England Network for Justice in Palestine (NENJP).

VTJP continued to lead an international effort to end Ben & Jerry’s commercial complicity with Israel’s occupation. In April, on Free Cone Day hundreds of people sent emails to Ben & Jerry's about sales of their ice cream in illegal Jewish-only settlements in occupied Palestine.
Our allies in Finland challenged Ben & Jerry's at the World Village Festival.
VTJP sent letters in April and May to corporate executives at Unilever, Ben & Jerry’s parent company in the Netherlands, calling on them to put an end to their Israeli subsidiary’s business in occupied Palestine.
A letter with supporting documentation was sent by VTJP to the United Nations Human Rights Council asking that Ben & Jerry’s name be added to its database of companies doing business in occupied Palestine.

VTJP wrote several articles published in the Peace and Justice Center newsletter and blog.
We collaborated again with Peter Schumann (founder of Bread & Puppet Theater) at the South Burlington Art Hop.
We organized a six-week long Palestine and Israel Film Series in Montpelier – the room was packed!
We supported our friends in Brattleboro when they published a full-page ad in the Burlington Free Press thanking Bernie Sanders for speaking out about Gaza.
We worked with a national organization to document that Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream is still sold in illegal settlements.
In November 2017, we organized a series of actions under the heading "The Ghost of Lord Balfour" to recognize the 100th Anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, and co-sponsored Steven Salaita's lecture at UVM on Palestine: Long Road to Freedom – Reflections on Resistance to Occupation & Colonialism on the Centenary of the Balfour Declaration.