A vigil for the victims of the Orlando massacre. Photo: Wikipedia.

What else could the group Jewish Voice for Peace do that would shock me? The organization, which has so many university chapters that promote anti-Israel activity, has already placed ads in the LA Times and New York Times promoting a boycott of Israel. It pushes for a Palestinian right of return, to bring an estimated 5 million Arab-Muslims into Israel — therefore turning the only Jewish country into an Arab majority state. And it “proudly” supports the BDS movement, which was started by, among others, the Palestine Liberation Organization [see Munich] and anti-Israel countries such as Iran.

So, nothing could surprise… until now., as the following announcement on JVP’s homepage illustrates:

JVP’S NETWORK AGAINST ISLAMOPHOBIA STATEMENT ON HORRIFYING ATTACK IN ORLANDO

We are grieving today with and for the Orlando LGTBQ community, and, in particular, the queer and trans Latinx communities that were the targets of this horrifying attack. Our hearts break for all those lost and their loved ones, for all those injured and traumatized.

We cannot ignore that this murderous attack takes place in the context of a political climate in this country where homophobic, transphobic, racist, and Islamophobic laws are commonplace, and where the same politicians promoting those laws adamantly oppose any restrictions on guns and assault weapons…

A Muslim-American slaughtered 49 people (and wounded dozens) while pledging his allegiance to ISIS, and JVP’s response is not an outcry against the man or his belief system, but against the United States, where “Islamophobic laws are commonplace.” For JVP, though, this logic makes sense. For decades, Arab-Muslims have callously spilled the blood of thousands of Jewish men, women, and children in Israel, and JVP only blamed Israel’s policies.

Islam is not friendly to gays. Homosexuality is illegal in 65 Muslim countries; 10 have the death penalty for this “crime.” So rather than point to Islam’s self-professed homophobic roots and lone-wolf jihadist teachings as inspiration for the Orlando massacre, JVP blames everyone except those truly responsible.

Palestinians have rejected peace deals three times, yet JVP blames the Israeli government for the context and climate of ongoing Palestinian terrorism. Now, following a history of Islamic terrorism outside of Israel (San Bernardino, Brussels, Paris, Orlando, etc.), JVP continues their script, blaming everyone except the people and ideology behind the slaughters.

My only hope is that Jewish Voice for Peace drops the word “Jewish” from its name. It tarnishes what a Jew is, what Jewish values are, and what the Jewish religion is about. This isn’t about Democrats vs. Republicans, or Orthodox Jews vs. Reform Jews, or Liberals vs. Conservatives. This is about JVP being an insular fringe group of Jews (by name only) that wants Israel as a Jewish state destroyed, similar to Hamas.

The Orlando terrorist attack did take place in the context of a certain climate, but it wasn’t US policies or laws that murdered those 49 people. The climate was the freest country on earth, where one Muslim-Arab American with a warped religious doctrine committed this atrocity, and Jewish Voice for Peace and its ilk run and hide from that truth.

Jack Saltzberg is the founder and executive director of The Israel Group, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting Israel in the diaspora. js@theisraelgroup.org.