Is There a Difference Between Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine?

On April 20, 2024, during the semester of encampments, the group Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) posted perhaps its first ever factual statement on Instagram.

The full text reads: “Jewish Voice for Peace stands in solidarity with students as they establish the Popular University for Gaza on their campuses, including at Columbia, Yale, UNC Chapel Hill, and beyond. We are committed to supporting them in their actions and we will serve as an anchor to their cause. Within Universities and beyond, WE ARE ALL SJP!”

Indeed they are.

Both JVP and SJP — Students for Justice in Palestine — are part of  the network of campus anti-Israel activism. Their goals are identical, their rhetoric nearly indistinguishable, and their messages often interchangeable.

Two Differences

There are only two tell-tale indications that a message comes from JVP versus SJP — how each group refers to Israel, and to itself. JVP generally refers to the Jewish State as Israel, whereas SJP uses “the Zionist entity.”

SJP members call themselves “the resistance” and other self-aggrandizing terms, whereas JVP members depend on an association with Judaism to justify their messages. Therefore, they almost always begin their denunciations of Israel with the phrase “As Jews” or “As anti-Zionist Jews.”

On November 26, 2025, National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) posted this message on Instagram: “As the student movement in the imperial core, we vehemently oppose any further encroachment on Palestinian sovereignty.”

Compare this to a May 15, 2025, JVP Instagram post: “As anti-Zionist Jews, our solidarity with Palestinians is unshakable. We stand with Palestinians seeking freedom and affirm their right to return to their homes and to live in safety and dignity.”

Take away the “As anti-Zionist Jews” identifier, and it becomes impossible to distinguish JVP from SJP messaging.

To prove my assertion, compare JVP and SJP messages on the following topics. Which one is JVP and which is SJP?

October 7

The JVP and SJP commentary on October 7 could have been written by the same person. Maybe they were.

One group equivocated that, “Inevitably, oppressed people everywhere will seek – and gain – their freedom. We all deserve liberation, safety, and equality.”

The other group praised the “struggle for complete liberation and return,” claiming that October 7 had “disrupted the very foundation of Zionist settler society.”

The first passage is from one of two messages posted on October 7, 2023,  on JVP’s Instagram page and the second is from SJP’s “Day of Resistance Toolkit.”

Genocide Accusations

Both groups regularly quote Hamas statistics to charge Israel with committing genocide and targeting civilians. Consider the following statements, one from 2021 and one from 2025.

“The Israeli military has devastated entire neighborhoods and cities, and has razed the centuries-old infrastructure of Palestinian life, decimating Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure, water supplies, electricity grid, schools, universities and cultural institutions.”

“Over the past week, Israel has stolen the lives of over 130 Palestinian parents and children and injured thousands … Severe shortages of life-saving medicines, food electricity, and clean water continue to make life unsafe and unbearable – a humanitarian catastrophe deliberately manufactured by a violent colonial project.”

The first passage comes from a recent article on the JVP website titled “Nearly two years of unspeakable loss. No more bombs,” and the second is from the May 18, 2021, Statement-12 on the NSJP website.

The Ceasefire

SJP and JVP have agreed since the October 10, 2025, ceasefire in Gaza was announced that there really is no ceasefire.

While Hamas has violated the ceasefire terms since the beginning, SJP and JVP ignore those violations and remain fixated on Israeli retaliations.

Holiday Messages

For last year’s November 27 Thanksgiving message, the JVP and SJP Instagram messages are nearly identical, right down to the scare quotes around “Thanksgiving.”

One wrote: “This ‘Thanksgiving,’ we reject any attempt to obfuscate centuries of violence enacted by the American settler colonial project against the Indigenous nations of this land and peoples across the globe … From Turtle Island to Palestine, land back!”

The other wrote: “On this day, Indigenous people and allies confront the settler-colonial narratives of ‘Thanksgiving,’ observing it instead as a National Day of Mourning … Today and every day, we contemplate parallels between the colonization of Turtle Island and Palestine.”

Aside from the logos, it’s practically impossible to discern any differences between the messages from JVP and SJP.

Likewise, both groups found a way to bring their mutual obsession to their Christmas messages.

The Minneapolis Riots

Both JVP and SJP found ways to tie the anti-ICE riots in Minneapolis into statements on Gaza.

The Maduro Arrest

Not surprisingly, both JVP and SJP object to the capture and arrest of Venezuelan strong man Nicholas Maduro. Both refer to the act as an “abduction” and “terrorism.” One compares the situation to Iran and one to Gaza. In the two Instagram posts below, one from JVP and the other from NSJP, I have removed the group logos, making it impossible to distinguish SJP’s message from JVP’s message.

To use a term common among terrorism studies, JVP has become the Jewish “Wing” of SJP.

Chief Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) Political Correspondent A.J. Caschetta is a principal lecturer at the Rochester Institute of Technology and a fellow at Campus Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum where he is also a Milstein fellow. A version of this article was originally published by IPT.