Vov Class Reflections on our Jewish Activist Panel
On May 4th, 2025, the BWC Vov class held a panel with activists Michal Fux, John Byrne, Mike Felsen, Ari J., and Liza Behrendt. We, the Vov class, have been studying about Palestine and Israel and hosted the panel with Jewish Activists who are involved with Israel – Palestine. The 5 activists came in to tell us more and answer our questions about what they think and what it’s like to be an activist.
Michal Fux is an Israeli activist and MIT researcher who has spent time in the West Bank, Belfast and South Africa before moving to Boston. She is active in protests, conversations, conventions and education.
John Byrne. is a professional software engineer who volunteers his time towards peace activism and, alongside Michal Fux and others, takes part in organizing and participating in weekly pro-ceasefire protests at the MA state house.
Ari J. grew up in a largely Christian town and grew up attending a Socialist Zionist summer camp and did a gap year in Israel/Palestine. She now works at IfNotNow.
Mike Felsen is from New York. He became more of an active protester after BWC sent a delegation to Israel- Palestine in 2007. He spent that time in the West Bank with Birthright Unplugged.
Liza Behrendt organized in solidarity with Palestine for 16 years with Jewish Voice for Peace, Students for Justice in Palestine, BWC and now with BDS boston.
The panel included two main parts: At first the guests introduced themselves and told us about their activism and then we had a part for Q and A. They shared stories of activism all over the world, like protesting to promote BDS in MIT, joining local cease-fire vigils and more non-violent actions. We also heard about their upbringing and their connection to activism and being Jewish. Some of the activists started protesting after visiting Israel and Palestine and feeling that they as Jews had to stand up to what is happening. For example, Ari found she “saw a sign in Israel that said, this settlement is funded by Floridian Jews,” which was an important moment that affected her activism.
Finally, our big takeaways were:
- If Israelis and Palestinians knew each other better, they would be kinder to each other.
- A solution is not about borders and maps, but a deeper change in politics and of seeing all people as humans who deserve the same human rights.
- The Pizza Analogy: Mike Felsen shared an analogy to represent the conflict and especially the fight over land and the settlements using pizza. He said that the war is like two people trying to split a pizza but one person keeps taking slices of pizza so the two people can’t make an agreement. He is using this to show us one side making the problem worse instead of trying to make the situation better.
All 2024-2025 Vov students took part in writing this report: Alex, Ari, Bridget, Elena, Jonah, Levi, Luc, Lynx, Olivia, Reuben and Zoly.
