The Vienna Declaration: When Jews utter the word truth

For the first time, an international Jewish conference against Zionism is held in Vienna.

For the first time, Jews have convened a conference with 500 participants from all corners of the world. For the first time, Jews have broken Zionism’s monopoly on Jewish representation, thereby shattering the claim and consensus that Israel is the sole and legitimate representative of Jews worldwide.

For the first time, the moral and political legitimacy of the Palestinian struggle in international forums has been strengthened, now that they have supporters from within the very community Zionism claims to speak for.

For the first time, the global boycott movement has gained international Jewish cover, as well as moral and religious backing, with the presence of prominent Jewish academics from America and Europe involved in boycott movements that face attacks from the Zionist lobby.

For the first time, Jews at an official international conference have called for freezing Israel’s membership in the United Nations and the European Union and for reviving academic and cultural boycotts against Israeli institutions.

For the first time at an international conference, a Holocaust survivor has declared that Israel is committing atrocities in their name. The conference labeled Israel as a colonial, settler-apartheid regime akin to South Africa’s apartheid system and called for forming an international Jewish-Palestinian coalition to dismantle this apartheid system and establish a single democratic state for all its inhabitants.

For the first time, the conference demanded holding Israel and its leaders accountable before the International Criminal Court and expanding the definition of crimes against humanity to include settlement expansion and blockade.

The conference issued the Vienna Declaration, stating: “We reject Zionism’s claim to represent Judaism and condemn the use of Judaism as a tool for colonialism, apartheid, and genocide against the Palestinian people.” (The central political document of the conference.)

For the first time at an international Jewish conference, participants adopted the liberation of Palestine “from the river to the sea” and rejected the two-state solution as a cover for entrenching colonialism.

The conference explicitly supports Palestinian resistance in all its forms as a legitimate struggle against racist colonialism, calls for holding complicit Western governments accountable for genocide, and demands historical justice through the right of return for Palestinian refugees.

The conference condemned the United States for its unlimited support for Israel, criticized Germany for exploiting the Holocaust to justify its political and military backing, and denounced France and Austria for suppressing pro-Palestine protests under the pretext of combating antisemitism. The final statement declared: “Shame on Western governments that justify genocide and suppress solidarity with Palestinian victims.”

The conference affirmed that anti-Zionism is not antisemitism and that Zionism itself threatens the moral existence of Judaism.

In an unprecedented stance, Steven Kapos, a Holocaust survivor, stated: “Those who lived through the hell of Nazism cannot stay silent about what Israel is doing today in Gaza.” Dalia Sarig (the main organizer) said at the conference: “We are Jews against Zionism and refuse to let crimes be committed in our name. We stand with Palestinians as part of our commitment to justice.” Ilan Pappé, an Israeli historian participating in the conference, emphasized: “What Israel is doing is not mere occupation but settler-colonialism, apartheid, and undeniable ethnic cleansing.“

It is no coincidence that this conference was held in Vienna. One attendee remarked sarcastically: “Herzl was born here, and in the hall across from us, his idea died.” It is also no accident that olive branches adorned the conference halls—-no flags of Palestine, Israel, or any other state were present. A guest from Eastern Europe asked, “Are we at a political conference or a Palestinian olive exhibition?” A journalist replied, “Here, the olive is truer than all the flags of the United Nations.”

During the discussions, a Haredi rabbi intervened in solidarity with Palestinians, speaking in elegant Arabic: “You, the people of Gaza, are braver than the Children of Israel in the days of Pharaoh.“

During a break, a 91-year-old Austrian Jewish woman, a survivor of the Nazi Holocaust, sang “Mawtini” (My Homeland) in broken Arabic with some attendees. She then said, “I used to sing it during the Naksa (1967 war), never imagining I would one day sing it against Tel Aviv.“

Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative
Dr. Mustafa Barghouti

Dr. Mustafa Barghouti is a Palestinian physician, activist, and politician who serves as General Secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative (PNI) as well as the head of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society.

Original source in Arabic: https://alroya.om/p/369064