A new coalition of Jewish organisations has launched under the banner of the Jewish Diaspora Movement (JDM), seeking to advance a vision of Jewish life rooted outside the framework of Israeli state power and in explicit rejection of ethno-nationalism.
The movement, launched on 18 May, brings together dozens of synagogues, prayer communities, cultural organisations and activist groups, mostly in North America, including Jewish Voice for Peace, Rabbis for Ceasefire, IfNotNow, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice and the American Council for Judaism. Its official website says the coalition now includes 46 member organisations in its “founding minyan”.
The JDM describes itself as “a participatory network advancing an ethical future for Jews, Jewishness, and Judaism” rooted in diasporic traditions, solidarity and universal freedom. In a pointed rejection of Zionist claims that Jewish identity must be centred on Israel, the group says it aims to connect Jewish cultural and spiritual organisations that “reject ethnonationalism” and affirm “the sanctity of all life”.
In its launch statement, the movement went further, saying it rejects “the assumption that Jews need an insular culture or a militarized ethnostate.” It added that solidarity with oppressed peoples, “including in Palestine,” is central to its understanding of Jewishness.
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The launch marks a growing rupture within Jewish communal life, particularly in the US, where legacy Jewish institutions have long treated support for Israel as a central pillar of Jewish identity. Religion News Service reported that the JDM emerged in response to those institutions’ “unqualified support for Israel” and their unwillingness to embrace Jewish practice that does not place Israel at the centre.
While the JDM is not formally a denomination and does not describe itself as explicitly anti-Zionist, many of its member groups have been prominent critics of Israel’s genocide in Gaza and of the political use of Jewish identity to defend Israeli state violence. Its organisers say the movement is intended to build Jewish religious, cultural and political life around the places where Jews live, rather than around allegiance to a state.
Rabbi Andrue Kahn, executive director of the American Council for Judaism, told Religion News Service that the coalition shows such communities are not “a random outlier” but part of a growing network redefining Jewish life outside the boundaries set by mainstream institutions.
Rabbi Alissa Wise, one of the founders, said the movement could grow beyond its initial membership to include as many as 200 Jewish organisations worldwide.
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