JAAZ's philosophy sounded a great deal like Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow do today.
Its Statement of Principles sounds like it is out of the Soviet antisemitic handbook, saying things like "Zionism is very much part and parcel of the ideology of 19th century colonialism" and that "from the beginning [Zionists] had allied with powerful Western empires, first British and then US imperialism" and Zionism "was establishing an exclusivist Jewish state and sentenced those Palestinians who remained inside ever-expanding Israeli borders to economic,political and social domination, racial subjugation, religious discrimination, as.well as direct military occupation, arrests, and torture."
The group was against the Camp David Accords, just like today's successors are against the Abraham Accords.
One part of the Statement of Principles was excised, because even those self-hating Jews felt it went too far: "We also suggest that Israel, in its racist practice and reactionary role in the world, itself contributes to anti-Semitism, and that by opposing Zionism, Jews therefore contribute to the struggle against anti-Semitism."
In the days before intersectionality, the JAAZ principles said "We believe that the struggle of women against male supremacy is inextricably connected to the struggle against all forms of human oppression." Anti-racism wasn't so trendy in the 1970s, but feminism was, so they tried to hijack a different liberal cause to attract more members - again, just like JVP does.
JVP actually interviewed one of the first (and perhaps only) members of JAAZ on the front page of their newsletter in 2015.
JAAZ made a poster succinctly describing their ideas:
In 1978, it was unthinkable for Palestinians not to be violent. So the members of JAAZ embraced terrorism in their own artwork supposedly supporting Palestinians.
Similarly, in the midst of the second intifada, when Jews were being blown up nearly daily, that didn't stop Jewish "anti-Zionist" students from supporting the Palestinians and condoning their terror.
These groups now claim to be against violence. But they never were, and still aren't. They just follow whatever they think would attract people to their anti-Israel ideas; the actual philosophy behind them is elastic and can contradict itself from decade to decade.
Before "occupation" or after, before Camp David or after, before Oslo or after, during suicide bombings or after - any opposition to Israel is justifiable.
Because even when they are Jewish, it is always about hating Jews.
