allows itself to be used as political cover by organizations promoting anti-Israel boycotts and divestment so that they can claim that they have Jewish backing for their positions, even though JVP represents a tiny fraction of the community." In response, Rabbi Alissa Wise, a national organizer for JVP who co-founded JVP's rabbinical council, speaking on behalf of the JVP, said "we're not responsible for the language used by others," that some "groups do more harm than good" and that she regarded the work done by JVP as "trying to promote self-determination and equality for all people ... a fruition of Jewish values, the path of living a Jewish life". The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) removed Rebecca Vilkomerson, executive director of JVP, and Cecilie Surasky, deputy director of JVP, from its Jewish Community Heroes competition because JVP "is a supporter of the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign targeting investment in Israel". Joe Berkofsky, JFNA managing director of communications added "our Israel Action Network is working to challenge the boycott, sanctions and divestment movement and other efforts to isolate and weaken the Jewish state. We cannot therefore support a group that seeks to harm Israel through its support for BDS." In July 2013, J. The Jewish News of Northern California published an article about a report on JVP from NGO Monitor. The article said that NGO Monitor's report "concludes that JVP has 'actively promoted the central dimensions of the political warfare strategy against Israel. The article quoted Yitzhak Santis, chief programs officer at NGO Monitor, as saying "the organization supports or has partnered with groups such as Sabeel, Electronic Intifada, Al-Awda, International ANSWER Coalition, the International Solidarity Movement and Students for Justice in Palestine, all of which label Israel a racist apartheid state, support BDS and, in some cases, support violence against Israelis." In 2014, Mark LeVine wrote that "Israel's recent assault on Gaza" had helped increase JVP's membership. Beside the Gaza conflict, LeVine wrote, the rise of JVP was "part of a generational shift in the very fabric of Jewish identity", in which "a growing number of Jewish activists now subscribe to the kind of struggles for fundamental rights that defined Jewish American culture in the civil rights era". Nadia Hijab wrote about JVP's March 2015 national membership meeting in The Nation. She described JVP as a "key player" in a "fast-growing US movement for Palestinian human rights and