S2 Episode 4: Fran Miller

Recorded December 1, 2025   Photo: courtesy Fran MillerFran moved up to Vermont from New York City in the fall of2019 to work at the Vermont Law School’s Center for Agriculture and Food Systems. Outside her professional work she is active in pro-Palestinian causes including as a member of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). In this interview, she discusses her turnaround from seeing Israel in an ideal light to upholding the social justice ideals of her father who supported Israel yet impressed on her the Jewish value of working on behalf of the underdog. S2 E4 Notes: The Farmland Access Legal Toolkit , is a project of the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems housed at Vermont Law and Graduate School.      Jewish Voice for Peace in New York City and Jewish Voice for Peace Vermont/New HampshireThe New Alliance Party is no longer active. Fran recommends this C-SPAN piece to hear directly from some of the party's leaders regarding its views.Timing of the First and Second Intifadas: The First started in December, 1987 and lasted six years, roughly until the signingof the Oslo Accords in September, 1993. The Second started in September, 2000 and lasted until February, 2005. Palestinian House of Friendship is a “non-profit, non-governmental, politically independent humanitarian ommunity organization in the West Bank city of Nablus, dedicated to serving the needs of children, adolescents, and their families.”Voices from Palestinian Israel and from Palestinians and Jewish Israelis: GroundWork  The Long Answer   Unapologetic: The Third NarrativeJ Street on Israel’s Nation-State Law per Google AI Overview: “JStreet strongly opposed Israel's 2018 Nation-State Law, expressing deep sadness, anguish, and concern that it prioritized Jewish identity over democratic equality, downgraded Arabic's status, and promoted Jewish settlement at the expense of minorities, undermining Israel'sfoundations as a democracy for all its citizens.”  For another  example, see The Two-Way Street: Reflections for Rosh Hashanah.“1948: Creation & Catastrophe”, a 2017 documentary produced by Dr. Ahlam Muhtaseb and Andy Trimlett.  Here’s a link to a review by The Jerusalem Fund which praises aspects of the film yet criticizes reliance on still-limited Israeli archives, to the exclusion of direct Palestinian testimony. A more recent film, “1948: Remember, Remember Not” – has not yet aired although it was produced in 2023 by Kan 11 in Israel and has had festival showing. According to Ha’aretz (gift link), this film by Neta Shoshani relies on oral histories from both Jews and Palestinians, addressing the perceived failing of the earlier film. Fran’s other references: Noura Saleh Erekat, Linda Sarsour, MPower Change, Adalah Justice Project  Liora’s references: JStreet (above), New Israel Fund, Alliancefor Middle East Peace (AllMEP) – and more across other show notes and the to be published Substack. Peter Beinart, author of Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza, 2024, mentioned across several podcasts. Here’s a link to the author’s substack where he talks about the book.