Abby Weaver
Overview
Abby Weaver [Abigail Weaver] has disrupted a pro-Israel event, defended political violence and opposed the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, a bipartisan bill drafted in response to growing anti-Semitism in the United States.She also promoted the #returnthebirthright initiative launched by Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) against the Birthright Jewish heritage tour (Birthright).
As of March 2018, Weaver was an activist with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Smith College (Smith). Weaver is also reportedly an activist with the Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP).
A by-line in an August 2018 Mondoweiss article said Weaver was then “the co-president of the Jewish community at Smith.” The same article said Weaver was reportedly studying Jewish Studies and Theater and slated to graduate in 2019.
As of August 2019, Weaver used the alias “Chaver Paver” on Facebook.
Disrupting a Pro-Israel Event
Weaver and anti-Israel activist Esther Mack, from JVP North Carolina, disrupted an August 26, 2018 event called: “Durham City Council Statement Singling Out Israel: Jewish Community Responses,” hosted by Voice4Israel - North Carolina and the Jewish Federation of Durham-Chapel Hill.The event’s Facebook description said it was a forum “to explore the hurtful decision by the Durham City Council to single out Israel” and end security exchanges between the Israeli security forces and Durham’s police force.
This decision was fueled by pressure from a group in Durham who created a campaign titled: “Demilitarize! From Durham2Palestine,” an affiliate of National JVP’s campaign called: “The Deadly Exchange.”
The campaign called upon the Durham City Council to: “halt any partnerships that the DPD [Durham Police Department] has or might enter into with the IDF and/or the Israel Police, including but not limited to: - Anti-Defamation League Counter-Terrorism Seminar, - Anti-Defamation League Advanced Training School, - Any exchange program between the DPD and the IDF” and “Any exchange program between the DPD and the Israel Police."
In 2017, JVP launched the “Deadly Exchange” campaign that accused American Jewish organizations of promoting human rights abuses. JVP also released a video that blamed [00:04:04] Jewish organizations for violence that occurs against Black and Brown communities, immigrants and activists in the U.S.
Before the event, Weaver and Mack published an open letter to the Jewish Federation of Durham-Chapel Hill, in the “Letters to the Editor” section of The Herald Sun newspaper in Durham.
The letter lamented the exclusion of a representative from “the many Jews who were involved in getting the Durham City Council’s policy passed in the first place,” like the members of JVP.
At the event itself, Weaver and Mack reportedly “stood outside the auditorium and handed out printed copies of their letter to the editor to exiting attendees.”
Jill Madsen, then-CEO of the Jewish Federation of Durham, reportedly stated: “that the two were literally blocking the exit door, and that when she asked them to stop handing out the flyers and move away from the door, they refused.”
Weaver and Mack were reportedly escorted out by police officers after refusing to cease handing out copies of their letter..
In response to being asked to leave, Weaver wrote an article for Mondoweiss denouncing the Jewish Federation for removing them.
Defending Political Violence
On November 3, 2016, Weaver wrote an opinion piece for The Sophian, an independent newspaper at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.In the article titled: “Carolina Is Burning In Solidarity with the Bomber in Orange County,” Weaver recounted an attack on the GOP headquarters of Orange County, NC, that reportedly involved a firebomb and graffiti that said: “Nazi Republicans leave town or else.”
Weaver declared: “Throwing that firebomb was an act of democracy” and that the act was “a reaction against the state terrorism” and therefore justified. Weaver warns that “we risk forgetting that social change comes around not only through legislation and state-sanctioned protest. It also comes from smashing windows” and concluded by hoping for the “continued safety and freedom” of the firebombers.
Weaver also took issue with those who condemned the attack and Democrats who raised funds to rebuild the office in the name of solidarity: “as if GOP didn’t have insurance anyway.” Weaver called the camaraderie: “performative shock and horror.”
Opposing the Anti Semitism Awareness Act
In April, 2019, Weaver signed a JVP-authored petition that opposed the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act (AAA) of 2019.The AAA was introduced to the US Senate in March 2019 and directed the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to use the U.S. State Department’s definition of anti-Semitism when evaluating hostile environment complaints. INN called the bill “the Silencing Students Act.”
JVP’s petition asserted that the bill “serves to limit our freedom of expression around the vital issues of our time.”
Signatories of the petition claimed: “we recognize that criticism of Israel and support for Palestinian rights, including support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, is not inherently antisemitic.”
The petition also said the AAA “conflates legitimate criticism of the policies of the Israeli government with antisemitism, using a problematic definition of antisemitism.”
The petition urged the U.S. Senate to reject the bill and “instead to take meaningful action to combat anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, anti-immigrant sentiment, and other forms of bigotry.”
Condemning Jewish Heritage Tour
On March 28, 2018 Weaver was featured in a group photo posted to Facebook by Smith SJP, to promote JVP’s #returnthebirthright campaign. The photo caption said: “Jewish students of Smith SJP #returnthebirthright. Come visit our table today at lunch to learn more!”Also on March 28, 2018, Weaver was featured in another photo posted to Facebook by Smith SJP, holding a sign which read: “I Will #ReturnTheBirthright Because...I refuse to tie my fate as a diasporic Jew to a settler colonial project!”
Return the Birthright Campaign
In September of 2017, JVP issued its #ReturntheBirthright campaign manifesto, calling on American Jews to boycott the Birthright Israel (Birthright) program. Birthright was founded by Jewish philanthropists “in 1999 to address the growing divide between young Diaspora Jewish adults and the land and people of Israel.”After decades of demographic decline in the American Jewish community, Birthright set out “to strengthen Jewish identity, build a lasting bond with the land and people of Israel, and reinforce the solidarity of Jewish people worldwide.” The program offers “the gift of a life-changing, 10-day trip to Israel to young Jewish adults between the ages of 18 and 26.”
JVP’s anti-Birthright campaign was launched precisely to coincide with “the very moment that college students across America are returning to campus and registration for Birthright winter visits are underway.”
The #returnthebirthright manifesto accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing” and alleged “the modern state of Israel is predicated on the ongoing erasure of Palestinians.”
The text claimed: “We reject the offer of a free trip to a state that does not represent us, a trip that is only ‘free’ because it has been paid for by the dispossession of Palestinians.”
The manifesto concluded: “And as we reject this, we commit to promoting the right to return of Palestinian refugees… Israel is not our Birthright… Return the Birthright.”
On June 22, 2017, just prior to the launch of JVP’s #returnthebirthright campaign, JVP received a $140,00 two-year grant for general support for its operations from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF).
Since 2015, JVP has received $280,000 from RBF, which has a history of supporting anti-Jewish causes, including BDS campaigns and various organizations that promote BDS campaigns throughout the United States.
Anti-Israel Activity
Weaver indicated on Facebook that she “went” to a February 15, 2017 JVP event opposing David Friedman’s Senate confirmation as U.S. ambassador to Israel. The event was sponsored by American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR), JVP and Friends of Sabeel-North America (FOSNA).Weaver indicated on Facebook that she “went” to a February 22, 2017 event called: “Join the Jewish Resistance: Western MA Community Action Meeting,” hosted by the Boston chapter of IfNotNow (INN).
The event’s Facebook description invited prospective INN members to “learn more about our upcoming action protesting at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s policy conference in March. We will talk about IfNotNow's strategy for the next few months.”
Weaver indicated on Facebook that she “went” to an April 13, 2018, event that was part of Smith “SJP’s Israeli Apartheid Week.”
Weaver indicated on Facebook that she “went’ to a February 14, 2018 JVP event called: “Happy Valentine's Day from SJP!”
The event’s Facebook description claimed: “The State of Israel employs pinkwashing tactics by crafting policies that are hospitable and beneficial for Jewish LGBTQ+ citizens that do not extend to Palestinians. The ‘progressiveness’ of these policies is used to negate and distract from the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and by doing so, erases queer Palestinian identities and resistance.”
Weaver indicated on Facebook that she “went” to an April 3-9, 2017 event, called: “Smith College Israeli Apartheid Week,” hosted by Smith SJP. The event’s Facebook description said the week would be an “opportunity to reflect on this century of resistance and further advance BDS campaigns for the continued growth and impact of the movement.”
Weaver indicated on Facebook that she “went” to an April 2019 event called “Israeli Apartheid Week 2019,” hosted by Smith SJP.
The event’s Facebook description said the week “aims to raise awareness about Israel’s ongoing settler-colonial project and apartheid policies over the Palestinian people. Panels, film screenings, and creative actions build support for the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.”
Weaver indicated on Facebook that she “went” to an April 2019 event called: “Anti-Apartheid Wall,” hosted by Smith SJP.
The wall was built as part of IAW and was described on the event’s Facebook page as “an interactive installation with information and stories of the occupation, effects of Israeli apartheid, and discrimination against Palestinians.”
JVP
JVP was founded in Berkeley, California in 1996, as an activist group with an emphasis on the “Jewish tradition” of peace, social justice and human rights. The organization is currently led by Rebecca Vilkomerson and its board members include Israel critics Naomi Klein, Judith Butler, Noam Chomsky and Tony Kushner.
JVP, which generally employs civil disobedience tactics to disrupt pro-Israel speakers and events, consists of American Jews and non-Jewish “allies” highly critical of Israeli policies. A staunch supporter of the BDS movement, JVP claims to aim its campaigns at companies that either support the Israeli military (Hewlett-Packard) or are active in the West Bank (SodaStream).
Although several Jewish groups critical of Israeli policies, like J Street and Partners for a Progressive Israel, make efforts to operate within the mainstream American Jewish community, JVP functions outside. The group is often criticized for serving as a tokenized Jewish voice for the pro-Palestinian camp and is widely regarded as the BDS movement’s “Jewish wing.”
JVP denies the notion of “Jewish peoplehood” and has even gone so far as to refer to its own Ashkenazi (Jews who spent the Diaspora in European countries) leadership as “white supremacy inside of JVP.”
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has accused JVP of being “the largest and most influential Jewish anti-Zionist group in the United States,” and said the group “exploits Jewish culture and rituals to reassure its own supporters that opposition to Israel not only does not contradict, but is actually consistent with, Jewish value.”
The ADL also claimed that “JVP consistently co-sponsors rallies to oppose Israeli military policy that are marked by signs and slogans comparing Israel to Nazi Germany, demonizing Jews and voicing support for groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.”
According to the ADL website, JVP “uses its Jewish identity to shield the anti-Israel movement from allegations of anti-Semitism and provide it with a greater degree of legitimacy and credibility.”
SJP
SJP is a student organization engaged in anti-Israel activity on North American college and university campuses.
The first chapter of SJP was founded in 2001 at the University of California at Berkeley by Professor Hatem Bazian. Bazian has spread classic anti-Semitism, reportedly promoted religious anti-Semitism and defended the Hamas terror group. In 2004, Bazian called for “intifada” in America.
SJP organizes anti-Israel campaigns, including running annual Israel Apartheid Weeks, often in collaboration with Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and Muslim Students Association (MSA) campus chapters.
SJP has been a major force in pushing the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement on campuses. Chapters have initiated dozens of BDS resolutions in student governments, which have been proposed on or around Jewish holidays, a time when many Jewish students are off-campus.
SJP activists have reportedly physically assaulted, intimidated and harassed Jewish students, disrupted pro-Israel campus events and demonized pro-Israel campus organizations.
Chapters have often endorsed and campaigned for numerous terrorists and whitewashed terrorism.
