Adam Beardsley
Overview
Adam Beardsley is an activist with IfNotNow (INN) who has whitewashed a terror attack, supported violent protesters, protested against the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and demonized Israel.He has also promoted anti-Israel agitators, expressed support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) and helped organize an INN DC training event co-led by Taher Herzallah of American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) in 2018.
As of April 9, 2016, Beardsley was added as a member to the open Facebook group International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN).
As of May 2019, Beardsley said on his LinkedIn page that he was a “Processing Specialist” at Universal Service Administrative Co. (USAC) in the Washington D.C. Metro Area.
Beardsley’s LinkedIn page also listed him as receiving a bachelor's degree in International Relations from Beloit College (Beloit) in 2016.
Whitewashing a Terror Attack
On April 19, 2019, Beardsley tweeted: “You have literally invaded their territory as a settler. You have absolutely no leg to stand on.”
Beardsley’s tweet was in response to an April 18, 2019 tweet of an image of the 2002 Passover Suicide Bombing at the Park Hotel in Netanya and recalled the phenomenon of terrorism targeting Jews on their holidays.
Beardsley’s tweet was in response to an April 18, 2019 tweet of an image of the 2002 Passover Suicide Bombing at the Park Hotel in Netanya and recalled the phenomenon of terrorism targeting Jews on their holidays.
Supporting Violent Protesters
Beardsley retweeted a tweet by U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s May 5, 2019 that said: “How many more protesters must be shot, rockets must be fired, and little kids must be killed until the endless cycle of violence ends?”In May 2018, terror organization Hamas instigated the “March of Return.” Thousands of violent rioters attempted numerous breaches of Israel’s border fence with Gaza, seeking to harm Jews across the border. Media reports confirmed [00:00:20] protesters’ breaches and attempted breaches of the fence, some by armed Palestinians. On May 15, 2018, senior Hamas official Mahmoud Al-Zahhar said the Gaza protests were only a pretext of “peaceful resistance.”
On April 22, 2019, during the Great March of Return, Beardsley tweeted: “it's actually the IDF killing unarmed protesters, children, nurses, and journalists without second thought. Israel is not an innocent victim, not even close.”
March participants sent scores of kites bearing explosive devices across Israel’s border to burn Israeli crops and homes. Participants also attempted to breach the border fence, which caused the Israeli Defense Forces to respond with live fire. Agitators also threw Molotov cocktails and firebombs, shot firearms and threw rocks.
Protesting AIPAC
On April 5, 2018, Beardsley demonstrated with INN DC outside AIPAC’s headquarters in Washington D.C., “to protest the killing of Palestinian protestors” during Gaza’s violent March of Return, which was led by Hamas.During the protest, Natalie Bernstien, an INN activist, read [00:32:12] out the name of the Palestinians killed during the protest and then INN DC recited the mourner’s Kaddish for them.
Most of the Gazans who died between March 30 and April 6, 2018, were identified as terror operatives who were killed while carrying out terrorist attacks, rioting against IDF forces or attempting to breach the border fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip.
Demonizing Israel
On April 23, 2019, Beardsley tweeted: “Israel is a colonial settler state.”Earlier in the same thread, Beardsley tweeted: “Settlers came in and took that land. If I came into your house and said ‘this is mine now, but I'll give you 40% of it, would you accept that? That's what settlers in Israel did in 1947.”
On March 5, 2019, Beardsley tweeted: “Israel commits human rights abuses and AIPAC lobbies to ensure that lawmakers don't criticize Israel for these abuses.”
On June 4, 2017, Beardsley helped [00:07:20] lead an INN DC demonstration featuring the Mourner’s Kaddish outside of the Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces (FIDF) Gala event in Washington, D.C.
The protestors vilified [00:03:45] FIDF supporters as victimizers of Palestinians and Israeli teenagers in the IDF, “sending” them into military zones to “uphold person control, murder, demolitioning of homes, crowd control.”
INN leader Maya Zwerling denounced the establishment of the State of Israel, declaring [00:13:49] into a megaphone “70 years of occupation is too much.”
INN DC then invoked [00:19:35] the Yizkor service, usually recited by Jews for deceased relatives. They also said [23:29] the Mourner's Kaddish and tore a ribbon in a symbolic act of mourning [19:45].
The Jewish ritual of the Mourner’s Kaddish is a prayer customarily reserved for close relatives or Jews murdered for being Jews.
Promoting Anti-Israel Agitators
On February 11, 2019, Beardsley tweeted: “As an American Jew, this statement is horrifying” and shared a copy of the U.S. Democratic Party’s condemnation of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
Ilhan Omar was elected to the U.S. Congress in 2018. In February 2019, top Congressional leaders denounced Omar for tweeting anti-Semitic remarks.Omar has demonized Israel and endorsed BDS. In July 2019, Omar introduced a pro-BDS resolution in the U.S. Congress, which she described as “an opportunity for us to explain why it is we support…the BDS movement.”
Beardsley’s tweet continued: “There was no ‘prejudicial accusations’, only true statements about how much of a hold AIPAC has on our legislative system.”
The stated mission of AIPAC is to “strengthen, protect and promote the U.S.-Israel relationship in ways that enhance the security of the United States and Israel.”
The stated mission of AIPAC is to “strengthen, protect and promote the U.S.-Israel relationship in ways that enhance the security of the United States and Israel.”
Beardsley added in the same thread: “@IlhanMN has been targeted for daring to criticize Israel (and doing so as a Muslim woman).”
Beardsley retweeted an April 24, 2019 tweet by anti-Israel agitator Issa Amro that said: “.@BernieSanders is right that Israel's government is racist.”
Anti-Israel agitator Issa Amro is known for vandalism and attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians. Amro heads the Youth Against Settlements (YAS) movement, an anti-Israel organization based in Hebron that promotes anti-Semitism, rock-throwing and violence against Israelis.
Supporting BDS
On January 30, 2019, Beardsley tweeted: “Settlements are illegal. It's not a boycott. It's these organizations following internation law,” in response to a tweet by The Anti Defamation League (ADL) that said: “Boycotting & demonizing Israel does nothing to advance any efforts toward peace. We urge @Airbnb, @bookingcom, @Expedia and @TripAdvisor to not give in to this biased, anti-Israel campaign.”In April 2019, Airbnb reversed its policy of banning listings in Jewish communities in Israel’s West Bank.
Beardsley retweeted a May 18, 2019 tweet that said: “Or, get this: They could have boycotted like Palestinians asked them to.” Beardsley’s tweet embedded a photo of Iceland’s Eurovision performers holding up a Palestinian flag, while participating in Eurovision 2019 hosted by Israel.
On May 21, 2019, in response to a tweet that said: “BDS is anti-Semitic. Calling for the destruction of the Jewish state is anti-Semitic ...” Beardsley tweeted: “It isn't. But trying to ban protests and boycotts is quite literally Nazi s**t.”
On May 22, 2019, Beardsley tweeted: “Are you kidding? I'm not saying anyone who supports the bans ARE Nazis, just that it is something Nazis did, which is 100% true. That's dangerous thinking. Thinking that it somehow can't happen here means it will. And it's not just Israel most of us support boycotting.”
INN Activity
Beardsley was a social media coordinator for a May 19, 2018 INN DC training event titled: “HowManyMore: IfNotNow DC Teach In & Potluck,” co-led by Taher Herzallah, the Associate Director of Outreach & Grassroots Organizing from AMP.On May 19, 2018, Beardsley also posed for a group photo posted on Facebook, from an INN DC training event co-led by Herzallah.
INN’s comment on the Facebook photo described the training as gathering to “learn more about the history of Gaza, Palestinian non-violent resistance and how our community can take action to oppose the Israeli Military's recent actions.”
Beardsley helped organize INN DC’s “Let My People Know: an IfNotNow NoVa Passover Seder” held on April 7, 2018, in Northern Virginia.
A Seder is a Jewish Passover ritual, that involves telling the story of the Israelites’ exodus from slavery in ancient Egypt and their travels to the Promised Land.
Beardsley posed for a photo published to Facebook on March 5, 2018, of an INN DC Orientation training.
Beardsley posed for a photo published to Facebook on January 23, 2018, of an INN DC Leadership training
Beardsley posed for a photo published to Facebook on January 23, 2018, of an INN DC Leadership training
Beardsley helped lead an INN DC event titled: “Speak Truth to Power Gaza,” held on August 3, 2017, outside of Hillel International’s Washington D.C. office.
The event’s Facebook description invited attendees to: “Join us tomorrow as we mourn for the Palestinian casualties of the Occupation. Please plan to wear black.”
IfNotNow (INN)
IfNotNow (INN) is an anti-Israel organization founded in 2014, in response to Israel’s Operation Protective Edge (OPE) against Hamas.
INN claims to be “young Jews angered by the overwhelmingly hawkish response of American Jewish institutions” to OPE. INN presents three demands on its website: “Stop the War on Gaza, End the Occupation, and Freedom and Dignity for All.”
INN defines “the Occupation as the military rule over Palestinians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza,” which is land Israel has controlled for nearly 50 years since the 1967 Six-Day War. However, INN leaders have made [00:34:32] the claim [00:13:49] at protests that the occupation is 70 years long, referring to Israel’s founding in 1948.
INN actions have aimed to demonize [00:38:13] Israel, harass [00:05:44] mainstream American Jewish organizations like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and decrease support for Israel among American Jews.
INN has used “public action and imaginative ritual” to achieve its goals, including disruptions where activists were arrested.
One of the high-profile arrests occurred at a May 2018 disruption at a U.S. Senator’s office in Washington, D.C. to protest legislation against the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
At the same incident, INN used [00:07:17] the Jewish ritual of the Mourner’s Kaddish prayer to mourn [00:09:10] protesters who were killed during the Hamas-organized and funded Great March of Return riots on the Israel-Gaza border.
INN activists have also staged and promoted walk-offs from Birthright Israel trips, a heritage trip to Israel for young Jewish adults from across the world.
INN claims to be “young Jews angered by the overwhelmingly hawkish response of American Jewish institutions” to OPE. INN presents three demands on its website: “Stop the War on Gaza, End the Occupation, and Freedom and Dignity for All.”
INN defines “the Occupation as the military rule over Palestinians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza,” which is land Israel has controlled for nearly 50 years since the 1967 Six-Day War. However, INN leaders have made [00:34:32] the claim [00:13:49] at protests that the occupation is 70 years long, referring to Israel’s founding in 1948.
INN actions have aimed to demonize [00:38:13] Israel, harass [00:05:44] mainstream American Jewish organizations like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and decrease support for Israel among American Jews.
INN has used “public action and imaginative ritual” to achieve its goals, including disruptions where activists were arrested.
One of the high-profile arrests occurred at a May 2018 disruption at a U.S. Senator’s office in Washington, D.C. to protest legislation against the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
At the same incident, INN used [00:07:17] the Jewish ritual of the Mourner’s Kaddish prayer to mourn [00:09:10] protesters who were killed during the Hamas-organized and funded Great March of Return riots on the Israel-Gaza border.
INN activists have also staged and promoted walk-offs from Birthright Israel trips, a heritage trip to Israel for young Jewish adults from across the world.
INN claims to take no position on the BDS movement and that it is “open to any who seek to shift the American Jewish public away from the status quo that upholds the Occupation.” However, INN organizes with pro-BDS, anti-Israel organizations including American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP).
BDS
The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement was founded by Omar Barghouti in 2005 to challenge “international support for Israeli apartheid and settler-colonialism.” BDS is an allegedly “Palestinian-led movement,” although leading BDS activists have admitted [00:01:01] this is not true.
One of the demands of BDS includes [point 3] what is generally known as the “right of return,” a demand discredited as a way to eliminate Israel. Barghouti said the “right of return” is a means to “end Israel’s existence as a Jewish state.”
Barghouti has said that BDS “aims to turn Israel into a pariah state, as South Africa once was.”
In his activism, Barghouti has also said [00:05:55] regarding Israel: “Definitely, most definitely, we oppose a Jewish state in any part of Palestine. No…rational Palestinian, not a sellout Palestinian, will ever accept a Jewish state in Palestine.”
The movement has been linked to numerous terrorist organizations and received a public endorsement from Hamas in 2017.
BDS initiatives include calling on institutions and individuals to divest from Israeli-affiliated companies, promoting academic and cultural boycotts of Israel, and organizing anti-Israel rallies, protests and campaigns.
The movement’s most notable achievement has been the infiltration of university campuses through lobbying for “BDS resolutions.” In these cases, student governments and student groups, backed by their own anti-Israel members and affiliates, have proposed resolutions on some form of boycott of, or divestment from, Israel and Israeli-affiliated entities.
Boycott resolutions, although non-binding, have been passed by student governments on numerous North American campuses.
BDS activity is often aggressive and disruptive. It has been noted that universities that pass BDS resolutions see a marked increase in anti-Semitic incidents on campus. On one campus, when the student government debated a BDS resolution, reports emerged of violent threats against those opposing it.
Social Media and Weblinks
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/668453983
Videos
2 videos
Photos & Screenshots
47 images
Infamous Quotes
“Israel commits human rights abuses and AIPAC lobbies to ensure that lawmakers don't criticize Israel for these abuses.”
“Israel is a colonial settler state.”
“it's actually the IDF killing unarmed protesters, children, nurses, and journalists without second thought. Israel is not an innocent victim, not even close.”
