Amanda Rae Gaines

Overview

Amanda Rae Gaines attempted to ban Jewish symbols at the 2019 D.C. Dyke March as a leader with IfNotNow (INN). Gaines also led [00:13:10] an INN disruption, in partnership with Taher Herzallah of American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), to protest Senator Ben Cardin’s anti-Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) legislation.

Gaines protested against the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), has opposed Birthright, the Jewish heritage tour, and expressed support for anti-Israel agitators.

As of January 2020, Gaines’ LinkedIn page said she was a “Software Engineer, Worker-Owner at Throneless Tech,” since September 2019 and a freelance Full Stack Developer, since January 2017. Her LinkedIn page also listed her as an audio producer with D.C. Tech Stories, since May 2017.

In April 2019, Gaines indicated on Twitter that she is a member of the “Born Dad” punk band. Gaines’ LinkedIn said she graduated from the University of Maryland (UMD) in 2010, with a bachelor’s degree in Broadcast Journalism.

As of 2019, Gaines used the name “A. Rae Gaines” on LinkedIn.

Banning Jewish Symbols

In June 2019, Gaines was an INN leader “involved in organizing” the INN co-sponsored June 7, 2019, D.C. Dyke March, who banned carrying the Jewish pride flag - a rainbow flag with the Star of David in the center.

On June 6, 2019, Gaines co-authored an INN article on the Washington Blade with Dyke March organizer Yael Horowitz, where she labeled the Jewish Pride flag “lazy symbolism” and “violent nationalism.”

Gaines also explained that she and Horowitz organized the march “as specifically and explicitly Jewish Anti-Zionist Dykes” and accused Israel of “settler colonial violence” and “nationalism and xenophobia.”

Jill Raney, an INN leader and Dyke March organizer, blocked a group of demonstrators carrying Jewish Pride flags from joining the Dyke March and said [00:00:15] “In order to have the Jewish pride flag not be about Zionism, all you gotta do is just move the star.”

Raney also said [00:01:20] “We are allowing Palestinian flags” and then disagreed that it represented Palestinian nationalism.

The demonstrators were eventually permitted to join the Dyke March with their Jewish pride flags.

Supporting BDS

On April 16, 2018, Gaines helped lead [00:13:10] an INN DC disruption in partnership with Taher Herzallah, the Associate Director of Outreach & Grassroots Organizing of AMP. The disruption was to protest U.S. Senator Ben Cardin’s proposed anti-BDS legislation. INN activists were arrested for occupying Cardin’s office.

During the disruption, Herzallah criticized [00:06:06] Cardin’s anti-BDS legislation, Senate Bill S.720. As INN activists were nodding in approval, Herzallah said [00:06:55] “we stand here today to oppose S.720.”

Herzallah also claimed that the Israeli response to the Great March of Return protests on their border with Gaza was that [00:05:42] “the Israeli soldiers pick off Palestinian protesters like it’s open season.”

Media reports confirmed [00:00:20] the Gaza protesters’ breaches and attempted breaches of Israel’s border fence, some by armed Palestinians. One Hamas leader declared [00:00:30]: “We will take down the border [with Israel] and we will tear out their hearts from their bodies.”

During the disruption, Jill Raney, an INN organizer, called [00:09:55] on Senator Cardin to condemn: “Israeli violence against peaceful protesters.”

INN activist Sarah Beth Alcabes read out the names [00:07:17] of Palestinians [00:20:20] “killed by the IDF for protesting” and led [00:09:10] activists in saying the Mourner’s Kaddish prayer for them.

The Jewish ritual of the Mourner’s Kaddish is a prayer customarily reserved for close relatives or Jews murdered for being Jews.

Following INN’s intrusion into Cardin’s offices, Herzallah was interviewed [00:44:49], for INN’s Facebook page, pledging: “we will continue to stand every Friday, ‘til we return, continue on the Great March.”

Protesting AIPAC

On March 24, 2017, Gaines indicated on Facebook that she went to “IfNotNow’s Community Shabbat: ResistAIPAC Mobilization,” in preparation for INN’s protest outside the Washington D.C. venue of the AIPAC Policy Conference.

On March 25, 2017, Gaines indicated on Facebook that she “went” to INN’s “Jewish Resistance at AIPAC Preparation and Training Day.”

On March 26, 2017, Gaines indicated on Facebook that she “went” to INN protest outside the Washington D.C. venue of the AIPAC Policy Conference. Protestors chained themselves to the entrance of the conference center. Several hundred protesters also marched and chanted for hours outside the venue.

Gaines retweeted a tweet from that same daythat said: “Young Jews blocking the entrance to #AIPAC2017 to stand up for freedom and dignity for all Israelis and Palestinians! #JewishResistance.”

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.”

Four INN activists purchased tickets to the conference as AIPAC delegates, in order to gain access to the building. Once inside, the INN activists, dropped [00:00:37] banners from the center’s third floor, stating that they “reject AIPAC and the occupation,” before being removed by security.

On March 27, 2017, Gaines tweeted: “‘down down with occupation, up up with liberation!’

#ResistAIPAC #AIPAC2017.”

Defending Violent Protestors

On April 5, 2018, Gaines indicated on Facebook that she “went” to an INN DC demonstration outside AIPAC’s headquarters in Washington D.C.: “to protest the killing of Palestinian protestors” during the Great March of Return on Israel’s border with Gaza.

During the protest, Natalie Bernstien, an INN activist, read [00:32:19] out the names of the Palestinians killed during the protest and then INN DC recited the Mourner’s Kaddish for them.

On March 30, 2018, some 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza approached Israel’s border to take part in “Land Day Protests,” or the “March of Return.” The march was organized and funded by Hamas as a campaign of violent protests to spotlight the Palestinian demand to “return” to Israel. The “right of return” has since been discredited as a means to eliminate Israel.

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.

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.

On May 14, 2018, Gaines indicated on Facebook that she “went” to an INN DC demonstration in Washington, D.C. to mourn [01:09:33] the Palestinians killed during the Great March of Return protests on Israel’s border with Gaza.

In May 2018, terror group Hamas instigated violent riots on the Israeli-Gaza border. Thousands of rioters attempted to breach Israel’s border fence, declaring their intention to harm Jews across the border under the pretext of “peaceful resistance.”

During the demonstration INN protestors chanted [01:32:00] “We are horrified by Israel’s violent response to Palestinian non-violent protests.”

On May 16, 2018, a Hamas senior official, Salah al-Bardawil, stated that 50 out of 62 protesters killed during the May 14 Gaza border protest were Hamas operatives. Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) also claimed that three of its members were killed at the same protest.

The May 14, 2018, INN DC event also protested the U.S. government’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the decision to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Opposing Jewish Heritage Tour

On April 10, 2019, Gaines tweeted: “wow I am late to this tweet but these signs are :chef's kiss: #returnthebirthright.”

Gaines embedded a tweet from Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) that said: “Students from Macalester College and Columbia/Barnard who prefer to #returnthebirthright and support #RightOfReturn than take a free trip to Israel.”

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.”

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.”

Supporting Anti-Israel Agitators

Gaines retweeted a March 6, 2019 tweet that expressed support for US 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.”

Gaines retweeted a January 21, 2018 tweet by fellow INN activist Ethan Miller that said: “Join @IfNotNowOrg this afternoon as our high school members lead us in calling for #AhedTamimi's release on her 17th birthday.”

Gaines also indicated on Facebook that she “went” to a January 31, 2018, INN DC protest in support of Ahed Tamimi.

Ahed Tamimi has a long history of physically attacking Israeli soldiers. Tamimi is the daughter of Bassem Tamimi, who is known for exploiting young children as political props in staged confrontations with Israeli soldiers.

Gaines retweeted a February 22, 2017 tweet calling to “Free @Issaamro.”

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.

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 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).