Share:
Anissa Weinraub
Anissa Weinraub [Anissa L. Weinraub] was arrested at an anti-Israel rally during Israel’s war against Hamas terrorists in late 2023. Weinraub also organized and led multiple anti-Israel rallies in late 2023 as an activist with Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP).
The rallies occurred after Hamas terror atrocities and war crimes against Israeli civilians, including mass murder, torture, rape, beheadings and kidnappings, which were executed on October 7, 2023. The terror attacks left over 1,200 Israelis dead, hundreds kidnapped and thousands wounded. Israel retaliated with a war called “Swords of Iron.”
Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S., Canada, European Union, Israel and other countries. Founded in 1987, it has killed thousands of Israeli civilians through mass shootings and suicide bombings. Hamas has also kidnapped children, families and the elderly and held them hostage in Gaza. It has desecrated [slide 7] dead bodies and launched numerous rocket attacks against Israeli civilians.
Weinraub has also spread incitement, promoted hatred of Israel, endorsed anti-Israel agitators and demonized a Philadelphia philanthropist.
As of December 2023, Weinraub was a member of the JVP chapter in Philadelphia (JVP Philly). Weinraub was affiliated with JVP Philly in 2022 and was reportedly a member of JVP Philly in 2021.
As of January 2024, Weinraub’s LinkedIn profile said she was an “Educator and Theater Maker” in the School District of Philadelphia. As of the same date, Weinbraub was certified by the Pennsylvania Department of Education as an English teacher for grades 7-12. Her “Educational Entity” was listed as the Academy At Palumbo (Palumbo) high school in Philadelphia for the 2022-2023 academic year.
As of January 2024, Weinraub’s website said she was a “public school educator, theater-maker (director-creator-performer) and organizer.” Her resume said she had been a “Theater Teacher and Director” at Palumbo since 2014.
As of April 2022, Weinraub was listed on a staff directory at Palumbo and was reportedly the “head of the theater department” in 2018.
Also, as of January 2024, Weinraub’s resume said she was a Core Member of the Teacher Action Group in Philadelphia since 2009, founder of the Caucus of Working Educators in 2014, and was Project Coordinator and Board Member for the Philadelphia Student Union from 2007 to 2015.
Weinraub’s resume also said she graduated from Brown University (Brown) with a bachelor’s degree in Urban Studies in 2003, and graduated from Temple University (Temple) with a master’s degree in Education in 2008.
In September 2021, Weinraub’s Twitter bio stated she was an “Antizionist.”
On October 18, 2023, Weinraub was arrested during an anti-Israel rally she helped organize at Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. The rally was also organized by JVP and IfNotNow (INN) and they were joined by anti-Israel U.S. Representatives Rashida Tlaib and Cori Bush, to demand a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas terrorists.
On October 18, 2023, the U.S. Capitol police tweeted: “Demonstrations are not allowed inside Congressional Buildings.” They also tweeted: “We warned the protestors to stop demonstrating and when they did not comply we began arresting them.”
At an anti-Israel rally days later, Weinraub said [00:00:06]: “...this past week we organized thousands to take over D.C., including 400 of us who took over [the] Congressional building…to demand an immediate ceasefire…”
Weinraub continued [00:00:45]: “...and we sat in the halls of U.S. imperialist power attempting to disrupt the U.S. death cult that is green lighting and funding and giving political cover to Israel’s genocidal war path.”
Weinraub said [00:01:19] she sang songs with protesters “as we were getting arrested…”
On October 21, 2023, Weinraub spoke at an anti-Israel “All Out for Gaza” rally in support of the Hamas terrorist attacks. The event took place at Philadelphia’s City Hall and was organized by the Philly Palestine Coalition (PPC).
At the rally, Weinraub introduced [00:00:07] herself as “an anti-Zionist Jew’ and said [00:02:13]: “We are compelled as human beings living on this one planet to dismantle Zionism” and [00:04:03] “ …if we organize together we will free Palestine in our lifetimes.”
On December 11, 2023, Weinraub spoke [00:00:01] at an anti-Israel rally outside of the Hilton Hotel at Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Protesters called upon the U.S. President Joe Biden to support a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas terrorists.
At the rally, Weinraub condemned [00:00:50] Israel’s military response to the October 7 Hamas massacre as “ a genocidal assault” by a ”merciless military and their AI [artificial intelligence] programmed death machine.” Weinraub also referred [00:03:01] to Israel as a “militarized ethno-nationalist apartheid state.”
Weinraub condemned [00:00:16] U.S. President Joe Biden’s support for Israel and alleged [00:01:21] “he and his arms trading weapons manufacturing friends getting rich, rich filthy, profiteering…”
Weinraub said [00:02:17]: “Let's call him what he is, “Genocide Joe. You are a war criminal.”
Weinraub led protesters in chanting [00:05:04]: “You [Biden]...are a war criminal…you green light genocide… there's blood on your hands…”
Weinraub also said [00:05:38]: “We will force an immediate and permanent ceasefire as the first step and then we will continue to dismantle this death machine of borders of militaries of extraction and of war profiteering… let Gaza live…and may Palestine be liberated in our lifetimes.”
As protesters marched to Philadelphia’s City Hall, Weinraub rode [00:00:05] in a flatbed truck with fellow activists.
On December 11, 2023, the PPC organized a rally in Philadelphia’s Washington Square Park, where participants condemned politicians who expressed support for Israel in its war against Hamas. The rally took place during U.S. President Joe Biden’s visit to the city. Protesters referred to President Biden as “Genocide Joe.”
Rami Ibrahim, who goes by the nickname "Son of Palestine," spoke [00:10:20] at the rally, where he glorified [00:13:29] Hamas. Other speakers accused Israel of murdering children and perpetrating “genocidal attacks.”
Another speaker led rally-goers in the pro-terror chant: "Resistance is justified when people are occupied!" and in the call for Israel’s destruction: “From The River to the Sea, Palestine will be free!” Speakers urged people to “shut down” the United States “until Palestine is free.”
On October 8, 2023, the day after the Hamas massacre, Weinraub participated [00:51:16] in an anti-Israel rally and march in support of the Hamas terrorist attacks.
On October 8, 2023, the day after Hamas terrorists murdered nearly 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped hundreds more, anti-Israel groups in Philadelphia held an “Emergency Solidarity Rally.” Chants during the march to the rally featured various calls for Israel’s destruction and celebrations of Hamas terrorism by using the euphemism “resistance.”
At the rally, activist Romance Albarqawi said during her speech: “What we saw yesterday morning was decolonization taking place!” The crowd cheered in response to this line as well as after another line when she said: “The resistance is justified!” Workers World Party activist Michael Wilson later said: “I think that we should all give an applaud right now to Hamas for a job well done!” The crowd again cheered in response.
On October 26, 2023, Weinraub participated in an anti-Israel rally outside Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman’s office in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
On October 26, 2023, the PPC and other anti-Israel organizations including Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and JVP held a rally calling on Fetterman to back an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
At the rally, Protesters blocked [slide 3] the entrance to Fetterman’s office during rush hour traffic. Nour Qutyan, an organizer with Philly for Palestine, led protesters in chanting: “Ceasefire now!”
On Saturday, October 7, 2023, approximately 2,900 heavily armed Hamas terrorists breached Israel’s border with Gaza. They executed numerous war crimes on civilians, including mass murder, beheadings of children, rape of men and women, torture, kidnappings and mutilation.
Hamas broadcast videos of their butchery on social media, often to victims’ accounts for families to see. Israel retaliated with a war called “Swords of Iron.” As of November 10, 2023, approximately 1,200 Israelis, the vast majority of them civilians, were murdered during the attacks. Hamas kidnapped 242 Israelis, including at least 30 children. At least 3,500 people were wounded, many severely.
A terrorist detained by Israel admitted he raped an Israeli woman when he broke into a kibbutz house during the October 7, 2023 attack. In March 2024, a former hostage of Hamas publicly stated she was sexually abused and tortured while in captivity.
For more information on the October 7, 2023 terror attacks, see the Canary Mission page on Hamas.
On May 18, 2021, Weinraub participated in an anti-Israel march held in Philadelphia, titled: “In Solidarity with the Palestinian Uprising and General Strike!” The protest was organized by Philly BDS and the Party for Socialism and Liberation - Philly. JVP Philly promoted the event on Facebook.
The Facebook event description said: “...We demand an end to state sanctioned violence and apartheid inflicted on Palestine by the US-funded Israeli government…As settler mobs and the Israeli occupation continue a campaign of violence and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people in Sheikh Jarrah, Gaza, and beyond, this unprecedented popular uprising will continue until Palestine is free!”
In May 2021, calls to “save” Sheikh Jarrah, a Jerusalem neighborhood at the center of a property dispute, led to violence against Israelis and were one of the leading factors in Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists firing over 4,300 rockets from Gaza into Israel that month.
Anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S. “more than doubled” compared to the same period in 2020, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
Protesters held signs that said: “FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA, PALESTINE WILL BE FREE.”
“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free” is a chant used [00:02:47] to call for the elimination of the State of Israel. It has also been employed by Hamas leader Khaled Mashal to call for the replacement of Israel with an Islamic state. In April 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning the chant as antisemitic.
On May 15, 2018, Weinraub tweeted: “@PhillyMayor Israel is a violent nation state that is currently massacring humans. This is NOT a point of pride. Take down the Israeli flag.”
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.”
On May 16, 2018, 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.
On November 30, 2018, Weinraub tweeted: “@CNN your decision to fire @marclamonthill for supporting Palestinian liberation is wrong. Anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism, & your accusation of such shows cowardice, ignorance & bias. It is Resistance to land theft, ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity. #istandwithMLH.”
In November 2018, Hill was fired from his contributor position at CNN (Cable News Network) after he gave an anti-Israel speech at the United Nations. He called [00:20:47] for a “free Palestine from the river to the sea,” a phrase associated with demands to dismantle the State of Israel. Hill also accused [00:16:19] Israel of “ethnic cleansing,” as well as [00:17:49] “white supremacy” and [00:17:56] “settler colonialism.”
On May 17, 2018, Weinraub tweeted: “@washingtonpost thank you for letting a Palestinian @4noura speak abt [about] her people’s lives, struggle and freedom. Keeping my subscription.”
Weinraub’s tweet was referring to anti-Israel agitator and BDS activist Noura Erakat’s May 16, 2018 opinion piece in the Washington Post promoting the Palestinian “right of return.” Erakat has endorsed PFLP terrorist, Rasmea Odeh and defended the terror group Hamas.
The “right of return” is a Palestinian demand discredited as a means to eliminate Israel.
In 2021, Weinraub participated in two JVP Philly protests held outside the private residence of Philadelphia-based philanthropist Jeffrey Yass. The protests were part of a JVP Philly campaign of harassment against Yass.
On September 23, 2021, during the Jewish festival of Sukkot, Weinraub led a “teach-in” at JVP Philly protest, where JVP Philly activists erected a tent on the private lawn of Jeffrey Yass to protest his funding of various causes in the United States and Israel.
JVP Philly protesters gathered there with signs that said: “YASS FUNDS FASCISTS” and “YASS FUNDS ISRAELI APARTHEID,” as well as “YASS CASH HARMS OUR PLANET” and “YASS CASH HARMS OUR SCHOOLS.” JVP Swarthmore also participated in the protest.
A JVP Philly Facebook post about the protest claimed: “...his money is making the world a more dangerous, violent, and unequal place…But we are watching…His neighbors are hearing about it. His employees are hearing about it. The word is out. #AllEyesOnYass
.”
Weinraub spoke as a Philadelphia educator and ended her speech by chanting [00:05:05]: “All eyes on Yass! Stop funding apartheid! And we gotta end racism and white supremacy.”
JVP Philly passed out a flyer to Yass’s neighbors that claimed Yass was financing “Israeli apartheid policies which cause great harm to Palestinians and any possibility of peace in the region.”
The flyer also said: “TIRED OF SEEING US HERE? TELL JEFF HIS CHOICES ARE NOT JUST HARMING THE WORLD, THEY’RE BUGGING HIS NEIGHBORS TOO. MAYBE THAT WILL MAKE HIM CHANGE HIS WAYS!”
The protest reportedly marked the launch of JVP Philly’s “All Eyes on Yass” campaign, following two other protests they had held earlier that year against Yass.
On September 24, 2021, Weinraub was quoted in a Mondoweiss article about the protest as saying: “I can’t just sit by and watch billionaires like Jeffrey Yass fund this right-wing, dehumanizing agenda.”
On June 4, 2021, Weinraub participated [00:03:01] in a JVP Philly protest with around 100 participants held outside Yass’s home. JVP Philly accused Yass of funding “the displacement and murder of Palestinians” and demanded that he stop his support of pro-Israel initiatives.
Protesters stood in Yass’s front yard holding [00:00:24] a large sign that said: “ISRAELI APARTHEID FUNDED HERE” and shouted [00:01:30] “shame” while banging on tables.
In a Facebook live stream of the protest, Elana Baurer, a JVP organizer, said [00:00:35] the protesters were calling on Yass to “stop participating in the ongoing Nakba.”
The term “Nakba” is generally translated as “catastrophe” in Arabic, referring to the outcome of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It is a term used to delegitimize the creation of the State of Israel by drawing a comparison to the Holocaust, known in Hebrew as the Shoah, meaning “catastrophe.”
At the protest, Alissa Wise, a JVP leader, said [00:11:30] into a megaphone: “last week we were at his office…this week we’re at his house because his employees, his staff, his colleagues, his neighbors, they know what he’s doing,” and continued [00:12:20]: “we must build outrage in everyone in his community until we get what we want.”
On May 21, 2021, JVP Philly held a sit-in at the lobby of Yass’s office in Philadelphia. Protesters held anti-Israel banners and accused [00:00:40] Yass and his business partner, Arthur Dantchik, of “funding genocide, apartheid and ethnic cleansing” in Israel, as they chanted [00:00:52]: “Israeli apartheid is funded here, Jews say Free Palestine.”
JVP Philly activists also placed flyers on employees’ cars that accused Israel of “the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians…and violent murder and destruction.”
The protest ended with JVP Philly leader Alissa Wise leaving a voicemail on Yass’s personal number, saying [00:21:08]: “What you’re doing to the Palestinian people is a shande [disgrace]...we’re really disgusted by what you’re funding and we want to urge you to cease funding it now...and we’ll keep coming back as long as it takes.”
JVP Philly whitewashes terrorism, shows support for terrorists, demonizes Jewish organizations and actively promotes the BDS movement. In 2021, JVP Philly led a campaign of harassment against a Philadelphia-based philanthropist Jeffrey Yass and organized a series of anti-Israel protests.
JVP Philly created its Facebook page on April 24, 2012. The chapter has been active since 2013.
JVP Philly signed a May 19, 2021 statement by Penn Students Against the Occupation of Palestine (PAO) that called on the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) to “divest from companies that profit from and/or are complicit in the Israeli occupation of Palestine.”
The statement accused Israel of the “ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians,” a “massacre of Gaza” and of having “genocidal intentions.” It also urged Penn students, faculty, staff and alumni to “call on the US government to place sanctions on Israel.”
On May 15, 2021, JVP Philly co-hosted an event with other anti-Israel groups, including Philly BDS and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapters at Temple University and Drexel University in Philadelphia, titled: “PHILADELPHIA: #SaveSheikhJarrah.”
Incitement around Al-Aqsa and Sheikh Jarrah were leading factors in Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists firing over 4,300 rockets from Gaza at Israel’s major centers on May 10-21, 2021. In response, Israel launched “Operation Guardian of the Walls (OGW),” striking military targets in the terrorist-controlled enclave.
Protesters held signs that said: “RESISTANCE IS JUSTIFIED” and “WHEN INJUSTICE BECOMES LAW… RESISTANCNCE (SIC) BECOMES A DUTY!!!” Other signs said “F**K ISRAEL,” claimed that “ZIONISM IS GENOCIDE” and called to “END ZIONISM.”
Zionism is the belief in the right to self-determination and statehood of the Jewish people in their ancestral homeland, Israel. The word Zion originates in the Bible, where it refers to the land of Israel and Jerusalem.
Demonstrators also displayed signs that read: “FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA PALESTINE WILL BE FREE” and “HANDS OFF OF OUR LAND.”
The chant “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free” has also been employed by Hamas leader Khaled Mashal to call for the replacement of Israel with an Islamic state. It is a chant calling to dismantle the State of Israel.
The cover photo on the Facebook page of the event JVP Philly co-hosted was a flyer featuring a graphic of Palestinians armed with rifles and text that read: “RESISTING COLONIALISM SINCE 1948.”
The Facebook event description called for protesters to “march against the state-sanctioned violence, settler-colonialism and apartheid occurring in Sheikh Jarrah and all of Occupied Palestine” and accused Israel of “genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.”
On May 6, 2019, JVP Philly shared a Facebook post by anti-Israel agitator Linda Sarsour that said: “...Friday, Israel gunned down 4 Palestinians peacefully protesting. No condemnations. No one saying how immoral it is to kill Palestinians…”
On May 3, 2019, two Israeli soldiers, patrolling near the Gaza border, were shot and injured from sniper fire in Gaza. In response, the Israeli Air Force struck a Hamas base nearby, killing two members of Hamas’s armed wing. Two other Palestinians were killed while participating in riots along the Gaza border.
On March 30, 2019, JVP Philly held a “GreatReturnMarch Memorial and Teach-In.” The Facebook event description claimed: “Since March 30th, 2018 tens of thousands of Palestinians have marched peacefully every Friday along the Gaza/Israel border…” A JVP Philly email promoting the event described it as “A Martyrology Inspired Memorial Teach-In.”
Approximately 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza approached Israel’s border on March 30, 2018 as part of the “March of Return,” which was organized and funded by Hamas. This was used as a campaign of violent protests to spotlight the Palestinian demand to “return” to Israel.
The “right of return” is a Palestinian demand discredited as a means to eliminate Israel.
JVP Philly retweeted a January 30, 2019 tweet by JVP that said: “Another day, another Palestinian child murdered Samah Mubarak was killed by the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] at a checkpoint for an alleged ‘knife attack’...”
On January 30, 2019, 16-year-old Samah Mubarak attempted to stab an Israeli security officer and was shot by Israeli Security forces.
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 values.”
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.”
Sign up for our weekly newsletter
Donate