Daniel Kaplan
Overview
DanielKaplan [Danny Kaplan] has promoted JVP’s “Deadly Exchange campaign,” demonized Israel and supported anti-Israel agitators. Kaplan has also condemned the 2016 Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, a bipartisan bill drafted in response to growing anti-Semitism in the United States.Kaplan is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Kaplan has promoted the #returnthebirthright initiative launched by the anti-Israel Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) organization against the Birthright Jewish heritage tour. He has also protested Birthright as an activist with IfNotNow (INN).
Kaplan was an activist with Jewish Voice for Peace. Kaplan was a volunteer for American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) and was an affiliate of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).
Kaplan is also a member of the Facebook group International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) since October 2013 and a 2013 Fellow with the American Friends Service Committee. The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is an anti-Israel Quaker organization that promotes BDS.
As of June 2019, Kaplan’s LinkedIn page said he was a “Bay Area Organizer at Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice.”
Kaplan’s LinkedIn page also said he was a graduate student at the University of Michigan (UMich) School of Social Work, pursuing a certificate in Jewish Communal Leadership from the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies.
As of June 2019, Kaplan’s LinkedIn page said he graduated from Whitman College in May 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in Race and Ethnic Studies.
In 2018, Kaplan used the name “Dee Kap” on Facebook. As of June 2019, Kaplan used the name “Danny Kaplan” on Facebook.
Promoting JVP’s “Deadly Exchange Campaign”
On October 31, 2018, Kaplan made his cover photo on Facebook the campaign photo for JVP’s “Deadly Exchange campaign” and linked to the campaign page in the comments..In 2017, JVP launched the “Deadly Exchange (DX)” campaign, which accused American Jewish organizations of promoting human rights abuses. JVP also released a video that blamed [00:04:04] U.S.-based Jewish organizations for violence that occurs against Black and Brown communities, immigrants and activists in the U.S.
Opposing the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act
In April of 2019, Kaplan signed a JVP-launched petition opposing the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act (AAA), which was introduced to the U.S. Senate in March, 2019.The AAA directed the U.S. Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to use the U.S. State Department’s definition of anti-Semitism when evaluating hostile environment complaints.
The JVP petition asserted that “support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, is not inherently antisemitic” and claimed the bill “conflates legitimate criticism of the policies of the Israeli government with antisemitism.”
Kaplan indicated on Facebook that he “went” to a December 9, 2016 event titled: “Tell the Jewish Federations: McCarthyism does NOT protect us,” hosted by Open Hillel. The event’s Facebook description said the AAA was “a bill that does not address rising anti-Semitism, but rather seeks to suppress criticism of Israel on campus.”
Open Hillel is an organization that aims to “eliminate” Hillel International’s Standards of Partnership for Israel Activities, which ban partnerships between Hillel affiliates and groups that deny Israel’s right to exist, delegitimize the Jewish state or support the BDS movement.
Demonization of Israel
On May 16, 2018, Kaplan shared a fundraiser to Facebook for his birthday and raised $1800 to benefit “Medical Aid for Palestinians,” because Kaplan claimed: “demonstrators in Gaza are met with deadly and excessive violence” by the IDF.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 event’s Facebook description stated participants would “confess the sins of the American Jewish Community,” claiming: “...For 50 years American Jewish leaders have been bringing in the new year while supporting an occupation.”
Supporting Anti-Israel Agitators
On December 31, 2017, Kaplan added a banner to his Facebook profile picture, that said: “Free Ahed Tamimi” and featured a headshot of Tamimi.On May 20, 2014, Kaplan attended a Council on Islamic Relations (CAIR)-Chicago event called: “Criminalizing Immigrants: The Case of Rasmea Odeh.”
The event’s Facebook description said Odeh had “dedicated her life to serve and empower the Arab American and immigrant communities” and referred to the case against her as “the selective prosecution of key activists in the Palestinian and anti-war solidarity communities.”
Odeh was a key military operative [00:02:08]with the terrorist group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). In 1969, Odeh masterminded a PFLP bombing that killed two college students in a Jerusalem supermarket. Odeh also attempted to bomb the British consulate.
Odeh confessed, in a highly detailed account, the day following her arrest. In a 2004 documentary, one of Odeh’s co-conspirators directly implicated [00:10:53] Odeh as the mastermind.
In 1970, an Israeli court tried and convicted Odeh for her involvement in both bombings and sentenced her to life imprisonment. However, Odeh was released 10 years later, in a prisoner swap and emigrated to the United States.
On November 10, 2014, a Michigan federal jury convicted Odeh for immigration fraud because she failed to disclose her prior conviction and life sentence on her immigration application. On March 12, 2015, she was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
In 2017, after an appeal and a lengthy court battle, Odeh admitted to immigration fraud, was stripped of her U.S. citizenship, deported to Jordan and banned from re-entering the U.S.
Condemning Jewish Heritage Tour
On November 27, 2017, Kaplan wrote an article for “Jewschool,” an online progressive community, about JVP’s “Return the Birthright” campaign, titled: “Three Reasons To #ReturnTheBirthright.”In his article Kaplan said he went on a Birthright trip himself in 2008 and claimed the trip is “irresponsible and significantly imbalanced, if not racist.”
Kaplan accused Israel with having “systems of discrimination that affect Palestinians and other non-Jews in Israel on a daily basis” and charged Birthright with “covering up Israel’s oppressive policies.”
On April 26, 2019, Kaplan participated in a protest organized by INN at UMich, outside of the campus Hillel building on Passover Friday. Demonstrators chanted and demanded that Hillel sever its ties with Birthright.
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 Activism
From September 2012-October 2013, Kaplan served as a “working group member” for “We Divest from the Israeli Occupation.”In November 2012, Kaplan attended the 2012 National SJP Conference in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which featured Hatem Bazian as a speaker.
Hatem Bazian is the founder of the anti-Israel organizations Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and American Muslims for Palestine (AMP). Bazian has a decades-long history of incitement and of using classic anti-Semitic tropes to demonize Israel.
Protesters held commercially produced signs, many reading: “Israel Murders Children,” as well as “Israeli Sharp Shooters Shoot Palestinians in there [sic] Eye As target Practice” and “Divest From Israeli Crimes.
Israel launched OPD to stop Hamas rocket attacks on Israeli civilians from Gaza. Over the course of eight days in November 2012, Palestinian terrorist groups fired more than 1,500 rockets at Israel. The majority struck Israel, damaging homes, schools and other civilian areas. Human Rights Watch noted: “Palestinian armed groups made clear in their statements that harming civilians was their aim.”
Kaplan indicated on Facebook that he “went” to an October 2013 conference organized by anti-Israel NGO Friends of Sabeel/North America (FOSNA). The conference was titled: “Chicago Conference: A Wide Tent for Justice: Next Steps for Peace in Palestine & Israel,” featured anti-Israel speakers like Hatem Bazian, Brant Rosen and Electronic Intifada founder Ali Abunimah.
The conference included sessions such as: “Introduction to Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions,” “Palestinian Activism on College Campuses” and “Orientalism, Zionism, Islamophobia: What's the Connection?”
On July 16, 2014, during Israel’s Operation Protective Edge (OPE), Kaplan co-hosted a Facebook event called: “Vigil for the Palestinian Dead.” The event’s Facebook description called people to “Meet in front of the Israeli Consulate... to mourn the massive loss of life in Israel's latest assault on the Gaza Strip.”
Israel commenced Operation Protective Edge (OPE) in July 2014, to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.
Throughout the summer of 2014, Hamas's deployment of human shields was extensively documented and publicized. Hamas encouraged Gazans to act as human shields to frustrate Israeli efforts to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza.
On May 22, 2018, Kaplan shared a membership drive for JVP to his Facebook page and said: “That's why I'm also committing to get ten new JVP members during the annual membership drive. For more information and to become a JVP member, click the link below!”
Kaplan indicated on Facebook that he “went” to an event called: “70 years of Nakba - Remember, Resist, Return -Palestine,” hosted by NYU SJP and JVP-NYC, among others, on May 19, 2018. The event’s Facebook description stated: “Join us on Saturday to commemorate the Nakba — from its origins 70 years ago to its ongoing manifestation today...Remember, Resist, Return.”
The term “Nakba” is generally translated as “catastrophe” in Arabic, referring to the outcome of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It is a term often used to delegitimize the creation of the State of Israel by defining it as a catastrophe.
BDS Activism
On October 29, 2018, Kaplan sat on a panel for a pro-BDS event at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor called: “Cmenas [Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies ] Teach-In Town Hall: What is BDS? And Why Does it Matter?”The event was reportedly controversial, coming: “only weeks after the university attracted national attention and concern from the Jewish community when two of its instructors withheld letters of recommendations from students who planned to study in Israel.”
The CMENAS department head organizing the event said it would be “decidedly pro-BDS.” Kaplan was chosen to speak as a UMich Master’s student who had “previously been involved in BDS advocacy.”
On June 23, 2014, Kaplan posted in a Facebook group called: “Jews for Justice in Palestine,” of which Kaplan was a member, along with anti-Israel activist Ben Lorber. Kaplan wrote: “Take a moment to thank the Presbyterian chruch (sic) for divesting from corporations that profit from the Israeli occupation!”
On July 15, 2013, Kaplan posted in a Facebook group called: “We Divest!” that targeted pension benefit provider TIAA-CREF for boycott. Kaplan exclaimed: “Breaking! TIAA-CREF sells off all SodaStream investments! #wedivest”
TIAA-CREF is a target of the BDS movement due to the company’s investments in Israeli companies and with companies doing business with Israel.
In the spring of 2013, Kaplan promoted a “BDS Camp” scheduled for the summer of 2013, in several Facebook groups, such as SJP Chicago. The camp was co-sponsored by JVP and AFSC. The camp was a “five day intensive program” for campus BDS organizers with “campaigns already running and those hoping to get one launched in the 2013-2014 school year.”
In an April 9, 2013 post on the SJP at the University of Chicago Facebook page, Kaplan said: “There's only six days left to apply for the summer BDS institute!!! Don't miss out on this incredibly valuable learning/networking opportunity, and don't miss out on summer fun!”
On December 16, 2012, Kaplan hosted an event called: “Boycott SodaStream - Macy's Chicago.” Kaplan also posted a video of the event, where he can be seen [00:01:53] labeling all the SodaStream boxes in Macy’s with flyers demonizing the company and urging customers to boycott its products.
In February 2016, 500 Palestinians lost their jobs when Sodastream moved its factory from the West Bank to southern Israel. Although the company denied that BDS had an impact on the decision, the BDS movement took credit for the factory’s relocation.
On November 15, 2012, Kaplan hosted an event called: “Chicago Divests City-wide coordinating meeting.” On the event’s Facebook page for he linked a blog post titled: “How we can respond to the attack on Gaza: divestment.”
Kaplan also wrote on the event’s Facebook page: “From the BNC: we can respond to the attacks on Gaza by intensifying our BDS campaigns at home. Tonight, let's kick Chicago Divests into a new gear.”
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.”
IfNotNow (INN)
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).
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.
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/1144980569LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-kaplan-82997523/
