Elaina Marshalek
Overview
Elaina Marshalek participated in an anti-Israel activist trip in 2018 and helped lead an IfNotNow (INN) event supporting violent protesters, along with American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) and MPower Change.Marshalek has participated in INN events repurposing Jewish rituals, expressed support for an anti-Israel agitator and opposed the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
She also indicated on Facebook that she “went” to INN events protesting the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
As of June 2019, Marshalek’s LinkedIn page said she was an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company. Her LinkedIn page also said she received a master’s degree in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley).
Anti-Israel Activist Trip
In March 2018, Marshalek participated in an INN “Anti-Occupation Delegation” tour of Israel with Breaking the Silence (BtS).In July 2016, Breaking the Silence (BTS) was discredited by Israel’s investigative Channel 10 TV show, HaMakor (The Source). HaMakor presented a report revealing that a substantial number of BTS testimonies are untrue or distorted.
During the tour, the tour met with anti-Israel activists from Youth Against Settlements (YAS).
YAS, an anti-Israel NGO based in Hebron, has posted photos on its Facebook page that propagate anti-Semitism, laud rock-throwing and urge its members to participate in violent anti-Israel demonstrations.
The tour also met with Bassem Tamimi in his home.
Bassem Tamimi has exploited young children as political props in staged confrontations with Israeli soldiers. In 2011, he was jailed for organizing violent rallies and inciting minors to commit violent crimes such as rock-throwing.
Tamimi’s United States visa was revoked in 2015, for his failure to disclose his prior arrest and conviction. Prior to the revocation of his U.S. visa, Tamimi delivered a controversial presentation to third-graders in Ithaca, New York. The presentation was geared to foster hatred of Israel and Tamimi concluded by encouraging [00:11:29] the children to become “freedom fighters for Palestine.”
Mourning Violent Protesters
On May 24, 2018, Marshalek, representing INN, led [00:13:05] an event “in solidarity with the Palestinian victims of last week's massacre in Gaza,” titled: “Iftar in the Streets for Gaza.”The event was organized by INN together with MPower Change, co-founded by Linda Sarsour, and AMP, which has been accused of providing a platform for anti-Semitism and of connections to Hamas.
At the event, AMP founder Hatem Bazian said [00:00:31]: “MPower, IfNotNow and AMP are coming together to craft a new path for change.” He went on to say [00:07:35]: “we want to celebrate the fact that a new broad coalition is coming together.”
Activists recited [00:13:35] the Mourner's Kaddish prayer for Palestinians who had been killed in the Gaza border protests.
The Jewish ritual of the Mourner’s Kaddish is a prayer customarily reserved for close relatives or Jews murdered for being Jews.
At the event, Marshalek said [00:13:09] that reciting the Mourner’s Kaddish was “to affirm the sacredness of the lives which were taken since March 30th.”
Marshalek indicated on Facebook that she went to a May 14, 2018, INN event, in support of Palestinians killed during the Great March of Return.
In a May 16, 2018 Facebook post, INN Bay Area said members outside the San Francisco-based Jewish Community Federation recited the Mourner's Kaddish and read “the names of the Palestinian protesters killed by the IDF.”
INN said the Federation called the police, “rather than join their community in mourning the victims of violence and Occupation.”
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.
On October 9, 2016, Marshalek participated in an INN Bay Area event for the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah. The event called upon Jews in D.C., Philadelphia, Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago and the Bay Area to take “communal responsibility for 50 years of occupation.”
Activists paraded [00:00:52] outside the Jewish Community Federation building on Steuart Street in San Francisco while holding signs that read: “Heed The Call” and “Which Side Are You On?” One protester declared [00:01:43] “We are guilty!” and another claimed [00:01:46] that Israel’s actions “violate Jewish values.”
The participants chanted: [00:02:15] “we’re ready, we’re coming!!” and acted out Jewish High Holiday rituals traditionally associated with repentance, such as blowing [00:02:29] the Shofar [00:01:40] and reciting “Ashamnu” — confession.
On September 29, 2016, INN released a video of its members performing the “Tashlikh” ritual to “repent for our sins” and for the sins of Jewish institutions. Tashlikh is a Jewish ritual performed on the Jewish New Year and is used to symbolically cast away sins.
INN described the ritual as part of their “#HeedTheCall series of actions… using the rituals and themes of the [Jewish] High Holidays.”
INN’s Facebook post said: “IfNotNow leaders pose behind the hung up banner on the overpass.”
The letter said that the move “further entrenched the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands” and said that the embassy should be called the “Embassy of Occupation.”
Marshalek indicated on Facebook that she “went” to a December 8, 2017 INN Bay Area protest against 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.
The event’s Facebook description called the recognition “incitement” and said: “We will not wait to see how this plays out before taking a side; we know this is wrong and we take action now.”
At the event, INN Bay Area member [00:21:47] Amitai Ben-Abba said [00:26:06] that “by granting its status as capital, Trump is legitimizing apartheid.”
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.
Marshalek also indicated on Facebook that she “went” to an INN event on March 19, 2017, titled: “Jewish Resistance at AIPAC - L.A.”
The event’s Facebook description said: “The annual AIPAC policy conference is always a festival of pandering, with American politicians jockeying for who can pay higher lip-service to the U.S.-Israel ‘special relationship.’”
On January 17, 2018, she appeared and was tagged in a photo on Facebook about an INN training session. One sign in the photo said: “First ever college training!” Another sign in the photo said: “#studentsINNnyc.”
The Facebook post featuring the photo said the training was attended by college students from various college campuses and claimed “mainstream Jewish institutions (including Hillel, Birthright, the Jewish Federations of America, and more) which uphold the occupation are outdated.”
On November 6, 2017, Marshalek appeared and was tagged in a photo on Facebook of INN activists who had participated in a weekend INN training program in Boston.
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).
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elaina-marshalek-29801338/
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.
Marshalek indicated on Facebook that she went to a May 14, 2018, INN event, in support of Palestinians killed during the Great March of Return.
In a May 16, 2018 Facebook post, INN Bay Area said members outside the San Francisco-based Jewish Community Federation recited the Mourner's Kaddish and read “the names of the Palestinian protesters killed by the IDF.”
INN said the Federation called the police, “rather than join their community in mourning the victims of violence and Occupation.”
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.
On April 13, 2018, Marshalek recited the Mourner’s Kaddish prayer [00:16:24] and led [00:18:40] chanting at an INN protest in San Francisco, in support of the Great March of Return.
Activists blocked the doors of United States Senator Dianne Feinstein’s office for over two hours, forcing the building to close for the duration of the protest.
The activists also recited [00:05:55] the Mourner’s Kaddish prayer for Palestinians killed during the Great March of Return protests. INN stated: “The demonstrators called on Feinstein to condemn Israeli violence against Palestinian protesters in Gaza” and referred to “The Great March of Return” as “a protest which has not injured or endangered Israeli soldiers or civilians.”
At the event, Muhammad Abu Amro was eulogized [00:36:40]. Hamas’ military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades identified Abu Amro as one of their “martyrs” and posted a photo of him armed and in uniform on both their website and on Twitter.
INN Bay Area member Amitai Ben-Abba eulogized [00:34:32] photojournalist Yasser Murtaja. Murtaja was reportedly a Hamas spy who useddrones to film Israeli positions. He was shot on April 6, 2018 as he filmed the 2018 March of Return protest in Gaza.
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.
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.
Activists blocked the doors of United States Senator Dianne Feinstein’s office for over two hours, forcing the building to close for the duration of the protest.
The activists also recited [00:05:55] the Mourner’s Kaddish prayer for Palestinians killed during the Great March of Return protests. INN stated: “The demonstrators called on Feinstein to condemn Israeli violence against Palestinian protesters in Gaza” and referred to “The Great March of Return” as “a protest which has not injured or endangered Israeli soldiers or civilians.”
At the event, Muhammad Abu Amro was eulogized [00:36:40]. Hamas’ military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades identified Abu Amro as one of their “martyrs” and posted a photo of him armed and in uniform on both their website and on Twitter.
INN Bay Area member Amitai Ben-Abba eulogized [00:34:32] photojournalist Yasser Murtaja. Murtaja was reportedly a Hamas spy who useddrones to film Israeli positions. He was shot on April 6, 2018 as he filmed the 2018 March of Return protest in Gaza.
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.
Repurposing Jewish RItuals
On April 7, 2018, Marshalek participated in INN Bay Area’s “wandering Seder” in which activists used different items from the Seder plate to tell [00:00:14] the story of Passover and “to condemn the brutality toward Gazans.” INN Bay Area member Amitai Ben-Abba read the names of Palestinians who had been killed and said [00:00:11] “may their names be carved into our Hagaddah.”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.
Also on April 7, 2018, INN tweeted an image of Marshalek at the “wandering Seder” and wrote: “‘I don’t need your tears. I need your solidarity.’ INN Bay leader Elaina Marshalek, who recently returned from Israel/Palestine, recounts what Bassem Tamimi, father of Ahed, told her and others. #EnoughOccupation #WeSayDayenu.”
On October 9, 2016, Marshalek participated in an INN Bay Area event for the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah. The event called upon Jews in D.C., Philadelphia, Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago and the Bay Area to take “communal responsibility for 50 years of occupation.”
Activists paraded [00:00:52] outside the Jewish Community Federation building on Steuart Street in San Francisco while holding signs that read: “Heed The Call” and “Which Side Are You On?” One protester declared [00:01:43] “We are guilty!” and another claimed [00:01:46] that Israel’s actions “violate Jewish values.”
The participants chanted: [00:02:15] “we’re ready, we’re coming!!” and acted out Jewish High Holiday rituals traditionally associated with repentance, such as blowing [00:02:29] the Shofar [00:01:40] and reciting “Ashamnu” — confession.
On September 29, 2016, INN released a video of its members performing the “Tashlikh” ritual to “repent for our sins” and for the sins of Jewish institutions. Tashlikh is a Jewish ritual performed on the Jewish New Year and is used to symbolically cast away sins.
INN described the ritual as part of their “#HeedTheCall series of actions… using the rituals and themes of the [Jewish] High Holidays.”
Support for an Anti-Israel Agitator
On January 23, 2018, Marshalek was tagged by INN in a Facebook photo of INN activists with a banner on a bridge, that read: “FREE AHED TAMIMI. END THE OCCUPATION.”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.
INN’s Facebook post said: “IfNotNow leaders pose behind the hung up banner on the overpass.”
Opposing the Recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital
On June 5, 2018, Marshalek signed an INN letter calling on the “Reform Jewish Movement” to condemn the U.S. government’s decision to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.The letter said that the move “further entrenched the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands” and said that the embassy should be called the “Embassy of Occupation.”
Marshalek indicated on Facebook that she “went” to a December 8, 2017 INN Bay Area protest against 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.
The event’s Facebook description called the recognition “incitement” and said: “We will not wait to see how this plays out before taking a side; we know this is wrong and we take action now.”
At the event, INN Bay Area member [00:21:47] Amitai Ben-Abba said [00:26:06] that “by granting its status as capital, Trump is legitimizing apartheid.”
Protesting AIPAC
Marshalek indicated on Facebook that she “went” to a March 26, 2017 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.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.
Marshalek also indicated on Facebook that she “went” to an INN event on March 19, 2017, titled: “Jewish Resistance at AIPAC - L.A.”
The event’s Facebook description said: “The annual AIPAC policy conference is always a festival of pandering, with American politicians jockeying for who can pay higher lip-service to the U.S.-Israel ‘special relationship.’”
INN Activity
On January 23, 2018, Marshalek appeared and was tagged in a photo on Facebook of INN Bay Area activists attending a two-day orientation training session in Berkeley, California.On January 17, 2018, she appeared and was tagged in a photo on Facebook about an INN training session. One sign in the photo said: “First ever college training!” Another sign in the photo said: “#studentsINNnyc.”
The Facebook post featuring the photo said the training was attended by college students from various college campuses and claimed “mainstream Jewish institutions (including Hillel, Birthright, the Jewish Federations of America, and more) which uphold the occupation are outdated.”
On November 6, 2017, Marshalek appeared and was tagged in a photo on Facebook of INN activists who had participated in a weekend INN training program in Boston.
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).
Social Media and Weblinks
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/1056510195LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elaina-marshalek-29801338/
