Harry Weissman
Overview
Harry Weissman is an organizer with IfNotNow (INN), who staged a “walk off” of a Taglit Birthright Jewish Heritage tour in December 2018 in order to demonize Israel.Birthright Israel is a heritage trip to Israel for Jewish young adults from across the world.
As a member of INN, Weissman co-opted Jewish rituals to demonize Israel, opposed the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and engaged in anti-Israel activism. Weissman also regularly participated in trainings and promotion of INN.
As of December 2018, Weissman’s LinkedIn page said he graduated from Tufts University (Tufts) in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in Applied Mathematics. Weissman also worked as an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant at Tufts.
In 2017, Weissman was the president of Hillel at Tufts.
On November 16, 2017, Weissman stated on Facebook that he was returning to Tufts as an alumnus to help launch INN on Tufts’ campus.
In an April 2018 interview with the Tufts Daily, Weissman described his role with INN as thinking “strategically about college campuses and students, to think about how they can get involved” with INN.
As of December 2018, Weissman was a fellow at Join For Justice for 2018-2019 and used the name “Hannukah Harry” on Facebook.
On December 21, 2018, Weissman was one of two participants, along with Rachel Salzberg, who disrupted a Birthright tour of Israel and then staged a walk off, to go on a tour of East Jerusalem and Hebron with the anti-Israel organization All That’s Left(ATL). The walk off was captured live on Facebook video by Weissman.
On December 22, 2018, INN shared a video to their Facebook page of a parting speech Salzberg delivered to her fellow Birthright participants before she walked off their tour bus.
In her speech, Salzberg claimed [00:02:09] that “Birthright keeps us from having an authentic connection to the Jewish community and identity” and accused [00:04:05] Birthright of having a “pro-Occupation, extremely right-wing agenda.”
In another video filmed and posted live on Facebook by Weissman, Salzberg claimed [01:09:39] the trip was a “bribe, intended to keep our generation from seeing and fighting the Occupation.”
Before speaking to Birthright participants on the bus, Salzberg first spoke [00:00:10] to the trip’s staff, who asked [00:11:40] Salzberg and Weissman why they had not chosen to tour with other organizations whose primary focus was discussing the “occupation.” Salzberg replied [00:13:17] “If Birthright isn’t teaching about the Occupation, when are people going to learn about it?”
Salzburg later said: [00:15:57] “We have connections in East Jerusalem and we’d be happy to set something up, if that seemed like an opportunity for people to get more perspective, but it sounds like Birthright’s not willing to let that happen.”
Weissman also said [00:13:43] “It’s not about us as individuals” and opined that “our entire generation, who is constantly going on this trip and is expected to go on this trip also deserves to talk to Palestinians and learn what it’s like to live under Occupation.” He continued, saying: “A program with this much magnitude and influence, at the very least it should align with our values - and it really doesn't.”
After one of the group leaders offered [00:21:51] to call the Birthright administration and see if the program’s itinerary could be altered to accommodate Salzberg and Weissman’s demands, Weissman insisted [00:25:31] that “unless we can get a promise that we’re going to meet with Palestinians and specifically learn about life under Occupation...we’re gonna leave the trip.”
Salzberg also echoed [00:27:55] the words of another INN activist who “walked off” a Birthright tour in July 2018, Elon Glickman, and asserted: ”It’s like going to the Jim Crow South...and not talking about all of the racism and segregation.”
When one Birthright group leader offered [00:52:50] Salzberg and Weissman the option to extend their trips to facilitate meeting with Palestinians after the official Birthright tour ended, they refused.
Weissman announced [00:41:58] to his Birthright leader: “We’re gonna leave and instead, because we’re not getting the perspective and the truth that we deserve on this trip, we’re gonna go and meet with Israeli and Palestinian activists who are organizing against the Occupation, like with All That's Left and Breaking the Silence, so that we can actually see the realities on the ground that we deserve to see.”
The Birthright tour guide then explained to the pair that leaving the trip abruptly would be expensive and difficult if they have nowhere to go, whereupon the activists revealed [00:55:18] that they had a place to go to, “were connected” [00:58:05] to ATL, and had already made alternate arrangements.
Salzberg elaborated [01:17:42] that, following their walk-off, the pair was going straight to meet with representatives from ATLand Breaking the Silence, another anti-Israel group that hosted other INN activists who “walk-off” from Birthright trips in the summer of 2018.
Following their “walk-off,” Salzberg and Weissman set up a GoFundMe campaign to “raise $5,000 in order to cover potential legal costs, as well as the costs of these new flights, our forfeited deposit, and to support the work of our Israeli and Palestinian activists on the ground who are showing us the true complexity of life in Israel/Palestine.”
On December 23, 2018, Weissman shared another live video on Facebook, giving a synopsis on their time since walking off of Birthright. He and Salzberg explained [00:00:21] they spent the day before in Jerusalem with ATL on a “BirthLeft” tour and visited [00:00:57] a bookshop in East Jerusalem with “tons of books” in different languages - “and they’re all about the Occupation.”
The pair also joined Achvat Amim on a tour of a refugee camp in Beit Jala, near Bethlehem. Achvat Amim is a controversial Israel-based program that lost government funding for participating in anti-Israel activities.
On December 22, 2018, Weissman posted a link to INN’s Instagram page on Facebook, announcing that the two activists would be “taking over IfNotNow’s instagram for the rest of our trip!” and urged: “Follow @ifnotnoworg to see what we’re up to.”
On the same day, Weissman posted to Facebook a photo of himself reading a book titled “Life Under Occupation.” Weissman captioned the photo, “Learning about life under occupation since Taglit-Birthright Israel refused to tell us about it 💁🏻♂️ .
On December 23, 2018, Weissman shared on Facebook a link to a video posted by fellow INN activist Shira Tiffany, who had been removed from her Birthright trip the day before, along with two other INN activists, Ben Doernberg and Emily Bloch.
Both seders lamented an “uptick in violence towards Palestinians” and stated “We cannot spend another Passover talking about freedom without talking about the Occupation.“
The event description said, “we gather to call on the Israeli government to end its violence against Palestinians...We recognize that this violence, these killings, are the occupation and must end.”
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.
Weissman indicated on Facebook he “went” to a May 17, 2018 event called “Open Meeting & Vigil: Boston Jewish Community Healing & Mourning” hosted by INN.
Event organizers wrote that “As American Jews our hearts are broken as we see the Israeli military choosing to fire live ammunition at Palestinians taking a stand for their basic human rights.”
The INN event organizers went on to write that they would “mourn the unnecessary loss of life amidst this extremely powerful and inspiring moment of Palestinian resistance.”
The next day, the organization shared a live video on their Facebook page of the vigil.
Weissman indicated on Facebook he “went” to an April 9, 2018 event called, “IfNotNow Boston Hive Meeting: The Burning Bush.” The organizers wrote: “**If you have not been to an IfNotNow orientation training or hive meeting, please arrive promptly at 6:00pm for a pre-meeting orientation. This is crucial for your participation in the rest of the gathering…”
Twitter:https://twitter.com/urawizerd
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/hlweissman/
In an April 2018 interview with the Tufts Daily, Weissman described his role with INN as thinking “strategically about college campuses and students, to think about how they can get involved” with INN.
As of December 2018, Weissman was a fellow at Join For Justice for 2018-2019 and used the name “Hannukah Harry” on Facebook.
INN Activism
INN actions have aimed to demonize [00:38:13]Israel, harass the American Jewish establishment and decrease support for Israel among Diaspora Jewish young adults.Demonizing Birthright
Weissman indicated on Facebook he “went” to a November 15, 2018 event called “Unpack Your Israel Trip with IfNotNow Boston and Northeastern.” The event organizers encouraged previous participants of the trip to speak about aspects like the “silencing of Palestinian voices, to racism and sexism on Birthright.”On December 21, 2018, Weissman was one of two participants, along with Rachel Salzberg, who disrupted a Birthright tour of Israel and then staged a walk off, to go on a tour of East Jerusalem and Hebron with the anti-Israel organization All That’s Left(ATL). The walk off was captured live on Facebook video by Weissman.
On December 22, 2018, INN shared a video to their Facebook page of a parting speech Salzberg delivered to her fellow Birthright participants before she walked off their tour bus.
In her speech, Salzberg claimed [00:02:09] that “Birthright keeps us from having an authentic connection to the Jewish community and identity” and accused [00:04:05] Birthright of having a “pro-Occupation, extremely right-wing agenda.”
In another video filmed and posted live on Facebook by Weissman, Salzberg claimed [01:09:39] the trip was a “bribe, intended to keep our generation from seeing and fighting the Occupation.”
Before speaking to Birthright participants on the bus, Salzberg first spoke [00:00:10] to the trip’s staff, who asked [00:11:40] Salzberg and Weissman why they had not chosen to tour with other organizations whose primary focus was discussing the “occupation.” Salzberg replied [00:13:17] “If Birthright isn’t teaching about the Occupation, when are people going to learn about it?”
Salzburg later said: [00:15:57] “We have connections in East Jerusalem and we’d be happy to set something up, if that seemed like an opportunity for people to get more perspective, but it sounds like Birthright’s not willing to let that happen.”
Weissman also said [00:13:43] “It’s not about us as individuals” and opined that “our entire generation, who is constantly going on this trip and is expected to go on this trip also deserves to talk to Palestinians and learn what it’s like to live under Occupation.” He continued, saying: “A program with this much magnitude and influence, at the very least it should align with our values - and it really doesn't.”
After one of the group leaders offered [00:21:51] to call the Birthright administration and see if the program’s itinerary could be altered to accommodate Salzberg and Weissman’s demands, Weissman insisted [00:25:31] that “unless we can get a promise that we’re going to meet with Palestinians and specifically learn about life under Occupation...we’re gonna leave the trip.”
Salzberg also echoed [00:27:55] the words of another INN activist who “walked off” a Birthright tour in July 2018, Elon Glickman, and asserted: ”It’s like going to the Jim Crow South...and not talking about all of the racism and segregation.”
When one Birthright group leader offered [00:52:50] Salzberg and Weissman the option to extend their trips to facilitate meeting with Palestinians after the official Birthright tour ended, they refused.
Weissman announced [00:41:58] to his Birthright leader: “We’re gonna leave and instead, because we’re not getting the perspective and the truth that we deserve on this trip, we’re gonna go and meet with Israeli and Palestinian activists who are organizing against the Occupation, like with All That's Left and Breaking the Silence, so that we can actually see the realities on the ground that we deserve to see.”
The Birthright tour guide then explained to the pair that leaving the trip abruptly would be expensive and difficult if they have nowhere to go, whereupon the activists revealed [00:55:18] that they had a place to go to, “were connected” [00:58:05] to ATL, and had already made alternate arrangements.
Salzberg elaborated [01:17:42] that, following their walk-off, the pair was going straight to meet with representatives from ATLand Breaking the Silence, another anti-Israel group that hosted other INN activists who “walk-off” from Birthright trips in the summer of 2018.
Following their “walk-off,” Salzberg and Weissman set up a GoFundMe campaign to “raise $5,000 in order to cover potential legal costs, as well as the costs of these new flights, our forfeited deposit, and to support the work of our Israeli and Palestinian activists on the ground who are showing us the true complexity of life in Israel/Palestine.”
On December 23, 2018, Weissman shared another live video on Facebook, giving a synopsis on their time since walking off of Birthright. He and Salzberg explained [00:00:21] they spent the day before in Jerusalem with ATL on a “BirthLeft” tour and visited [00:00:57] a bookshop in East Jerusalem with “tons of books” in different languages - “and they’re all about the Occupation.”
The pair also joined Achvat Amim on a tour of a refugee camp in Beit Jala, near Bethlehem. Achvat Amim is a controversial Israel-based program that lost government funding for participating in anti-Israel activities.
On December 22, 2018, Weissman posted a link to INN’s Instagram page on Facebook, announcing that the two activists would be “taking over IfNotNow’s instagram for the rest of our trip!” and urged: “Follow @ifnotnoworg to see what we’re up to.”
On the same day, Weissman posted to Facebook a photo of himself reading a book titled “Life Under Occupation.” Weissman captioned the photo, “Learning about life under occupation since Taglit-Birthright Israel refused to tell us about it 💁🏻♂️ .
On December 23, 2018, Weissman shared on Facebook a link to a video posted by fellow INN activist Shira Tiffany, who had been removed from her Birthright trip the day before, along with two other INN activists, Ben Doernberg and Emily Bloch.
Weissman captioned the video: “Birthright isn’t a free trip, it’s a bribe: if you want to go to Israel, you have to accept the one-sided agenda set by Trump’s biggest donor.”
A livestream of the event showed [00:28:06] the merging of mourning for Jews at prayer, massacred in a Pittsburgh synagogue, anti-Trump sentiment and honoring [00:17:47] of three teenagers killed in Israeli airstrikes, while participating in Hamas-instigated riots on Israel’s Gaza border.
On October 29, 2018, the IDF reported that the three were targeted after they tried to breach Israel’s border security fence“and were apparently involved in placing an improvised explosive device adjacent to it.”
Weissman indicated on Facebook that he “went” to several “Liberation Seders,” hosted by various chapters of INN.
Weissman indicated on Facebook that he “went” to an April 2, 2018, INN Boston hosted an event titled: “Boston Sanctuary Seder: Resist Deportations & Violence on Gaza.”
The event organizers invited protesters to a gathering outside the Israeli Consulate with “Passover songs, stories, and rituals” on the first night of Passover. The event organizers claimed “17 unarmed Palestinian protesters were shot and killed by Israeli forces” on the first night of Passover, during the “March of Return.”
Weissman also indicated on Facebook that he went to an April 7, 2018 INN Five Colleges hosted an event called: “IfNotNow Five Colleges Liberation Seder, as well as an INN UChicago hosted “Dayenu! An Alternative Passover Seder” the same night.
Co-opting Jewish Rituals to Demonize Israel
Weissman indicated on Facebook he “went” to a November 1, 2018 event called “Boston Shiva: Rally Against Antisemitism and White Supremacy,” co-hosted by INN and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) Boston. The Jewish ritual of Shiva is a week-long period for mourning the death of first-degree relatives.A livestream of the event showed [00:28:06] the merging of mourning for Jews at prayer, massacred in a Pittsburgh synagogue, anti-Trump sentiment and honoring [00:17:47] of three teenagers killed in Israeli airstrikes, while participating in Hamas-instigated riots on Israel’s Gaza border.
On October 29, 2018, the IDF reported that the three were targeted after they tried to breach Israel’s border security fence“and were apparently involved in placing an improvised explosive device adjacent to it.”
Weissman indicated on Facebook that he “went” to several “Liberation Seders,” hosted by various chapters of INN.
Weissman indicated on Facebook that he “went” to an April 2, 2018, INN Boston hosted an event titled: “Boston Sanctuary Seder: Resist Deportations & Violence on Gaza.”
The event organizers invited protesters to a gathering outside the Israeli Consulate with “Passover songs, stories, and rituals” on the first night of Passover. The event organizers claimed “17 unarmed Palestinian protesters were shot and killed by Israeli forces” on the first night of Passover, during the “March of Return.”
Weissman also indicated on Facebook that he went to an April 7, 2018 INN Five Colleges hosted an event called: “IfNotNow Five Colleges Liberation Seder, as well as an INN UChicago hosted “Dayenu! An Alternative Passover Seder” the same night.
Both seders lamented an “uptick in violence towards Palestinians” and stated “We cannot spend another Passover talking about freedom without talking about the Occupation.“
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 of Return was organized and funded by Hamas as a campaign of violent protests along Israel’s border to spotlight the demand of Palestinians to “return” to Israel.
The “right of return” is a Palestinian demand discredited as a means to eliminate Israel.
The “right of return” is a Palestinian demand 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 threw Molotov cocktails, firebombs, shot firearms and threw rocks under the cover of smoke from burning tires.
On May 16, 2018, a Hamas senior official stated that 50 out of 62 protesters killed during a May 14 protest were Hamas operatives. Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) also claimed that three of its members were killed at the same protest.
Opposing the Recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital
On December 6, 2017, Weissman attended an INN Boston-hosted event, called “EMERGENCY RALLY: Jews Say No to Trump Embassy in Jerusalem” outside the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)’s headquarters in Boston.The event description characterized the embassy move as a “deliberate incitement of violence and sabotage of progress towards peace” and “a tragedy for our beloved Jewish people.”
Organizers went on to write “Now is not the time to wait and see! Stand with us against a Trump embassy in Jerusalem, against the Occupation, and for freedom and dignity for all Palestinians and Israelis. If not now, when?”
Organizers went on to write “Now is not the time to wait and see! Stand with us against a Trump embassy in Jerusalem, against the Occupation, and for freedom and dignity for all Palestinians and Israelis. If not now, when?”
INN Activism
Weissman indicated on Facebook he “went” to a April 7, 2018 event called “Rally to #StopDeportations and End Violence On Gaza,” co-hosted by INN and JVP Boston.The event description said, “we gather to call on the Israeli government to end its violence against Palestinians...We recognize that this violence, these killings, are the occupation and must end.”
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.
Weissman indicated on Facebook he “went” to a May 17, 2018 event called “Open Meeting & Vigil: Boston Jewish Community Healing & Mourning” hosted by INN.
Event organizers wrote that “As American Jews our hearts are broken as we see the Israeli military choosing to fire live ammunition at Palestinians taking a stand for their basic human rights.”
The INN event organizers went on to write that they would “mourn the unnecessary loss of life amidst this extremely powerful and inspiring moment of Palestinian resistance.”
The next day, the organization shared a live video on their Facebook page of the vigil.
INN Training and Promotion
On November 28, 2017, Weissman started a fundraiser on Facebook benefitting INN. Waissman explained, “I'm raising money and devoting countless organizing hours to IfNotNow...The American Jewish community is trapped. Admist [sic] a rising tide of anti-semitism and authoritarianism in the US and around the world, our institutions are silent.”Weissman indicated on Facebook he “went” to an April 9, 2018 event called, “IfNotNow Boston Hive Meeting: The Burning Bush.” The organizers wrote: “**If you have not been to an IfNotNow orientation training or hive meeting, please arrive promptly at 6:00pm for a pre-meeting orientation. This is crucial for your participation in the rest of the gathering…”
On December 5, 2018, Weissman attended and participated in a 2-day INN Toronto “training.”
On December 5, 2017, Weissman attended an INN Boston training.
Weissman indicated on Facebook that he “went” to a February 28, 2018 event called, “Intro to IfNotNow” hosted by INN University of Chicago.
Social Media and Weblinks
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/1203225278Twitter:https://twitter.com/urawizerd
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/hlweissman/
- Status:
- Professional
- University:
- Tufts
- Organizations:
- INN
- Related Profiles:
- Last Modified:
- 05/04/2026
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