Lauren Shear
Overview
Lauren Shear has whitewashed terrorists, downplayed anti-Semitism, endorsed anti-Israel agitators and expressed support for violent protesters. She also spread hatred of Israel, promoted the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and demonized the Birthright Jewish Heritage tour.She is an activist with IfNotNow (INN) and affiliated with the anti-Israel organization Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP).
As of July 2019, Shear’s LinkedIn page said she was a “Collections Assistant at Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University.”
Her LinkedIn page also said Shear was a 2016 graduate of the Harvard University Extension School (Harvard Extension School), from which she received a master’s degree in “Museology/Museum Studies” and received a bachelor’s degree in Theater from Regis College.
Whitewashing Terrorists
On August 15, 2014, during Israel’s Operation Protective Edge (OPE), Shear posted on Facebook a JVP photo showing activists protesting OPE.Israel commenced OPE in July 2014 to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.
The woman in the photo Shear posted was holding a sign memorializing Bayan Ayman ‘Abd al-Wahab’ Asilah. Asilah was killed as she stabbed an Israeli border police officer.
On June 17, 2016, Shear posted an AJ+ video on Facebook titled: “Israeli officials say ‘no’ to releasing a circus clown held without charge,” about Mohammed Abu Sakha.
Abu Sakha was arrested in December 2015 for his “renewed activity” and membership in the terrorist organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
On April 27, 2017, Shear shared an AJ+ video on Facebook about hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners.
The video whitewashed Palestinian hunger strikers in Israeli prisons, and featured Khader Adnan, a senior member of the terrorist organization Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). PIJ is reportedly backed by Iran and has killed dozens of Israelis in suicide bombings and other attacks.
On April 30, 2017, Shear posted to Facebook a video from AJ+ that promoted the “Saltwater Challenge.”
Downplaying Anti-Semitism
On May 24, 2019, Shear posted to Facebook an article from the Jewish Voice for Labour, called: “Journalists, check your evidence on antisemitism!”The article said: “Behind this spurious antisemitism campaign we see a coalition of interest groups which, for various reasons, are intent on...unseating Jeremy Corbyn by fair means or foul, and ensuring that he never becomes Prime Minister.”
Jeremy Corbyn, a British politician and leader of the Labour Party, has repeatedly referenced terror organizations Hamas and Hezbollah as “friends,” shared platforms with extremists and anti-Semites and compared Israel’s government to ISIS.
According to the Community Security Trust (CST)’s “Antisemitic Incidents Report” of 2018, they recorded an increase of 16% in antisemitic incidents from the previous year and “the recorded annual totals in 2016, 2017 and 2018 represent a sustained pattern of historically high antisemitic incident totals.” CST is a British charity that “protects Jews from antisemitism and related threats.”
On April 28, 2017, Shear posted a video to Facebook from the anti-Israel organization of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), of anti-Israel activist Linda Sarsour downplaying the prevalence of anti-Semitism in the United States.
At Farrakhan’s 2015 #JusticeOrElse March, Sarsour asserted [00:00:36]: “The same people who justify the massacres of Palestinian people and call it ‘collateral damage’ are the same people who justify the murder of young black men and women.”
Endorsing Anti-Israel Agitators
On October 29, 2018, Shear posted a defense of British anti-Israel politician Jeremy Corbyn on Facebook: “They have labeled him [Corbyn] and anyone who criticizes Israel as antisemites. They have also sought to shut up anti-Zionist Jews - people like me - who think Israel’s actions go against everything our religion taught us. Just FYI.”On May 4, 2017, Shear shared on Facebook a Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA) video that called for the release of Ahed Tamimi.
On July 10, 2016, Shear shared a JVP video that featured Manal Tamimi. The video described [00:01:07] Tamimi as being from: “the Palestinian village Nabi Saleh where families protest the occupation every week.”
The village of Nabi Saleh is a Tamimi family stronghold. It is notorious as a place where photographers gather nearly every Friday to document scenes of Palestinian residents and international activists clashing with Israeli soldiers. Much of this is instigated by the Nabi Saleh Tamimi clan.
Supporting Violent Protesters
On November 29, 2018, Shear shared a Facebook post that glorified rioters at the Great March of Return protests.On June 2, 2018, Shear promoted on Facebook JVP and INN. Shear’s post also called the Israeli Defense Forces “the IOF [Israel Occupation Forces]” and encouraged users to follow the organizations for news and updates about the Great March of Return.
On May 30, 2018, after participating in an INN training session, Shear posted on Facebook: “With the IDF’s outrageous violence against unarmed Palestinian participants in the Great Return March gaining international condemnation, more Jews are realizing the oppression of Palestinians by the Israeli government is completely at odds with our communal values.”
Shear indicated on Facebook that she “went” to the INN Boston event titled: “#HowManyMore? Mourner’s Kaddish for Protesters Killed in Gaza” on April 13, 2018.
The Jewish ritual of the Mourner’s Kaddish is a prayer customarily reserved for close relatives or Jews murdered for being Jews.
The event’s Facebook description said: “Join us in gathering to say the Mourner's Kaddish for those killed in Gaza in recent weeks.”
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.
Spreading Hatred of Israel
On December 9, 2016, Shear shared a video on Facebook produced by teleSUR English of journalist Abby Martin, touring Hebron for her documentary series titled: “The Empire Files.”teleSUR English wrote on Facebook that: “Abby Martin exposes the Israeli terror in Hebron. Israeli soldiers often kill civilians by firing randomly into their neighborhoods. Every rifle, every home demolition, every innocent life taken is paid for by the U.S. taxpayer.”
In the video shared by Shear, Martin accused [00:01:13] Israel of kicking Palestinians out of their homes “for Israeli settlers.”
In the video, Martin interviewed [00:01;25] a man who claimed to be shot by an Israeli soldier without provocation, this same man accused an “Israeli settler” of shooting his pregnant wife multiple times, again without provocation, calling her “an instant martyr.”
Martin described [00:01:26] the above as “not a rare occurrence” and goes on to claim that Israeli soldiers kill Palestinians by randomly firing into Palestinian neighborhoods.
On April 17, 2017, Shear wrote on Facebook: “I cannot stress what essential reading this is. If you have any doubt about Israel being an apartheid state this will settle it.” Shear shared an IrishTimes article that demonized Israel, titled: “Elimear McBride in the West Bank: ‘All that is human in me recoils from this.’”
The article chronicles a trip McBride took in Israel, including a meeting with Issa Amro.
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.
In the article, McBride described Israel as an “occupation regime” that prevents Palestinian women from accessing shelters for victims of domestic abuse and that Israel “has forced itself into the position to preside over such abuses – willingly continues to do so and then blames its victims too,” before describing meeting women from Nabi Saleh.
Promoting BDS
On December 10, 2018, Shear shared a JVP Boston post on Facebook that urged readers to call Members of Congress and tell them to reject S.270, known as the “Israel Anti-Boycott Act.”On December 2, 2018, Shear shared an article on Facebook promoting BDS, called: “Students from 30 UK universities protest against investment in Israel occupation.”
The article stated that “students from over 30 UK universities protested against their institutions’ complicity in Israel’s violations of human rights.”
It also said that the The Palestinian Solidarity Campaign (PSC), another name for Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP): “called for the action to mark the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People as part of its ‘Apartheid Off Campus’ campaign.”
On December 7, 2018, Shear shared an article from the anti-Israel Electronic Intifada (EI) that promoted BDS.
Demonizing Birthright
On December 7, 2018, Shear shared a link on Facebook about a film hosted by INN Boston, called: “They Walked Off: Exclusive Film Screening.” The film was about activists who walked off their Birthright trips in the summer of 2018.An INN Facebook post promoting the Boston film screening called the walk-offs “brave” and promoted INN screenings “across the country.”
On December 5, 2018, Shear shared an article on Facebook about INN activists who walked off their Birthright trips.
In July 2018, INN activists including Hallie Berkson-Gold, Elon Glickman, Rebecca Oliver, Risa Nagel and Sarah Fadem, walked off their Birthright trips. Some of tghe activists claimed (00:00:01) Birthright trips were “like visiting the South in the 1950s and not talking about Jim Crow segregation.”
Other activists said they chose to leave the tour precisely during their visit to the ancient City of David and remarked that the Jewish National Fund (JNF) was [00:15:01] “actively working to displace Palestinians in the name of an archaeological park, where it’s actually just a guise for settlers to move in.”
Anti-Israel Activity
On December 31, 2018, Shear posted on Facebook that she donated to a JVP fundraiser.Shear indicated on Facebook she “went” to a Harvard College Progressive Jewish Alliance’s “Liberation Seder: Four Cups of Freedom,” on April 5, 2018.
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.
The event’s Facebook description stated it was “Inspired by IfNotNow, the national movement of young Jews aiming to lead our community in ending support for the occupation.”
In 2017, Shear signed an INN “Open Letter” to “Confront - Not Celebrate 50 Years of Occupation.” The letter said: “while you celebrate 50 years of the ‘reunification’ of Jerusalem, I am...confronting 50 years of Occupation.”
Shear indicated she “went” to JVP Boston’s “Support the people of Gaza - Demand the Media Cover the Blackout” on August 14, 2017.
On December 21, 2016, Shear attended JVP Boston’s “Chanukah Solidarity March Against Islamophobia #KindleJustice.” The event’s Facebook description said: “it pains us that institutions in our community continue to defend Israeli policy at the expense of Muslim and Jewish safety.”
On March 29, 2016, Shear shared on Facebook a JVP Boston post containing an article written by JVP Boston educational chair, Lina Morales, titled: “Why Jews of Color Like Me Feel Unsafe After AIPAC’s Applause for Trump.”
Morales wrote: “White Jews prefer to focus on their individual martyrs against racism (like murdered civil rights activists Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner) and not so much on their own complicity with systemic racism, whether it’s housing segregation or silence about rising Israeli racism.”
On March 26, 2017, Shear shared on Facebook an INN live video from an 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.
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).
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.”
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/59900492LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-shear-901383136/
