Liza Behrendt

Overview

Liza Behrendt has disrupted pro-Israel events, defended the bullying of pro-Israel LBGTQ groups and spread hatred of Israel. Behrendt is a staff member of the anti-Israel Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) organization and is a supporter [00:00:35] of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Behrendt has also demonized the Birthright Jewish heritage tour and promoted JVP’s #returnthebirthright initiative.

Behrendt is affiliated [00:13:26] with CODEPINK and was an organizer with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Brandeis University (Brandeis).

As of June 2018, Behrendt’s LinkedIn page said she was a Resource Development Associate at the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, and that she graduated Brandeis in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in Politics.

Disrupting Pro-Israel Events

On May 4, 2012, Behrendt disrupted a breakout session at the 2012 American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference called "The Struggle to Secure Israel on Campus."

Behrendt yelled [00:00:35] that “Supporting BDS in not anti-Semitic, BDS aligns with Jewish values!” and claimed [00:00:25] that“AIPAC and Hillel stifle dialogue about freedom for Palestinians.” Behrendt was then escorted out [00:01:31] of the session by security.

On November 7, 2011, Behrendt co-organized a protest that disrupted a Birthright alumni event. The disruption was led by Young, Jewish and Proud — the youth wing of JVP — and was titled “Occupy the Occupier.”

Behrendt was one of several protesters who interrupted the event’s speaker to express frustration “with the way the ‘Jewish 1%’ controls the ideology of the rest of the Jewish people.”

In a November 8, 2011 interview about the protest, Behrendt said: “We are calling on people to target institutions.”

Defending Bullying of Pro-Israel LBGT Groups

On January 28, 2016, Behrendt published an op-ed in Haaretz titled: “Shutting Down a Pinkwashing Event Is a Smart, Legitimate Protest Against Israel's Occupation.”

The article defended nearly 200 protesters at a major LGBTQ conference in Chicago, who shut down a talk about LGBTQ life in Israel. The talk was hosted by “A Wider Bridge,” a “North American LGBTQ organization building support for Israel and its LGBTQ community.”

The protesters chanted accusations of “pinkwashing” — promoting the claim that Israel advocates manipulate the LQBTQ+ community in order to garner support for Israel.
The protesters also shouted “Shut it down!” and “Racists go home!”

Other agitators created a hostile environment, pushing and shoving [00:01:50] outside the room where the talk was held, and shouting [00:02:00] “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free!” and “Zionism has got to go!”

Some protesters reportedly used the anti-Semitic slur “kike” against Jewish conference participants.

In her op-ed, Behrendt defended the protesters and wrote that “Protesting pinkwashing is, in fact, an effective strategy toward justice for Palestine.” She also insisted that the “protest did not target or threaten Jews.”

Some attendees of the talk had to leave through side entrances, because they were blocked from leaving the main entrance by protesters. Eventually the police were called in to intervene.

The protest was later widely criticized within the LGBTQ community.

Demonizing Birthright

On September 1, 2017, Behrendt promoted JVP’s #returnthebirthright campaign on Twitter, writing: “There is no such thing as an ‘ethical’ way to go on Birthright…
#ReturnTheBirthright.”

She then added: “I did Birthright as a young Zionist, & I bear personal responsibility for displacement & dehumanization of Palestinians #ReturnTheBirthright.”

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.

Spreading Hatred of Israel

On November 15, 2016, Behrendt tweeted: “From Theodor Herzl onward, Zionism has always been a tool of white supremacy.”

On September 28, 2016, Behrendt tweeted: “‘The existence of both the US and Israel is predicated on elimination of the native’ - @yamilashannan.”

On October 11, 2016, Behrendt tweeted: “1 yr ago, Israel arrested #DareenTatour in the middle of the night. Her crime? Posting a poem on FB. #FreeDareen http://jvp.org/Dareen.”

In October 2015, Tatour was placed under house arrest for incitement to violence and for support of a terrorist organization on social media. Tatour had supported the terror group Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and posted to Facebook: “I am the next shahid [martyr].”

In October 2015, there was an upsurge in violence across Israel incited by Palestinian political and religious leaders. The wave of stabbings, known as the “Knife Intifada,” was characterized by young Palestinians throughout the country stabbing and attempting to stab Israeli civilians.

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.”

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.

Code Pink

CODEPINK is a U.S.-based activist group founded in 2002 by Jodie Evans, Medea Benjamin and other activists to oppose the American invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The group actively opposes “U.S. support for the Israeli occupation of Palestine” and has been criticized for maintaining close ties to Hamas. CODEPINK also promotes the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

CODEPINK has led a number of solidarity delegations to Gaza under Hamas protection. In March 2014, CODEPINK also helped organize an “International Women's Day” delegation to Gaza. However, upon arriving at the Cairo airport on March 3, 2014, Benjamin was detained by Egyptian authorities and refused entry into Gaza. She was then forcibly deported to Turkey.

CODEPINKBDS campaigns have targeted RE/MAX, Ahava, SodaStream, Hewlett Packard and Airbnb. On November 20, 2016, CODEPINK leader Ariel Gold disrupted a speech given by the actor Ashton Kutcher, an Airbnb investor who defended the company. Gold was escorted off the stage by security.

In September 2008, a number of CODEPINK leaders met with former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a notorious anti-Semite and Holocaust denier. CODEPINK reportedly initiated its anti-Israel campaign followeding meeting. In November 2008, Jodie Evans and a CODEPINK contingent visited Iran at the personal invitation of Ahmadinejad.