Max Fineman

Overview

Max Fineman has expressed support for terrorists, protested against Israeli officials, demonized Israel and marginalized moderate Jewish voices.

Fineman was reportedly an organizer for Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) at Columbia University (Columbia)  and Barnard College.

Fineman has participated in the #returnthebirthright initiative, launched by JVP against the Birthright Jewish heritage tour.

Fineman has supported the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and was an activist with Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), a coalition of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and JVP members that promote BDS at Columbia.

As of August 2018, Fineman’s LinkedIn page said he graduated Columbia in 2018, with a degree in Philosophy. He is as a Legal Services Coordinator at The Family Center, a program assistant at the Heyman Center of Humanities and a Jewish Studies and Hebrew Language instructor at Congregation Habonim.

Supporting Terrorists

On May 12, 2017, Fineman participated in a CUAD hunger strike in solidarity convicted Palestinian terrorists on hunger strike in Israeli prisons. Fineman held a sign that read: “In solidarity with Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike #CUADhungerstrike.”

On May 13, 2017, Fineman participated in CUAD’s “Saltwater Challenge.” The Saltwater Challenge was held in solidarity with Palestinian inmates hunger-striking in Israeli prisons. 

According to CNN, the Salt Water Challenge appears to have been started by Aarab Marwan Barghouti, the son of Marwan Barghouti.

Protesting Israeli Officials

On April 9, 2016, Fineman protested a speech given by Mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, at Columbia. CUAD members held signs, reading: “East Jerusalem is Occupied” and “Stop Expansion Into East Jerusalem,” as Barkat entered the room and for the duration of his speech. 

The CUAD members then walked out of the auditorium towards the end of the program.   

Demonizing Israel

On November 18, 2015, Fineman co-authored an article with fellow student Marina Hansen that attacked the pro-Israel group Aryeh for embracing IsraAid, an Israeli organization that provides global humanitarian aid.

In the article, Fineman and Hansen politicized IsraAids work and claimed that “there can be no such thing as an “apolitical” celebration of Israel.” Fineman and Hansen also accused Israel of denying humanitarian aid to Palestinians and charged Aryeh with “hypocrisy” for celebrating Israel’s assistance to Syrian refugees in Jordan and Europe.

Marginalizing Moderate Jewish Voices

On January 5, 2016, Fineman co-authored an article in Ha’aretz with Vassar College student Henry Rosen that attacked David Bernstein, President and CEO of The Jewish Council for Public Affairs. 

Fineman and Rosen objected to Bernstein’s urging the Jewish community to establish “intersectionality with groups on the mainstream left” and “strengthen ties to these more moderate groups”. The article claimed Bernstein’s proposed strategy “blatantly co-opts the language of social justice movements to actively oppose the liberation of marginalized peoples.”

Fineman and Rosen proposed, instead, that it is a Jewish interest to ally with more radical and anti-Israel groups to struggle for “collective and universal liberation.” from “oppressive power structures,” like “imperialism, racism, patriarchy, police violence,” etc. in order to amplify their voices and build their power. 

The article stated: “Our work as Jewish students in solidarity with Palestine is first and foremost to support Palestinians in their struggle for liberation and an end to the occupation.”

Condemning Jewish Heritage Tour

On December 3, 2017, Fineman led a Return the Birthright protest outside the Taglit-Birthright offices in New York City. JVP members assembled to chant anti-Birthright slogans and read their testimonials outside the Birthright offices.

JVP then published the speech in its entirety on Medium.com as an article and shared it on their social media.

Fineman spoke about the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah and compared each of the candles on the menorah to a value of JVP. Fineman pledged “to remain steadfast in our solidarity with BDS and with Palestine in the face of much opposition from so much of our own Jewish communities.”

Fineman told the crowd “we are capable of defying (Birthright donor) Sheldon Adelson… we are capable of defying the walls that the Israeli state, the American Jewish establishment, and the ideologies of occupation and apartheid seek to erect between us.”

Fineman claimed that Israel “does not value the lives or the identities of Jews of Color” and said Jews need to return to the days of justice “before this current time of imperialism, of darkness, of destruction, of desecration.”

Fineman compared the Jews rededicating their ancient Temple to implore those assembled to “rededicate ourselves once more to the sacred work for which we gather here together today, in solidarity with the liberation of Palestine.”

Fineman concluded by promising “To respond to the Palestinian call for BDS and for justice.” 

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). 

JVP Columbia

JVP Columbia was founded in March, 2015 by Barnard College senior Eva Kalikoff, primarily to shatter "the illusion of a Jewish consensus on the policies and actions of the State of Israel." Kalikoff co-chairs the group, with Columbia senior Chris Godshall.

Supporting Terrorists

On January 27, 2016 JVP Columbia joined in Palestine Legal’s support for Rasmea Odeh. 

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.

Standing with Terror

On January 14, 2016 JVP Columbia tweeted their solidarity with the "brave students" at Birzeit University. 

Birzeit is a hotbed of anti-Israel agitation. The university has been accused of radicalizing students as well as promoting and encouraging political violence.

The student body elected Hamas to power in 2003, 2015 and 2016.

In January of 2016, Birzeit characterized an IDF raid to seize Hamas propaganda and arrest wanted militants as a "belligerent ... attack on the university and our right to education …"

Shutting Down Dialogue

JVP Columbia frequently partners with members of Students for Justice in Palestine at Columbia (CSJP) to demonize Israel. In March 2015, Kalikoff and Godshall wrote that "For the first time ever, there is a Jewish voice standing in solidarity with Students for Justice in Palestine at the annual Israeli Apartheid Week on College Walk."

CSJP’s yearly ‘Israel Apartheid week’ featured a Mock ‘Apartheid’ wall. JVP Columbia joined CSJP to occupy both sides of the College Walk, a heavily-trafficked thoroughfare in the center of the Columbia campus — boxing out pro-Israel organizations’ freedom to table and counter the false claims of CSJP and its associates.

JVP SJP Demonizing Israel

On April 28, 2015, JVP Columbia and CSJP co-hosted an event that featured Haneen Zoabi, called "Israel, Racism, and Apartheid: An Insider's View." Zoabi, a member of Israel’s parliament (the Knesset), has been investigated for inciting violence on a number of occasions. In July 2014, Zoabi was suspended from the Knesset after she excused the Hamas terrorist kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers — declaring that the abductors were "not terrorists." The kidnapped boys were later found in a field — executed by their Hamas kidnappers.

In October 2015, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu initiated a criminal investigation against Zoabi after she doubled down in a Hamas-affiliated newspaper, Al Resalah — imploring Muslims to give a wave of murderous “individual attacks ... popular support,” and calling for the “outpouring of thousands” to create a “real intifada.”

On December 10, 2015 JVP Columbia politicized the issue of sexual violence to demonize Israel — by linking all victims of sexual violence to the Palestinian cause. JVP Columbia and CSJP hijacked the global problem — alleging that "... sexual violence is intimately connected with colonialism, imperialism, and other forms of state violence. As shown by the stories of Rasmeah Odeh and countless Palestinian survivors, sexual violence has routinely been used as a tool of oppression against Palestinian women."

Radical Anti-Zionism

On September 17, 2015, JVP Columbia and CSJP co-hosted an event called "Palestine Solidarity 101." JVP Columbia tweeted that it would “explain why the word 'apartheid' fits the situation in Palestine,” and recommended that supporters boycott local (Jewish family owned) Morton Williams grocers — for carrying Israeli products and for standing up to Turkish anti-Semitism.

On November 12, 2015, JVP Columbia hosted "An Evening of Discussion with Jewish Voice for Peace and Tzvia Thier." Thier is a radical Israeli anti-Zionist, who has dismissed (3:44) American Jews as “naive”... and described Israel as “a monster.”

CSJP encouraged its followers to attend and hear about "anti zionism from a Jewish perspective." Thier initiated a protest at an exhibition basketball game between the Brooklyn Nets and Maccabi Tel Aviv — after which a pro-Palestinian activist punched Jewish community leader Leonard Petlakh in the face, causing a cut that required eight stitches. The assailant, Shawn Schraeder, fled the scene and was later arrested in St. Louis. Schraeder is currently facing assault and hate crime felony charges.

Rebranding BDS

On February 2, 2016, JVP Columbia and CSJP joined forces to launch a new student initiative to rebrand BDS: Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD). CUAD calls on the Columbia community to sign a petition demanding that the university divest its equity holdings and endowment funds from companies that — in CUAD’s words— "profit from the State of Israel’s ongoing system of settler colonialism, military occupation, and apartheid law." CUAD lists eight companies that “are likely to be invested in by a university like CU” without knowing whether Columbia actually has holdings in the corporations.

On February 4, 2016, JVP Columbia tweeted about the first CUAD campus event, The kick-off was co-sponsored by Barnard Columbia Socialists, a radical group promoting the belief that "Islamophobia is …. an ideology rooted in the historic U.S. drive to build and expand a global empire.

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 values.”

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/max.fineman

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/max-fineman-b292378a