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Michael Schirtzer
Michael Schirtzer has celebrated violence against Israeli Jews, equated Israel with Nazi Germany, defended Hamas financiers and spread hatred of Israel and Zionists.
Schirtzer has engaged in anti-Israel activism and is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
As of June 2023, Schirtzer’s LinkedIn profile said he was the creator and co-host of the Palestine Pod podcast since March 2021. His LinkedIn also described him as a “Comedian and Podcaster.”
Also as of June 2023, Schirtzer’s LinkedIn said he graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), with a bachelor’s degree in history in 2012.
As of the same date, Schirtzer’s LinkedIn said he was located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.
As of June 2023, Schirtzer went by the username “Mikey Intifada” on his Twitter and TikTok accounts.
The term “intifada,” which translates from Arabic as “uprising” or “insurrection,” carries the connotation of violence. Palestinian intifadas waged against Israel have been marked since 1987 by hundreds of hijackings, shootings, stabbings, bombings and suicide missions.
On May 12, 2021, Schirtzer tweeted a video celebrating a violent riot in Lod, a mixed Jewish-Arab Israeli city where Arab rioters burned down synagogues and attacked Jewish civilians. The riots occurred during Operation Guardian of the Walls (OGW), which Israel launched to end Hamas rocket fire from Gaza.
In the video, Schirtzer said [00:00:04]: “I just wanted to hop on and say that Palestinians have every single right to resist violently. I’m not even talking about moral rights, which they have. Palestinians have the legal right to resist with violence…They’ve already liberated Lydd [Lod], or as I’m calling it, Lydderation, baby.”
On May 11, 2021, during OGW, violent Arab riots broke out in Israel’s mixed Jewish-Arab city of Lod and in other Israeli cities with large Arab populations. The Lod rioters reportedly raised Hamas and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) flags, and attacked Israeli civilians with slabs and rocks, firebombs and metal rods. Rioters also torched synagogues, cars and businesses, and vandalized hospital medical equipment, schools and government buildings.
On May 6, 2021, Schirtzer tweeted: “if you’re Jewish and silent on #SheikhJarrah what an absolute shame you are to our ancestors. Imagine my relatives uploading live footage of the kristallnacht only to have you scroll by the video to watch some f**king cooking show.”
In May 2021, Palestinian violence erupted in anticipation of an Israel High Court ruling on eviction proceedings concerning over 70 Palestinian tenants illegally residing in Jewish-owned properties in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.
Kristallnacht, or “the Night of Broken Glass,” was a two-day violent pogrom that took place November 9-10, 1938, against the Jewish populations of Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland. Jewish stores, synagogues and houses were destroyed and burned, and tens of thousands of Jews were arrested by the Gestapo and the SS, and put into prisons and concentration camps.
On May 15, 2021, during OGW, Schirtzer tweeted: “...talking to people on the ground in palestine feels like talking to my family in the holocaust / #FreePalestine #SaveSheikhJarrah #GazaUnderAttack.”
In May 2021, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists fired over 4,300 rockets from Gaza at major population centers in Israel. Israel responded by launching OGW, carrying out targeted military strikes in Gaza.
On December 25, 2022, Schirtzer hosted episode 81 of his podcast: “Free the HLF5 [Holy Land Five] with Nida and Zaira Abu Baker.”
The Holy Land Five (HLF5) were five individuals associated with the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) indicted for funneling funds to Hamas in the guise of humanitarian aid. The men were all convicted and sentenced in 2009 to federal prison terms ranging from 15 to 65 years.
In the podcast, Schirtzer said [00:37:07]: “And the prosecution of the HLF5, it’s a clear chilling effect, right? Like the point is, don’t organize for Muslim communities.” He further stated [00:37:49]: “It’s a very powerful campaign to intimidate and destroy any type of Muslim organization in the United States.”
On June 8, 2021, Schirtzer tweeted: “i started talkin s**t to zionists on the internet like two years ago and now everybody is thanking me for ‘my work’ lmao [laughing my a** off].”
On June 2, 2021, Schirtzer tweeted about a poll related to OGW: “lmao headline could also read ppl connected to reality blame Israel, while everyone else continues to blame Hamas.”
Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S., Canada, European Union, Israel and other countries. Founded in 1987, it has killed thousands of Israeli civilians through mass shootings and suicide bombings. Hamas has also kidnapped children, families and the elderly and held them hostage in Gaza. It has desecrated [slide 7] dead bodies and launched numerous rocket attacks against Israeli civilians.
On May 16, 2021, Schirtzer tweeted: “...Defund, divest, and sanction the terrorist state of Israel.”
On May 14, 2021, Schirtzer tweeted: “it’s always ‘zionisim is just a homeland for the jews,’ never zionism is live streaming a genocide / #ZionismIsTerrorism #zionismisracism.”
On May 13, 2021, Schirtzer tweeted: “zionists work way harder than white supremacists.”
On May 10, 2021, during OGW, Schirtzer tweeted: “Israeli terrorists are LITERALLY engaging in ethnic cleansing, murdering unarmed Palestinians in their holy site [Al-Aqsa Mosque] during the month of Ramadan and zionist still have the nerve to say ‘but hamas’ / #SheikhJarrah.”
The allegation that Jews “threaten” to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque has been a pretext for Arab attacks on Jews long before the existence of the modern Jewish state. Such propaganda has led to multiple periods of violence against Israeli civilians.
Incitement surrounding Al-Aqsa and Sheikh Jarrah were leading factors in Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists firing over 4,300 rockets from Gaza at Israeli population centers from May 10 to 21, 2021. In response to rocket attacks from Gaza, Israel launched “Operation Guardian of the Walls (OGW),” striking military targets in the terrorist-controlled enclave.
On May 10, 2021, Schirtzer tweeted: “I am Jewish, as is Miko Peled…and we both know that Zionism is fascism…”
Schirtzer attached a May 8, 2021 tweet and video, where he wrote: “.@mikopeled son of General Matti Peled confirms #Zionism is fascist and there’s no good version of a racist ideology #ZionismIsRacism…”
Miko Peled is an anti-Israel activist who has said [00:00:06] the Israeli army is “one of the best trained, best equipped, best fed, terrorist organizations in the world” and claimed [00:00:16] that “their entire purpose is terrorism.” In September 2016, Peled tweeted that US aid to Israel causes people to think that “Jews have a reputation 4being sleazy thieves.”
On May 8, 2021, Schirtzer tweeted: “If you’re a zionist, you support colonialism…#ZionismIsRacism.”
On July 2, 2020, Schirtzer tweeted: “...Our people were massacred and now it’s zionists (using judaism as a cloak) to perpetuate massacres.”
On June 10, 2023, Schirtzer co-hosted a Palestine Pod podcast in which he defended [00:05:04] the anti-Israel commencement address delivered by Fatima Mousa Mohammed at the City University of New York (CUNY) Law School (CUNY Law) graduation ceremony, which took place on May 12, 2023. The CUNY Board of Trustees denounced her address as “hate speech” later that month.
During the podcast, Schirtzer claimed [00:05:25] the CUNY Board of Trustees “were influenced by Zionists to put out a statement that demonizes this budding law school graduate…” He also said [00:14:57] the Board “copy-pasted a text probably from some Zionist lobbyist and that was their official statement.”
Schirtzer urged [00:06:05] podcast listeners to “stand with [Fatima] against these racist attacks” and directed viewers to Within Our Lifetime (WOL) “for action items and petitions you can sign to support her cause” on the group’s website.
Within Our Lifetime (WOL) is an anti-Israel activist group in New York City founded by Nerdeen Kiswani. In her WOL activism, Kiswani has called for the death of Zionists and for the destruction of Israel, spread incitement to violence and celebrated terrorists. WOL’s “Points of Unity” states: “We defend the right of Palestinians as colonized people to resist the zionist occupation by any means necessary.”
During the podcast, Schirtzer also read aloud [00:06:16] a solidarity statement written by the anti-Israel CUNY School of Law Jewish Law Students Association (JLSA) in support of Mohammed.
The JLSA statement endorsed Mohammed’s anti-Israel statements during her commencement address, which promoted violence, honored terrorist financiers and spread hatred of Israel and the police. Mohammed also used her address to promote the BDS movement.
The JLSA statement was signed by various anti-Israel organizations, including WOL and the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapters at CUNY Law, Brooklyn College and John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
On June 8, 2023, CUNY JLSA tweeted that Google removed their statement due to a violation of terms of service. On the same date, the statement was uploaded onto the WOL website, where it remained.
On June 15, 2023, CUNY JLSA tweeted that their statement was available on Google.
Within Our Lifetime (WOL) is a pro-terror activist group in New York City dedicated to Israel’s destruction within the lifetime of its members.
Acts of violence and physical confrontations with police have frequently occurred at WOL protests and marches. WOL uses harassment campaigns to target pro-Israel organizations or companies that do business with Israel, making it a part of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Multiple activists who have either burned Israeli flags or led chants at WOL rallies were later jailed for violent anti-Semitic hate crimes, including Saadah Masoud and Waseem Awawdeh. In Masoud’s case, he received 18 months in jail for an anti-Semitic assault at an April 2022 WOL rally and two other anti-Semitic assaults in 2021.
WOL promotes “resistance” against Israel “by any means necessary,” calls to “Globalize the Intifada,” spreads incitement and idolizes [00:34:06] Palestinian terrorists like Leila Khaled and others at rallies and online events.
WOL was founded by Nerdeen Kiswani and Dan Cione in 2015. Kiswani is a frequent speaker at WOL rallies where she has promoted terrorism against Israelis and called for the death of Zionists. She has also provided support for Masoud and other activists following their arrests.
WOL began as the New York City chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), going by NYC SJP, but changed its name in 2018. The group is not found to be registered in any U.S. state as a nonprofit organization under its official name. Nor is there any listing for WOL under its name on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) website for tax-exempt organizations.
The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement was founded by pro-terror activist Omar Barghouti in 2005 to turn “Israel into a pariah state, as South Africa once was.” Barghouti has also called for Israel's destruction and the BDS movement demands would result in that same goal.
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 infiltrating university campuses through lobbying for “BDS resolutions.” In these cases, student governments propose resolutions to boycott or divestment from Israel or Israeli-affiliated entities. 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 and pro-terror activism on campus.
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