Moriah-Ella Mason
Overview
Moriah Ella Mason is an activist with IfNotNow (INN) who has supported anti-Israel agitator Issa Amro and was denied entry by the Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh to their annual meeting. Mason has also spread an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory and participated in anti-Israel activity with INN leaders in Israel.In 2012, 2015 and 2016, Mason was reportedly an organizer with Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and a leader with the Center for Jewish Nonviolence (CJNV).
Mason is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
As of August 2018, Mason’s website said she was an “Artist, Bodyworker, Educator.” She is a 2009 graduate of Sarah Lawrence College (SLC), where she received a bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts, with concentrations in “modern dance/choreography and international development studies.”
Supporting an Anti-Israel Agitator
On June 21, 2017, Mason wrote on Facebook post promoting anti-Israel activist Issa Amro, who she referred to as “A HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER IN PALESTINE.” Mason added: “I got to work beside Issa the past two summer when I traveled to the West Bank with the Center for Jewish Nonviolence.”Mason urged that readers write to “our Representative - Congressman Doyle - to sign onto a Dear Colleague letter asking State Secretary Tillerson to issue a statement of support for Issa.”
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.
Denied Entry into Jewish Federation Meeting
On September 1, 2017, INN posted a live video to Facebook featuring Mason being escorted from the Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh annual member meeting. INN stated in the post that Mason and her fellow protesters were denied entry, “simply because they are members of IfNotNow...”According to the Federation, “Some representatives from IfNotNow, which has targeted Jewish federations across the country, attempted to disrupt the annual get-together. Their efforts were swiftly met with a dismissal from the building, and a group of roughly 15 protesters positioned themselves on the corner.”
Spreading Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theory
On September 17, 2018, Mason shared an event on Facebook titled “Teach-in: Police Militarization & the Deadly Exchange” and commented: “Just finished prepping my part of the Teach-in: Police Militarization & the Deadly Exchange.”The event description said participants would join together “to discuss the deep connections between deadly law enforcement practices and police militarization in the United States, and the oppression of Palestinian civilians overseas.”
JVP also released a video that blamed [00:04:04] U.S.-based Jewish organizations for violence that occurs against Black and Brown communities, immigrants and activists in the U.S."
The video accused mainstream Jewish organizations in the United States of coordinating exchange programs between American and Israeli security personnel, to advance “worst practices” and “racist policies.”
The campaign page claimed that these “policies” included: “extrajudicial executions, shoot-to-kill policies, police murders, racial profiling, massive spying and surveillance, deportation and detention.”
Supporting BDS
On October 11, 2018, Mason shared a Facebook status announcing her plan to boycott an Israeli play presented at a local theater, because it was funded by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.Mason stated: “I'll be standing on Liberty Avenue tonight visibly boycotting and opposing this production...Good theater will not distract me from the murders of 150 unarmed protestors in Gaza... We do the cause of peace no good by honoring this ploy for a better reputation.”
Mason’s reference to “unarmed protestors in Gaza” referred to participants in violent riots, instigated by Hamas on the Israeli-Gaza border, which saw tens of thousands of rioters attempting numerous breaches of Israel’s border fence.
Participants declared their intention to harm Jews across the border under the pretext of “peaceful resistance.”
Rioters 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.
In addition, agitators threw Molotov cocktails, firebombs, shot firearms and threw rocks under the cover of smoke from burning tires.
On December 13, 2016, Mason wrote on Facebook: “Hi Everyone! Thanks for coming out this past Sunday. I'm going to post a series of links to sources of good information and actions so you can stay involved. To begin with like and follow Jewish Voice for Peace - Pittsburgh to get involved with local Palestinian Solidarity activism and NO G4S in Pittsburgh to keep up with the G4S campaign at CCAC”
On June 20, 2014, Mason tweeted: “Praying for divestment. But no matter what happens I am thankful for the Presbyterian friends I've made this week. @jvplive #churchdivest.”
On the same day, Mason tweeted: “HP has never turned down a business opportunity due to human rights concerns. #churchdivest #ga221”
On June 17, 2014, Mason tweeted: “Yesterday committee 7 voted to divest from private prisons. It's time to take the same step in Israel/Palestine. #churchdivest #ga221.”
On June 16, 2014, Mason tweeted: “#churchdivest. Because before you can do good you must stop participating in harm. @jvplive @ipmn.”
On the same day, Mason tweeted: “#churchdivest because the pensions of people of conscience shouldn't be funded by the profits of dispossession.”
Also on June 16, 2014, Mason tweeted: ‘Why divest? Because peace-building starts at home, with our own hearts and accounts. @jvplive #churchdivest”
Mason also tweeted that day: “It's been suggested that divestment is unfair to the Jewish people. But Caterpillar is not the Jewish people. #churchdivest”
INN Activism
On September 18, 2018, Mason shared an event on Facebook called, “Yom Kippur Reflection with IfNotNow.” Mason commented on the event, “I'll be helping to lead this reflection on the Occupation with IfNotNow Pittsburgh tomorrow afternoon. I hope you'll join me as we think about how we are embedded in systems of oppression and how we can intentionally shift our community towards justice.”The event description said that participants would “use the framework of Al Chet (repenting ritual) to guide us in our discussion. We hope this conversation moves us...to a place of solidarity and action to end Jewish american support for the occupation.”
On January 15, 2018, Mason was featured in a group photo posted on Facebook by INN Pittsburgh, at an INN training weekend. The group posed with a sign reading: “Second Pittsburgh Training If Not Now.”
On September 1, 2017, Mason and fellow INN activist Eva Westheimer and “6 young American Jews” were refused entry by the Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh to their annual meeting for being INN activists.
On May 19, 2017, Mason shared photos on Facebook of activists building the “Sumud Freedom Camp.”
On November 28, 2016, Mason promoted the delegation to build the Sumud Freedom Camp on the JVP Pittsburgh Facebook page, writing: “This delegation is a wonderful opportunity to engage in solidarity activism on the ground with Jews from all over the world. Applications are due November 30th. Feel free to pm me if you have any questions. I was on last year's delegation and am hoping to go again this year.”
Activists from different groups, including INN, JVP, and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) illegally built the “Sumud Freedom Camp” in a closed military zone in the South Hebron Hills, with the goal of reestablishing a Palestinian village there.
Issa Amro also attended the event.
On April 25, 2016, Mason created a gofundme page to fundraise for participants in the CJNV’s “summer delegation in Hebron” where delegates engaged “ in a variety of solidarity actions, including infrastructure development, agricultural projects, sit-ins, and marches.”
Mason wrote: “Over the past four years I have been working with groups like Jewish Voice for Peace and the Muslim Jewish Conference to confront Islamophobia and support Palestinian nonviolent resistance. I have organized and participated in divestment campaigns, speaking tours, rallies and memorials, film screenings, workshops, and more. Having direct experiences of the Occupation and building relationships with activists in Hebron and at the Center for Jewish Nonviolence will enhance my abilities as an organizer when I return to Pittsburgh and continue my work with Jewish Voice for Peace and others here.”
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.”
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).
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:www.facebook.com/28601294Twitter: https://twitter.com/mellamason
Medium:https://medium.com/@moriahellamason
Website:http://www.moriahellamason.com
Blog:https://eserhamakot.blogspot.com/
Photos & Screenshots
