Olivia Vita
Overview
Olivia Vita has expressed support for terrorists, promoted the anti-Israel Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) organization’s “Deadly Exchange” campaign and was reportedly the 2018 treasurer of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Georgetown University (Georgetown).She has done “advocacy and organizing work” with American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), is a member of JVP-DC Metro and formed a pro-BDS Muslim-Jewish Alliance at George Mason University (GMU), before transferring to Georgetown.
Vita has also promoted the #returnthebirthright initiative launched by JVP against the Birthright Jewish heritage tour (Birthright) and has promoted the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
As of August 2018, Vita was listed as a member of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) public Facebook group, since January 2018.
As of August2018, Vita was listed as a 2017-2018 student fellow on the Doyle Undergraduate Fellows Program at Georgetown’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs.
Also as of August 2019, Vita’s LinkedIn page said she was a “Cultural Anthropology student with a focus on the study of race formation,” slated to receive her bachelor’s degree from GMU in 2019. It also said Vita received a Bachelor’s degree from Georgetown in 2017.
As of the same date, Vita’s LinkedIn page also said that she was employed as an Events Coordinator Assistant at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, in the Washington D.C. Metro Area, since January 2019 and a Knowledge Production Project Intern for the Arab Studies Institute (ASI) in the Washington D.C. Metro Area, since December2018.
Supporting Terrorists
On May 17, 2017, Vita participated in a GMU Students Against Israeli Apartheid (an SJP subsidiary) event called: “SAIA Saltwater Challenge.”Promoting the “Deadly Exchange”
Vita was featured [00:00:15] in a video shared on Twitter by the JVP Washington D.C. Metro chapter on August 29, 2018. In the video, Vita accused [00:00:16] the IDF and Israeli police departments of using “racial profiling” and “discriminatory policies” to “harass Palestinian citizens of Israel.”The JVP tweet also suggested that the D.C. police would be learning “worst practices” and racism by training with Israeli defense force personnel.
The text accompanying JVP’s video said: “Why is @DCPoliceDept training with an occupying army? Please share and sign our petition calling on @CouncilofDC (cc: @CharlesAllen) & @ChiefNewsham to end this #DeadlyExchange of worst practices between police in DC & Israel: https://occupationfreedc.org/petition #OccupationFreeDC #StopMPD.”
Anti-Israel Campus Activism
As of August 2019, Vita’s LinkedIn page, said that she “partnered with Interfaith Peace Builders” during their “rebranding process,” while a student fellow on the Doyle program.Eyewitness Palestine, formerly known as IFPB until 2018, is an anti-Israel NGO that organizes activist delegations to Israel and the West Bank.
On April 11, 2018, Vita represented SJP in an email to the Georgetown student newspaper, The Hoya, about “Israel Apartheid Week.”
In the email Vita reportedly said: “This year we didn’t have a particular theme, but the current happenings in Gaza have added another layer of heartfelt sensitivity.”
March participants sent scores of kites bearing explosive devices across Israel’s border to burn Israeli crops and homes. Rioters also made numerous attempts to breach Israel’s border fence, which caused the Israeli Defense Forces to respond with live fire.
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.
On April 20, 2018, Vita was featured in another Hoya article, voicing her opposition to Georgetown’s “Israel Peace Week,” which reportedly “aimed at fostering meaningful conversations about a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
Vita was quoted saying: “We don’t need words, we need systemic change.” She also said that “Israel Peace Week does not effectively address the problems faced by people of color in Israel…” claiming: “The events are neither relevant to current events nor reflective of the ever-diversifying population of Israel and Palestine.”
On October 2, 2017, Vita indicated on Facebook that she “went” to a Code Pink and US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) co-hosted event, called: “Palestine to Diaspora: The Movement for Palestinian Liberation.” The event’s Facebook description said it featured anti-Israel activists Issa Amro and Yousef Munayyer, who were invited to “outline the situation on the ground in Palestine, the impact of US foreign policy, resistance in Palestine and the US, and how to build a global intersectional movement.”
On November 2, 2017, Vita indicated on Facebook that she “went” a Georgetown SJP sponsored event called: “Faithwashing: A Panel Discussion.” The event’s Facebook description said that "Faithwashing is about changing the cause of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (or, rather, Israeli occupation and ethnic cleansing of Palestine) from a mid-20th century Euro-American settler-colonialist project to a non-existent centuries long enmity between Jews and Muslims."
On November 15, 2017, Vita helped organize a Georgetown SJP-sponsored event called: “Screening of ‘Gaza in Context.’”
On March 16, 2018, Vita indicated on Facebook that she attended an AMP-sponsored event called: “Palestine Advocacy Day and Training 2018.” The event’s Facebook description said: “The event is open to all who seek justice in Palestine and agree to the following principles: 1) Israel's occupation must end 2) The right of return for Palestinian refugees 3) Equal Rights for all Palestinians 4) Supporting the Call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions.” On April 10, 2018, Vita indicated on Facebook that she “went” to an SJP and JVP DC co-sponsored event, called: “Think Beyond Pink: No Pride in Apartheid.” The event billed itself as “a night of spoken word performance and education on pinkwashing.”
“Pinkwashing” is a claim that Israel advocates manipulate the LGBTQ community in order to garner support for Israel.
Condemning Jewish Heritage Tour
On April 15, 2018, Vita participated [00:03:17] in a Return the Birthright protest outside the Taglit Birthright Gala in New York City.Vita told attendees about her experience as a participant on a Birthright trip and stated [00:05:59]: “European freedom was achieved at the expense of African freedom, somewhat similarly as Israeli freedom being achieved at the expense of Palestinian freedom.”
Vita also said [00:06:20] that in Jerusalem she had walked through Ethiopian neighborhoods and watched Jewish families walking to synagogue. She claimed [00:06:25]: “it was as if there was a barrier in mid-air. To the White Jews around them they may as well have been invisible…” Then Vita drew a comparison to Skinheads and fascists in the United States.
At the end of her speech, Vita urged [00:08:31]: “If the point is to visit somewhere sacred, there are plenty of trips which go to Palestine which do not turn a blind eye to human rights abuses, forced removal of families, and structural racism. Boycott Birthright.”
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.
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.
AMP
American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) was founded by UC Berkeley Professor Hatem Bazian as a vehicle to generate mainstream support in the United States for the Palestinian national cause.
On its website, the organization lists Bazian as the chairman of its national board and describes itself as “a national education and grassroots-based organization, dedicated to educating the American public about Palestine and its rich cultural, historical and religious heritage.”
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has accused AMP of promoting “extreme anti-Israel views and has at times provided a platform for anti-Semitism under the guise of educating Americans” about Palestinians. The ADL further stated that AMP is directly involved in campus-based anti-Israel activity through Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).
Prior to founding the AMP in 2006, Dr. Bazian created SJP together with fellow UC Berkeley Professor Snehal Shingavi in 2001. The close working relationship between AMP and SJP has been documented several times over the years by several organizations, including NGO Monitor and StandWithUs.
In addition to providing financial, public relations and legal assistance to SJP, AMP has also been accused of having connections to Hamas. The AMP national board includes former members of both the Islamic Association of Palestine (IAP) and Holy Land Foundation (HLF), both of which were found liable for aiding and abetting Hamas. The IAP was founded by Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, a senior member of Hamas.
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: www.facebook.com/100001262061091Twitter: https://twitter.com/0liviaVita [Deleted]
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olivia-vita-7ba1a679/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/o.livita/ [Private]
https://www.instagram.com/ovitacrowvita/ [Deleted]
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