Rachel Goldman
Overview
Rachel Goldman [Rachel Taylor Goldman] has demonized Zionists and Israel, as well as served as an officer of an anti-Israel activist group.Goldman also helped draft a student government resolution opposing the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism, which includes equating Israel with Nazi Germany.
Goldman served as president of the City University of New York School (CUNY) School of Law (CUNY Law) chapter of the Jewish Law Students Association (CUNY JLSA) for the 2019-2020 academic year. CUNY JLSA is an anti-Israel group. She also served on the CUNY JLSA executive board for the 2020-2021 academic year.
Goldman has expressed support for Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). She is also a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and has engaged in activism with Palestine Legal.
As of March 2024, Goldman was listed as a staff attorney in “Civil Practice” at The Legal Aid Society. As of the same date, Goldman’s LinkedIn profile said she had worked as a “Law Graduate” at the Legal Aid Society since December 2021.
Goldman was listed online as having passed the New York State bar exam in July 2021. On October 28, 2021, she tweeted a photo of an official letter stating she had passed the exam.
As of March 2024, Goldman’s LinkedIn said she graduated from CUNY Law with a JD in 2021. She graduated from Michigan State University (MSU) with a bachelor’s degree in pre-law and political science in 2017.
Goldman worked as the “Footnote Forum Editor” for the CUNY Law Review during the 2020-2021 academic year and worked as a staff editor for the 2019-2020 academic year.
As of March 2024, Goldman’s LinkedIn said she was located in Queens County, New York.
As of the same date, Goldman went by the username “rach, esq.” on Twitter.
Demonizing Zionists
On August 12, 2020, Goldman spoke [00:46:30] on a Zoom panel hosted by Palestine Legal, titled: “Federal Crackdown on Campus Palestine Activism.”During the panel, Goldman referred to “Jewish allies,” saying [00:50:53]: “...your views and your experiences as anti-Zionists are valid and right.”
Zionism is the belief that Jews have the right to self-determination in their own national home, and the right to develop their national culture.
Goldman spoke alongside former CUNY JLSA president Adina Marx-Arpadi and Nerdeen Kiswani, founder of the pro-terror activist group Within Our Lifetime (WOL). She was also joined by anti-Israel professors Jasbir Puar and Rabab Abdulhadi.
In February 2020, Goldman signed a letter titled: “CUNY Law Student groups, Students, Alumni and Faculty stand with SJP and Palestinian students.”
The letter claimed: “A subset of Zionist activists choose to weaponize the genuine threats of anti-Semitism elsewhere in our society as a tactic to repress activism and harass and threaten Palestinian students and Muslim students more broadly.”
The letter was released after a Jewish student at CUNY Law wrote an op-ed about her experiences with anti-Semitism on campus. That student later reportedly dropped out of CUNY Law after harassment she faced from her op-ed and the anti-Israel letter.
On February 11, 2020, Goldman tweeted a link to the same letter she signed that month. She also wrote: “CUNY Law friends! Come join us tomorrow at 5 in the beacon for this super cool student-led event, and sign our letter in solidarity with the movement for Palestinian liberation here…”
Goldman’s tweet included a flyer for an event titled: “Palestine Solidarity Day.” The flyer also said that the event was “BROUGHT TO YOU BY SJP & JLSA.”
Demonizing Israel
In June 2023, Goldman signed a statement titled: “Over 400 CUNY Law Alumni Stand with Fatima.” The statement compared the “harm and violence caused” by American police to “Israel’s violent occupation and apartheid system.”The statement defended Fatima Mohammed for her CUNY Law commencement speech in May 2023, where she promoted violence, spread hatred of Israel and the police, honored terrorist financiers and promoted the BDS movement. Mohammed is an activist with the pro-terror group Within Our Lifetime (WOL), where she has glorified terrorists and called for Israel’s destruction. The CUNY Board of Trustees condemned Mohammed’s speech.
Goldman retweeted a September 24, 2020 tweet from Palestine Legal that said: “Students and organizations are banding together to support @CUNYLaw student Nerdeen Kiswani after a racist campaign misrepresenting an old video where she joked with a friend and are calling on the school to punish her. #WeStandWithNerdeen…”
In a September 2020 TikTok video Kiswani posted, she stood in front of a man wearing an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) sweatshirt while repeatedly lighting a cigarette lighter in her hand. Kiswani stated: “I hate your shirt, I want to set it on fire.” She then moved the flame closer to his shirt. The male smiled and Kiswani said: “No...I’m serious.”
Kiswani posted a caption accompanying the video that read: “I almost set this guy’s shirt on fire.” The caption was followed by hashtags, reading: “#F**kIsrael #FreePalestine #freepalestinetillitsbackwards don’t come around me with that.”
Goldman retweeted a July 1, 2020 tweet about a WOL protest that said: “The #DayofRage protest, which began in Bay Ridge at 4 PM, came to an end around 10 PM at Barclays Center for a brief rally. @WOLPalestine and 39 other orgs and endorsers across the city came together to dance and to identify the threads between the IDF and NYPD [New York Police Department].”
The accusation that Israeli law enforcement teaches American police brutal tactics during police exchange programs is used to demonize Israel. Participants in these programs have stated [00:02:14] that the training in Israel focuses [00:13:36] on public policy, counterterrorism and leadership training in the form of lectures and discussions.
Opposing the IHRA Definition of Anti-Semitism
In April 2021, Goldman signed an open letter titled: “Open Letter to the CUNY Community Re: USS IHRA resolution.” She was listed as a member of the “JLSA E-Board.”The letter stated: “We, the Jewish Law Students Association (JLSA) at CUNY Law, and our allies, write to convey our concern and alarm over the recent introduction on 3/14/21 of the University Student Senate (USS) Resolution ‘Condemning Anti-Semitism and Supporting the CUNY Jewish Community.’ We respectfully oppose this resolution, and urge the USS and our CUNY community to do the same. This resolution adopts a definition of antisemitism put forth by the the [sic] International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).”
The IHRA also highlights another form of anti-Semitism: “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.”
On April 11, 2021, The CUNY University Student Senate (USS) posted a Zoom meeting on Facebook where they debated adopting two different definitions of anti-Semitism.
The JLSA definition of anti-Semitism was presented to the CUNY USS as part of a larger resolution submitted by CUNY JLSA and CUNY Law SJP. The resolution claimed [p. 3]: “antisemitism is not an exceptional form of bigotry.”
Goldman commented [00:11:53] on the USS Zoom meeting, referring to the JLSA definition: “the jewish community drafted the counter resolution, i am jewish, i am a cuny student, i was there.”
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.
Social Media and Weblinks
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/rgoldman13Twitter:https://twitter.com/rachelgoldman_ [Private]
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/rachelgoldman_/ [Private]
Instagram 2:https://www.instagram.com/localforkup/
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/goldmanrachel/
Threads:https://www.threads.net/@rachelgoldman_
Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/user/1243744495
