Rafael Shimunov
Overview
Rafael Shimunov is an anti-Israel activist and “early leader” of IfNotNow (INN) who was arrested with other INN activists for holding an anti-Israel “liberation seder.” He has defended anti-Semitic remarks, promoted incitement, defended violent demonstrators and spread hatred of Israel.Shimunov attended an event that repurposed Jewish rituals to demonize Israel, protested against the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), has opposed the Birthright Jewish heritage tour and promoted anti-Israel agitators, as well as the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) Movement.
In August 2018, Shimunov was a “Progressives For Palestinian Rights” panelist at the Netroots Nation conference, where he promoted the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR). In July 2018, Shimunov indicated on Twitter that he is a member of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).
As of January 2020, Shimunov’s LinkedIn page said he was on the Board of Directors ofJews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ) and is an Independent Creative Producer since from 1997-Present. Shimunov’s LinkedIn page also said that he was a Legal Observer for Occupy Wall Street.
As of August 2025, Shimunov’s username on X was: “Rafael Shimunov 
…”
…”The watermelon has been appropriated by anti-Israel activists as a symbol of Palestinian "resistance" to "Israeli occupation," as it shares the Pan-Arab colors. It has been depicted in art, used on flags at protests and posted online.
A Seder is a Jewish Passover ritual, that involves telling the story of the Israelites’ exodus from slavery in ancient Egypt and their travels to the Promised Land.
Many of the activists set up tables and repurposed symbols from the Jewish Seder table to demonize Israel.
The activists occupied the lobby, demanding that the ADL and American Jewish leaders publicly oppose Israeli “occupation.”
INN uploaded resources for public use to their website and claimed that approximately 500 people participated in their liberation seders across the country.
The following day, INN announced on their website that they rejected an invitation to a meeting with the ADL.
White claimed the Rothschilds were behind climate change in poor neighborhoods and “control the World Bank, as we all know.”
Shimunov wrote, referring to the outraged members of the Jewish community: “They should be ashamed of themselves.” Shimunov went on to defend White’s remarks about the Rothschilds, denying they were a reprise of an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory.
Shimunov wrote: “But of course, he did not say that Jews controlled the weather. He said that the Rothschilds did. Now, you might think that ‘everyone knows’ Rothschilds is an anti-Semitic placeholder for Jews. But this is demonstrably false. One could survey endless people of every demographic and learn that rather quickly. Indeed, it seems pretty clear from his apology that White in no way meant this in an anti-Semitic way.”
Conspiracy theories regarding the Rothschild family date back to the 18th century. Anti-Semites frequently cite the family’s wealth to support the claim that “Jews control the world’s money supply.”
Shimunov’s article also condemned negative reactions White received when he visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, only to walk out half way through the tour.
Shimunov also mocked the distress of those who were alarmed by White’s apparent support of Louis Farrakhan noting: “To add insult to injury, a reporter uncovered a donation to Nation of Islam, the organization helmed by famous anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan.”
Louis Farrakhan has been the leader of the Nation of Islam (NOI), which is considered the “largest Black nationalist organization in the U.S.,” since 1977. Farrakhan spreads anti-Semitism and anti-white theology. He has referred to white people as “devils” and labeled [00:01:52] Jews “termites.” He also said [00:00:01]: “The satanic Jews…control everything and mostly everybody.”
In April 2018, the Washington Post reported that D.C. campaign finance officials had asked White to explain a January 29, 2018 donation of $500 made toward Farrakhan’s February “Saviours’ Day 2018 ” event in Chicago, at which Farrakhan reportedly made numerous anti-Semtic statements and declared: [00:43:00] “The powerful Jews are my enemy.”
White’s donation for the event was reportedly made from White’s constituent services account, private money raised for community causes.
On March 6, 2019, Shimunov tweeted: “Pay attn to what we're NOT talking about while we go down the long line of black leaders to smear with antisemitism from @marclamonthill to Angela Davis to @IlhanMN Children. Journalists. Nurses. Activists being ‘intentionally’ shot by Israeli forces.”
On March 14, 2019, following a terrorist attack in a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, Shimunov tweeted: “If you think there is a difference between F-16's over Gaza right now, which is almost half children 14 years or younger, and the New Zealand Mosque shootings, you are very mistaken.”
In the same thread, Shimunov tweeted: “Individual violence against Muslims and state violence against Muslims work together. We Jews have a useful reminder that they are connected. We call them pogroms. One word for both.”
A pogrom is a violent riot directed towards massacring or persecuting Jews in particular.
On April 12, 2019, Shimunov tweeted: “If you keep repeating things about the two state solution to show that you care about Israelis and Palestinians so that you don't scare away so called centrists, without actually doing anything about it, you're just an accessory to ethnic cleansing and state terrorism.”
Shimunov added in the same Twitter thread: “‘I believe in a two state solution’ has too often become a solution to actually do nothing of importance to further any justice whatsoever. If that's your position, fine - what have you done to further it? If it's nothing, you've only furthered Netanyahu and apartheid.”
On June 6, 2019, Shimunov tweeted: “Maintaining Gaza as a malnourished, mostly blacked outed open air prison with fishing cut off and almost half children 14 and younger MIGHT have something to do with garbage pickup times, unemployment and building. So does blowing those buildings up every few months.”
On July 15, 2018, Shimunov tweeted: “Sasha Baron Cohen isn't the first to fool gullible, racist, greedy, sub mediocre American electeds using right wing Israeli propaganda. Right wing Israelis were. #whoisamerica
”
Eight of the activists were arrestedfor entering the lobby of the building and refusing to listen to directives [00:00:11] to stop blocking the sidewalk outside of the COP offices.
At the demonstration, INN marked the Jewish fast day of Tisha B’Av by reciting the Jewish Mourner’s Kaddish prayer for Palestinians and Israelis killed during OPE.
Tisha B’Av, regarded as the saddest day in the Jewish calendar, is a day of mourning for the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem.
The Jewish ritual of the Mourner’s Kaddish is a prayer customarily reserved for close relatives or Jews murdered for being Jews.
On March 11, 2019, Shimunov tweeted: “Me waiting on the House Resolution demanding Aipac not host Netanyahu, who just openly backed apartheid. https://mondoweiss.net/2019/03/netanyahu-israel-citizens/ … #DropAipac.”
On February 10, 2019, Shimunov tweeted: “... AIPAC is a right wing organization that funds ethnic cleansing in my name as a Jew.”
On February 11, 2019, Shimunov tweeted: “For young Jews just discovering how s**ttily their establishment institutions are representing them in face of @IlhanMN attacks, and white washing for racist, right wing AIPAC lobby do find @IfNotNowOrg in your city and end American support for occupation.”
On March 21, 2019, Shimunov tweeted: “Add your name to the billboard at #AIPAC2019 with @IfNotNowOrg here. #skipAIPAC.”
Shimunov’s tweet linked to an INN petition opposing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s headlining AIPAC’s 2019 annual policy conference in Washington D.C.
On March 23, 2019, Shimunov tweeted: “As Muslim New Yorkers heal @NYCMayor @BilldeBlasio says he embraces #AIPAC2019 to fight hate, even as AIPAC directly funds Islamophobia that led to the New Zealand shootings via Muslim Ban. #SkipAIPAC.”
Shimunov tweeted: “If you think there is no link between AIPAC's paid promotion of Islamophobia, anti-Arab violence and the white supremacists murdering Muslims and Jews, you are no friend to either. #SkipAIPAC.”
The event’s Facebook description said that “hundreds” of young Jews...will converge on Birthright’s headquarters to give them one final chance to choose between the demands of INN members and their current policy.”
INN activists reportedly chanted outside of Birthright headquarters, linked arms and blocked entrances to the building. Fifteen activists were arrested [01:21:07] for refusing to move.
On July 20, 2018, Shimunov tweeted, in response to a NowThis tweet and video of INN activist Elon Glickman disrupting a Birthright trip and taking part in an INN walk-off from the trip, commenting: “Follow @elonTglickman (from the video) and @IfNotNowOrg (the group of American Jews organizing to end American support of the occupation).”
In the video, Glickman likened [00:00:01] visiting Israel on Birthright to “going the Jim Crow South during segregation.”
At Farrakhan’s 2015 #JusticeOrElse March, Sarsour asserted [00:00:36]: “The same people who justify the massacres of Palestinian people and call it ‘collateral damage’ are the same people who justify the murder of young black men and women.”
During the meeting, Hill reportedly whitewashed Palestinian violence and accused Israel of “state violence and ethnic cleansing.” He also called for a “free Palestine from the river to the sea.”
In September 2018, during a U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) conference, Hill insinuated [00:31:01] that Israel poisons Palestinian water and seemingly approved [00:30:34] of violence against Israelis.
On March 3, 2019, Shimunov tweeted: “AOC shared Ilhan's apology rather than ignore it existed in order to attack her. An apology that I personally think Ilhan owed nobody as Jew who cares about intent and saw that Ilhan was telling the truth that Jews and others share everyday with no cost.”
On March 6, 2019, Shimunov tweeted: “Newest attacks on Illhan are stemming from a beautiful speech she made at legendary DC movement space Busboys and Poets.”
Shimunov was referring to a March 1, 2019 event where Omar suggested that supporters of Israel were disloyal to America, saying [00:00:42]: “I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is OK for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country.”
Following Omar’s March 1, 2019 presentation, then-Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Congressman Elliot Engel, issued an online statement describing Omar’s comments [00:04:08] as a “vile anti-Semitic slur” as well as “unacceptable and deeply offensive.”
On May 18, 2019, Shimunov tweeted at Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib: “Jews like me all across the US stand with you.” Shimunov was responding to a tweet by Tlaib to JVP, saying: “.@jvplive your letter was a reminder that only together, with truth, can we truly fight back against hate, silencing of others and all forms of oppression.”
As of July 2019, Shimunov signed a statement titled: “JewsWithIlhan,” along with anti-Israel activists including Naomi Klein, Ilan Pappé, Sarah Jaffe and Rebecca Vilkomerson
On March 6, 2019, Omar’s supporters released “An Open Letter,” claiming there was “absolutely nothing anti-Semitic” about Omar’s attack on the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). The letter also applauded Omar for her support of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, concluding: “#WeStandWithIlhan.”
Shimunov added: “One would think targeting 17 and 19 year old Palestinian footballers by targeting their feet would have ended @PUMA collaboration long ago. Jawhar: 7 gunshots to his left foot, 3 his right Halabiya: 1 shot to each foot Followed by police dogs and beatings #BoycottPuma.”
In February 2014, two Palestinians reportedly attempted to throw explosive devices at Israeli Border Police officers, who then fired at their legs and apprehended the pair. One of the terrorists, Jawhar Nasser Jawhar [a.k.a. Joher Naser], has expressed support for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
On July 31, 2018, Shimunov tweeted: “BDS is non violent, but violent BDS predates Palestinian boycotts. Israeli ‘BDS’ bans lives of unarmed nurses. Holds children in prison. Divests from basic human and even child rights. Divests from fair trials. And Sanctions free will, even paintings and poetry.”
On August 31, 2018, Shimunov tweeted about musician Lana Del Ray: “Thanks to the other artists who cancelled, like DJ Seinfeld and Volvox. And fans like @ahmadmerhebe who helped organize the many voices. @PACBI @BDSmovement @jvplive @adalahNY for the long game. Art will not be coopted for injustice because art is justice. #LanaDontGo.”
On that same day, Shimunov tweeted: “Thank u @LanaDelRey for cancelling your Israel show. While the request of your Palestinian fans is to boycott and not dual shows, it is heartening that you've allowed them to reach you in your thinking as you have reached them with your music #LanaDontGo.”
On September 1, 2018, Shimunov tweeted: “I love all the creative ways we Jews and Americans who want to end injustice for Palestinians have for doing so. But the one way Palestinian civil society themselves are asking of us is boycott. So it's extremely powerful to be the fullest allies that way.”
On May 18, 2019, Shimunov tweeted: “Rather defensively reacting to critics asking her to boycott Eurovision in Israel, @Madonna falsely claims the crowd comes from all the world. Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza are banned. But she put a flag on a dancer so we're good.”
A June 30, 2019 Haaretz article highlighted INN’s new policy to “officially lobby political leaders to speak out against the occupation and the policies of the Israeli government, focusing on Democratic candidates in the 2020 elections.”
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).
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rafaelshimunov
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/rafaelshimunov/
Website:http://resisthere.org/rafael-shimunov/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rafternoon/
PSCP.TV:https://www.pscp.tv/rafaelshimunov
Arrest
On April 20, 2016, Shimunov was one of 17 INN activists who were arrested for holding a “liberation seder”in the lobby [00:05:44] of the Manhattan building housing the offices of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).A Seder is a Jewish Passover ritual, that involves telling the story of the Israelites’ exodus from slavery in ancient Egypt and their travels to the Promised Land.
Many of the activists set up tables and repurposed symbols from the Jewish Seder table to demonize Israel.
The activists occupied the lobby, demanding that the ADL and American Jewish leaders publicly oppose Israeli “occupation.”
INN uploaded resources for public use to their website and claimed that approximately 500 people participated in their liberation seders across the country.
The following day, INN announced on their website that they rejected an invitation to a meeting with the ADL.
Defending Anti-Semitism
On April 23, 2018, Shimunov published an article in the Forward, condemning Jewish leaders who spoke out against anti-Semitic remarks made on two separate occasions by Washington D.C. Councilman Trayon White.White claimed the Rothschilds were behind climate change in poor neighborhoods and “control the World Bank, as we all know.”
Shimunov wrote, referring to the outraged members of the Jewish community: “They should be ashamed of themselves.” Shimunov went on to defend White’s remarks about the Rothschilds, denying they were a reprise of an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory.
Shimunov wrote: “But of course, he did not say that Jews controlled the weather. He said that the Rothschilds did. Now, you might think that ‘everyone knows’ Rothschilds is an anti-Semitic placeholder for Jews. But this is demonstrably false. One could survey endless people of every demographic and learn that rather quickly. Indeed, it seems pretty clear from his apology that White in no way meant this in an anti-Semitic way.”
Conspiracy theories regarding the Rothschild family date back to the 18th century. Anti-Semites frequently cite the family’s wealth to support the claim that “Jews control the world’s money supply.”
Shimunov’s article also condemned negative reactions White received when he visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, only to walk out half way through the tour.
Shimunov also mocked the distress of those who were alarmed by White’s apparent support of Louis Farrakhan noting: “To add insult to injury, a reporter uncovered a donation to Nation of Islam, the organization helmed by famous anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan.”
Louis Farrakhan has been the leader of the Nation of Islam (NOI), which is considered the “largest Black nationalist organization in the U.S.,” since 1977. Farrakhan spreads anti-Semitism and anti-white theology. He has referred to white people as “devils” and labeled [00:01:52] Jews “termites.” He also said [00:00:01]: “The satanic Jews…control everything and mostly everybody.”
In April 2018, the Washington Post reported that D.C. campaign finance officials had asked White to explain a January 29, 2018 donation of $500 made toward Farrakhan’s February “Saviours’ Day 2018 ” event in Chicago, at which Farrakhan reportedly made numerous anti-Semtic statements and declared: [00:43:00] “The powerful Jews are my enemy.”
White’s donation for the event was reportedly made from White’s constituent services account, private money raised for community causes.
Promoting Incitement
On July 31, 2018, Shimunov tweeted: “‘If that's my terrorism (poetry), I give the world a terrorism of love.’ Palestinian poet #DareenTatour sentenced to nearly half a year in prison for a poem. A poem..”In October 2015, Tatour was placed under house arrest for incitement to violence and for support of a terrorist organization on social media. Tatour had supported the terror group Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and posted to Facebook: “I am the next shahid [martyr].”
Defending Violent Protesters
On June 11, 2019, Shimunov tweeted: “Rest in power Muhammad Jadeili, 36, the Palestinian medic shot in the head by Israeli snipers The 306th Palestinian killed during #GreatReturnMarch Event his dead body has to go through checkpoints to be buried He joins medical volunteer Razan Al-Najar, 21 and many more.”In May 2018, terror organization Hamas instigated the “March of Return.” Thousands of violent rioters attempted numerous breaches of Israel’s border fence with Gaza, seeking to harm Jews across the border. Media reports confirmed [00:00:20] protesters’ breaches and attempted breaches of the fence, some by armed Palestinians. On May 15, 2018, senior Hamas official Mahmoud Al-Zahhar said the Gaza protests were only a pretext of “peaceful resistance.”
On March 6, 2019, Shimunov tweeted: “Pay attn to what we're NOT talking about while we go down the long line of black leaders to smear with antisemitism from @marclamonthill to Angela Davis to @IlhanMN Children. Journalists. Nurses. Activists being ‘intentionally’ shot by Israeli forces.”
March participants 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. Agitators also threw Molotov cocktails and firebombs, shot firearms and threw rocks.
Spreading Hatred of Israel
On July 28, 2025, Shimunov posted on X, referring to the Israel Defense Forces: “It’s only a few weeks ago when people pretended it was controversial to say death to the IDF.”
In the same thread, Shimunov tweeted: “Individual violence against Muslims and state violence against Muslims work together. We Jews have a useful reminder that they are connected. We call them pogroms. One word for both.”
A pogrom is a violent riot directed towards massacring or persecuting Jews in particular.
On April 12, 2019, Shimunov tweeted: “If you keep repeating things about the two state solution to show that you care about Israelis and Palestinians so that you don't scare away so called centrists, without actually doing anything about it, you're just an accessory to ethnic cleansing and state terrorism.”
Shimunov added in the same Twitter thread: “‘I believe in a two state solution’ has too often become a solution to actually do nothing of importance to further any justice whatsoever. If that's your position, fine - what have you done to further it? If it's nothing, you've only furthered Netanyahu and apartheid.”
On June 6, 2019, Shimunov tweeted: “Maintaining Gaza as a malnourished, mostly blacked outed open air prison with fishing cut off and almost half children 14 and younger MIGHT have something to do with garbage pickup times, unemployment and building. So does blowing those buildings up every few months.”
On July 15, 2018, Shimunov tweeted: “Sasha Baron Cohen isn't the first to fool gullible, racist, greedy, sub mediocre American electeds using right wing Israeli propaganda. Right wing Israelis were. #whoisamerica
”Repurposing Jewish Rituals
On July 28, 2014, during Israel’s Operation Protective Edge (OPE) in Gaza, Shimunov participated [00:00:21] with other INN activists in a “Kaddish Action,” outside the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations (COP).Israel commenced Operation Protective Edge (OPE) in July 2014, to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.
Eight of the activists were arrestedfor entering the lobby of the building and refusing to listen to directives [00:00:11] to stop blocking the sidewalk outside of the COP offices.
At the demonstration, INN marked the Jewish fast day of Tisha B’Av by reciting the Jewish Mourner’s Kaddish prayer for Palestinians and Israelis killed during OPE.
Tisha B’Av, regarded as the saddest day in the Jewish calendar, is a day of mourning for the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem.
The Jewish ritual of the Mourner’s Kaddish is a prayer customarily reserved for close relatives or Jews murdered for being Jews.
Protesting AIPAC
On March 22, 2019, Shimunov tweeted: “AIPAC is an EXTREME RIGHT WING organization defending assassination of unarmed protestors and nurses, jailing of poets for facebook posts, the expulsion and humiliation of Africans, and putting a population of almost half 14 year old and younger children in open air prison.”
On March 11, 2019, Shimunov tweeted: “Me waiting on the House Resolution demanding Aipac not host Netanyahu, who just openly backed apartheid. https://mondoweiss.net/2019/03/netanyahu-israel-citizens/ … #DropAipac.”
On February 10, 2019, Shimunov tweeted: “... AIPAC is a right wing organization that funds ethnic cleansing in my name as a Jew.”
On February 11, 2019, Shimunov tweeted: “For young Jews just discovering how s**ttily their establishment institutions are representing them in face of @IlhanMN attacks, and white washing for racist, right wing AIPAC lobby do find @IfNotNowOrg in your city and end American support for occupation.”
On March 21, 2019, Shimunov tweeted: “Add your name to the billboard at #AIPAC2019 with @IfNotNowOrg here. #skipAIPAC.”
Shimunov’s tweet linked to an INN petition opposing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s headlining AIPAC’s 2019 annual policy conference in Washington D.C.
On March 23, 2019, Shimunov tweeted: “As Muslim New Yorkers heal @NYCMayor @BilldeBlasio says he embraces #AIPAC2019 to fight hate, even as AIPAC directly funds Islamophobia that led to the New Zealand shootings via Muslim Ban. #SkipAIPAC.”
Shimunov tweeted: “If you think there is no link between AIPAC's paid promotion of Islamophobia, anti-Arab violence and the white supremacists murdering Muslims and Jews, you are no friend to either. #SkipAIPAC.”
Opposing Birthright
On April 5, 2019, Shimunov tweeted: “NOW: Young Jews of @IfNotNowOrg shut down 3rd Ave Manhattan in front of @birthright HQ. Rather than engage in dialog by coming down to discuss it's work protecting the occupation of Palestinian families, they have chosen to arrest everyone #UsOrTheDonors.”
Shimunov linked the hashtag “#UsOrTheDonors” to a video clip of the INN protest, called: “Birthright: It's Time to Choose - Us or the Donors?”
Shimunov linked the hashtag “#UsOrTheDonors” to a video clip of the INN protest, called: “Birthright: It's Time to Choose - Us or the Donors?”
Birthright Israel is a heritage trip to Israel for Jewish young adults from across the world.
Shimunov added on the same Twitter thread: “Strange how little @birthright likes to be occupied on the streets of NYC. Thanks to @IfNotNowOrg today they have just a moment what being blockaded and sealed off feels like. A moment these Young Jewish leaders have to now pay in jail. Proudly. #LastChanceBirthright.”
The event’s Facebook description said that “hundreds” of young Jews...will converge on Birthright’s headquarters to give them one final chance to choose between the demands of INN members and their current policy.”
INN activists reportedly chanted outside of Birthright headquarters, linked arms and blocked entrances to the building. Fifteen activists were arrested [01:21:07] for refusing to move.
On July 20, 2018, Shimunov tweeted, in response to a NowThis tweet and video of INN activist Elon Glickman disrupting a Birthright trip and taking part in an INN walk-off from the trip, commenting: “Follow @elonTglickman (from the video) and @IfNotNowOrg (the group of American Jews organizing to end American support of the occupation).”
In the video, Glickman likened [00:00:01] visiting Israel on Birthright to “going the Jim Crow South during segregation.”
Promoting Anti-Israel Agitators
Linda Sarsour has frequently used the word “Zionist” as a pejorative and has tweeted that “nothing is creepier than Zionism.” She has aligned with noted anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan, dismissed [00:07:45] those who see her alignment with Farrakhan as problematic and slammed the “Jewish Media” for calling attention to it.
At Farrakhan’s 2015 #JusticeOrElse March, Sarsour asserted [00:00:36]: “The same people who justify the massacres of Palestinian people and call it ‘collateral damage’ are the same people who justify the murder of young black men and women.”
On January 23, 2017, Shimunov tweeted: “Pathetic trolls couldn't compete with the force of millions of women at #WomensMarch, now targeting one of its organizers #IMarchWithLinda.”
On December 30, 2018, Shimunov tweeted: “I'm really quite happy that CNN's firing of @marclamonthill hasn't quieted him on facts and will continue to elevate American dialog about Palestinian civil and human rights.”
On December 30, 2018, Shimunov tweeted: “I'm really quite happy that CNN's firing of @marclamonthill hasn't quieted him on facts and will continue to elevate American dialog about Palestinian civil and human rights.”
In November 2018, Marc Lamont Hill was fired from his position as a contributor to CNN (Cable News Network) following controversial comments he made during a meeting held at the United Nations for an “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.”
During the meeting, Hill reportedly whitewashed Palestinian violence and accused Israel of “state violence and ethnic cleansing.” He also called for a “free Palestine from the river to the sea.”
In September 2018, during a U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) conference, Hill insinuated [00:31:01] that Israel poisons Palestinian water and seemingly approved [00:30:34] of violence against Israelis.
On March 3, 2019, Shimunov tweeted: “AOC shared Ilhan's apology rather than ignore it existed in order to attack her. An apology that I personally think Ilhan owed nobody as Jew who cares about intent and saw that Ilhan was telling the truth that Jews and others share everyday with no cost.”
Ilhan Omar was elected to the U.S. Congress in 2018. In February 2019, top Congressional leaders denounced Omar for tweeting anti-Semitic remarks.Omar has demonized Israel and endorsed BDS. In July 2019, Omar introduced a pro-BDS resolution in the U.S. Congress, which she described as “an opportunity for us to explain why it is we support…the BDS movement.”
On March 6, 2019, Shimunov tweeted: “Newest attacks on Illhan are stemming from a beautiful speech she made at legendary DC movement space Busboys and Poets.”
Shimunov added in the same thread: “Here is the so called scandalous speech. Watch for yourself and risk being moved to tears by a human being and her cause.”
Shimunov was referring to a March 1, 2019 event where Omar suggested that supporters of Israel were disloyal to America, saying [00:00:42]: “I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is OK for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country.”
Following Omar’s March 1, 2019 presentation, then-Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Congressman Elliot Engel, issued an online statement describing Omar’s comments [00:04:08] as a “vile anti-Semitic slur” as well as “unacceptable and deeply offensive.”
On May 18, 2019, Shimunov tweeted at Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib: “Jews like me all across the US stand with you.” Shimunov was responding to a tweet by Tlaib to JVP, saying: “.@jvplive your letter was a reminder that only together, with truth, can we truly fight back against hate, silencing of others and all forms of oppression.”
Representative Rashida Tlaib is connected to six Hamas-linked activists, all of whom served as fundraiser co-hosts for her successful 2018 congressional campaign. She has advocated for a one-state solution, endorsed the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and called for reduced foreign aid to Israel. In July 2019, Tlaib co-sponsored a pro-BDS bill in the U.S. Congress introduced by Representative Ilhan Omar.
As of July 2019, Shimunov signed a statement titled: “JewsWithIlhan,” along with anti-Israel activists including Naomi Klein, Ilan Pappé, Sarah Jaffe and Rebecca Vilkomerson
Ilhan Omar was elected to the U.S. Congress in 2018. In February 2019, top Congressional leaders denounced Omar for tweeting anti-Semitic remarks.
On March 6, 2019, Omar’s supporters released “An Open Letter,” claiming there was “absolutely nothing anti-Semitic” about Omar’s attack on the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). The letter also applauded Omar for her support of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, concluding: “#WeStandWithIlhan.”
Promoting BDS
On April 18, 2018, Shimunov tweeted: “Considering the global customer base of Puma, I think it's pretty safe to assume the plurality of its buyers would be troubled to learn that it sponsors home teams made up of violent settlers who are destroying what little there is left of Palestinian homes #BoycottPuma.”
Shimunov added: “One would think targeting 17 and 19 year old Palestinian footballers by targeting their feet would have ended @PUMA collaboration long ago. Jawhar: 7 gunshots to his left foot, 3 his right Halabiya: 1 shot to each foot Followed by police dogs and beatings #BoycottPuma.”
In February 2014, two Palestinians reportedly attempted to throw explosive devices at Israeli Border Police officers, who then fired at their legs and apprehended the pair. One of the terrorists, Jawhar Nasser Jawhar [a.k.a. Joher Naser], has expressed support for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) is a terror group “whose objective is the destruction of the State of Israel and the establishment of a sovereign, Islamic Palestinian state.” PIJ is backed by Iran and has killed dozens of Israelis in suicide bombings and other attacks.
On July 31, 2018, Shimunov tweeted: “BDS is non violent, but violent BDS predates Palestinian boycotts. Israeli ‘BDS’ bans lives of unarmed nurses. Holds children in prison. Divests from basic human and even child rights. Divests from fair trials. And Sanctions free will, even paintings and poetry.”
On August 31, 2018, Shimunov tweeted about musician Lana Del Ray: “Thanks to the other artists who cancelled, like DJ Seinfeld and Volvox. And fans like @ahmadmerhebe who helped organize the many voices. @PACBI @BDSmovement @jvplive @adalahNY for the long game. Art will not be coopted for injustice because art is justice. #LanaDontGo.”
On that same day, Shimunov tweeted: “Thank u @LanaDelRey for cancelling your Israel show. While the request of your Palestinian fans is to boycott and not dual shows, it is heartening that you've allowed them to reach you in your thinking as you have reached them with your music #LanaDontGo.”
On September 1, 2018, Shimunov tweeted: “I love all the creative ways we Jews and Americans who want to end injustice for Palestinians have for doing so. But the one way Palestinian civil society themselves are asking of us is boycott. So it's extremely powerful to be the fullest allies that way.”
On May 18, 2019, Shimunov tweeted: “Rather defensively reacting to critics asking her to boycott Eurovision in Israel, @Madonna falsely claims the crowd comes from all the world. Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza are banned. But she put a flag on a dancer so we're good.”
INN Activity
On June 29, 2019, Shimunov tweeted: “HUGE NEWS Mazel tov to members of @IfNotNowOrg who have just launched an electoral arm to make sure 2020 presidential candidates don't get a free pass using our collective Jewish identity for the brutal occupation of Palestinians.”
A June 30, 2019 Haaretz article highlighted INN’s new policy to “officially lobby political leaders to speak out against the occupation and the policies of the Israeli government, focusing on Democratic candidates in the 2020 elections.”
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.
IfNotNow (INN)
IfNotNow (INN) is an anti-Israel organization founded in 2014, in response to Israel’s Operation Protective Edge (OPE) against Hamas.
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 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).
Social Media and Weblinks
Facebook:www.facebook.com/541682211Twitter: https://twitter.com/rafaelshimunov
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/rafaelshimunov/
Website:http://resisthere.org/rafael-shimunov/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rafternoon/
PSCP.TV:https://www.pscp.tv/rafaelshimunov
Videos
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Infamous Quotes
“But of course, he did not say that Jews controlled the weather. He said that the Rothschilds did.”
“If you keep repeating things about the two state solution to show that you care about Israelis and Palestinians so that you don't scare away so called centrists, without actually doing anything about it, you're just an accessory to ethnic cleansing and state terrorism.”
“... AIPAC is a right wing organization that funds ethnic cleansing in my name as a Jew.”
“I love all the creative ways we Jews and Americans who want to end injustice for Palestinians have for doing so. But the one way Palestinian civil society themselves are asking of us is boycott. So it's extremely powerful to be the fullest allies that way.”
