Rose Asaf
Overview
Rose Asaf has spread hatred of Israel and opposed the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act (AAA), a bipartisan bill, drafted in response to growing anti-Semitism in the United States. She was also involved in a confrontation with former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton.Asaf has promoted the #returnthebirthright initiative launched by JVP against the Birthright Jewish heritage tour.
Asaf is also affiliated with IfNotNow (INN), an organization that uses disruptive tactics to drive a wedge between the American Jewish community and Israel.
As of March 2020, Asaf’s LinkedIn page said she was a “Regional Field Director at Bernie Sanders For President,” since November 2019.
Asaf’s LinkedIn page also said she was a Senator and Director of Operations with NYU’s Student Government from August 2017 to November 2019.
In October 2018 her LinkedIn also said that Asaf was a Bronfman Center Engagement Intern from August 2016 to May 2017 and an intern with a representative in the U.S. Congress from July 2017 through October 2018.
In the summer of 2018, Asaf participated in an NYU Gallatin Human Rights Fellowship in Israel while interning at the organization Zochrot, an NGO in Israel that calls for the right of return for Palestinian refugees and promotes the idea “that peace will come only after the country has been decolonized."
As of April 2020, Asaf was awarded the 2020 Marshall Scholarship, which “finances young Americans of high ability to study in the United Kingdom” and is awarded to “future leaders” and “distinguished young Americans” in order to “strengthen the enduring relationship between the British and American peoples.”
As part of the scholarship, Asaf reportedly planned to study at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Demonizing Israel
On March 17, 2019, Asaf tweeted: “During some of the bloodiest days of the Great March of Return, Israel and the media joined forces to write off the murdered as ‘Hamas terrorists,’ as if any affiliation with Hamas justified illegal slaughter. It has long been a tactic to invoke Hamas to justify Israeli crimes.”In Summer 2018, Asaf completed an NYU Gallatin Global Fellowship internship in Israel. In her student blog posts, Asaf demonized Israel, which she referred to as “Occupied Palestine ‘48.”
Asaf completed her internship while interning at the NGO Zochrot. Asaf has described Zochrot as “the most well-known and established NGO in Israel that that explicitly calls for the right of return for Palestinian refugee.”
Zochrot’s website says it focuses on the Jewish target audience, which “derives from its practical and moral responsibility for Palestinian refugeehood, as well as from its privileged power position under the present regime.”
In a May 2018 blog post, Asaf claimed that Israel was “seized through forced evacuations, ethnic cleansing, and total destruction.”
In an August 24, 2018 blog post Asaf wrote: “Criticizing only the occupation ignores the settler/colonial context of the situation in Palestine and also legitimizes the ethnic cleansing of the Nakba.” She also observed: “Zochrot’s position is an unpopular one because it calls into question the legitimacy of Israel’s foundation and existence.”
In an August 28, 2018 blog post, Asaf claimed Israel’s use of checkpoints was offensive rather than defensive and alleged that terrorism ceased after Israel’s security barrier was constructed only because “tactics of resistance have changed, and leadership has decided that its followers should no longer engage in such activities.”
Asaf also alleged the purpose of checkpoints is to “inhibit and control movement for Palestinians, significantly lengthen travel times, ban entry to certain areas of their own land, humiliate Palestinians, and reinforce the quotidian psychology of domination.”
Spreading Hatred of Israel
On October 18, 2017, Asaf tweeted: “case in point: if you're outraged abt trump's border wall but are silent on the apartheid wall in Palestine your discourse is invalid.”On October 17, 2017, Asaf tweeted that a poster celebrating Israel’s Independence Day “is truly a medley of 12-year-old 4chan human, colonialism, militarism, lame club culture, & weaponizing women's bodies…”
On October 12, 2017, Asaf retweeted a tweet from the Democratic Socialists of America, which read: “‘Anti-Israel bias’ is a euphemism for ‘acknowledging the crimes and brutality of the Israeli apartheid state.’”
On October 1, 2017, Asaf tweeted: “‘An all-out struggle against Zionism by Jews, therefore, is also the most effective way to fight against real anti-Semitism.’”
Opposing the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act
Asaf retweeted an October 9, 2018 tweet by JVP-NYC showing video of Asaf with a microphone, saying: ”Tonight we were at @RepJerryNadler's Town Hall to call on him to remove co-sponsorship of the so-called 'Antisemitism Awareness Act. This bill intentionally & dangerously conflates antisemitism with constitutionally protected advocacy for Palestinian rights on college campuses.”In December of 2016, Asaf signed a JVP-launched petition opposing the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act (AAA), which was unanimously approved by the U.S. Senate on December 1, 2016.
The AAA directed the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to use the U.S. State Department’s definition of anti-Semitism when evaluating hostile environment complaints.
JVP’s petition asserted that anti-Semitism did not warrant its own bill, but should rather be considered equal to other forms of bigotry. The petition also purported that “real anti-Semitism” came from the “white supremacist movements in this country” and contended the bill did “little to protect us, as Jewish students, from these dangers.”
The petition also claimed that BDS was “not inherently anti semitic” and called the State Department’s definition of anti-Semitism “problematic.”
Confronting Chelsea Clinton
On March 15, 2019, Asaf videotaped and posted to Twitter a verbal confrontation by fellow NYU SJP activist Leen Dweik [Leen Mahmood] with former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton, at NYU.The university held a vigil for victims of a terrorist attack in New Zealand earlier that day. Clinton was invited to attend the vigil due to her founding role in NYU’s multifaith organization, Of Many Institute.
After the vigil, Asaf filmed Dweik confronting Clinton. In the confrontation, Dweik blamed Clinton for inciting the New Zealand terrorist attack. Dweik accused Clinton by claiming the deaths were “the result of a massacre stoked by people like you and the words that you put out into the world.”
Dweik went on to say: “I want you to know that and I want you to feel that deep inside. Forty-nine people died because of the rhetoric you put out there.”
Later that day, Asaf tweeted: “My best friend @vivafalastin told @ChelseaClinton that it's a disgrace that she came to the vigil, calling out Chelsea's Islamophobia and hypocrisy.”
The following day, Asaf and Dweik wrote an editorial for Buzzfeed News and said they were “shocked” by Clinton’s presence at the vigil due to Clinton’s condemnation of Representative Ilhan Omar’s controversial comments made several weeks earlier, which many condemned as anti-Semitic.
Asaf and Dweik also said in their Buzzfeed editorial: “Just weeks before this tragedy, we bore witness to a bigoted, anti-Muslim mob coming after Rep. Ilhan Omar for speaking the truth about the massive influence of the Israel lobby in this country.”
The pair also said: “Chelsea hurt our fight against white supremacy when she stood by the petty weaponizers of antisemitism” and warned: “We want you to know that it is dangerous to label valid criticisms of Israel and its lobby as anti-Semitic.”
Asaf and Dweik addressed Clinton directly in the editorial: “We hope that our intentions in confronting you are now clear. We believe that you still owe an apology: not only to Rep. Omar, but also to Palestinians for using your platform to defame their cause.”
On March 15, 2019, Asaf privated her Twitter account and set up a new account, tweeting: “I had to reset my account...let me say this Sorry NOT Sorry!” Later that day, Asaf tweeted: “Hey Chelsea, I’m not sorry.”
Marginalizing Pro-Israel Students
According to a Times of Israel article published on April 9, 2018, 51 student groups at NYU, led by Asaf, endorsed a BDS resolution against Israeli academic institutions, Israeli products and Israel advocacy groups.In an unprecedented move, the student groups extended the BDS effort to include the boycott of two pro-Israel campus clubs, TorchPAC and Realize Israel. The boycotters committed to refrain from co-sponsoring events or otherwise collaborating with the pro-Israel groups.
A pro-Israel senator and member of Realize Israel told The Jewish Week that “This is creating an unsafe space on our campus… Being for dialogue and community as long as it excludes Zionist students is hypocritical, and it is hurtful.”
In response, Asaf argued “This is not a boycott of individual Jewish students or Jewish clubs. Realize Israel and TorchPAC are both political organizations that we have decided not to work with for political reasons.”
On March 29, 2018, as a student senator, Asaf drafted and pushed through a student government resolution “calling for NYU to be more transparent in its protection of students traveling to the Tel Aviv campus.”
The measure drew criticism from student groups on campus, for singling out Israel exclusively and heightening the potential for creation of a hostile environment for Jewish students on campus.
As a senator-at-large, Asaf was chosen, rather than elected, to represent the Jewish community at NYU.
In the 2018-2019 academic year, she altered the description of her constituency from “Jewish students, Student Activists” generally to “Marginalized Jewish Students/Student Activists/Students With Mental Health Struggles” at NYU. Subsequently, a Jewish student complained: “We don’t have a voice, let alone a vote.”
Condemning Jewish Heritage Tour
On April 16, 2018, Asaf participated in a Return the Birthright protest outside the Taglit Birthright Gala in New York City. Asaf was featured in a Twitter video wearing a JVP t-shirt, claiming she was there because she refused “to be complicit in apartheid.” She described Birthright as “a free trip on stolen land.”On March 28, 2018, NYU JVP posted to Facebook a video of a Return the Birthright rally featuring Asaf.
Asaf read prepared remarks off a cell phone, announcing [00:00:35]: “As young Jews, we recognize that Israel is not our Birthright.”
Asaf claimed that “Zionists in Israel expelled over 700,000 Palestinians from their homes and villages… an act of ethnic cleansing known as the Nakba… that cleared the land for the creation of the modern day state of Israel.”
She continued [00:02:28]: “As young Jews we return the Birthright. We implore other young Jews on our campuses and in our community- don’t go on Birthright. Don’t take a trip sponsored by conservative donors and the Israeli government where the ongoing oppression and occupation of Palestinians will be hidden from you.”
On December 3, 2017 Asaf attended and participated in a Return the Birthright protest outside the Taglit-Birthright offices in New York City. JVP members from all over the country assembled to chant anti-Birthright slogans outside the Birthright offices.
On the day of the event, Asaf tweeted: “Everyone check out @jvpliveNY's tweets from today! I live tweeted the #ReturnTheBirthright action.
During the protest, Asaf identified herself in a tweet: “catch me in the pink beanie.” Asaf spoke to the assembled crowd and said [01:19:39] “As an Israeli and someone whose family still lives in Israel, I recognize that even though they live there, that’s not our home.”
On October 12, 2017, Asaf tweeted 3 photos of herself posing with a sign that read: “I #ReturnTheBirthright because it is not ‘free’ I refuse to buy into propaganda.”
She captioned the photos with “As an American-Israel Jewish woman, I (dramatically) #ReturnTheBirthright because Palestinians deserve their birthright. @jvplive.”
NYU JVP featured the photo of Asaf in a Facebook post promoting JVP’s #returnthebirthrightcampaign.
The photo was also shared by the Return the Birthright Facebook page, with the caption: “#RETURN#THE#BIRTHRIGHT: We, NYU JVP, pledge that we will not go on Birthright because it is fundamentally unjust that we are given a free trip to Israel, while Palestinian refugees are barred from returning to their homes.
We refuse to be complicit in a propaganda trip that whitewashes the systemic racism and daily violence faced by Palestinians living under endless occupation.
Our Judaism is grounded in values of solidarity and liberation, not occupation and apartheid. On these grounds, we return the Birthright, and call on other young Jews to do the same.”
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.
Promoting BDS
On November 1, 2018, along with fellow SJP activists Leen Dweik and Bayan Abubaker, Asaf co-authored and proposed a divestment resolution to the NYU Student Government.The authors also listed claims of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the allegation that “Israeli air strikes also carried out ‘deliberate and premeditated’ attacks on civilian infrastructure... according to a UN report.”
Judge Richard Goldstone, who authored the report, expressed “regrets about his report” and retracted its central thesis.
On October 11, 2018, Asaf tweeted she would be introducing BDS to the NYU student government in her capacity as a student senator: “the beans are spilled: we are bringing a bds divestment resolution to the nyu student government!” and “I am a senator and will be presenting it with two other kickass senators. @vivafalastin and my b bayan who doesnt have a twitter but get ready yall :")”
Asaflater tweeted that the resolution would be voted on by secret ballot: “today we passed rules in the student government that confirms that the divestment resolution will be voted on by way of a secret ballot and that only NYU students with NYU IDs will be allowed in the room.”
An article in the Washington Square News about the upcoming vote noted that “there will be no chance for public comment.”
In an October 12, 2018 interview with NYU News, Asaf explained: “A lot of the times at other universities, they’ll try to separate it from the BDS movement and say this is just divestment. We are explicitly saying that this is a result of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.”
Dweik later reportedly clarified that “it is a divestment bill, not a boycott bill.”
On October 1, 2018 Asaf was featured in a Twitter video where she demonstrated with SJP and JVP at NYU in support of BDS. Asaf instructed the assembled students to repeat after her while she read prepared remarks, including: [00:00:40] “NYU SJP and NYU JVP call on the university to divest from Israel and respect the academic and economic boycott that Palestinians have called for.”
On September 26, 2018, Asaf tweeted: ”Anyway, what we should be advocating for are the demands of BDS that Palestinian refugees, Palestinians in the 1967 territories and Palestinians citizens of Israel have called for: 1. End the occupation 2. Equal rights for Palestinian citizens of Israel 3. Right of Return.”
The “right of return” is a Palestinian demand discredited as a means to eliminate Israel. International law mandates no absolute right of return and UN Resolution 194, which defined principles for “refugees wishing to return to their homes,” was unanimously rejected by Arab nations following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
On August 20, 2018, Asaf tweeted: “I just DMed @arielxpink, asking that they cancel their planned performance at Israel’s Meteor Music Festival. Their DMs are open and you should send them something too. #BDS.”
On August 18, 2018, Asaf tweeted: “In 2014, @LanaDelRey cancelled a show in Tel Aviv during Protective Edge in which thousands of Palestinians were murdered. Now, she has planned a concert in Israel as the Great March of Return continues & after over 160 have been killed. Don’t cross the picket line. #LanaDontGo.”
On April 9, 2018, Asaf tweeted: “NYU Jewish Voice for Peace & Students for Justice in Palestine announce a coalition of 50 on-campus clubs who pledge to support BDS; they won't work with pro-Israel group or spend university funds on Israeli goods, and they support university divestment.” Asaf linked to a medium.com article discussing the boycott of 50+ NYU campus groups who pledge to utilize BDS against Israel.
In May 2018, Asaf won the Sacheen Littlefeather / Nelson Mandela Dialogue and Education Award from the Center for Multicultural Education and Programs (CMEP) at NYU. The award “Recognizes a student who has improved the NYU community through engaging peers, students, faculty, and/or staff in meaningful dialogue and education.” Asaf explained that she was “recognized by NYU for my work with the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement on-campus.”
On December 18, 2017, Asaf retweeted a tweet that said, “hi @lorde pls don't visit or perform in an apartheid racist state @BDSmovement.”
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.”
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.
Code Pink
CODEPINK is a U.S.-based activist group founded in 2002 by Jodie Evans, Medea Benjamin and other activists to oppose the American invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The group actively opposes “U.S. support for the Israeli occupation of Palestine” and has been criticized for maintaining close ties to Hamas. CODEPINK also promotes the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
CODEPINK has led a number of solidarity delegations to Gaza under Hamas protection. In March 2014, CODEPINK also helped organize an “International Women's Day” delegation to Gaza. However, upon arriving at the Cairo airport on March 3, 2014, Benjamin was detained by Egyptian authorities and refused entry into Gaza. She was then forcibly deported to Turkey.
CODEPINKBDS campaigns have targeted RE/MAX, Ahava, SodaStream, Hewlett Packard and Airbnb. On November 20, 2016, CODEPINK leader Ariel Gold disrupted a speech given by the actor Ashton Kutcher, an Airbnb investor who defended the company. Gold was escorted off the stage by security.
In September 2008, a number of CODEPINK leaders met with former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a notorious anti-Semite and Holocaust denier. CODEPINK reportedly initiated its anti-Israel campaign followeding meeting. In November 2008, Jodie Evans and a CODEPINK contingent visited Iran at the personal invitation of Ahmadinejad.
Social Media and Weblinks
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100024757552869
- Status:
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- University:
- New-York
- Organizations:
- BDS,
- INN,
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- Last Modified:
- 06/23/2025
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