Tyler Levitan

IJV has promoted Holocaust denial and has been accused of peddling “antisemitism under the guise of radical anti-Zionism.” The group has also promoted the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

As of the same date, Levitan’s LinkedIn said he graduated from Carleton University (Carleton) with a master’s degree in Political Economy in 2012 and from Queen's University (QueensU) with a bachelor’s degree in Political Studies in 2009, and that he was located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Support for Terrorists (Hamas, PFLP)

On July 23, 2014, during Operation Protective Edge (OPE), Levitan was interviewed by CTV National News. During the interview, the news anchor asked [00:01:08] Levitan how he responded to the allegation by the Israeli government that the terror group Hamas was firing rockets into Israel and that Israel had to defend their own citizens. 

Israel commenced OPE in July 2014 to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.

Levitan responded [00:01:23] by claiming that if Israel “was concerned with defending its own citizens,” it would comply with international law and stated [00:01:53] that if Israel did that then “maybe they [Hamas] wouldn’t be shooting rockets into Israel.”

On April 13, 2015, Levitan published an article titled: “Israel takes another step to pariah status” in which he referred to terrorist Khalida Jarrar as a “prominent and inspirational leader in Palestinian society” and a “women's rights activist.” 

Khalida Jarrar is a senior member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror organization. In 2019, she was arrested for her role as the leader of the PFLP in the West Bank, which had carried out a deadly 2018 bombing and was reportedly “planning additional attacks.” She was among 50 PFLP operatives arrested.

On April 16, 2015, Jarrar posted on Facebook a photo that featured Jarrar and was captioned: “Stand with Justice. Stand with Palestine. Stand with Khalida. Khalida Jarrar Solidarity Campaign.”

On April 4, 2016, Levitan shared on Facebook a post from the anti-Israel organization Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network (Samidoun) that referred to Jarrar as a “feminist” and called for her freedom along with “all Palestinian prisoners!”

Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network (Samidoun) is an anti-Israel NGO whose activism spreads awareness of terrorists. At least three senior Samidoun activists are members [pp. 22-28] of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror group. In February 2021, Israel’s Ministry of Justice declared Samidoun to be a “terror organization,” accusing [p. 2] the NGO of operating “as an arm” of the PFLP. 
On May 13, 2022, Levitan wrote on Facebook: “It’s astonishing that Hassan Diab hasn’t been given assurances from the Canadian government that under no circumstances will he be extradited AGAIN after everything they put him and his family through. Demand an end to this innocent man’s 14-year nightmare. Please sign and share!”

Hassan Diab is a Lebanese-Canadian sociologist who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for his involvement in an explosion at a synagogue in Paris in 1980. The explosion killed 4 people and left 46 wounded.

Hatred of Israel

On July 24, 2014, during Israel’s OPE, Levitan organized [00:00:05] an anti-Israel rally in Ottawa. The day before the protest, in a CTV interview, Levitan claimed [00:00:40] that Israel “indiscriminately” bombed civilians and alleged [00:00:52] that Israel targeted Palestinian ambulances, schools and hospitals in Gaza. Multiple news sources later exposed Hamas’ exploitation of civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, schools and mosques as sites used to launch rockets attacks on Israel.

On October 2, 2014, commenting on an article about the hostile atmosphere BDS created for Israel-supporting Jews at McMaster University, Levitan referred to Israel as an “apartheid regime” and claimed that “equating the state of Israel with Judaism, if anything, is anti-Semitic.” He also accused Israel of “settler colonialism” and “ethnic cleansing.”  

One way that anti-Israel activists spread anti-Semitism is by claiming that Israeli Jews have no connection to the Land of Israel.  

On May 2, 2016, Levitan wrote an article on Huffington Post’s blog titled: “Israel Lobby's War On Boycott Movement Distracts From Reality.” In the article, Levitan defended the Palestinian “right of return” by claiming it was “enshrined in numerous bodies of international law.”

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.

Levitan also defended anti-Zionism as an “ideology opposed to the dispossession of Palestinians, institutional discrimination against Palestinian citizens of Israel, and Israel's apartheid policies.”

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.

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/tyler.levitan

Twitter:https://twitter.com/levitantyler

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/tylerlevitan/ [Private]

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/tyler-levitan-2538b363