Mark LeVine

Overview

Mark LeVine [Mark Andrew Levine] is a member of the Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) academic council. He writes for the Qatari-funded Al Jazeera and other publications. LeVine is a proponent of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

According to a December 2014 Campus Watch report, LeVine has used Facebook to launch profanity-laced tirades against supporters of Israel and Israel itself.

In 2014, Levine posted a rant calling for the dismantlement of Israel: "F**k all of you who want to make arguments about civility and how Israel wants peace...There is only one criticism of Israel that is relevant: It is a state grown, funded, and feeding off the destruction of another people. It is not legitimate. It must be dismantled, the same way that the other racist, psychopathic states across the region must be dismantled. And everyone who enables it is morally complicit in its crimes, including you."

On June 19, 2015, LeVine wrote on Facebook in reference to Israel: “F**k the occupation.”

LeVine is a professor of Modern Middle Eastern History at the University of California, Irvine (UC Irvine).

Lying to Propagate Anti-Israel Blood Libels

On July 17, 2016, LeVine wrote an article published on Al Jazeera in which he falsely accused Israeli leadership of “brazenly” cutting off drinking water to Palestinians during the month of Ramadan “without a care in the world.” The Palestinian narrative blaming Israel for lack of development in the Palestinian water sector is false; however, the Palestinian Authority fraudulently employs the issue as a political weapon against Israel.

Applauding Child Endangerment

On October 12, 2015, LeVine posted a photo on Facebook of a small Palestinian child approaching Israeli soldiers to throw rocks at them. LeVine commented “If I was Palestinian, my son would be there.” When asked if he would ever allow his own child to approach Israeli soldiers with rocks, LeVine confirmed that he would and that he would “be hovering veyr [sic] close by”.

Encouraging Civilians to Become Human Shields

In an April 3, 2002 article, LeVine insinuated that Israeli military and Jihadi suicide bombers should be approached similarly by those wishing to help end the Arab-Israeli conflict. LeVine called for a "massive influx of activists ready to put their bodies on the line" to “challenge the terror of tanks and suicide bombers alike” as a tactic to “create the space in which Israeli and Palestinian activists...can challenge and inspire their peoples toward a future of peace and reconciliation.”

In 2003, LeVine wrote an article praising International Solidarity Movement (ISM) member Rachel Corrie’s “spirit and courage” and again called for activist to put “their bodies on the line for real peace and justice between Palestinians and Israelis.”

ISM

Promoting BDS To Undo The State of Israel

In August 2014, LeVine signed a BDS call by Middle East Studies Scholars and Librarians for the Academic Boycott of Israel.

On April 18, 2016, LeVine wrote a long letter pressuring musician Carlos Santana to cancel a concert in Israel. Santana refused to bow to such pressure and defended his decision to play in Tel Aviv. One week later, LeVine wrote an angry letter in response to the University of California's chancellors condemnation of a proposed academic boycott of Israel.

On August 23, 2015, LeVine wrote an op-ed for Al Jazeera, opining that that it was inappropriate for American Jewish reggae artist Matisyahu to perform at a Spanish peace festival. Matisyahu’s performance was initially cancelled by organizers who bowed to heavy BDS pressure and demanded that Matisyahu sign a statement approving of a Palestinian state. Matisyahu refused to be coerced — and when the attempted coercion sparked international outrage, the decision was reversed. Matisyahu — the only Jewish artist on the roster — performed, but felt unsafe, facing a crowd that where people waved Palestinian flags and flipped Matisyahu the middle finger.

On June 25, 2015, LeVine wrote an article that "BDS is the only pro-Israel option left." One day earlier, LeVine admitted that he wants to "undo the events of 1948," in reference to the founding of the State of Israel.

Promoting Anti-Israel Bigotry

In a December 27, 2009 Al Jazeera article, titled “Who Will Save Israel From Itself?” LeVine wrote that “Israelis are clearly incapable. Their addiction as a society to the illusion of violence-as-power has reached the level of collective mental illness.” LeVine also attacked Israel for launching Operation Cast Lead in 2009 to stop Hamas rocket fire targeting civilians, and to curtail weapons smuggling into the Gaza strip.

Lying To Defend Hamas’ War Crimes

In the same article, LeVine also lied that Hamas would recognize Israel. Levine wrote the "The claim that Hamas will never accept the existence of Israel has proved equally misinformed, as Hamas leaders explicitly announce their intention to do just that in the pages of the Los Angeles Times or to any international leader or journalist who will meet with them." However, the Hamas charter explicitly and repeatedly calls for the violent destruction of Israel and the genocide of world Jewry. The Hamas leadership has steadily maintained that Hamas has never and will never accept the existence of Israel.

On August 23, 2014 — two days after Hamas admitted the kidnap and execution of three Israeli high-schoolers, Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaar and Naftali Fraenkel — LeVine argued on Facebook that Hamas should not be held responsible for the crime. The abducted boys were murdered by their Hamas captors and their bodies were found buried in Palestinian-controlled territory on June 30, 2014. Hamas funded the operation, purchasing the weapons used to murder the boys and the plot of land where the boy’s bodies were buried.

In a September 1, 2014 Facebook post, LeVine implied that the 2014 Gaza War — implemented to destroy Hamas’ attack tunnels and stop Hamas rocket attacks from Gaza targeting Israeli civilians — was an excuse for Israel to appropriate land in the West Bank. On August 6, 2014, LeVine lied that Hamas did not shoot rockets from populated civilian areas, and on July 31, 2014 attempted to obfuscate Hamas’ prolific use of civilians as human shields, writing “IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT HAMAS DOES. PERIOD.”

Defending the Shut-Down of Free Speech

On February 22, 2010, LeVine wrote an article defending a group of UC Irvine students dubbed the “Irvine 11,” who were arrested for repeatedly disrupting former Israeli ambassador Michael Oren’s talk at the university on February 8, 2010.

Demanding Donors Support Anti-Semitic Hate Speech As “Academic Freedom”

On September 3, 2014, LeVine wrote an Al Jazeera article condemning University of Illinois (U of I)’s withdrawal of a job offer to professor Steven Salaita, following Salaita’s tirade of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic hate-speech on social media, as outlined further below.

LeVine wrote that "[a]cademics across the United States need to take a stand in support of Salaita’s and their own rights." Levine frequently posts support for Salaita on Facebook.

Levine objected especially to donors and trustees who chose to withdraw their financial support upon learning of Salaita’s hateful comments on social media. Levine called the Trustees’ choice and ability to express their objections via withholding their support a "threat to academic freedom."

In 2014, The University of Illinois withdrew an offer of employment to Salaita after becoming aware of his anti-Semitic tweets. One tweet, posted shortly after Hamas kidnapped three teenage Israeli high school students, read: "You may be too refined to say it, but I’m not: I wish all the f**king West Bank settlers would go missing.” In 2017, Salaita posted to Facebook: “People ask if I would go back in time and change anything. I would not…I will die unapologetic.” In February 2019, Salaita stated that he had become a school bus driver in the Washington, D.C., area.

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.”

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/Mark.Levine.culturejamming

Twitter:https://twitter.com/culturejamming

Wikipedia:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_LeVine

Al Jazeera Opinions:http://america.aljazeera.com/profiles/l/mark-levine.html

Al Jazeera Stories:http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/profile/mark-levine.html

Alternet Stories: http://www.alternet.org/authors/mark-levine

Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-levine/

Website:http://www.meaning.org/levinebio.html