IfNotNow crashes Birthright, then leaves for E. J’lem tour
Infiltrators: We knew regular group wouldn’t take us
Six young Jews from the US associated with the left-wing IfNotNow organization have again gatecrashed a Birthright trip in Israel, participating in part of the 10-day tour and then demonstratively leaving it in protest of what they said is a lack of perspective provided regarding the Palestinian version of the conflict with Israel.
The group of participants associated with IfNotNow livestreamed their protest on Facebook.
It appears that only the six participants in the group associated with IfNotNow left the tour to visit east Jerusalem, not anyone else on this Birthright trip.
Another two Birthright participants from a different group joined those six on the tour in east Jerusalem, which was guided by Hagit Ofran from Peace Now’s Settlement Watch division.
This latest incident is the second in what is a coordinated campaign by IfNotNow to have youth associated with the organization sign up for the free Birthright trips, and then publicly protest Israeli rule in the West Bank.
IfNotNow, which says it seeks to “end American Jewish support for the occupation,” launched a new campaign in June called Not Just A Free Trip, in which it says it is using “a diversity of methods” to teach Birthright participants about “the daily nightmare of Occupation.”
One of the methods is to actively infiltrate Birthright groups without the organization’s knowledge, and influence the other participants regarding the political conflict with the Palestinians by offering them tours and other activities without Birthright’s permission.
On Sunday morning, one of the participants started speaking during one of the group’s activities, saying that they knew they would not get a perspective on the Palestinian narrative of the conflict, and that they were therefore going to visit a family in east Jerusalem they claimed is being threatened with an eviction order.
“We know we can’t do this [go to east Jerusalem] within Birthright. We know you’ve been trying to answer our questions, and we know birthright isn’t going to show us this perspective, which is why we need to leave to build the world that we want,” one of the IfNotNow participants told the Birthright tour guide.
The guide for his part reacted calmly, and said he would be happy to facilitate a discussion later in the day about the conflict and issues in east Jerusalem.
He also said that anyone who wished to leave the trip could do so freely, although they will lose their deposit for the trip, may have to pay to change their flight ticket and that Birthright may charge them for the entire trip.
Another of the IfNotNow participants acknowledged that it would not be possible to go to east Jerusalem with Birthright which is why that person left the group to go on their own.
One of the IfNotNow participants, Elon Glickman, made a video for the group’s website last year protesting the lack of education he had received in the Jewish day school system about the Palestinian narrative of the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
Birthright did not immediately comment on the incident.