Simone Zimmerman is one of the most influential organizers in the contemporary American Jewish youth movement, born in 1990 in Los Angeles to a traditional Jewish family. Her Jewish identity is the core of her professional trajectory: she attended Jewish day schools, was a staunch Zionist youth leader, and served as the president of the Israel Action Committee at UC Berkeley. However, her firsthand observations of the occupation led to a profound ideological shift. This background as an “insider” allows her to challenge traditional consensuses within the American Jewish community from a uniquely empathetic and insightful perspective.
In her career, Zimmerman has used her extraordinary organizational skills to catalyze a generational shift in American Jewish politics. In 2014, she co-founded the grassroots movement IfNotNow, which has grown into one of the largest organizations mobilizing young Jews against the occupation. In 2016, she was appointed as National Jewish Outreach Coordinator for Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign; although she was suspended days later due to her past criticisms of Benjamin Netanyahu, the incident solidified her status as a symbol of progressive Jewish power. In 2024 and 2025, the global release of the documentary Israelism, featuring Zimmerman as a central figure, has further elevated her profile, making her story a landmark for understanding the evolving consciousness of Jewish Americans.
Zimmerman views her advocacy for Palestinian rights as the ultimate fulfillment of her Jewish values and remains at the forefront of protest movements. She has organized numerous demonstrations against AIPAC and led delegations of young Jews to the West Bank to witness the impact of settlement expansion on Palestinian communities. She rejects the idea that Jewish safety should be built on the oppression of others, once poignantly stating: “The lessons I was taught in my Jewish community—about justice, about dignity, and the value of human life—are exactly what lead me to stand with Palestinians.”
And addressing the situation in 2025, she firmly declared: “A true Jewish renaissance cannot be achieved through occupation. We refuse to let our name (Not In Our Name) be associated with military actions that strip another people of their rights.“