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Academia is a hotbed of BDS.
Via Campus Reform:
The University of Michigan hosted a town hall comprised entirely of anti-Israel speakers on Monday, just two days after the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre left 11 people dead, the worst anti-Semitic attack in American history.
UMich billed the event as a “teach-in town hall” explaining “what is BDS? And why does it matter?” The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement calls for an end to international support of Israel’s “oppression of Palestinians.”
What is fair and just, in light of our diverse histories: members of the U-M community recall boycotts of Jewish businesses in Nazi Europe, America’s history of civil rights boycotts, and boycotts in response to Palestinian displacement under Israeli Occupation?” the event description asks.
The town hall event announcement listed several prominent celebrities, including the singer Lorde, who canceled their events in protest of Israel.
UMich’s Arab and Muslim American Studies department, Department of Women Studies, Conflict and Peace Initiative; Colonialism, Race, and Sexualities Initiative; Department of American Culture, and the Middle Eastern Law Students Association (MELSA) were among the entities that funded the event.
Anti-Israel activists Susan Abulhawa, Tom Pessah, and Huwaida Arraf spoke at the event.
Abulhawa, a novelist, tweeted in 2013, “How many times must we become refugees? Why? So every American and European Jew can have dual citizenship?” […]
The event was organized by UMich’s Center for Middle Eastern & North African Studies (CMENAS), an entity directed by Samer Mahdy Ali. Ali, who also serves as an Arabic and Islamic culture professor at UMich, commented on the event to Campus Reform.
CMENAS “did in fact host a BDS event on Monday, and we did, in fact, consider canceling it, but we decided to proceed with the event with substantial modifications to acknowledge and integrate the horrific events of the Shabbat massacre,” Ali said. “Many of our Jewish friends from Hillel attended the BDS event, along with Jewish and Israeli left students affiliated with Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow and the Israeli organization Boycott from Within.”
Ali termed the claim that BDS is anti-Semitic “patently false.”
“BDS opposes the apartheid laws and policies that oppress millions of Palestinians as well as Israelis who are dark-skinned, such as Yemeni, Mizrahi, and Ethiopian Jews,” he told Campus Reform. “There is nothing inherently Jewish about oppression. Israel in its current form stands in violation of post-WWII international norms, International Law, and the Geneva Convention. It has been characterized as “an apartheid state” by Nobel Peace Laureates Jimmy Carter and Desmond Tutu, among others, because of racist laws and policies toward the indigenous population. Our event shows that many Jews and Palestinians and their allies want a more just and hopeful future for all.”