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SJP Tag

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 06, 2015 11 Comments
Bowdoin College Student Government held an unprecedented all-student referendum, sponsored by Students for Justice in Palestine, for a full academic and cultural boycott of Israel (not just "divestment" from certain companies). Bowdoin is one of the most elite Liberal Arts colleges, ranked 5th by U.S. News & World Report. The referendum was held after SJP managed to get 20% of the student body to sign a Petition calling for a boycott. Our prior posts have the full background: In order to pass, one-third of the 1915 students needed to participate in the vote, and two-thirds of those voting needed to vote in favor. The results have just been officially released in an email from the student government president:
Dear Students, The voting for the student referendum has now closed. The number of voters reached the necessary quorum of 1/3 of the student body but only 14% voted in favor of the referendum, therefore it does not pass. The results are as follows: In favor: 228 votes, 14% Opposed: 1,144 votes, 71% Abstaining: 247 votes, 15% Total Votes: 1,619 votes, 85% of the student body Thank you to everyone who voted.
This is a particularly crushing blow to the boycott movement, with 150 fewer students voting in favor than signed the Petition.  This reflects that many students were pressured into signing the Petition and also were misled as to the nature of the boycott. That 85% of student body participated reflects that the student body spontaneously rose up against this threat to academic freedom.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 02, 2015 8 Comments
Update: Bowdoin College students overwhelmingly reject Israel boycott ---------- On Thursday, April 30, 2015, I reported on a developing story at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine: ALERT: Bowdoin College Students May Vote on Israel Academic Boycott
The Bowdoin College Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) group may obtain sufficient signatures on a Petition to send a referendum endorsing the full academic and cultural boycott of Israel to a vote by the full student body. This is not a mere “divestment” resolution. In calling on the full student body to endorse the complete boycott of Israel, the referendum appears to be taking an unpredecented move among college anti-Israel initiatives, which normally are narrowly tailored. It is a resolution, much like that passed by the American Studies Association, that would cut all academic and cultural ties with all Israeli Universities and any Israeli scholar or student acting on behalf of or through those universities. The ASA boycott was condemned as a violation of academic freedom by over 250 University Presidents (including Bowdoin’s) and several major academic groups, such as the American Association of University Professors.
As of 5 p.m. yesterday, Bowdoin SJP apparently obtained the necessary signatures, even though the online petition is short of the 383 signatures needed. There were some students who signed on paper, I am told, to reach the required number. The voting on the referendum has just started, as detailed below. But there is a question as to whether it even is procedurally proper.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 30, 2015 13 Comments
Update: Bowdoin College students overwhelmingly reject Israel boycott ---------------- The Bowdoin College Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) group may obtain sufficient signatures on a Petition to send a referendum endorsing the full academic and cultural boycott of Israel to a vote by the full student body. This is not a mere "divestment" resolution.  In calling on the full student body to endorse the complete boycott of Israel, the referendum appears to be taking an unpredecented move among college anti-Israel initiatives, which normally are narrowly tailored. It is a resolution, much like that passed by the American Studies Association, that would cut all academic and cultural ties with all Israeli Universities and any Israeli scholar or student acting on behalf of or through those universities.  The ASA boycott was condemned as a violation of academic freedom by over 250 University Presidents (including Bowdoin's) and several major academic groups, such as the American Association of University Professors. Whether SJP will obtain sufficient signatures is a matter currently under dispute. As of last night, SJP was claiming that it reached the required number at the time it closed the Petition. Bowdoin SJP Announcement Enough Signatures According to the Bowdoin Orient student newspaper 360 signatures were needed, but the online petition as of this writing shows only 351 signatures.  I am told that in a new development this afternoon, the number of signatures needed was raised to 383, as there has been a miscalculation of the total number of students.

Posted by Daniel Mael on April 23, 2015 23 Comments
On Thursday, the State of Israel is celebrating her 67th birthday. Naturally, pro-Israel college students nationwide have organized celebratory gatherings - ranging from guest speakers to culturally (read: food) oriented events. On Massachusetts Institute of Technology's campus, the planned celebration was not without controversy and dissent. On April 20th, the student group Palestine@MIT issued an "open letter" decrying an Israel Independence Day celebration scheduled to take place during SpringFest. Palestine@MIT went as far as to claim that the event makes them feel "unsafe."
The Israeli Independence Day raises politically sensitive questions given that it just so happens to represent the 1948 Palestinian Exodus, also known as the "Nakba". This is a day of extreme tragedy and traumatic loss for millions of people, including many students here at MIT. As Palestinians and supporters of Palestine in the MIT community, we are alarmed by the fact that the UA are endorsing this event, given that the UA represents us as well. We feel unsafe in an environment that celebrates a catastrophic day for one nation at an official school-wide capacity by a body that represents all students equally, with no regards or sympathy towards our tragedy. We direct this message to the entirety of the student body with a request for change. We request the UA to detach the carnival from SpringFest, and to refrain from sponsoring and/or publicizing it at a school-wide capacity.
Palestine@MIT, promoting a narrative of victimhood, suggested that the celebration of Israel's independence threatened their community standing.

Posted by Miriam Elman on April 13, 2015 4 Comments
It’s getting tougher to be a Jew in Britain. According to a report by the UK’s Community Security Trust, anti-Semitic incidents have skyrocketed in 2014, reaching the highest levels ever recorded. The Simon Wiesenthal Center reports that British Jews are increasingly afraid to visit Jewish-owned stores. A recent UK study finds that almost half of those surveyed believe at least one negative stereotype about Jews is true, including such statements as “Jews chase money more than other British people” and “Jews have too much power in the media”. In March, an angry mob attacked a London synagogue. And earlier this month, the deputy director of a London-based interfaith organization told The Guardian that:
In the last few months, the tone on my Facebook feed has changed. There’s more fear being expressed, and some friends won’t go to events at a synagogue or Jewish community centre now because of the security aspect…Three Faiths Forum works with about 10,000 young people a year. Over the past few months, their questions have become more pertinent and can lead to very challenging discussions. Questions we’ve had to Jewish speakers include: ‘You said Jews believe in charity—do you also believe in killing Palestinian babies?’ and ‘Why do Jews keep money under their hats?’ We had to explain that the man the student had seen was probably just adjusting his kippah under his hat, and that Jews keep money in pockets just like everyone else.”
It’s a lot of awful. Which is why for many British Jews the recent cancellation of a blatantly anti-Zionist and BDS-promoted conference at the University of Southampton has been cause for celebration.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 02, 2015 19 Comments
We previously reported extensively on the blockade of the San Mateo - Hayward Bridge on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day by a group of protesters. What started as a #BlackLivesMatters protest was hijacked by anti-Israel protesters who draped the Palestinian flag across both sides of the bridge at its highest span. http://abc7news.com/483891/ The action was extremely dangerous, trapping hundreds of motorists and causing multiple traffic accidents. One vehicle with a 3-year-old child in medical distress reportedly had to be rerouted. 68 protesters, most of them Stanford University students, were arrested.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 20, 2015 4 Comments
Anti-Israel divestment resolutions have had success in the U. California system this semester, including the bizarre and seriously mocked decision of the university-wide student council to divest not only from some companies doing business in Israel, but also from the U.S. government. None of these resolutions are binding, but they are an important part of the War on Israel on campuses, in which anti-Israel groups seek to hijack every possible forum and to make everything about hating Israel. One of the most controversial resolution sessions took place at the UC-Davis Student Senate, which passed a divestment resolution. [caption id="attachment_117054" align="alignnone" width="600"]https://twitter.com/SJPUCDavis/status/561048869316722688/photo/1 [UC-Davis SJP students celebrate student Senate Divestment Vote, Jan. 30, 2105][Image via Twitter][/caption]Supporters chanted "Allahu Akbar" at pro-Israel students, and swastikas were painted on a Jewish fraternity though no perpetrator has been identified so far (pro-divestment activists claim it is a hoax). A pro-divestment student leader posted on Facebook after the vote that "Hamas & Sharia law have taken over UC Davis. Brb crying over the resilience" though she claimed it was just satire.  All in all, it made for a poisonous campus atmosphere. The divestment resolution was challenged in the student-run Court of Associated Students as beyond the scope of the Student Senate jurisdiction. Here is the argument Wednesday night:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 11, 2015 4 Comments
When the University of California system-wide student government passed a resolution not only divesting from Israel, but also the United States, it was met with widespread mockery and ridicule. The Stanford University Undergraduate Student Senate avoided that fate by failing to pass an Anti-Israel Resolution heavily promoted, including by dozens of Stanford pro-BDS professors to influence the outcome. As now seems to be a common tactic, the #BlackLivesMatters leadership was recruited to help with the effort. There was a Petition and some very good dissections of the Resolution by opposition students. One analysis indicated it wasn't even clear that Stanford invested in the companies from which divestment was sought, The Hidden Agenda Behind SOOP’s False Divestment Claims. The vote was close -- the boycotters needed a 2/3 majority, but fell just short. But a fail is a fail, and this at least gives pro-Israel, pro-peace students some time to regroup and reconsider how to fight this scourge. Multiple student Senate members who voted for divestment claimed in speeches that they did it for love of Israel, as if it was their job to know better what is good for Israelis than Israelis. When the vote was announced, there was a chorus of cheers, followed by someone (not sure if faculty, administrator or student) asking people to just get along, followed by shouts from an angry member of the crowd:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 08, 2015 20 Comments
We have covered anti-Israel student government divestment votes the past couple of years. Groups, typically led by Students for Justice in Palestine assisted by Jewish Voice for Peace, try to get student governments to vote to divest from specified companies doing business in Israel, such as Caterpillar and HP. Sometimes they succeed, mostly they fail. In the end, it's purely symbolic, since student governments have no such power. Symbolism matters, though, because the campus movement is part of a larger goal of demonizing and dehumanizing Jewish Israelis.  Even when they lose a vote, the BDS crowd claims victory because they forced people to talk about their issue. Last academic year there were a series of divestment initiatives that failed, but recently in the U. California system, several have passed. The anti-Israel groups are very strategic, taking the time to elect their supporters to student councils, and that long-term strategy has paid off in places like UCLA, which rejected divestment last spring, only to see it pass this fall after a change of board membership. One thing that slowly is coming to light, however, is that the anti-Israel movement is not the grassroots, student-led movement it purports to be. In fact, it has a highly coordinated, well-funded action plan assisted and coordinated by outside groups. A column in the UCLA Bruin newspaper details what is happening, Co-author of UCSA resolution needs to disclose affiliations:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 04, 2015 4 Comments
Last night, Tuesday, February 3, 2015, a fundraiser was held at DePaul University honoring and on behalf of convicted supermarket bomber and immigration fraudster Rasmieh (Rasmea) Odeh. Full details and background on the fundraiser here, and on Rasmea's trials and convictions here. A vigil was held outside the fundraiser in memory of two Israeli students killed in the bombing, Edward Joffe and Leon Kanner. It was snowing and a heavy snowfall anticipated, which almost led to cancellation of the vigil, but a group of students persevered and stood out in the cold reciting prayers for peace and remembering. The vigil made national news: A Legal Insurrection photographer took photos. Rasmea Odeh Protest Vigil DePaul 2-3-2015 Students Holding Photos Statue

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 03, 2015 3 Comments
On Tuesday night, February 3, 2015, there will be a fundraiser organized by Chicago-area branches of Students for Justice in Palestine, honoring and supporting Rasmea Odeh. Full details are in our prior post, Upcoming fundraiser for convicted terrorist Rasmea Odeh at DePaul Univ. The fundraiser is being held at the student center at DePaul University, the scene of some not-so-pleasant anti-Israel protests in the past. Rasmea was convicted of the SuperSol supermarket bombing in Jerusalem in 1969 that killed two Israeli students, Edward Joffe and Leon Kanner. [caption id="attachment_106161" align="alignnone" width="490"]http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d93_1412329044 (Newspaper headline “The War Came to the Supermarket”)(via Live Leak)[/caption] Rasmea then lied about her conviction and imprisonment when she immigrated to the United States and became a naturalized citizen.  Rasmea was convicted of immigration fraud in November by a federal jury in Detroit, and is awaiting sentencing. The evidence supporting Rasmea's Israeli and Detroit convictions was overwhelming, as I documented in Rasmea Odeh rightly convicted of Israeli supermarket bombing and U.S. immigration fraud. Nonetheless, Rasmea has become a hero to the anti-Israel activist community, particularly in Chicago where she lived since immigrating.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 01, 2015 4 Comments
Rasmea Odeh is the Palestinian woman convicted of the 1969 Supersol supermarket bombing in Jerusalem which killed two Israeli students, Edward Joffe and Leon Kanner.  Rasmea also was convicted of the attempted bombing of the British Consulate. [caption id="attachment_106215" align="alignnone" width="600"]http://www.investigativeproject.org/4634/part-3-spinning-a-terrorist-into-a-victim-rasmieh (Edward Joffe and Leon Kanner)[/caption] Rasmea lied about her past on her immigration and naturalization papers, and was recently convicted by a federal jury in Detroit.  The brother and niece of Joffe attended the trial. The evidence against Odeh was overwhelming on both the murder and immigration charges, as I documented in my post, Rasmea Odeh rightly convicted of Israeli supermarket bombing and U.S. immigration fraud:
If this were just another immigration fraud story, it would be unremarkable. Regardless of whether Rasmea’s Israeli conviction and prison time were deserved or just, they happened and needed to be disclosed in response to clear questions on immigration forms. Case closed. But there is another story here, in which Rasmea, her attorneys and supporters seek to exonerate Rasmea in court and in the court of public opinion by trying to relitigate Rasmea’s 1970 conviction, and the history of the Middle East conflict going back to the creation of the State of Israel.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 31, 2015 27 Comments
We have reported extensively on the dangerous tactic of blockading the San Mateo - Hayward Bridge, including abandoning cars and draping a Palestinian flag across the roadway at the highest span point. Hundreds, if not thousands, of motorists were trapped on the bridge, with no way out and no way for emergency vehicles to exit. While ostensibly a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day #BlackLivesMatter protest, the event was completely hijacked by anti-Israel activists: [caption id="attachment_113857" align="alignnone" width="600"]https://twitter.com/farah_salazar/status/558214869648814080 (via Farah Salazar Twitter)[/caption] In a recent post, I noted that this how dangerous this tactic was, and how it differed from other protest road blockages:
While the protest ostensibly was about the #BlackLivesMatter movement and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, it was hijacked as so many such protests are by the anti-Israel contingent, just like in Ferguson and to a lesser extent in New York City during the Eric Garner protests. Subsequent to that initial report, we have learned that it was much worse than originally thought. The tactics used were designed to cause maximum traffic disruption and mayhem, including protester cars being abandoned on the roadway, resulting in several car crashes and emergency vehicles being blocked. The activists used a dangerous tactic of blocking both directions initially, making the scene inaccessible initially to emergency vehicles... It’s nothing short of a miracle that there were no serious injuries and that no ambulances had to be redirected, as happened in Boston, or worse, were stuck in the traffic jam.
It turns out my fears were realized, as the parents of a three-year old girl in medical distress have threatened suit against Stanford University, whose students constituted most of the blockaders (h/t Instapundit via The College Fix). The Stanford Daily student newspaper reports:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 26, 2015 36 Comments
We previously reported how anti-Israel activists hijacked a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day #BlackLivesMatter protest and turned it into an anti-Israel event. They trapped hundreds, if not thousands, of motorists by setting up a protest line at the highest point of the bridge span, and also abandoning their own cars on the bridge to block traffic. This was an extremely dangerous maneuver. Unlike the blockade of Route 93 in Boston, for example, there was no possibility of motorists exiting. If an ambulance or someone in need of medical care had been trapped, there would have been no way out and no way to redirect ambulances or other emergency vehicles that needed to cross the bay. This maneuver created havoc on the bridge, with motorists driving the wrong way near the toll area in a desperate attempt to escape. [caption id="attachment_113843" align="alignnone" width="600"]http://kron4.com/2015/01/19/protesters-block-westbound-lanes-on-san-mateo-bridge/ (Source: KRON4 Video)[/caption] For extensive video and photographic coverage, see our prior posts: Here's a video we have not previously posted:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 23, 2015 25 Comments
We previously reported how, on Monday, January 19, 2015, Anti-Israel activists blocked the San Mateo - Hayward Bridge. While the protest ostensibly was about the #BlackLivesMatter movement and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, it was hijacked as so many such protests are by the anti-Israel contingent, just like in Ferguson and to a lesser extent in New York City during the Eric Garner protests. Subsequent to that initial report, we have learned that it was much worse than originally thought. The tactics used were designed to cause maximum traffic disruption and mayhem, including protester cars being abandoned on the roadway, resulting in several car crashes and emergency vehicles being blocked. The activists used a dangerous tactic of blocking both directions initially, making the scene inaccessible initially to emergency vehicles:
Over 100 Stanford students and community members demonstrating against police brutality temporarily shut down the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge Monday afternoon, snarling the evening commute. The group made their way on eastbound and westbound lanes of state Highway 92 on the bridge at the high-rise around 4:50 p.m., CHP Officer Daniel Hill said. The protesters had been dropped off by cars on westbound lanes and briefly made their way to both sides of the freeway, he said. As of shortly after 5 p.m., eastbound lanes were reopened for motorists heading to Hayward but westbound lanes were still closed off for cars traveling to Foster City, Van Eckhardt said. Drivers were seen turning around at the toll plaza and going the wrong way on the bridge as CHP tried to find tow trucks to take away abandoned cars left on the bridge by protesters. The bridge was reopened shortly before 5:30 p.m.
[caption id="attachment_113857" align="alignnone" width="600"]https://twitter.com/farah_salazar/status/558214869648814080 (Image via Farah Salazar Twitter)[/caption] In this video taken by a stalled driver on the other side of the highway, you can see how initially traffic was backed up on both sides creating a dangerous situation high on the span (the initial comments seem to indicate the drivers thought it was an abortion protest until they got closer):

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 20, 2015 18 Comments
Don't say I didn't warn you about how anti-Israel activists have set on a deliberate course to hijack the Ferguson and #BlackLivesMatters protests to their own anti-Israel agenda: It started in Ferguson, then the Eric Garner protests, and is being pushed by the anti-Israel Students for Justice in Palestine through groups like Dream Defenders, which carries a Tides Foundation logo on it's website.  Dream Defenders was responsible for Marc Lamont Hill's trip to "Palestine" in which he recorded a video supporting "Revolutionary Struggle" against Israel. http://youtu.be/L2yMMdPTQ30 A key player in the effort to turn the #BlackLivesMatter movement into an anti-Israel movement is recently graduated Stanford student and SJP activist Kristian Davis Bailey, who writes not only for the anti-Zionist Mondoweiss website, but also has been promoting the effort in Ebony Magazine.
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