Billy Stranger
Overview
Stranger also demonized Israel on campus and supported an anti-Israel agitator.
In May 2019, Stranger was reportedly a “junior psychology major” at UMD.
Promoting BDS
On April 25, 2019, Stranger was featured [02:12:07] in a video posted on Facebook by the UMD Student Government Association (SGA), urging the SGA to pass a BDS bill. The bill was launched by Divest UMD.Divest UMD is a campaign that calls on UMD to divest from companies that do business with Israel.
In the video, Stranger said [02:13:38]: “Support the BDS bill, it’s literally the least you can do! And I find comparisons between Israel and the USA to be apt. Both are states founded on the occupation of indigenous peoples, both nations have systematically disenfranchised and murdered specific ethnic groups and need I mention the relationship between Netanyahu and known anti-Semite, Donald Trump! From Standing Rock to Palestine, occupation is a crime!”
On April 25, 2019, Divest UMD announced on Facebook that following a UMD student government vote, the BDS bill failed to pass with “a vote of 9 for, 25 against, and 2 abstentions.”
In an article about the vote, Stranger reportedly said he hoped that the “boycott will inform the campus community so that when next year’s bill hearing comes around, they have a better understanding of the divestment movement.”
Stranger continued: “And hopefully the bill will be passed, and the University of Maryland will stop playing an active role in wars whose only purpose is profit.”
Demonizing Israel on Campus
On May 14, 2019, SJP UMD shared a group photo on Instagram that featured Stranger alongside SJP UMD activists calling to boycott Israel Fest. The caption on the photo read: “Last week, we boycotted Israel Fest and held a teach-in about Palestinian human rights! #boycottisraelfest #freepalestine.”“Israel Fest” at UMD is an annual campus event designed “to celebrate and educate students on Israeli culture,” hosted by the Jewish Student Union.
On May 11, 2019, SJP UMD reportedly held a teach-in to “boycott the annual celebration of Israel Fest.” SJP UMD’s teach-in involved activists gathering by a mock “Israeli Apartheid Wall” and chanting: “Displacing lives since ‘48, nothing here to celebrate!”
Supporting an Anti-Israel Agitator
On February 14, 2019, SJP UMD shared a group photo on Instagram featuring Stranger with SJP UMD activists standing in front of a blackboard with “#IStandWithIlhan” written on it.SJP UMD commented: “UMD SJP supports Rep. Ilhan Omar in calling out AIPAC’s role in influencing US policy towards apartheid Israel! #istandwithilhan.”
SJP UMD - Promoting Anti-Israel Agitators
On February 14, 2019, SJP UMD shared a group photo on Instagram featuring activists standing in front of a blackboard with “#IStandWithIlhan” written on it.SJP UMD commented: “UMD SJP supports Rep. Ilhan Omar in calling out AIPAC’s role in influencing US policy towards apartheid Israel! #istandwithilhan.”
On March 7, 2019, SJP UMD shared a group photo on Instagram of SJP activists with Eran Efrati, holding a Palestinian flag.
SJP UMD commented: “It was eye-opening and intriguing to hear from Eran Efrati about the deadly exchange between US Police forces and the Israeli Defense Forces! #freepalestine.”
Eran Efrati is an executive board member of Researching the Israeli American Alliance (RIAA) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP).
RAIA, in partnership with JVP, produced the Deadly Exchange report, which claimed to reveal “the extent of massive training programs between U.S. law enforcement and Israeli police, military, and the Shin Bet.”
In 2017, JVP launched the “Deadly Exchange (DX)” campaign, which accused American Jewish organizations of promoting human rights abuses. JVP also released a video that blamed [00:04:04] U.S.-based Jewish organizations for violence that occurs against Black and Brown communities, immigrants and activists in the U.S.
SJP
SJP is a student organization engaged in anti-Israel activity on North American college and university campuses.
The first chapter of SJP was founded in 2001 at the University of California at Berkeley by Professor Hatem Bazian. Bazian has spread classic anti-Semitism, reportedly promoted religious anti-Semitism and defended the Hamas terror group. In 2004, Bazian called for “intifada” in America.
SJP organizes anti-Israel campaigns, including running annual Israel Apartheid Weeks, often in collaboration with Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and Muslim Students Association (MSA) campus chapters.
SJP has been a major force in pushing the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement on campuses. Chapters have initiated dozens of BDS resolutions in student governments, which have been proposed on or around Jewish holidays, a time when many Jewish students are off-campus.
SJP activists have reportedly physically assaulted, intimidated and harassed Jewish students, disrupted pro-Israel campus events and demonized pro-Israel campus organizations.
Chapters have often endorsed and campaigned for numerous terrorists and whitewashed terrorism.
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.
