Collin Poirot
Overview
NLG
The National Lawyers’ Guild (NLG) is an association of lawyers self-described as "dedicated to the need for basic and progressive change in the structure of our political and economic system."
The group is a “proud member” of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, which has been renamed the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR), and represented terrorist Rasmea Odeh in U.S. federal court.
In 2018, Poirot graduated with a J.D. from HLS. He also assisted with the launch of “Reclaim Harvard Law,” a movement of students and staff at HLS working for “racial equality” in education.
Before attending HLS, Poirot studied “communication studies” at UT Austin, from 2011 to 2015.
As of April 2021, Poirot was listed as a staff member and an attorney at Brooklyn Defender Services since 2018 and also indicated on his Facebook page that he worked at UT Austin.
As of the same date, Poirot used the name “Collin Pelletier” on Facebook.
Support for Terrorists
Poirot was reportedly “honored” to work closely with Odeh while he interned at the People's Law Office in Chicago.
Odeh was a key military operative [00:02:08]with the terrorist group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). In 1969, Odeh masterminded a PFLP bombing that killed two college students in a Jerusalem supermarket. Odeh also attempted to bomb the British consulate.
Odeh confessed, in a highly detailed account, the day following her arrest. In a 2004 documentary, one of Odeh’s co-conspirators directly implicated [00:10:53] Odeh as the mastermind.
In 1970, an Israeli court tried and convicted Odeh for her involvement in both bombings and sentenced her to life imprisonment. However, Odeh was released 10 years later, in a prisoner swap and emigrated to the United States.
On November 10, 2014, a Michigan federal jury convicted Odeh for immigration fraud because she failed to disclose her prior conviction and life sentence on her immigration application. On March 12, 2015, she was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
In 2017, after an appeal and a lengthy court battle, Odeh admitted to immigration fraud, was stripped of her U.S. citizenship, deported to Jordan and banned from re-entering the U.S.
On May 21, 2017, Poirot shared a post on Facebook that included an article titled: “Victory to the Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strike!”
The article shared by Poirot was published by Fight Back! News and referred to PFLP airplane hijacker Leila Khaled as “the icon of Palestinian resistance.”
Khaled is a leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and participated in the hijacking of TWA Flight 840 in 1969 and El Al Flight 219 in 1970. As of 2017, Khaled was a member of PFLP's Political Bureau.
Khaled has said that the second intifada failed because it was not violent enough, advocated for the use of children in terror activities and compared Zionists to Nazis.
The PFLP claimed credit for the 2014 Har Nof Massacre where six people were murdered during morning prayers in a Jerusalem synagogue. The PFLP also claimed credit for the 2001 assassination of the Israeli tourism minister.
On May 20, 2017, Poirot posted a quote to Facebook, from an article published “[o]n behalf of all political prisoners in the Philippines,” by anti-Israel NGO Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network. The quote read: “...we salute and pay tribute to the more than 1,500 Palestinian political prisoners, who are on the 30th day of their hunger strike.”
The quote went on to say that: “Zionist Israel” is the “primary instrument of US imperialism against the Palestinian peoples…”
On April 26, 2017, Poirot shared a Facebook post that read: “Fact sheet on #Palestinian prisoners' hunger strike. #BDS #Palestine #Israel.” The Facebook post included a link to an article published by Addameer.
George Habash, who has been called“the godfather of Middle East terrorism,” founded the terrorist organization the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). In 1970, Habash was the mastermind behind the hijacking of four Western airliners known as the Dawson Field hijackings. In 1972, the PFLP collaborated with Japanese Red Army terrorists to massacre 24 people at Israel's Lod International Airport (renamed Ben Gurion International Airport).
BDS Activism
In April 2015, Poirot co-authored a BDS movement divestment resolution at UT Austin.On April 8, 2015, Poirot responded to a comment on his Facebook post that said: “PSC put it out as part of the divestment campaign and we’re trying to get as many people to use it as possible!”
Also on April 8, 2015, Poirot changed his Facebook profile picture to a graphic with the text: “UT DIVEST.”
Spreading Hatred of Israel
On March 23, 2016, Poirot posted to Facebook about Israel’s security barrier: “I was not in Israel, I was in Palestine...Did they show you the Apartheid wall built on Palestinian land.”Israel’s security barrier, 97 percent of which is a low chain-link barrier, was built as a deterrent to Palestinian terror attacks. The concrete portions of the fence were built in response to Palestinian sniper attacks.
The term “Nakba” is generally translated as “catastrophe” in Arabic, referring to the outcome of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It is a term often used to delegitimize the creation of the State of Israel by defining it as a catastrophe.
Kanafani was a leading member and spokesperson for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) during the terrorist organization’s early years. Kanafani announced the PFLP’s responsibility for the Lod Airport Massacre of May 1972 and was linked to the airport attackers. The attack killed 26 people and wounded 80 others.
Poirot concluded: “for this future peace to be possible, we must first recognize the Zionist movement as what it is; a supremacist and exclusionary ethnic fantasy carried out through colonialism, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid.”
Promoting Anti-Israel Agitators
On February 20, 2018, Poirot posted a photo of himself to Facebook that included a thumbnail graphic of Ahed Tamimi.In October 2016, Poirot signed a National SJP (NSJP) petition in support of anti-Israel San Francisco State University (SFSU) professor Rabab Abdulhadi.
Abdulhadi has cultivated ties with Hamas-dominated universities, glorified terrorists, trivialized the kidnapping and murder of Israeli high-schoolers and endorsed hate speech.
The petition read: “ ...we move to emphasize that the attacks on Professor Abdulhadi, AMED, GUPS, and the partnership between An-Najah University and SFSU cannot be delinked from the broader context of Israel’s objective of isolating Palestinians from the rest of the world and erasing the existence and narrative of Palestinians.”
SJP Activism
On April 9, 2018, Poirot promoted a PSC Harvard event titled: “Introduction to IAW [Israel Apartheid Week]: "What is Israeli Apartheid?" to Facebook and wrote; “Happening in an hour! Come if you can!PSC Austin - Disrupting Campus Events 2015
PSC Austin created a Facebook event titled: “McRaven Address Walkout.” The event was to initiate a walkout during a November 20, 2015 address by U.S. Navy veteran Admiral William McRaven at UT Austin.McRaven is a UT Austin graduate and led the raid to kill Osama bin Laden. In its Facebook event description, PSC accused UT Austin of hosting “a swarm of US intelligence and military officials on campus,” who would “recruit students to a life of crime.”
On November 13, 2015, twelve PSC members disrupted an event organized by Professor Ami Pedahzur of UT Austin’s Institute for Israeli Studies. The event was titled: “The Origin of a Species: The Birth of the Israeli Defense Forces’ Military Culture.”
Soon after the event began, PSC leader Mohammed Nabulsi interrupted the speaker to deliver a prepared speech, after which the other PSC members began chanting [00:05:08]: “Long live the intifada!” and “We want ‘48, we don’t want two states!”
The disruption resulted in a near-physical confrontation between Nabulsi and Professor Pedhazur. Campus police later arrived and detained the PSC members.
Following the incident, PSC released an edited video of the protest and accused Professor Pedahzur of assault. PSC also filed a complaint with the university that accused Pedahzur of “illegally releasing Nabulsi’s name and unfairly linking the group’s actions to the terrorist attacks in Paris.”
Additionally, PSC launched a campaign on Facebook calling on students to “contact our Dean of Students, the Dean of College of Liberal Arts, and the UT Administration generally letting them know that physical assault of peaceful student protesters will not stand.”
PSC finance committee chair, Ahmed Khawaja, also initiated a GoFundMe fundraising campaign to sue Pedahzur.
Professor Pedahzur later reportedly received death threats and vacated his offices at the Israeli Studies Institute, due to concern for his personal safety and that of his students. A UT investigation found that Pedahzur “did not violate the university’s Nondiscrimination Policy and did not engage in harassment of the student organization.”
UT’s then-President Gregory L. Fenves was quoted in a local Austin paper as saying that Pedahzur “fostered open, responsible dialogue, often on contentious political issues, including those involving Israel. He is known for working in a constructive and proactive manner with people from across the political spectrum.”
On March 25, 2015, PSC held a protest against an event held by Texas Hillel and Texans for Israel to celebrate Israeli culture, titled: “Israel Block Party.”
PSC members protesting across the street from the block party constructed a mock “apartheid wall” meant to simulate Israel’s security barrier and promoted [00:01:47] a PSC divestment campaign to have UT Austin join the BDS movement.
Israel’s security barrier, built as a deterrent to Palestinian terror attacks, is 97% low chain-link barrier. The concrete portions of the fence were built in response to Palestinian sniper attacks.
Ali Khan, who helped organize the PSC protest, called the Israel Block Party event “a propaganda event which hides a very heinous reality of cultural appropriation and genocide.”
PSC Austin - Disrupting A Campus Event 2014
On October 14, 2014, members of several student organizations, including PSC, disrupted [00:00:18] a talk about ISIS given by Israeli Major General Meir Dagan, former head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service.The Daily Texan, a UT Austin student newspaper, reported that students protested outside the event and “At one point during Dagan’s talk, some protesters inside the auditorium interrupted the event by yelling pro-Palestinian phrases.”
PSC Austin - Glorifying Intifada 2015
In November 2015, PSC Austin, together with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Houston, scheduled an event titled: “Solidarity with the Palestinian Uprising: Call to Action!”The event’s Facebook description claimed: “The Zionist state occupation forces” were “killing dozens of unarmed Palestinians…with the participation of racist Zionist settlers.”
The event took place during a wave of stabbing attacks carried out by Palestinians against Israeli civilians, termed the “Knife Intifada.” Palestinians shared graphics and video tutorials across social media explaining how to most effectively stab Jews. One widely shared video showed a young girl from Gaza brandishing a knife while calling on West Bank Palestinians to stab Israelis.
The event’s Facebook description also said: “Palestinians across historic Palestine—including 1948 Palestine—have taken it upon themselves to launch a popular resistance…to fight the genocidal Zionist project. The Palestinian youth…have in particular taken the lead in this uprising. They are sacrificing themselves so that Palestine may have a future. The least we can do is show our support for them.”
The event’s Facebook description concluded: “Long Live the Resistance! Long Live the Intifada!”
Since the early 2000s, the term “intifada,” which translates from Arabic as “uprising” or “insurrection,” has carried the connotation of violence.
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.
Social Media and Weblinks
- Status:
- Professional
- University:
- Texas-Austin,
- more...
- Organizations:
- BDS,
- JFP,
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- Related Profiles:
- Seth Uzman,
- Last Modified:
- 05/04/2026
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