Garrick Ruiz

Overview

Garrick Ruiz (Garik Ruiz) is the North America advocacy advisor for the Palestinian BDS National Committee (PBDSNC) — and is heavily involved in the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS).

On August 14-17, 2016, Ruiz co-led a workshop titled "Municipal BDS Campaigns" at the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) — formerly the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation’s (ETO) — 15th Annual National Conference, in Virginia.

Ruiz is a scheduled speaker at the National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) Conference at GMU on 4-6 November 2016.

From 2002 and 2003 Ruiz spent six months in Palestinian territory during the Second Intifada, working with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).

Whitewashing Incitement

On October 11, 2016, Ruiz retweeted two tweets campaigning to free Israeli-Arab "poet" Dareen Tatour.

One of Ruiz’ retweets — lied that Tatour was "imprisoned for poetry." In truth, In October 2015, Tatour was placed under house arrest for incitement to violence and for support of a terrorist organization on social media. Tatour had supported the terror group Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and posted to Facebook: “I am the next shahid [martyr].” 

Leading Economic and Cultural Boycotts Against Israel

On October 17, 2014, Ruiz led a coalition of anti-Israel organizations in a protest titled ‘Block the Boat’ — to prevent a Zim container ship from unloading its cargo of Israeli trade items at the Port of LA/Long Beach. Ruiz told Press TV — "We are going to try to disrupt Israeli commerce in every way we can." Ruiz made the false claim that Israel practices “apartheid policies.”

On January 11, 2016, it was reported that the protest included chants calling for Israel's elimination including — "From the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea, Palestine will be free." "From the river to the Sea" is a genocidal chant used by Hamas leader Khaled Mashal and others to call for the replacement of Israel with an Arab Islamic state.

On July 29, 2016, Ruiz shared several tweets and retweets calling for Carlos Santana to cancel a scheduled performance in Israel. On July 25, 2016, one of Ruiz’ retweet claimed — falsely— that Israel "massacred 550 children in 2014."

On the same day another tweet to pressure Santana, Ruiz again accused Israel — falsely — of practicing apartheid and compared Israel to South Africa.

The United States Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) — formerly the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation (ETO) — is a coalition of American-based anti-Israel organizations that lobbies the U.S. Congress to adopt anti-Israel policies and end government support for Israel.

Included in the coalition are groups such as Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), National Lawyers Guild, Palestine Legal, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), CODEPINK, US Campaign for Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI), Christian Peacemakers Teams (CPT), Israel Palestine Mission Network – Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) and Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA), as well as various chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). USCPR is a major promoter of the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

USCPR claims to provide (p.14) "online and in-person trainings, workshops, one-on-one strategic support, and other mentorship to more than 100 organizations nationwide, including campus groups, faith-based organizations, and broad coalitions."

The coalition was founded in 2001 by anti-Israel activists.

USCPR - Fabricating Political Legitimacy and International Law

In 2005, USCPR (formerly ETO) endorsed the so-called "Palestinian civil society call for" BDS. In 2012 Norman Finkelstein cast grave doubt on the legitimacy of this call. In August 2016, BDS leader Ilan Pappe also admitted that radical anti-Israel extremists, and not Palestinian civil society, initiated the BDS movement.

In 2015 USCPR member groups endorsed the "Common Principles," which include opposition to “U.S. military, diplomatic, financial, corporate, and all other forms of support for Israel’s occupation and apartheid policies.”

Another "Common Principle" of USCPR is the false BDS assertion of “justice for refugees through the implementation of their right of return.” In reality, there is no blanket “right of return” mandated under international law — “[i]nstead, international law gives each country the right to decide for itself to whom it will give citizenship.”

USCPR - Spearheading Campus Divestment Campaigns

Per its 2015 Annual Report, ETO (now USCPR) provides (p.16) "one-on-one support... resources, letters, networking, action technology, financial support, and more -- to students leading powerful boycott and divestment campaigns on more than 25 campuses."

USCPR is a key promoter of Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) and organizes programs on college campuses throughout the U.S. claiming to “raise awareness about Israel’s ongoing settler-colonial project and apartheid policies over the Palestinian people” and “mobilize… BDS campaigns.” USCPR offers resources and ideas for how anti-Israel agitators can execute IAW on campus.

USCPR - Shutting Down Interfaith Dialogue

In 2015 ETO (now USCPR) started (p.13) a petition "to ‘Say No to Faithwashing’" writing an “open letter calling on Muslim Americans to eschew any participation in or legitimization of the Muslim Leadership Initiative of the Shalom Hartman Institute.”

MLI "invites North American Muslim leaders to explore how Jews understand Judaism, Israel and North American Jewish identity through a Zionist lens," and to expand their understanding of Jewish “ethics, faith, and practice.” According to MLI founder Imam Abdullah Antepli, “MLI aims to put mainstream North American Jewry in conversation with their Muslim counterparts.”  

USCPR - Defending Terrorist Rasmea Odeh

In 2015, ETO (now USCPR) served (p.8) on the Rasmea Odeh Defense Committee in support of terrorist Rasmea Odeh. USCPR claimed — falsely — Odeh was subject to "government attacks," “trumped up immigration charges” and a “ U.S. government attempt to stifle Palestine organizing.”

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.

ETO (now USCPR) promoted (p.8) the "National Week of Action to Free Rasmea," after Odeh was found guilty.

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.

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.

ISM

Social Media and Weblinks

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/garrick.ruiz

Twitter:https://twitter.com/garikruiz