Isabel Penaranda
Overview
Isabel Penaranda has spread anti-Israel libels and promoted the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.Penaranda was [00:00:24] an activist with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Columbia University (CSJP) in 2012 and 2013.
As of February 2020, Penaranda’s LinkedIn page said she was a Context Analyst at Comisión de la Verdad [The Truth Commission] in Caquetá, Columbia, since August 2019.
Penaranda’s LinkedIn also said that she was a Researcher at Universidad del Rosario [Rosario University] in Bogotá, Columbia since July 2018 and a Teaching Assistant at Universidad de los Andes since July 2018. She graduated from Columbia University (Columbia) in 2014, with a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and Sustainable Development.
Penaranda’s LinkedIn also said she was a master’s student in History from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Columbia from 2015-2017 and slated to receive a master’s degree in Regional Planning from the Center for Interdisciplinary Development Studies (CIDER), Universidad de los Andes in 2020.
Spreading Libels
On April 25, 2019, Penaranda posted an article from the pro-Hamas news group MiddleEast Monitor to Facebook, titled: “Israel pharmaceutical firms test medicines on Palestinian prisoners.”In her Facebook post, Penaranda commented: “Absolutely horrifying...‘Missing corneas and other organs...over the past few days, reports from a variety of sources have again confirmed what others have long denounced- the Israeli state's issuing of permits to pharmaceutical firms to test on Palestinian and Arab prisoners.’”
On October 16, 2015, during the Knife Intifada, Penaranda shared to Facebook a blog post that alleged: “Netanyahu [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] declared war on Palestine before violent clashes began, instigated by security forces, willful provocations to get Palestinians to respond, blaming them for Israeli crimes.”
In October 2015, there was an upsurge in violence across Israel incited by Palestinian political and religious leaders. The wave of stabbings, known as the “Knife Intifada,” was characterized by young Palestinians throughout the country stabbing and attempting to stab Israeli civilians.
The blog post Penaranda shared to Facebook also claimed Palestinian teenager Mustafa Al-Khatib “was assassinated by police,” labeled reports of the stabbing “lies” and alleged that “All official Israeli reports about violent incidents lack credibility.”
On October 12, 2015, Mustafa al-Khatib attempted to stab a police officer outside of Jerusalem’s Old City before he was killed by security forces.
On October 11, 2015, Penaranda posted to Facebook an article which claimed that “senior officers in the Israeli army are briefing soldiers to assassinate Palestinians to prevent settler violence.”
Promoting BDS
On April 4, 2014, Penaranda was featured in the Columbia Political Review (CPR) as a panelist in a debate on the academic boycott of Israel.During the panel, Penaranda promoted BDSs saying: “...universities and academic institutions should not collaborate with, or allow for the justification of, taking away people’s lives and lands.”
On December 20, 2013, Penaranda posted an article to Facebook titled: “Major US academic body backs boycott of Israeli educational institutions” that included a photo of renowned physicist, Professor Steven Hawking.
In May 2013, Stephen Hawking reportedly expressed support for the academic boycott of Israel by pulling out of a conference in Israel.
In her Facebook post, Penaranda commented: “My childhood hero strikes back!”
Anti-Israel Activism
Israel launched OPD to stop Hamas rocket attacks on Israeli civilians from Gaza. Over the course of eight days in November 2012, Palestinian terrorist groups fired more than 1,500 rockets at Israel. The majority struck Israel, damaging homes, schools and other civilian areas. Human Rights Watch noted: “Palestinian armed groups made clear in their statements that harming civilians was their aim.”
On September 21, 2013, Penaranda promoted on Facebook a September 25, 2013 event hosted by CSJP titled: “Occupation 101.”
The event’s Facebook description said: “Why do we talk about an occupation in Palestine? What does it have to do with apartheid? Come learn about what Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine does and find out how to get involved!”
On November 12, 2013, Penaranda hosted an event with fellow CSJP member, Eralp Feride titled: “The Miseducation of Settler Colonialism: Challenging School Curricula.”
The event’s Facebook description said: “Self-determined education is a right that has been continuously denied under occupation and settler-colonialism.”
On November 15, 2013, Penaranda was tagged in a photo posted by CSJP to Facebook during “Right 2 Education Week 2013” at Columbia.
On March 10, 2014, Penaranda updated her Facebook cover photo with a photo of the mock apartheid wall built by CSJP as part of Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) 2014 at Columbia.
CSJP’s Banner Controversy at Barnard 2014
In March 2014, Columbia SJP organizer Jannine-Masoud Salman made a large banner that was hung at the entrance of Barnard college. The banner read: “Stand for Justice, Stand for Palestine” and featured a map of Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, with no internal borders, colored uniformly green.The banner was reportedly removed after “students, their parents and alumni” said it made them “feel uncomfortable and unsafe in the space” and that it gave the impression Barnard was “endorsing SJP's message that Israel as a Jewish state does not have the right to exist.”
CSJP’s Mock Israeli Checkpoint 2010
On November 20, 2010, CSJP uploaded a video to their YouTube channel, titled: “Mock Israeli Checkpoint at Columbia University”On November 18, 2010, CSJP activists staged [00:00:01] a mock Israeli checkpoint on Columbia’s Low Plaza.
Activists, dressed as Israeli soldiers blindfolded [00:01:08] and taped over the mouths of other activists, who were meant to portray Palestinians.
Israeli checkpoints were builtto prevent terror attacks, like suicide bombings, against Israel's civilian population.
The video claimed [00:02:21] that “91% of students at An-Najah University miss classes because of delays at checkpoints.”
Al-Najah (alternatively, An Najah) University is the largest Palestinian university in the West Bank and is notorious for its triumphal exhibit lauding the August 9, 2001 Sbarro cafe suicide bombing. The blast killed 15 civilians, including 7 children and a pregnant woman and wounded 130.
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
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/1092600172
- Status:
- Student
- University:
- Columbia
- Organizations:
- BDS,
- SJP
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- Last Modified:
- 06/23/2025
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