Joelle Stangler

Stangler was also the “Minnesota Field Director” for 2020 United States Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, from “Dec 2019 - April 2020,” and was the “Campaign Manager” for U.S. Congresswoman, Ilhan Omar, from “Jun 2018 - Sep 2018.” 

Stangler also wrote on LinkedIn that and she was the “District Director” for Ilhan Omar from “Nov 2016 - Feb 2017” and Omar’s Deputy Campaign Manager from “May 2016 - Aug 2016,” 

Stangler’s LinkedIn page also said she studied “Political Science, Mass Communication,” at UMN, from “2012 - 2016,” where she served as the “Student Body President” from “Apr 2014 - Jul 2016.”

In August 2020, Stangler was also reportedly the “Director of UMN's Alumni Association” and a member of the Board of Director and sat on the Alumni Association board in 2015.

Promoting BDS on Campus

Stangler supported the UMN Divest campaign in 2016. 

On February 15, 2016, SJP UMN launched UMN Divest, a campaign suggesting [00:01:53] Israel was like Apartheid South Africa and demanding [00:01:10] that the Minnesota Student Association (MSA) and UMN divest from all companies “complicit in the Israeli occupation of Palestine.”.

On February 16th, SJP UMN issued a press release claiming UMN’s divestment from four companies explicitly targeted by the campaign “would neutralize the University of Minnesota in this conflict [sic] …” and that “The call to divest is a response to the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.”

UMN’s Chief Investment Officer reportedly told The Minnesota Republic, a student-run newspaper at UMN, that the university had “no direct exposure” to the four companies highlighted by the UMN Divest campaign.

On March 1, 2016, Stangler featured in group photos with UMN Divest activists shared on Facebook by UMN Divest.

On March 8, 2016, the MSA voted [00:26:24] to strike the divestment resolution from the MSA agenda.

On March 9, 2016, Stangler published a statement on Facebook condemning UMN President Kaler, saying that she no longer believed in a “partnership” between student activists and administrators.

Stangler referred to a statement issued by UMN President Eric Kaler in March 2016 that opposed the 2016 SJP UMN divestment resolution targeting Israel.  

Stangler wrote in her statement: “I'm done being told that there are ‘many stakeholders,’ when students are not being treated as one. I'm done hearing ‘governance is shared’ when we are not getting our fair share. I'm done acting like the interests of 12 regents or 201 legislators are inherently more important than 30,000 students.”

Stangler concluded: “I will be meeting with the President next Wednesday to… demand our voices, and yours, are taken seriously, that the President stop intervening in issues of student debate, and start intervening on issues of student need, success, and survival..”

Stangler added: “If he [Kaler] doesn't, I'm not opposed to pulling the plug on Support the U Day, a student lobbying day that helps administration. Because what have we learned? Ultimatums work."

In April 2016, the MSA passed a heavily amended resolution that removed all references to Israel and any specific corporations. The amended resolution endorsed divestment generally from “corporations involved in human rights violations,” and from “companies profiting from human rights abuses and violations of international law.”

Campaigning for Anti-Israel Congresswoman Ilhan Omar

Stangler campaigned for Ilhan Omar from May 2016 until September 2018. 


On May 31, 2018, while Stangler campaigned for Omar, Omar tweeted that Israel was an apartheid regime.

Omar’s tweet was in response to another tweet that criticized one of Omar’s tweets from November 2012, that read: “Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel. #Gaza #Palestine #lsrael.”

Omar’s tweet that Israel “hypnotized the world” was made during Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense (OPD).   

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.”

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:www.facebook.com/519924160   

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoelleStangler 

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/joellestangler/ 

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/JoelleStangler/ 

Pinterest:https://www.pinterest.com/joellestangler/ 

PSCP.TV:https://www.pscp.tv/PrezStangler