Josette Souza

Overview

Josette Souza was co-leader of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Brown (SJP Brown) She has been a delegate for Interfaith-Peace Builders (IFPB), which supports the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. 

Souza graduated from Brown University (Brown) in 2014 with a Bachelor’s degree in Africana Studies. 

Since July 2017, Souza’s LinkedIn indicated that she works as a Marketing and Communications Manager at American Alliance of Museums. 

Souza joined the Interfaith Peace Builders’ 3rd African Heritage Delegation on a “study tour of Palestine/ Israel from October 25 - November 7, 2014. On April 2, 2015, the delegation issued a statement accusing Israel of “ethnic cleansing” and 21st century colonialism.” The statement also claimed “[t]he global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement is an essential tool in the struggle for Palestinian liberation and urged “all persons around the world to offer their unconditional support for the liberation struggle of Palestinians and international solidarity movements.”  

Inverting History

On October 31, 2013 — after an event with New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly was shut down by rowdy Brown students — Souza stated: "Ray Kelly is a terrorist, and he’s terrorizing our communities….Until you feel terrorism in your life, I don’t think you have the right to speak on this subject." Kelly’s personal and professional life were dramatically affected by the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Kelly was also New York’s deputy police commissioner at the time of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

In a November 4, 2014 column that Souza wrote for Mondoweiss, she described the Jewish Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem, which has existed for thousands of years, as "Jewish settlements that are still encroaching upon Palestinian communities."

Promoting Disruption over Dialogue

On April 2, 2014, Brown Hillel, an independent, apolitical Jewish organization, hosted a talk with former Israeli soldier Benjamin Anthony. Hillel invited student leaders from a wide variety of campus groups — including the libertarians, socialists, the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International and others — to participate in the discussion. Anthony answered audience questions for over an hour immediately following the talk.

One day earlier Souza co-published a column, with SJP member Mika Zacks, calling on Hillel to cancel the event. The article insinuated that merely having Anthony speak would "silence" some “other truth.” Also, the article claimed that there was no need to hear the first-hand experience of someone in the IDF in order to understand its truth; rather “...we need only to engage with those around us.”

The article further alleged that Anthony’s presence at Brown would be a violation of "safe campus" space and blamed Israel for violence in “New York City to Los Angeles to Rio de Janeiro and beyond.”

Souza, co-organized an SJP protest of the Hillel event, claiming, without foundation, that Hillel’s invitation to “student leaders” was not meant to stimulate dialogue, but rather “to influence those who will go on to make domestic and international policy.”

SJP Brown

Since its founding in 2009, SJP Brown has promoted the boycott of Israel at Brown and also pressured Brown to divest from Israel.

In 2010, SJP Brown began bringing Israeli Apartheid Week to Brown’s campus, to smear Israel with accusations of "apartheid policies" and “to build support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.”

In March 2010, SJP Brown set up a 75-foot long banner on Brown’s Main Green, asking students the misleading, rhetorical question, "Do you want your University profiting from apartheid?"

Since its founding in 2009, SJP Brown has promoted the boycott of Israel at Brown and also pressured Brown to divest from Israel.

In 2010, SJP Brown began bringing Israeli Apartheid Week to Brown’s campus, to smear Israel with accusations of "apartheid policies" and “to build support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.”

In March 2010, SJP Brown set up a 75-foot long banner on Brown’s Main Green, asking students the misleading, rhetorical question, "Do you want your University profiting from apartheid?"

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.

IFPB

IFPB, known as Eyewitness Palestine since 2018, is an anti-Israel NGO that organizes activist delegations to Israel and the West Bank in order to showcase “the everyday violence of war and [Israeli] occupation.” IFPB’s program features lectures by representatives of anti-Israel groups that openly call for the end of Israel, including the designated terrorist organization the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestinian (PFLP).

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  

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/josette-souza-a5132935