Laura Perez

Overview

Laura Perez [Laura Groenendaal Perez] co-authored a Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement resolution at Stanford University (Stanford) in 2015. Perez has also expressed hatred of Israel and America.

In January 2015, Perez was an activist with the BDS group Stanford Out of Occupied Palestine (SOOP). In 2015, SOOP was reportedly a coalition of 19 student groups campaigning for Stanford to “divest from corporations profiting from human rights abuses in occupied Palestine.”

Perez was affiliated with the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter at Stanford (Stanford SJP) in 2014 and 2015.

As of May 2023, Perez’s LinkedIn profile said she had been a software engineer at Art of Problem Solving since March 2022.

As of the same date, her LinkedIn said she did “coursework towards Master of Science (M.Sc.), Computer Science” during the 2014-2015 academic year. Her LinkedIn also said that she graduated from Stanford with a bachelor’s degree in “History: Political Economy” in 2014.

Also as of May 2023, Perez’s LinkedIn said she was located in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area.

As of the same date, she went by “Laura G.” on LinkedIn.

BDS Resolution Co-Author

In January 2015, Perez co-authored an anti-Israel divestment resolution presented by SOOP and initiated [00:12:16] by Stanford SJP, titled: “A Resolution to Divest from Companies Violating Human Rights in Occupied Palestine.” The resolution was the culmination of a six-week SOOP divestment campaign.

The resolution called [p. 7] on Stanford “to dissociate itself from systematic oppression by divesting from companies that participate in human rights violations against…the Occupied Palestinian Territories.”

On January 21, 2015, SOOP reportedly coordinated a panel discussion of 11 student groups to promote their divestment petition, which Perez signed.

On February 3, 2015, the Associated Students of Stanford University (ASSU) Undergraduate Senate reportedly met to discuss SOOP’s petition. The petition called on the ASSU and Stanford Board of Trustees to divest from companies that it claimed were “complicit in the infrastructure of occupation, collective punishment, state-sponsored repression, and unjust incarceration in Palestine.”

On February 9, 2015, Perez appeared [00:02:15] in a SOOP campaign video titled: “Stanford Student Groups Support #StanfordDivest.”

On February 10, 2015, Perez was featured alongside other activistsin a SOOP Facebook photo. The Facebook post read: “So excited for divestment, we can't sleep...#StanfordDivest.”

On February 10, 2015, the ASSU Senate held a hearing to vote on SOOP’s divestment campaign. On the same date, Perez spoke [01:00:43] in favor of the resolution and she joined fellow resolution co-authors presenting the resolution. However, the resolution failed [00:00:42] to get the required 66 percent majority approval to pass.

On February 17, 2015, ASSU Senate Chair Ana Ordonez, who had reportedly abstained from voting, brought a motion calling for a re-vote on SOOP’s divestment resolution. The resolution passed 10-1-4.

On April 14, 2015, the Stanford Board of Trustees announced that Stanford would not “divest its endowment holdings of certain companies that do business in Israel.”

The board’s statement said that they focused on “questions of divisiveness and negative impact” and determined that acting on the request would be “likely to impair the capacity of the University to carry out its educational mission.”

Then President of Stanford, John Hennessy, reportedly addressed divestment at a faculty senate meeting and said: “I have never seen a topic that has been more divisive within the university community...”

Hatred of Israel and America

On May 21, 2015, Perez contributed to an op-ed by Manny Thompson titled: “Israel has no right to exist - and neither does the U.S.”

The op-ed said of Israel and the United States: “We have every right to question the existence of states that discriminate by design.” The op-ed also said: “As settler colonial states they share founding values…which justify and require their ethnic cleansing of indigenous populations.”

The op-ed continued: “Citing national security concerns…Israeli security forces assassinated intellectual Ghassan Kanafani.”

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.

The article also claimed: “If we are working towards a world in which Black and Palestinian people are finally free, then by definition we are working towards a world in which both these states no longer exist.”

Anti-Israel Activism (SJP)

On October 16, 2015, during the Knife Intifada, Perez attended a “silent protest” organized by Stanford SJP.At the rally, a protester held a sign that read: “#AlAqsa Under Fire.”

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 attacks were incited by Palestinian leaders propagating the libel that Israel intended to desecrate the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

Another protester held a sign that said: “Israel is an Apartheid State,” while another sign read: “ISRAEL: STOP THE EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLINGS #Fadi Alloun.”

Fadi Aloon was shot by Israeli security forces after he stabbed a 15-year-old Israeli boy. Several hours before the attack, Aloon posted “Either martyrdom or victory” on his Facebook page.

On November 12, 2014, Perez attended an event organized by Stanford SJP titled: “Education Under Occupation: A Night With Students From Palestine.” The event was part of the nationwide Right to Education Tour.

The Right to Education Tour brings Palestinian students to U.S. campuses to promote a claim that Israel arbitrarily obstructs the rights of Palestinians to higher education. The organization has demonized Israel for its security sweeps made to shut down terror cells operating from Palestinian campuses.

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.