Laura Waldman
Overview
Laura Waldman signed a pro-terror and anti-Semitic statement in 2022. Waldman has also spread hatred of Israel and engaged in anti-Israel activism.Waldman was reportedly a member of the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law (CUNY Law) chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) during the 2021-2022 academic year.
During the same academic year, Waldman was a board member of the CUNY Law chapter of the Jewish Law Student Association (CUNY JLSA), an anti-Israel group.
Waldman is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
As of March 2024, Waldman was listed as a paralegal at the New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG) in the consumer protection unit. Waldman’s LinkedIn profile said she had worked at NYLAG since November 2021.
Also as of March 2024, Waldman’s LinkedIn said she was studying for a JD at CUNY Law, slated to graduate in 2024.
As of the same date, Waldman’s LinkedIn said she graduated from Hunter College (Hunter) with a bachelor’s degree in English and studio art in 2008. Hunter is part of CUNY.
Also as of March 2024, Waldman’s LinkedIn said she was licensed as a notary public in June 2022. Waldman was listed online as an active notary public with commission number 01WA6433941.
As of the same date, Waldman’s LinkedIn said she was located in New York, New York.
Signing a Pro-Terror and Anti-Semitic Statement
Waldman signed a June 28, 2022 statement by a CUNY anti-Israel group that said: “Palestinian voices are at the core of our coalition and we stand to uphold their demands for global liberation, resistance by any means necessary, the right of return for Palestinian refugees, the return of all land prior to 1948, and ending the occupation. We commit to Palestinian liberation as defined by Palestinians. These principles are not negotiable.”Anti-Israel activists use the phrase “by any means necessary,” as one of multiple euphemisms for terrorist violence, including “resistance.”
The “right of return” is a Palestinian demand discredited as a means to eliminate Israel. International law mandates no absolute right of return and UN Resolution 194, which defined principles for “refugees wishing to return to their homes,” was unanimously rejected by Arab nations following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
Before the list of pledges signatories agreed to, the statement said: “Never again means never again for anyone.”
The phrase “Never Again” is often deployed as a general declaration against genocide, invoking the Nazis’ war of extermination against the Jews.
The statement was written by Not In Our Name, which describes itself as a “collective of Jewish anti-Zionist students, workers, & alumni from CUNY dedicated to fighting for Palestinian liberation on campus.”
Hatred of Israel
Waldman signed an October 8, 2022 CUNY JLSA statement titled: “Open Letter to the CUNY Community Re: CUNY Chancellor Adoption of the IHRA Definition of Anstisemitism [sic].”The statement said: “In our organizing together as JLSA and SJP over the years, we have repeatedly rejected the idea that zionism–the settler-colonial project of establishing the state of Israel–furthers the self-determination of the Jewish people. We understand zionism, as a political ideology, to be a form of settler-colonialism and an inherently racist endeavor.”
Zionism is the belief that Jews have the right to self-determination in their own national home, and the right to develop their national culture.
The CUNY JLSA statement continued: “Zionism is premised on the dispossession of Palestinians from their land, and on the creation of an ethnostate that, to maintain its Jewish identity, denies rights to Palestinians that are afforded to Jews and views Palestinians as a ‘demographic threat.’ As aspiring social justice civil rights, criminal defense, housing, immigration attorneys, we cannot support an ideology that requires genocide to sustain itself.”
In June 2023, Waldman signed a statement titled: “Defend CUNY Organizing, Stand for Palestine: #WeStandWithFatima.”
The statement said: “CUNY School of Law alumna Fatima is under attack after delivering a principled speech against zionist settler-colonialism, capitalism, and racist police violence as the class-elected commencement speaker at the CUNY Law School’s graduation on May 12, 2023.”
The statement defended Fatima Mohammed for her CUNY Law commencement speech where she promoted violence, spread hatred of Israel and the police, honored terrorist financiers and promoted the BDS movement. Mohammed is an activist with the pro-terror group Within Our Lifetime (WOL), where she has glorified terrorists and called for Israel’s destruction. The CUNY Board of Trustees condemned Mohammed’s speech.
Waldman signed a June 12, 2021 statement written by the 2021-2022 CUNY Law student government that said: “The occupation of Palestine is a crisis of white supremacy. The occupation of Palestine is as urgent as anti-semitic violence…”
Anti-Israel Activism (AMP, Al-Awda, BDS)
On May 13, 2023, Waldman appeared in a photo from an April 8, 2023, anti-Israel protest titled: “HANDS OFF AL-AQSA / NYC PROTEST.” The protest was organized by anti-Israel groups American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) and Al-Awda.The term “intifada,” which translates from Arabic as “uprising” or “insurrection,” carries the connotation of violence. Palestinian intifadas waged against Israel have been marked since 1987 by hundreds of hijackings, shootings, stabbings, bombings and suicide missions.
At the same April 2023 protest, a protester held [00:31:36] a sign with honoring Iyad Sawalha, a terrorist responsible for killing 31 Israelis. Other participants held signs that said [00:29:15]: “ZIONISM IS TERRORISM” and [00:10:00]: “End All Aid to the Racist State of Israel!”
On May 25, 2021, Waldman signed a petition titled: “CUNY community statement of solidarity with the Palestinian people.”
Signatories pledged to “Initiate, support, and amplify campaigns in solidarity with Palestinian calls for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israeli apartheid, at CUNY and in our wider communities,” as well as “Support community efforts and legislation to pressure our government to end funding for Israeli military aggression.”
The petition was written days after an Israeli operation against terror groups in Gaza.
In May 2021, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists fired over 4,300 rockets from Gaza at major population centers in Israel. Israel responded by launching “Operation Guardian of the Walls (OGW),” carrying out targeted military strikes in Gaza.
On May 20, 2021, Waldman signed [p. 12] an anti-Israel statement during OGW, titled: “Hunter College Students Demand BDS and Palestine Solidarity.”
The statement called [p. 2] on Hunter to: “Divest: Divestment from companies that aid in the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians imposed by Israel…Prohibit: Ban all former and current Israeli army associations on campus…”
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
Twitter:https://twitter.com/LauraWaldman4LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-waldman-a572a913/
