Maria-Gutierrez Bascon

Overview

Maria Angeles Gutierrez Bascon is a member of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at the University of Chicago (U of C).

Bascon is a PhD Candidate in Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Studies at the U of C Romance Languages and Literatures department. She is also a lecturer at U of C.

Demonizing Israel

On May 13, 2015, Bascon participated in an anti-Israel Facebook photo campaign by SJP U of C. and JVP UChicago to promote SJP U of C’s Palestine Solidarity Week.

The photo campaign highlighted a series of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) UChicago (JVP UChicago) workshops titled, "Facing the Nakba." The photo campaign showed people holding up placards containing anti-Israel propaganda.

One placard made the misleading claim that Israel depopulated 500 Arab villages — when, in fact, Arabs were encouraged to lay down arms and stay.

Another placard stated, fraudulently, that "in 2011 the Knesset (Parliament) passed a bill which bars any public funding for any commemoration of Nakba day." In truth, the bill only penalized local authorities and other state-funded bodies for holding events marking Nakba (Arabic for catastrophe) Day on Israel’s Independence Day, holding events that support armed resistance or racism against Israel, or desecrating the state flag or national symbols.

Other placards propagated the unique definition of "refugee" that UNRWA applies to Palestinian Arabs, with one placard stating that over 4.4 Million Palestinian refugees are registered with the U.N. and others estimatingthe total number of Palestinian refugees at 7 Million.

SJP U of C - Dedicating a Week to Israel-Hatred

From October 26-30, 2015, SJP U of C launched its annual Israeli Apartheid Week — a five-day event dedicated to demonizing Israel.

One of the events began with a panel moderated by John Mearsheimer, notorious for anti-Semitic claims that the "Israel Lobby" in the United States exercises undue influence over U.S. foreign policy and that the Lobby’s agenda is detrimental to U.S. interests.

The event also featured Black rights activist Page May from We Charge Genocide as well as Omar Barghouti. 

On October 27, 2015, SJP U of C hosted a talk featuring Eliat Maoz, who propagated a blood libel, claiming that Israel’s wars with Hamas in Gaza are "a testing ground" for the weapons industry. Maoz described the “Occupied Palestinian Territories” as “the largest and most advanced weapon-testing laboratory,” and that Israel uses its operations as a means of marketing and exporting its technology and weapons abroad.

Promoting Anti-Semite Steven Salaita

On September 29, 2014, Bascon shared an op-ed by Steven Salaita where he defended his anti-Semitic tweets.

In 2014, The University of Illinois withdrew an offer of employment to Salaita after becoming aware of his anti-Semitic tweets. One tweet, posted shortly after Hamas kidnapped three teenage Israeli high school students, read: "You may be too refined to say it, but I’m not: I wish all the f**king West Bank settlers would go missing.” In 2017, Salaita posted to Facebook: “People ask if I would go back in time and change anything. I would not…I will die unapologetic.” In February 2019, Salaita stated that he had become a school bus driver in the Washington, D.C., area.

On September 29, 2014, Bascon on Facebook shared a link promoting speaking events with Salaita in the Chicago area - including at U of C - the following month. The post listed SJP U of C as an organizer of the speaking tour.

SJP U of C and JVP UChicago - Exalting Terror

On November 2, 2015, JVP UChicago and SJP U of C erected a shrine honoring Palestinian terrorists killed during the upsurge of stabbings, car rammings and other terrorist attacks against Jews, that began in October 2015. 

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 shrine featured Palestinian terrorist Fadi Aloon, whom it portrayed as an innocent civilian was shot while "run[ning] from a racist mob." 

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. 

SJP U of C - Supporting Terrorists

On May 16, 2016, SJP U of C approvingly posted on Facebook the U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) stance on Palestinian terrorism against Israel.

The text stated: "Regardless of the charges brought against them by occupying Israeli military courts, we stand in defense of all Palestinian prisoners." The text continued, “[t]hose held by Israel are all prisoners of conscience and national heroes, and we reject the criminalization of our resistance. To defend and advocate for them is to support the sacred right of the Palestinians to National Liberation and Independence.”

The USPCN post quoted by SJP U of C urged taking "immediate action" by registering to attend Rasmea Odeh’s next status hearing and labeled her a “beloved community icon.”

On March 17, 2016 the SJP U of C Facebook page’s cover photo featured a likeness of Rasmea Odeh. On April 23, 2015, JVP UChicago members attended a fundraising event for her.

The SJP U of C Facebook cover photo also included an image of domestic terrorist Assata Shakur, who was convicted of killing a NJ State trooper and grievously wounding another in 1973. Shakur escaped from prison in 1979 and managed to flee to Cuba in 1984 — where she resides today. She is listed on the FBI Most Wanted Terror List under her legal name, Joanne Deborah Chesimard.

Further, the SJP U of C Facebook cover photo included an image of Commandanta Ramona, a deceased leader of the militant separatist Mexican group the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN).

Lastly, the cover photo included an image of Angela Davis. Davis made the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitive List in 1970, after being charged as a principal in an aggravated kidnapping and first-degree murder — for purchasing the shotgun used in the abduction and killing of a judge. Davis was eventually arrested — but later acquitted.

SJP U of C -Spreading Hatred of Israel 

From October 26-30, 2015, SJP U of C launched its annual Israeli Apartheid Week — a five-day event dedicated to demonizing Israel.

One of the week’s events began with a panel moderated by John Mearsheimer, who is notorious for anti-Semitic claims that the “Israel Lobby” in the United States exercises undue influence over U.S. foreign policy and that the Lobby’s agenda is detrimental to U.S. interests.

The event also featured anti-police agitator Page May from We Charge Genocide and co-founder of the BDS movement Omar Barghouti, who rejects the existence of Israel.

On October 27, 2015, SJP U of C hosted a talk featuring Eliat Maoz, who propagated a blood libel, claiming that Israel’s wars with Hamas in Gaza are “a testing ground” for the weapons industry. Maoz described the “Occupied Palestinian Territories” as “the largest and most advanced weapon-testing laboratory,” and that Israel uses its operations as a means of marketing and exporting its technology and weapons abroad. 

On April 24, 2015 —  a day after Israeli Independence Day — SJP U of C posted photos of their protest with JVP UChicago members. The protesters held Israel responsible for the creation and continuation of the Palestinian refugee problem. One sign suggested that Israel is engaged in an “ongoing genocide, ethnic cleansing and apartheid.” 

SJP U of C - Hosting Anti-Israel Speakers

SJP U of C has a history of inviting Israel-haters to speak at events, including Dr. Leila Farsakh, Dr. Sa'ed Atshan and New York-based poet and writer Remi Kanazi.

On May 11, 2015, SJP U of C organized an event featuring Farsakh. Farsakh advocates for a one-state solution that would see the dissolution of Israel as a Jewish State. Farsakh attended Harvard's One State Conference in March 2012, where in response to a question concerning the fate of Israeli Jews were they to become disempowered by the voluntary dissolution of Israel, Farsakh reportedly suggested they could "reconnect with their Arabism."

On May 13, 2015, as part of Palestine Solidarity Week, SJP U of C organized an event featuring Atshan. Atshan has long rejected the two-state solution, does not accept that Israel is a democracy and wants the Jewish state to be dissolved and replaced with another. democratic state.

In 2012, Atshan wrote an article that accused Israel of "ethnic cleansing" and “colonization” — and roundly condemned Native American poet Joy Harjo for rejecting Palestinian calls to boycott Israel. Harjo posted on her Facebook page from Tel Aviv, saying: “Now my social media pages and message boxes are filled with a campaign to force a boycott, with messages of polarization, as if there is one way to poetry, resistance or empowerment.” Harjo went on to mention “an atmosphere of censure now in the ultimatum that I am being given to boycott.”

On January 17, 2012, SJP U of C hosted a panel event featuring Kanazi, condemning Israel’s 2008 - 2009 Operation Cast Lead. The event also featured Ali Abunimah, the co-founder of the anti-Israel online magazine Electronic Intifada.

SJP U of C - Propagating Blood Libels

On September 16, 2014, SJP U of C shared on Facebook an image of Palestinians massacred in the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps in Lebanon by Lebanese Christian Phalangists — and suggested that Israel committed the massacre. The post further alleged that "63 noted Palestinian intellectuals in Sabra and Shatila were shot execution-style by Israeli forces."

On May 7, 2014, SJP U of C shared a poster on Facebook objecting to Israel’s Independence Day, and rejecting Israel’s right to exist. The poster urged: "Decolonize Palestine. Free Palestine." The poster accused Zionists of “celebrating” and trying “to normalize ethnic cleansing.” SJP U of C and JVP UChicago members paraded similar signs on the grounds of the U of C campus.

SJP U of C - Disguising Anti-Semitism as Anti-Zionism

On July 20, 2014 — During Israel’s Operation Protective Edge — SJP U of C members attended an anti-Israel march and die in attended held in downtown Chicago. 

Demonstrators held signs bearing anti-Semitic claims, such as "Zionism is Nazism." One sign read: — “Well done Israel, Hitler would be proud of you.” Another said — “Stop doing what Hitler did to you.” Yet another read: — “Israel is a Racist, Genocidal state.” One placard propagated multiple blood libels, reading: — “Israel’s To Do List: use chemical weapons, murder children, attack the press, bomb refugee camps, block provisions of humanitarian aid.”

The demonstration was organized by the Coalition for Justice in Palestine (CJP) — a group formed at the time of the second Intifada, which includes Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP)-Chicago. SJP Chicago is, in turn, a "network forged by student activists organizing for Palestine on university campuses throughout Chicago," which includes SJP U of C.

On August 10, 2014, CJP organized another anti-Israel rally and die-in, attended by members of SJP U of C and JVP UChicago. SJP U of C member Jonah Rubin posed holding up a sign that accused Israel of apartheid. SJP U of C member Kirsten Gindler posed holding a JVP sign which accused Israel of waging a war on innocents: — "Jews Oppose Israel’s War on Civilians."

SJP U of C - Shutting down Free Speech

On February 21, 2016, SJP members opposed a lecture by Bassem Eid, founder of the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group, who opposes the BDS movement. During the talk Eid was threatened with physical violence.

After Eid criticized the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas for repression and human rights abuses against the Palestinians, protesters repeatedly interrupted Eid. A former student at Chicago’s Columbia College, who said he was from Gaza, yelled in Arabic, "I’m going to destroy this place!" Later, he said, “I’m going to kill this motherf**cker!” and “Wait until you go to your car!”

In October 2009, over a hundred SJP U of C and MSA U of C members disrupted a lecture by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert visiting U of C, organized by the Harris School of Public Policy. Demonstrators shouted,"You deserve to be executed!" One agitator was dragged out by police, yelling “You’re a f**king snake! You goddamn pig!” The protesters turned violent against the police; some were arrested.

The anti-Israel agitators waved banners with Olmert’s likeness and the phrase "war criminal." Demonstrators denied Israel’s right to exist in any part of Palestine — chanting “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” Across the Palestinian political spectrum, from Hamas to the PA that phrase has always referred specifically to the destruction of Israel and expulsion of the Jews.

On February 26, 2013, SJP protested a talk by Israeli-American Law Professor Amos Guiora from the University of Utah. Protesters picketed and turned their chairs away from Guiora in the middle of his talk. One student continuously interrupted Guiora until being escorted out of the room.

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.

Social Media and Weblinks

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/magutierrezbascon

University of Chicago:http://chicago.academia.edu/MariaAngelesGutierrezBascon