Mike Miccioli

Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) is presented as “an international series of events that seek to raise awareness of…Israel’s settler-colonial project and apartheid system over the Palestinian people” and build support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

On April 22, 2022, Miccioli promoted IAW in an article in Harvard’s student newspaper,the Harvard Crimson, and was quoted as saying: “Israel is practicing the crime of apartheid, so our goal is to draw attention to those conditions…and to try and build solidarity and awareness in the general Harvard population.” 

On April 21, 2022, during IAW, Miccioli featured in a Harvard PSC Instagram photo posing in front of a “mock apartheid wall” with other activists.  

The “mock apartheid wall” is a series of panels meant to represent Israel's security barrier, which was built as a deterrent to Palestinian terror attacks and in response to Palestinian sniper attacks. Panels feature misleading statistics and “facts” that present a skewed image of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

One panel on the display, which was called the “Wall of Resistance,” featured text that said [slide 2]: “Zionism is Racism Settler Colonialism White Supremacy Apartheid.” 
Another panel showed [slide 1] support for the “Right of Return.”

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 “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.

The Harvard PSC “Wall of Resistance” also featured a panel that portrayed [slide 1] an arched bridge with train cars on it that had the names of Israeli and American companies. Text above the train cars read: “BOYCOTT! DIVEST! SANCTION!” 

The same panel featured a black and white painting of Israeli soldiers and Palestinian civilians next to the security barrier and behind tall fencing. Critics of the display compared it to photos from a “concentration camp” during the Holocaust.

Anti-Israel Activism (PSC, BDS, USPCN)

On May 21, 2023, Miccioli appeared in a Twitter photo at an anti-Israel event held the previous day in Chicago, Illinois. The event was part of the “Nakba 75 Commemoration Tour,” co-organized by the U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN). 

The term “Nakba” is generally translated as “catastrophe” in Arabic, referring to the outcome of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It is a term often used to delegitimize the creation of the State of Israel by defining it as a catastrophe.

The grandson of former South African president Nelson Mandela spoke at the event, where he reportedly told participants: “You must intensify your fight to end US support for Israeli [sic].” He concluded his remarks by saying:"We shall not stop until all of occupied Palestine is free.” Hatem Abudayyeh, the national chair of USPCN, opened the program by calling for the “right of return.”

In April 2023, Miccioli indicated online that he would attend the “Boycott Birthright! Teach-In” hosted by the anti-Israel organization CODEPINK. The event flyer said: “Join CODEPINK for a teach-in and presentation on the harmful impact of Birthright and other free trips to Israel, its funders, and our campaign to Boycott Birthright in Chicago!”

Birthright Israel is a heritage trip to Israel for Jewish young adults from across the world.

In January 2023, Miccioli signed [p. 7] an SJP UChicago statement calling on UChicago to ban Israeli scholars who previously served in the Israeli military from teaching on campus. The statement referred to these scholars as “complicit Israeli military personnel.”

In 2022, Miccioli participated [slide 1] in Harvard PSC’s “#KeffiyehThursday” campaign, a weekly initiative launched in February 2022, which urged students to wear a keffiyeh on campus “in solidarity with and to bring visibility to the Palestinian cause...” 

The keffiyeh is a Palestinian headdress traditionally worn by men, which has become a symbol of Palestinian nationalism.   

Miccioli was featured in Harvard PSC “#KeffiyehThursday” photos on Facebook and Instagram from February 2022 to April 2022 wearing a keffiyeh.

On November 15, 2021, Miccioli appeared [slide 1] in a HOOP Instagram photo marching with fellow protesters at a BDS rally that was organized to “TELL HARVARD TO DIVEST NOW.” Protesters at the rally reportedly chanted: “Free, free Palestine,” “No more money for Israel’s crimes,” and “No peace on stolen land.”  

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.