Natalie Naculich

Overview

Natalie Naculich was an active supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. She is a sophomore at the University of Chicago (UofC), studying Public Health and International Development.

As of December 2018, Naculich’s LinkedIn page said that she received a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from UofC in 2017.

Her LinkedIn also said that she works at Tenant Organizer at Housing Conservation Coordinators since May 2018 and as a HomeBase Case Manager at BronxWorks since July 2017. 

Pushing BDS at UofC

On March 28, 2016, a coalition of organizations including Jewish Voice for Peace UChicago (JVP UChicago), SJP at the University of Chicago (SJP U of C), Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán at UChicago (M.E.Ch.A.) and Queers United in Power launched the ‪‎UofC Divest‬ campaign. The campaign called on U of C’s College Council to pass a resolution urging the university’s divestment from targeted companies doing business with Israel. The launch urged students to sign a petition supporting the resolution.

Naculich is a leader of the coalition and addressed the crowds at a launch rally.

On March 28, 2016, Naculich changed her Facebook profile picture to an image of the UofC Divest campaign poster.

UofC Divest’s inaugural Facebook post claimed that "we act in direct response to the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement." Also on March 28, 2016 UofC Divest hung banners throughout the (U of C) campus, supporting the divestment resolution. Naculich joined dozens of BDS supporters who held a launch rally, marching with a huge Palestinian flag through U of C’s central quad.

Students at the U of C who were opposed to UofC Divest responded by launching a counter campaign — "University of Chicago Coalition for Peace."

On April 11, 2016, UofC Divest uploaded a video promoting its campaign. Naculich featured in the video with other SJP and JVP members. One member said: "this University shouldn’t be profiting off the murder of women and children." Another student, who presented herself as a recipient of financial aid, stated: “it makes me really angry to know that the money used to fund my education comes from loads of human rights violations.” Another student said she supports UofC Divest because she doesn’t “support a state founded on Apartheid.” Diana Lozano, co-chair of M.E.Ch.A. — speaking in Spanish — claimed: “the same colonial forces in the U.S.-Mexico borders are the ones that are oppressing Gaza.”

On April 14, 2016, two-weeks after the UofC Divest campaign’s launch, the College Council passed the resolution, in an 8-4-3 vote.

In a marked departure from prior College Council policy, all photography and voice recordings were prohibited at the divestment vote. Representatives’ individual votes on amendments disassociating the resolution from the international BDS movement and asserting Israel’s right to exist were not captured on the record. Two attempts by the university newspaper to re-poll members of the Council yielded different numbers than the totals from that night — and indicated that at least two representatives misreported their votes.

Following the vote, some students sought to illustrate that UofC Divest was not about human rights, but about singling out Israel. They proposed a resolution to the college council to divest from Chinese weapon manufacturers, due to China’s record of human rights violations and its occupation of Tibet. Council members condemned the resolution — and tabled it indefinitely— claiming it was political and offensive to Chinese students.

Supporting A Terrorist

On December 7, 2014, Naculich shared on Facebook a photo calling for "Justice4Rasmea" for terrorist Rasmea Odeh.

Odeh was a key military operative [00:02:08]with the terrorist group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). In 1969, Odeh masterminded a PFLP bombing that killed two college students in a Jerusalem supermarket. Odeh also attempted to bomb the British consulate. 

Odeh confessed, in a highly detailed account, the day following her arrest. In a 2004 documentary, one of Odeh’s co-conspirators directly implicated [00:10:53] Odeh as the mastermind. 

In 1970, an Israeli court tried and convicted Odeh for her involvement in both bombings and sentenced her to life imprisonment. However, Odeh was released 10 years later, in a prisoner swap and emigrated to the United States.

On November 10, 2014, a Michigan federal jury convicted Odeh for immigration fraud because she failed to disclose her prior conviction and life sentence on her immigration application. On March 12, 2015, she was sentenced to 18 months in prison. 

In 2017, after an appeal and a lengthy court battle, Odeh admitted to immigration fraud, was stripped of her U.S. citizenship, deported to Jordan and banned from re-entering the U.S.

Social Media and Weblinks

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/natalie.naculich

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-naculich-86619b72

Twitter:https://twitter.com/naculich