Parker Breza

Breza co-sponsored a Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement resolution at Tufts, which passed on the eve of Passover in 2017. He was then a senator in the Tufts Community Union Senate (TCU Senate).

Breza attended the 2019 National SJP Conference at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities (UMN), as well as the 2018 National SJP Conference, held at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). 

National SJP held their conference at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities (UMN), from November 1-3, 2019. The conference was themed: “Beyond Struggle: From Roots to Branches Towards Liberation.”  

Breza also attended the 2017 and 2016 National SJP Conferences.

Breza was affiliated [00:11:51] with Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. Breza has participated in a variety of anti-Israel JVP conferences and campaigns.  
 
As of December 2020, Breza’s LinkedIn page said he was a Messaging & Media Relations Associate at the Congressional Progressive Caucus Center/Action Fund in Washington, D.C., since May 2020.

As of the same date, Breza’s LinkedIn page said he was a Congressional Press & Policy Intern for U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar from January to May 2020 and an ED Transition Task Force Coordinator for JVP from November 2019 to March 2020.

Also as of December 2020, Breza’s LinkedIn page said he was a Grassroots Policy & Advocacy Fellow in the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR), from May to August 2019. His LinkedIn page also said he graduated from Tufts with a degree in American Studies & Colonialism Studies in 2019.

As of December 2020, Breza used the name “Parker B.” on LinkedIn and “PB&J” on Twitter.

Supporting Terrorists

On May 10, 2017, Breza featured in a Tufts SJP Facebook video of activists participating in the “Saltwater Challenge” to support Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jail. Tufts SJP claimed [00:00:40] in the video that Israel practices “apartheid.”The Saltwater Challenge was in solidarity with a 2017 hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners.

Demonizing Israel

As of August 2019, Breza’s LinkedIn page said he was involved in organizing Israel Apartheid Week (IAW) with the SOAS Palestine Society, while on a semester abroad at The School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS), University of London.

Israel 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. IAW has been re-named Palestine Awareness Week.

On November 30, 2018, Breza tweeted: ACTION ALERT stop the #DeadlyExchange between the Israeli occupying army and the racist/classist @bostonpolice !! call 617-635-4500 before the officers leave tomorrow. @jvplive @JVPBoston.”

In 2017, JVP launched the “Deadly Exchange (DX)” campaign, which accused American Jewish organizations of promoting human rights abuses. JVP also released a video that blamed [00:04:04] U.S.-based Jewish organizations for violence that occurs against Black and Brown communities, immigrants and activists in the U.S.

On February 25, 2019, the Tufts Observer reported that Tufts SJP launched the #DeadlyExchangeAtTufts coalition, based on JVP’s Deadly Exchange campaign, which called on the university to end its participation in counterterrorism training trips to Israel. 

The article quoted Breza stating that “students of color, undocumented students, and Muslim students are disproportionately impacted by police violence and police aggression in the world at large… If we want these trends to stop, then we also need this relationship to stop between Tufts University and a foreign military.” 

On April 6, 2017, Breza tweeted: “if you claim to support decolonization in the US and not in Palestine and around the world, you do not support decolonization.”

2017 Divestment Resolution

In April 2017, Breza co-sponsored a BDS movement resolution at Tufts, which passed on the eve of Passover. 

The resolution itself quoted broadly from the language of the BDS website and Tufts SJP activists rebuffed all requests to alter that language in any way. However, Breza and other resolution supporters kept insisting [01:44:24] the resolution was not a call for BDS. 

This led one student to ask [01:54:38]: “... My question is, just, where do you see the distinction between it just calling for divestment or, like, asking the senate to make [sic.] a position on BDS, because I do see the talking about this in the resolution?”

Breza responded [01:54:56]: “...I think what’s important to understand is that Students for Justice in Palestine supports the call for BDS — in general. This resolution that we have written and presented for you here is a divestment resolution. So, do with that what you will.”

After Amira Subaey, a resolution co-sponsor, affirmed [02:32:40] that the resolution incorporated direct quotes from the BDS website, Breza said [02:45:12]: “We are not saying that this is not a BDS resolution. We are clarifying that this is a divestment resolution.”

Breza later said [02:49:45]: “I think when people say that ‘this is not BDS,’ it’s not boycott and sanction in this specific resolution. It is one piece of a larger movement.”

Breza’s and Tufts SJP’s tactics at the BDS vote hearing matched tactics suggested and explicitly articulated by BDS founder Omar Barghouti, shortly thereafter. On May 5, 2017, Barghouti said [00:58:53] to an audience at The Palestine Center in Washington, D.C.: “If you join a campaign for justice and freedom, it doesn’t have to carry the BDS logo. It doesn't have to say ‘boycott’ and it doesn’t have to say ‘BDS.’ There are many creative ways to do things without labeling it as BDS.”

On April 9, 2017, during the student senate hearing on the anti-Israel resolution he co-sponsored, Breza admitted [00:36:20] that Tufts SJP did not consult with other student groups, other than the anti-Israel JVP at Tufts (Tufts JVP), during the resolution drafting process. 

When asked whether Tufts SJP’s consulted with anyone else aside from Tufts JVP regarding the vote’s timing, Breza said [00:36:20]: “So, we didn’t, um, actually, like, talk to any other groups, like, while we were drafting this resolution.”

Anti-Israel Activism

On June 20, 2019, Breza posted on Instagram a group photo of himself withU.S. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and anti-Israel activist Noura Erakat. 

Rashida Tlaib was elected to the U.S. Congress in November 2018. She has advocated for a one-state solution, endorsed the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and called for reduced foreign aid to Israel. In July 2019, Tlaib co-sponsored a pro-BDS bill in the U.S. Congress introduced by Rep. Ilhan Omar.

Breza’s Instagram post was captioned: “the two state solution is dead, but don’t worry there’s something even better! these incredible women are articulating a future of freedom for the Palestinian people and a progressive vision for a world without racism and oppression. tell your member of congress !!”

The same day, Tufts SJP posted the photo on Instagram and wrote: “So proud of Tufts SJP alum Parker (‘19) and Leah (‘16) for their amazing work advocating for justice in Palestine at Capitol Hill with @uscpr @adalahjusticeproject…

Formerly known as the U.S. Campaign to End the Occupation, USCPR is a coalition of American-based anti-Israel organizations that lobbies the United States Congress to adopt anti-Israel policies and end government support for Israel.

Adalah Justice Project (AJP) is a pro-BDS U.S. advocacy organization whose stated mission is “transforms public discourse and U.S. policy on Palestine through public education, coalition-building, and advocacy for policies grounded in universal rights of freedom, equality and justice.”

 As of January 2021, Sandra Tamari, a leader in the BDS movement, was AJP’s Executive Director and Sumaya Awad, the senior media editor at the anti-Israel Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU), was AJP’s Director of Strategy and Communications.

The Tufts SJP post went on to say: “Together this incredibly visionary group had strategic conversations with Congressmembers Betty McCollum (D-MN), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and Ro Khanna (D-CA) and met with eight offices in the House and Senate. ‘Our message was simple: our values must guide us in ending U.S. complicity in the ongoing human rights violations that stand in the way of realizing a truly progressive vision for the world, with freedom and justice for all.’ - @adalahjusticeproject#freepalestine”

On April 11, 2019, Breza appeared in a Tufts SJP Twitter photo that was captioned: “#MadonnaDontGo !! boycott Eurovision and its role in upholding #IsraeliApartheid. Listen to Palestinians calling for you to support a #FreePalestine through #BDS”

Madonna performed at Eurovision 2019 in Tel Aviv.

On April 4, 2019, Breza appeared in a Tufts SJP Instagram photo leading an April 3, 2019 event as part of Tufts IAW 2019. Tufts SJP hosted IAW 2019 on campus from March 30 - April 8, 2019.

The event featured San Francisco State University (SFSU) Professor Rabab Abdulhadi, who gave a talk titled: “Palestinian Feminism & Transnational Solidarity.”

Professor Rabab Abdulhadi has, since 2014, sought to cultivate alliances between SFSU and two Hamas-dominated Palestinian universities.

The Facebook event description said Abdulhadi would “address the concepts of Zionism and Feminism as mutually exclusive concepts” as well as “the #DeadlyExchange campaign, with particular focus on the ways that police exchanges with Israeli Occupation Forces, including Tufts’ own chief of police, impact Palestinians on the ground in deadly ways.”

On February 12, 2019, Breza appeared in a Tufts SJP Facebook photo with fellow activists holding a sign that read: “Tufts SJP stands with Ilhan Omar.” The post was captioned: “Criticizing AIPAC [American Israel Public Affairs Committee] is not antisemitic! Ilhan Omar is a champion for justice, and we will not allow anti-Black, Islamaphobic attacks to silence solidarity with Palestine. #TuftsSJPwithIlhan #IStandWithIlhan”

The Tufts SJP Facebook post was referring to a February 10, 2019 tweet by Omar, where she made explicit her earlier suggestions that AIPAC bribed American lawmakers. 

Omar’s tweet came in response to another tweet that read: “Would love to know who @IlhanMN thinks is paying American politicians to be pro-Israel, though I think I can guess. Bad form, Congresswoman. That's the second anti-Semitic trope you've tweeted.”
 

JVP Activism

On February 10, 2016, Breza appeared in a group photo posted to Facebook by JVP,featuring Tufts SJP activists in a joint BDS campaign that targetedAmerican vacation rental company, AirBnB.  

In their Facebook post, JVP commented: “Tufts Students for Justice in Palestine say no to Airbnb and #stolenhomes for rent in the occupied West Bank.” The post included a link to a JVP petition that alleged: “Airbnb is directly profiting from the continuing occupation and dispossession of Palestinians.”

From March 31 to April 2, 2017, Breza attended [00:11:51] the 2017 JVP National Member Meeting (JVP NMM).

A seven-member Tufts SJP delegation met [00:05:45] with JVP Campaign Organizer Leila Nashashibi and gave a presentation at the JVP NMM.

Tufts SJP’s participation at JVP NMM forced [00:40:10] a scheduling conflict with Passover regarding the Tufts student senate vote on the BDS resolution that Breza co-sponsored.

On September 5, 2017, Breza tweeted: “Hey @Birthright! Do the 5 million+ Palestinian refugees get a free trip to return home, too? #ReturntheBirthright https://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/returnthebirthright/ …”

In September of 2017, JVP issued its #returnthebirthright campaign manifesto, calling on American Jews to boycott the Birthright Israel (Birthright) program. Birthright Israel was founded by Jewish philanthropists “in 1999 to address the growing divide between young Diaspora Jewish adults and the land and people of Israel.”

JVP’s #returnthebirthright manifesto accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing” and alleged “the modern state of Israel is predicated on the ongoing erasure of Palestinians.” 

The manifesto concluded: “And as we reject this, we commit to promoting the right to return of Palestinian refugees… Israel is not our Birthright… Return the Birthright.”

On June 19, 2018, Breza fundraised for a JVP-hosted “organizing and skillshare retreat” for SJP and JVP members, and other anti-Israel activists. 

On April 16, 2019, Breza co-wrote an op-ed with SJP and JVP activist Molly Tunis in New Voices Magazine, titled “Boycott Birthright – Unconditionally.” The op-ed said: “For those of us who are eligible to go on Birthright, we must acknowledge that this ‘birthright’ was never ours to begin with, and claiming stolen Indigenous land for an apartheid state cannot be done in our name.”

Attending the 2019 National SJP Conference

On November 3, 2019, Breza posted an Instagram story showing a sign created by anti-Israel artist Christ Ghazaleh at the 2019 National SJP Conference. As of December 2020, Breza displayed the photo of Ghazaleh’s sign in the banner of his Twitter profile.

Breza retweeted a November 3, 2019 JVP Action tweet that read: “Excited to be heading to the @BernieSanders & @IlhanMN rally tonight with our SJP fam! Bernie & Ilhan know more than most US politicians that Palestinians deserve to live in freedom & equality. Keep pushing, keep fighting! #BernieInMN #StandWithIlhan”

The JVP Action tweet included a group photo of activists includingBreza and fellow 2019 National SJP Conference attendee, Malak Ghazal. 

On November 3, 2019, the final day of the 2019 National SJP Conference, then-Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders held a campaign rally with U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar at UMN’s Williams Arena. That day, Breza featured in a JVP Action twitter photo with other JVP activists, at the rally.

On November 4, 2019, Breza posted an Instagram story of the Sanders/Omar rally at UMN.

The 2019 National SJP Conference was held at the University of Minnesota- Twin Cities (UMN), from November 1-3. The Conference themes centered on support for BDS as well as the rejection of Israel and Zionism.

Attending the 2018 National SJP Conference

Breza indicated on Facebook that he “attended” the 2018 National SJP Conference at UCLA from November 16-18, 2018.  

On November 19, 2018, Breza shared on Facebook a National SJP post which featured a group photo of the 2018 National SJP Conference participants.

2019 National SJP - Supporting BDS

The Conference website called to capitalize on shifts in the political climate, represented by the elections to the U.S. Congress of Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, who both support BDS. National SJP speakers also reportedly drew attention to Rep. Omar’s support for the BDS movement as the Representative for UMN’s Congressional district.

2019 National SJP - Rejecting Israel and Zionism  

The 2019 National SJP Conference website indicated that the goal of their “solidarity movement” was to push for policies that “demanded the end of” the state of Israel, referred to as “the Israeli occupation.”

2019 National SJP - Heightened Secrecy  

The 2019 National SJP Conference required attendees to be “verified and vouched for” by an SJP chapter to which they belonged and required each chapter to register as a group. The conference also required each group to be verified by a “reference––someone ​​who is ​NOT going to th​is​ conference but ​who ​is or has ​recently ​been a part of your ​SJP.”

2019 National SJP - Partnering Organizations  

National SJP partnered with other anti-Israel organizations to table, sell merchandise and lead workshops, including CODEPINK, Palestine Youth Movement (PYM), Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), Palestine Legal, Watan Palestine and the Adalah Justice Project.

Keynote speakers included Loubna Qutami, Chair of PYM, as well as Taher Herzallah of American Muslims for Palestine (AMP). Other speakers included Miko Peled, Sandra Tamari, Suhad Katib, Chris Gazaleh, Clarissa Bitar, Tariq Luthun, Maytha Alhassen and Sima Shakhsari.  

The 2017 Divestment Hearing: Marginalizing Jewish Voices  

On Thursday April 6, 2017, the Tufts Community Union Senate (TCU Senate) announced that an anti-Israel divestment resolution — authored by Tufts SJP — would be voted on at the TCU Senate’s Sunday, April 9th meeting.

Monday evening, April 10th, marked the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. Passover Eve is a time when many Jewish students are traditionally at home with family. Many Jewish students who had long-standing plans to spend the weekend with their families in anticipation of the holiday, were unable to attend the vote.  

On the day of the vote, Tufts Hillel executive director Rabbi Jeffrey Summit noted: “The Hillel Jewish community is deeply disturbed by this vote, and by the way the resolution was brought so close to Pesach [Passover], at a time when many of our students are home with their families, readying themselves for the holiday.”

On Sunday April 9, the TCU Senate voted on the divestment resolution which passed with 17 in favor, six opposed and eight abstentions. Amid protests against the resolution’s timing, the TCU Senate voted down a motion to table the resolution. Six out of the 37 TCU Senators eligible to vote in April 2017 were absent from the final vote.

In a marked departure from protocol, photography and video recording of the divestment resolution’s proceedings were banned, due to “safety” concerns. The TCU Senate livestreamed a video of a vote taken on another issue at the same meeting.

An audio-only broadcast of the divestment resolution proceedings was livestreamed on the TCU Senate Facebook page. During the 3.5 hour-long session, TCU Senate members and speakers avoided referring to one another by name and identified (1:15:35) one another, instead, via references to physical characteristics and clothing.

One Senator asked (36:00) Tufts SJP activist and TCU Senator Parker Breza if his group consulted with any campus groups other than Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) at Tufts (Tufts JVP) during the drafting of the divestment resolution. Breza answered (36:20): “So, we didn’t, um, actually, like, talk to any other groups, like, while we were drafting this resolution.”

The TCU Senate parliamentarian and Tufts SJP leaders Hannah Freedman and Noah Habeeb all agreed (41:11 and 44:40) on Wednesday, April 5th, to make a Google doc available for anyone unable to attend the vote, to submit comments that could be read “at some point” during the April 9th meeting. Immediately prior to the vote, the parliamentarian urgently requested the attendees to approve 10 minutes of time to read out the submitted comments, so he would not be put in an “awkward situation” (53:37).

Eventually, the parliamentarian read out write-in comments for a total of 15 minutes. The parliamentarian read out 22 (about 25%) out of the 81 student comments that were submitted to the senate via the Google doc.

In choosing which comments to read, the parliamentarian prioritized student comments over non-student comments and read them at random. Of the 22 randomized student comments read, at least 10 opposed the resolution. 

The 2017 Divestment Hearing: Denying Culpability  

Tufts SJP leaders Noah Habeeb and Hannah Freedman addressed the question of the divestment resolution’s timing.

When asked, specifically, “Why tonight?” Habeeb blamed Christianity, stating (44:25): “This country is characterized by Christian hegemony, this university is not immune to that. This a choice that Jewish students have to make frequently, to choose between our cultural religious practices and other things that matter to us.”

Freedman, who proudly invokes her own Jewishness in her activism, claimed not to have known about the timing conflict. She stated (41:02), “we were pretty upset when we heard” about the BDS vote conflicting with a time “when many Jewish students, specifically, are travelling for Passover,” and said (41:08): “obviously we want, like, a full dialogue in this room.”

Habeeb stressed the “sense of urgency” (44:05) within Tufts SJP for passing the resolution to mark the “50th year of occupation” (44:07). June 2017 marked the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Six-Day War.

Habeeb went on to attack (45:18) any assumption that those who could not attend because of Passover “are folks who would be against this resolution.” Habeeb said (45:20): “To me that verges on a dangerous anti-Semitic trope that the Jewish people are not loyal to their host societies and that they care more about Israel. There are people on both sides who are affected by this.”  

Attempts to table the divestment resolution were overridden. Olivia Dehm, a Tufts SJP member and TCU Senator, explicitly discounted (2:00:58) the exclusion of religiously observant Jewish students and claimed that the Senate had gone “above and beyond” (2:01:17) its obligation to accommodate Jewish students inconvenienced by Tufts SJP’s scheduling.

Dehm insisted that the proposed option for anyone absent “due to religious holidays” (2:01:32) to write in their opinions via Google doc and have them read out would adequately “represent voices that are not able to be physically here in this room.” Dehm then claimed that the vote’s timing was justified, even if it excluded some Jewish voices, because “there are so many Palestinian voices that are not heard constantly in the hegemonic dialogue of the United States” (2:01:35).

After a motion to table the divestment resolution failed, 13-19 (2:11:53) the TCU Senate proceeded to vote for BDS.

The 2017 Divestment Hearing: Half-truths and Lies  

The bulk of the divestment resolution demonized Israel — in successive “whereas” clauses, laden with half-truths. The resolution outlined Israeli operations — and touched on some U.S. operations — of the four companies targeted for divestment. Tufts SJP admitted in the divestment resolution that it did not know of any Tufts investments in the companies. The divestment resolution referred to Israel’s Operation Protective Edge (OPE) 

The 2017 Divestment Resolution: Embracing BDS   

Tufts SJP’s divestment resolution quoted from the official BDS website multiple times.

Lines 12 - 17 of the divestment resolution, as originally presented, included a “block quote” from the BDS website, but without any quotation marks or source attribution.

The resolution as finally passed added quotation marks around the BDS quotation, but never expressly sourced the block quote to the BDS website.

The 2017 Divestment Resolution Hearing: Attempting to Disavow BDS   

During the Senate session preceding the resolution vote, Tufts SJP repeatedly (1:55:05 and 2:38:34) told TCU Senators that the resolution was a “divestment” resolution — not a BDS resolution. However, during the amendment process, questioners forced Tufts SJP to acknowledge (2:32:40) that lines 12 - 17 of the resolution quoted, word-for-word, the three pillars of the BDS movement from the BDS website — but without quotation marks.

One Senator proposed an amendment stripping all BDS language from the resolution, insisting that Tufts SJP either “own the fact” that they were officially BDS or “get rid” of any BDS references (2:40:05). That amendment failed.

The 2017 Divestment Hearing: Delayed in Favor of JVP Conference  

The conference that Tufts SJP activists attended the weekend before the divestment resolution vote — thereby forcing a scheduling conflict with Passover — was the JVP NMM in Chicago from March 31 - April 2.

Tufts SJP sent a delegation of at least seven activists to the JVP NMM which featured speeches from terrorist Rasmea Odeh and terror-group supporters, like Rachel Gilmer.

JVP published a Facebook video showing Molly Tunis and TCU Senator Parker Breza (11:51), as well as Katie Saviano (8:03) and Miriam Priven (21:07), at the JVP NMM. Noah Habeeb and Mile Krstev were listed on Facebook as attending while Amira Subaey, a TCU Senator, said on Facebook that she attended.

Tufts SJP - Supporting Terrorists  

On May 10, 2017, Tufts SJP activists participated in the “Saltwater Challenge,” in solidarity with Palestinian inmates in Israeli prisons who were then on a hunger strike.

More than 1,500 Palestinian prisoners participated in the hunger strike — most of whom were also convicted for acts of terrorism.

The hunger strike was initiated by Marwan Barghouti, who was serving five consecutive life sentences for his role in suicide bombings and shooting attacks — that killed five Israelis during the second Intifada. Barghouti also financed the guitar-case bomb used in the Sbarro Cafe massacre, where 15 civilians were killed and 130 injured.

In a short video of the event produced by Tufts SJP, activist Amira Subaey claimed that Israel practices “apartheid” (0:40) and that Tufts SJP was “protesting the conditions in Israeli prisons” (0:20). Barghouti completed his doctorate in Political Science while in Israeli prison.

Also among the hunger strikers was Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Secretary-General Ahmad Sa’adat, jailed for his role in organizing the assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister, Rehavam Ze'evi in 2001.

On May 11, 2017, Tufts SJP also promoted another event supporting the hunger-striking prisoners.

On February 28, 2017, Tufts SJP shared a video from the BDS movement that called, in its English language subtitles, for “human rights” (0:28) and “nonviolent resistance” (1:02). However, the video also featured multiple indications (0:03 and 0:47) of support for PFLP militant Bilal Kayed. Kayed was incarcerated for 14 years for terrorist operations committed during the second Intifada.

The video also displayed (0:48) the phrase “Support Palestinian Prisoners in Hunger Strike #Boycott Israel.”

On October 14, 2015, Tufts SJP posted various photos on Facebook of its members supporting terrorist Rasmea Odeh. The photo captions included a donation link to Odeh’s legal fund.

Tufts SJP - Demonizing a Campus Hillel  

On November 2, 2016, Tufts SJP questioned whether Tufts Hillel was fit to host an event on “indigenous genocide and settler-colonial violence,” since Hillel receives funding from Israel.

Through its program Tufts Against Genocide (TAG), Tufts Hillel hosted a lecture about a massacre of Native Americans in 1864 “as part of a larger conversation on genocide of indigenous peoples in the U.S.”

TAG teaches students about “genocides in countries such as Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda, Darfur, Armenia and the Holocaust” in order to “understand the root causes of genocide, advocate for prevention, understand the aftermath, and combat prejudice in our own communities today.”

Tufts SJP, in its Facebook statement, said that it was “hurt” and “disturbed” that Hillel hosted the event.

Tufts SJP - Vilifying Israel  

On October 23, 2016, Tufts SJP, on Facebook and in the Tufts Daily, stated: “We will not be silent when extra-judicial killings occur regularly in the West Bank.” The link attached to the word “killings” took readers to a discredited Amnesty International report that accused Israeli soldiers of murdering Sa’ad Al-Atrash and then planting a knife next to his body in October 2015. Al-Atrash had attempted to stab the soldiers who shot him.

October 2015 saw an upsurge in violence across Israel incited by Palestinian political and religious leaders. The wave of stabbings, known as the “Knife Intifada,” saw young Palestinians throughout the country stabbing and attempting to stab scores of Israeli civilians.

Many Palestinians killed during the Knife Intifada were shot after attempting to murder Israeli Jews and refusing to lay down their weapons. For instance, Fadi Alloun [Aloon] — referenced in the Amnesty International report — was shot by Israeli security forces after he stabbed a 15-year old Israeli boy in his chest and back. Several hours before his attack, Aloon posted “Either martyrdom or victory” on his Facebook page.

Tufts SJP added, in its above-mentioned October 23, 2016 Tufts Daily piece: “We will not be silent when Palestinian poets like Dareen Tatour are imprisoned for their writings.”

Dareen Tatour was placed under house arrest for inciting violence in the fall of 2015, during the “Knife Intifada.” Tatour posted a Facebook status reportedly “calling for intifada on behalf of al-Aqsa mosque.” Tatour also posted on Facebook “I am the next shahid [martyr],” under a picture of attempted-stabber Asraa Zidan Tawfik Abed. Tatour also posted a Youtube video, narrated with a poem that glorified violence and called for the eviction of Jews from “Arab Palestine.”

On October 5, 2016, Tufts SJP activists appeared in a Tufts SJP Facebook photo where they were building a parade float that  expressed their desire to “tear down” Israel’s security fence.

The fence was built as a non-violent deterrent to Palestinian terrorist attacks like suicide bombings. The SJP activists referred to Israel’s barrier as “the Apartheid Wall” and likened it to the “US Mexico border wall.”

On March 9, 2016, Tufts SJP demonstrated against the “illegal Jewish occupation on Palestinian land,” according to the Tufts student newspaper. The protest included Gaza — which Israel left in 2005 — and the Negev Desert which is recognized as part of Israel. The demonstration was part of Tufts SJP’s Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW).

At the demonstration, Tufts SJP distributed its 2013 publication titled “The Zintifada” — a play on the word “Intifada.”

The publication showcased another Tufts SJP activist, Sophia Goodfriend, who claimed  (p. 8) Israel was a “construction of simulated reality upon a foundation of genocide and delusion.” The pamphlet also featured Tufts SJP co-founder Lucas Koerner, who claimed (p.17) that pro-Israel Jews felt “the imperative to dominate” as a symptom of “internalized oppression.” Koerner is infamous for reportedly biting an Israeli police officer in 2011.  

In March 2015, Tufts SJP profiled some of its activists on Facebook. Tufts SJP activist Nicole Joseph, in her profile photo, decried the “influence of the Zionist lobby and the US-Israel special relationship.”

March 4, 2015, Tufts SJP hung a banner in the main dining hall that claimed: “Israeli weapons tried and tested on Palestinians.” The banner promoted a film screening of “The Lab.”   

On November 10, 2014, Tufts SJP held a “die-in” to protest a speech at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) legal advisor Lt. Col Dr. Eran Shamir-Borer. Shamir-Borer’s talk addressed Operation Protective Edge (OPE) in July 2014.

Tufts SJP organized a petition against the speech and what they called “the genocidal logic of the Israel’s so-called ‘defense’ forces.” Tufts SJP, at the die-in, called Shamir-Borer a “genocide apologist.”

Tufts SJP - Hosting Propagandists

On April 4, 2017, Tufts SJP hosted anti-Israel poet Remi Kanazi, who is known for his aggressive anti-Israel performances. His performance was part of Tufts SJP’s “Israeli Apartheid Week 2017,” which the group hosted from April 3-7, all less than a week before its Passover Eve BDS resolution vote, detailed above.  

On November 16, 2016, Tufts SJP hosted former Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) spokesperson Diana Buttu. Buttu served in the PLO during the second intifada, when the PLO — via Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade — perpetrated terror attacks against Israeli civilians. Buttu was publicly discredited at least twice, in 2014, as a propagandist, who lied to defend terror organizations.  

On March 1, 2016, Tufts SJP hosted an event featuring Nada Elia, titled “Refusing to be Complicit: The Question of Palestine and Non-Violent Resistance.” Elia wrote an article the previous fall — during the Knife Intifada — titled “Why Be Afraid of an Intifada?” In that article, Elia said: “Intifadas are good.”

On October 6, 2015, Tufts SJP brought Palestinian propagandist Bassem Tamimi to campus.

Bassem Tamimi is notorious for exploiting young children as political props. Tamimi regularly manufactures confrontations with Israeli soldiers, who respond to the rioting that Tamimi instigates. In 2011, Tamimi was jailed for organizing violent rallies and inciting minors to commit violent crimes, such as rock-throwing.

Tufts SJP - Harassing Fellow Students   

On October 28, 2015, Tufts SJP activists attended a Tufts Friends of Israel (Tufts FOI)- hosted cultural event, with the express purpose of bullying FOI members of at the event. Claudia Aliff, a Tufts SJP activist, told The Tufts Daily: “The disruption of this event” was the purpose of SJP’s presence there.

Tufts SJP members mocked Tufts FOI members and their displays while distributing Tufts SJP flyers. The flyers accused Israel of “theft” and “terrorism,” and blamed the deadly “Knife Intifada” — then taking place in Israel — on “Israeli police violence and oppressive policies.” Tufts SJP posted signs accusing Israel of “[p]racticing expulsion, occupation, apartheid & cultural cuisine appropriation” and declaring that Israel was founded on “stolen Palestinian land.”

On April 25, 2014, Tufts SJP staged a “die-in” next to an FOI event celebrating Israeli Independence Day. Hannah Freedman, a Tufts SJP activist, said that Tufts SJP “crashed” the event “with a memorial for al-Nakba,” a term defining Israel’s founding as a “catastrophe.” Tufts SJP activists laid on red cloth meant to symbolize pools of blood.

Tufts SJP - Promoting Incitement  

On March 18, 2014, Tufts SJP members marched in support of SJP at Northeastern University (SJP Northeastern) after the group was suspended by the university for slipping mock eviction notices demonizing Israel under students’ doors. The marchers chanted a call for anti-Israel violence: “Long live the Intifada! Intifada, Intifada!” According to Tufts SJP activist Emma Brown, the marchers also called for Israel’s destruction, chanting: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”  

Tufts SJP - Demonizing Birthright  

On April 21, 2016, Tufts SJP shared an online zine on Facebook targeting Jewish students considering going on Birthright Israel trips. Birthright Israel is a series of Jewish heritage trips to Israel for Jewish young adults.

Sophia Goodfriend, a Tufts SJP activist, wrote a publication titled “Whose Birthright?” undermining the Jewish millennia-long connection to the Land of Israel, including ancient Jewish religious sites like the Western Wall in Jerusalem (pages 9 and 15). Goodfriend claimed that Jews were “creating their own origin stories, or claims to nativism” (page 18). She also claimed that Israel was established on “expropriated land” and that Israel continues to “evict, incarcerate or kill millions of Palestinians” (page 2).

In 2012, Tufts SJP produced a pamphlet targeting Jewish students considering going on Birthright trips. That pamphlet, too, trivialized the Land of Israel’s significance to Judaism.

Tufts SJP - Hosting National SJP Conference 

On October 24-26, 2014, Tufts SJP hosted the 2014 National SJP Conference.

On October 25, 2014, Tufts SJP quoted Sara Kershner, the founder of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN), as saying at the conference: “Zionism has hijacked [Jewish] history and struggle against genocide to justify genocide today.”

On October 25, 2014, Sa’ed Atshan, then the Tufts SJP faculty advisor, blamed Israel for Palestinian honor killings and persecution of LGBTQ+ people within Palestinian society.

Clothing was sold at the conference, including a shirt with the image of airplane hijacker Leila Khaled — a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) — with the text “resistance is not terrorism.”

Although the event was listed as “free and open to the public,” at least one student journalist was refused press credentials. Terror supporter Max Geller and agitator Ahmed Hamad both spoke and presented at the conference.

Conference attendee Ofek Ravid said that he was “booed and hissed at” — and told by “several members in the crowd to f**k off” — for merely suggesting that “Israel needs to be looked at as a complex nation through a dialectic lens, not as a black and white fragment.” Ravid was also asked to leave the building by an SJP representative.

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.

JVP

JVP was founded in Berkeley, California in 1996, as an activist group with an emphasis on the “Jewish tradition” of peace, social justice and human rights. The organization is currently led by Rebecca Vilkomerson and its board members include Israel critics Naomi Klein, Judith Butler, Noam Chomsky and Tony Kushner.

JVP, which generally employs civil disobedience tactics to disrupt pro-Israel speakers and events, consists of American Jews and non-Jewish “allies” highly critical of Israeli policies. A staunch supporter of the BDS movement, JVP claims to aim its campaigns at companies that either support the Israeli military (Hewlett-Packard) or are active in the West Bank (SodaStream).

Although several Jewish groups critical of Israeli policies, like J Street and Partners for a Progressive Israel, make efforts to operate within the mainstream American Jewish community, JVP functions outside. The group is often criticized for serving as a tokenized Jewish voice for the pro-Palestinian camp and is widely regarded as the BDS movement’s “Jewish wing.” 

JVP denies the notion of “Jewish peoplehood” and has even gone so far as to refer to its own Ashkenazi (Jews who spent the Diaspora in European countries) leadership as “white supremacy inside of JVP.”

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has accused JVP of being “the largest and most influential Jewish anti-Zionist group in the United States,” and said the group “exploits Jewish culture and rituals to reassure its own supporters that opposition to Israel not only does not contradict, but is actually consistent with, Jewish value.”

The ADL also claimed that “JVP consistently co-sponsors rallies to oppose Israeli military policy that are marked by signs and slogans  comparing Israel to Nazi Germany, demonizing Jews and voicing support for groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.”

According to the ADL website, JVP “uses its Jewish identity to shield the anti-Israel movement from allegations of anti-Semitism and provide it with a greater degree of legitimacy and credibility.”

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