Phan Nguyen

Overview

Phan Nguyen was a leader of the Mid-East Solidarity Project (MESP) while a student at the Evergreen State College (TESC). MESP changed its name to Evergreen Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) in 2013. It was reported that MESP intentionally disrupted pro-Israel student group meetings at TESC and engaged in provocative campus demonstrations — such as mock checkpoints and sending students dressed as Palestinian civilians covered in mock blood to run screaming across campus. Nguyen was also involved with a TESC anti-Israel divestment campaign.

Nguyen is an active organizer within the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. He is a member of Olympia BDS, and has strongly advocated for a boycott of Israeli products at the Olympia Food Co-op. Nguyen was also involved with the failed Park Slope Co-op boycott effort of Israeli products in Brooklyn, New York. Despite publicly available evidence to the contrary, Nguyen has fraudulently claimed that "[n]o one is getting paid to tout BDS."

On September 21, 2013, Nguyen led two workshops at the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation’s 2th Annual National Organizers’ Conference. The conference program was titled “A Leaner, Meaner BDS: Practical Tools for Running- and Winning- a Community-Wide BDS Campaign” and “Understanding the Organized Anti-Palestinian Community in the United States.” Nguyen co-hosted the second program with convicted criminal and radical anti-Israel organizer Abe Greenhouse.

Nguyen is also a coordinator within the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).

The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) was founded in 2001 and, according to the group's website, is "resisting the long-entrenched and systematic oppression and dispossession of the Palestinian population, using non-violent, direct-action methods and principles."

Despite this claim, the ISM has been accused of supporting terrorism and has encouraged its foreign volunteers to act "as human shields in cities, towns and refugee camps." At least once, ISM facilities have been used in attempts to facilitatethe escape of known terrorists from Israeli security forces.

ISM has encouraged its volunteers to break curfew and disregard Israeli directives prohibiting access to closed military zones. This policy resulted in the death of ISM operative Rachel Corrie, who was killed by a bulldozer while interfering with an Israeli military operation in 2003. A wrongful death suit brought by Corrie's family was dismissed when the judge ruled that Corrie unreasonably chose to put her own life in danger and found there to be no intent or negligence on the part of any Israelis involved in the incident.

Nguyen has worked with the Rachel Corrie Foundation (RCF), which was created to promote BDS and honor the memory of Corrie.

Nguyen is an editor at Verso Books in New York. He has published over 40 articles for sites that spread Israel-hating propaganda, such as Mondoweiss and Electronic Intifada (EI) and has been described as ”one of Olympia’s loudest pro-boycott and anti-Zionist activists.” Nguyen is a graduate of TESC in Olympia, Washington.

Camouflaging Anti-Semitism

Nguyen is very active on social media and uses his Twitteraccount almost exclusively to spread anti-Israel invective.

On December 22, 2015, Nguyen misled his followers about Islamic anti-Semitism in the Algerian military, tweeting that several “rightwing/Zio sites post this MEMRI vid of Algeria army chanting kill Jews. Is it mistranslation of ‘enemy’?”

Nguyen frequently employs the word "Zio" and “Zios,” a derogatory reference to Zionists and an anti-Semitic slur.

The video featured the Algerian army drilling and chanting a marching tune: "turn your guns against the Jews (yahood) in order to kill them, slaughter them, and skin them."

Nguyen’s tweet fraudulently suggested that Yahood meant merely "enemy." However, the exclusive translation for the Arabic word “yahood” is “Jew.”

Nguyen has tried to propagate the belief that anti-Semitism is expressed only in attacks against individuals and that demonizing Israel for its Jewish character or singling out the Jewish national project for unique condemnation should be a right protected by the U.S. Constitution.

In March of 2015, in an interview for the Russian media outlet RT, Nguyen misrepresented a definition of anti-Semitism formulated by former Soviet refusenik Natan Sharansky as an "Israeli measure," calculated to stifle debate about Israeli political policy.

Equating Agitators Killed in Action with Citizens Murdered Grocery Shopping

On February 19, 2016, Nguyen whitewashed armed terrorists masquerading as human rights "activists," and those instigating clashes with the Israeli military when he deceptively tweeted, “1/3) State Dept “condemn[s] in strongest possible terms” killing of settler/US citizen by 2 teens, but NOT Israeli killings of US citizens… 2/3)…but NOT Israeli killings of US citzens Rachel Corrie(23), Furkan Doğan(18), Suraida Saleh(21), Orwah Hammad(14).”

The “settler/US citizen” Nguyen referenced was Tuvya Weisman — who was stabbed to death by two Palestinian teenagers while he was grocery shopping.

Furkan Dogan was one of nine Americans on the May 2010 Gaza“Freedom Flotilla.” Agitators on the Mavi Marmara, the lead ship, heard speeches advocating [00:06:00] confrontation and encouraging [00:00:24] the killing of Jews. Dogan wrote in his diary: “These are the last hours before I join the sweet experience of being a shahid [martyr]. Is there anything more beautiful…?”  

Corrie and Saleh were accidentally killed after they knowingly entered active military zones in defiance of IDF warnings. Hammad was shot after he threw molotov cocktails at Israeli soldiers.

Supporting Terror-Inciter Khader Adnan

On February 14, 2012, Nguyen wrote an article supporting Khader Adnan.

Khader Adnan was a senior member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist organization. A 2007 YouTube video showed Adnan praising and encouraging suicide bombings: "Who among you will carry the next explosive belt? Who among you will fire the next bullets? Who among you will have his body parts blown all over?” In May 2023, Adnan died in prison after refusing medical treatment during a hunger strike.

Defending Professor Steven Salaita’s Anti-Semitic Tweets

In August 2014, Nguyen wrote two articles defending Steven Salaita and attacking Salaita’s critics.

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.

ISM

The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) was founded in 2001 and, according to the group’s website, is “resisting the long-entrenched and systematic oppression and dispossession of the Palestinian population, using non-violent, direct-action methods and principles.”

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

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/phan.nguyen.336

Twitter:https://twitter.com/Phan_N