Priya Prabhakar

 
Prabhakar is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and promoted BDS initiatives at Claremont in 2017, 2019 and 2021.

Claremont is a consortium of five undergraduate colleges and two graduate colleges sharing a campus in Claremont, California. Claremont is also known as “5Cs” or “7Cs.”

Prabhakar is also a supporter [00:09:43] of the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM).

As of February 2022, Prabhakar’s LinkedIn said she received a bachelor’s degree in “Media Studies (Digital Media Track)” from Scripps College (Scripps) in 2020. Scripps is one of Claremont’s undergraduate colleges. 

On July 21, 2018, Prabhakar tweeted that she would be studying in Cuba that semester. She wrote: “I'm blessed to be able to study in Havana this coming semester at Universidad de Ciencias Pedagógicas!! I'm honored to be learning from Marxists who have been studying the science of communism, socialist movements, the Revolution, Afro-Cuban feminisms, & much more for decades.”

As of February 2022, Prabhakar’s LinkedIn page said she was the “Lead Tenant Rights Organizer” at Dolores Street Community Services (DSCS) in San Francisco, CA, and that she began working there in July 2020.
 
Prabhakar’s LinkedIn also said she hosted a weekly radio show called “Aporia Hours” on Claremont’s radio station, KSPC Claremont 88.7, from August 2017 to January 2019. On the show, Prabhakar used the stage name “DJ Lal Salam.” 

Also as of February 2022, Prabhakar’s LinkedIn said she was located in San Francisco.

Spreading Bigotry

On May 12, 2019, Prabhakar tweeted: “this rat cleaner than white women.” 

On October 30, 2017, Prabhakar tweeted: “guillotine the white parents.”  

On June 7, 2017, Prabhakar tweeted: “all white ppl [people] always f**kin sus [suspect].”

Calling for the Death of Americans

In a July 4, 2019, Prabhakar tweeted: “Guillotine,” along with a video of four men celebrating American Independence Day. 

In the same thread that day, Prabhakar tweeted: “im gonna guillotine you red white blue mofos [motherf**kers].”

Also in the same thread, Prabhakar tweeted, “Guillotine,” along with a photo of a man wearing American flag themed pants.

On July 4, 2019, Prabhakar tweeted, “Guillotine,” in response to a tweet showing a man and woman wearing American flag themed clothing. 

Celebrating Violence

On July 23, 2017, Prabhakar tweeted: “ayyyyyyy A+” in response to a tweet that said: “u up ........for making the streets run crimson with the blood of the oppressor classes.” 

On the same day, Prabhakar tweeted: “hey im tryna [trying to] smash....................................................the capitalist state.” 

On June 14, 2019, during impeachment hearings against then-United States President Donald Trump, Prabhakar tweeted: “we really need to stop with the ‘impeachment!!!’ and start with the ‘guillotine!!!’”

On June 24, 2019, Prabhakar tweeted: “Guillotine that mofo [motherf**ker] @elonmusk. Gettin on my last NERVE.” 

On December 30, 2019, Prabhakar tweeted: “guillotine guillotine guillotine guillotine.”

Prabhakar’s tweet was in opposition to a tweet about protesters in New York City supporting proposed legislation in India. 

On December 31, 2019, Prabhakar shared to Twitter a photo of Iraqi protesters posing with the U.S. embassy plaque as they stormed the embassy in Baghdad. Prabhakar commented: “2020 let’s GOOOOO. burn the mf [motherf**king] empire!!!!”

On May 28, 2020, Prabhakar tweeted: “wowowowow it’s beautiful. BURN. IT. DOWN.” 

Prabhakar’s tweet was in response to a video of a Minneapolis police precinct burning down after it was set on fire that day during a protest after the murder of George Floyd. 

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a black man, was arrested and killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  

Following Floyd’s death, demonstrations and protests were held in over 400 American cities, as well as internationally. Many of the demonstrations devolved into riots, resulting in injury and deaths of civilians and police officers, as well as widespread destruction and looting of property.  

On May 29, 2020, Prabhakar tweeted: “this is incredible. free the incarcerated and burn down the mf [motherf*cking] prisons.” 

Prabhakar’s tweet was in support of a video of a prison where prisoners were “flashing lights and pounding on glass in support of the protesters. #Chicago #GeorgeFloyd.”

On May 30, 2020, Prabhakar tweeted: “may the precincts, banks, and prisons burn down. good night.”

On June 6, 2020, Prabhakar tweeted: “we need to constantly RETHINK our definitions of ‘violence’ - what is a brick through a glass window when racial capitalism is constantly imposing a process of slow death?”

On July 23, 2020, Prabhakar tweeted: “raising taxes is not enough: expropriate, seize, and redistribute the wealth.”

Idolizing Terrorists

On November 6, 2023, almost one month after Hamas terrorists murdered 1,200 Israeli Jews, Prabhakar posted on Instagram an image with text that said “LONG LIVE THEPALESTINIAN REVOLUTION.” One of the images in her post included [slide 5] an image of paragliders.

During the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack on Israel, numerous terrorists breached the Israel-Gaza border in motorized paragliders “to infiltrate Israeli territory and secure terrain.” War reports included footage of the gliders descending on the Supernova Music Festival, where Hamas terrorists slaughtered over 360 unarmed young men and women. In the days following the Hamas atrocities, images of Hamas militants on paragliders were employed to glorify terrorism and serve as a symbol of Palestinian violent nationalism.

On Saturday, October 7, 2023, approximately 2,900 heavily armed Hamas terrorists breached Israel’s border with Gaza. They executed numerous war crimes on civilians, including mass murder, beheadings of children, rape of men and women, torture, kidnappings and mutilation. Hamas broadcast videos of their butchery on social media, often to victims’ accounts for families to see. Israel retaliated with a war called “Swords of Iron.” As of November 10, 2023, over 1,200 Israelis, the vast majority of them civilians, were murdered during the attacks. Hamas kidnapped 242 Israelis, including at least 30 children. At least 3,500 people were wounded, many severely.

As of October 2021, Prabhakar’s website said that on her Aporia Hours radio show, she featured “past interviews and speeches of famous leftist figures,” including Leila Khaled.

Leila Khaled is a leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and participated in the hijacking of TWA Flight 840 in 1969 and El Al Flight 219 in 1970. As of 2017, Khaled was a member of PFLP's Political Bureau. Khaled has said that the second intifada failed because it was not violent enough, advocated [00:36:07] for the use of children in terror activities and compared Zionists to Nazis.  
The U.S. State Department has listed the PFLP as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) since 1997, given its history of attacks against civilians, airplane hijackings and suicide bombings.

On September 6, 2021, Prabhakar tweeted: “may every stone and spoon lead to the liberation of palestine.”

On September 6, 2021, six Palestinian prisoners escaped from the maximum-security Gilboa Prison in Israel. The escaped prisoners were convicted members of the terror organizations Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, who were jailed for their involvement in attacks carried out during the second intifada. All were recaptured by September 19, 2021, by Israeli authorities.

Prabhakar retweeted a July 8, 2021 tweet that read: “Ghassan Kanafani and his niece Lamis were assassinated on July 8, 1972 by the Zionist terrorist organization in Beirut.”

Kanafani was a leading member and spokesperson for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) during the terrorist organization’s early years. Kanafani announced the PFLP’s responsibility for the Lod Airport Massacre of May 1972 and was linked to the airport attackers. The attack killed 26 people and wounded 80 others.  

On September 23, 2020, Prabhakar tweeted a photo of Khaled and commented: “LEILA KHALED!!!” In the background of the photo, Khaled had a framed photo on the wall of deceased PFLP Secretary General Abu Ali Mustafa.

On September 28, 2019, Prabhakar tweeted a photo of Khaled from a 1970 interview and commented: “i love this photo of leila khaled!”

On May 17, 2018, Prabhakar tweeted a link to a copy of Khaled’s autobiography, writing the title: “My People Shall Live (1971) by Leila Khaled.”

In the book, Khaled endorsed [p.49] “the morality of hijacking, the legitimacy of revolutionary violence.” Khaled’s conclusion began [p.106]: “THE SUPREME OBJECTIVE OF THE PALESTINE LIBERATION Movement is the total liberation of Palestine, the dismantlement of the Zionist state apparatus, and the construction of a socialist society…”

On May 15, 2018, Prabhakar tweeted a link to Khaled’s autobiography, writing: “may the immortal words of comrade leila khaled live on.”

Arrested at an Anti-Israel Disruption during a Hamas War

On November 16, 2023, Prabhakar was part of a group of 78 protesters who were arrested for shutting down the Bay Bridge in San Francisco, California for about four hours to protest Israel’s war against Hamas. They shut down the bridge just hours before U.S. president Joe Biden was scheduled to speak at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco. Some protesters also held a “die-in.”

The protesters reportedly faced charges of “unlawful public assembly...false imprisonment, refusing to comply with a peace officer, and refusing to disperse a riot and obstruction of a public street.”

As of March 14, 2024, the group reportedly accepted an offer to complete five hours of community service each, as well as payment of restitution in exchange for the criminal charges to be dropped. Local news also reported [00:03:21] that if any of those arrested were to be “arrested again in the next several months, the deal is off and the district attorney could resume prosecution.”

Hatred of America

On August 26, 2021, Prabhakar tweeted: “i do not mourn American soldiers.”

On August 16, 2021, Prabhakar tweeted: “if I see one more tweet about american soldiers’ ‘sacrifice’, i will shoot myself into the sun.”

Prabhakar retweeted an August 16, 2021 tweet that read: “good morning may allah curse all american military veterans and their filthy bloodlines for 1000 generations.”

On January 6, 2021, during the U.S. Capitol riot that day, Prabhakar tweeted: “US empire in decline who up???”

On December 24, 2020, Prabhakar tweeted: “the existence of the United States is and has definitively been the greatest threat to a worldwide proletarian communist revolution.”

Prabhakar retweeted a September 23, 2020 tweet by anti-Israel activist Steven Salaita that read: “Trying to redeem the United States only puts the world in greater danger.”

On July 18, 2020, Prabhakar tweeted that it is “our moral imperative to be an anti-imperialist, support Cuban liberation in the name of the revolution, burn the United States, and oppose the blockade. but somehow white Miami Cubans do the opposite.”

On July 31, 2019, Prabhakar tweeted: “f**k the elections & f**k the united states and israel.”

On July 10, 2019, Prabhakar tweeted: “imperial multiculturalism in the united states has managed to quell dissent against genocidal foreign policy, intervention, and war by creating the myth of american benevolence.”

On December 15, 2018, Prabhakar tweeted: “It's terrifying how brainwashed Americans are into constantly exceptionalizing the United States even though it is the root, perpetuator, and supporter of evil in this world. It's nonsensical. It's absurd. It's so f**king crazy.”

On November 4, 2018, Prabhakar tweeted: “Also imagine a museum created solely to denounce the USA!!!cuba bitch!!!!”

On September 24, 2018, Prabhakar tweeted: “I have a weekly class on Marxism-Leninism !!! My teacher hates Trotsky and America !!! God bless !!!!”

On July 26, 2017, Prabhakar tweeted: “ameriKKKa uses the most oppressed as pawns in their imperialist project.”

The term “Amerikkka” uses the initials of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) as a way to demonize America as “fascist or racist.”  

On June 10, 2017, Prabhakar tweeted: “this pride season, do not assimilate or be fooled by the imperial homonationalist conquests of ameriKKKa or Israel.”

Honoring a Domestic Terrorist

On July 18, 2017, Prabhakar tweeted: “[assata] shakur is a revolutionary comrade, embodying black and femme power…”

Assata Shakur was convicted of killing a New Jersey state trooper and wounding another in 1973 while a member of the separatist Black Liberation Army (BLA). She escaped from prison in 1979 and fled 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.

Prabhakar retweeted a September 8, 2018 tweet that featured a photo of Shakur and her daughter. The tweet said: “Assata Shakur & her daughter, Kakuya Shakur.#blackwomenradicals.”

In February 2019 and June 2019, Prabhakar featured a speech [01:46:58] by Shakur on her Aporia Hours radio show.

On October 13, 2020, Prabhakar promoted on Twitter a documentary film about Shakur, titled: “Eyes Of The Rainbow.” Prabhakar included a link to the video and commented: “this film is on youtube!! please watch it!” 

Spreading Hatred of Zionists

On September 23, 2020, Prabahakar tweeted: “i hate zi*nists with my whole heart”

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.

On May 6, 2021, Prabhakar tweeted: “absolutely insane that all instagram stories about sheikh jarrah/palestine are being DELETED??? all my stories sharing information about it are now blank squares in my archive. these imperialist, blatantly racist and zionist algorithms, this is so evil.”

In May 2021, Palestinian violence erupted in anticipation of an Israel High Court ruling on eviction proceedings concerning over 70 Palestinian tenants illegally residing in Jewish-owned properties in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. 

On May 10, 2021, during Operation Guardian of the Walls(OGW), Prabhakar tweeted: “sick. suck. Just sick. F**k these imperialists, f**k these proud Zionists, I feel sick.” Her tweet was in response to a tweet that read: “The White House: We condemn the rocket attacks against Israel.”

In May 2021, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists fired over 4,300 rockets from Gaza at major population centers in Israel. Israel responded by launching OGW, carrying out targeted military strikes in Gaza.

On May 12, 2021, Prabhakar tweeted: “These algorithms are getting smarter each day to automate mass censorship against pro-Palestinians. Zionists have mass monopoly over the algorithm.”

The assertion that Jews control the media has been traced to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, an anti-Semitic fabricated text that depicts wealthy Jews conspiring to take over the world. 

On June 10, 2021, Prabhakar tweeted: “Wow. That, on top of ‘hamas uses children as human shields and that’s why they’re dying’ are some of the most evil pernicious zionist lies.”


On July 3, 2021, Prabhakar said [00:02:53] in a Vimeo video that when Israelis mark Israeli Independence Day, “they celebrate a patriotism that is held together by a colonizing imaginary, a world view that is wholly dependent on the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.”

Calling For Israel’s Destruction

On July 3, 2021, Prabhakar featured in a Vimeo video where she told [00:09:43] people to donate to PYM: “Put your money towards these organizations that are doing incredible work towards ending the state of Israel once and for all and liberating the state of Palestine.”

In the same video, Prabhakar also said [00:08:39]: “We must continue to fight for a liberated Palestine, from the river to the sea.”

On April 20, 2021, Prabhakar published an article on ATM Magazine titled, “The Palestinian Right to Remember,” where she concluded: “We must continue to fight for a liberated Palestine, from the river to the sea.”

On July 1, 2020, Prabhakar tweeted: “outside the SF [San Francisco] Israeli consulate right now!!!! FREE PALESTINE! FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA!!!”

Promoting Incitement

On July 3, 2021, Prabhakar said [00:00:15] in a Vimeo video: “I wrote this piece in April, 2021, which was about a month before Israel started bombing Gaza relentlessly and Palestinian families were being forcibly displaced, cleansed, and evicted from Sheikh Jarrah in Jerusalem and Al Aqsa Mosque was being attacked.”

Incitement surrounding Al-Aqsa and Sheikh Jarrah were leading factors in Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists firing over 4,300 rockets from Gaza at Israeli population centers from May 10 to 21, 2021. In response to rocket attacks from Gaza, Israel launched “Operation Guardian of the Walls (OGW),” striking military targets in the terrorist-controlled enclave.

The allegation that Jews “threaten” to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque has been a traditional pretext for Arab attacks on Jews long before the existence of the modern Jewish state.  

On March 30, 2020, Prabhakar tweeted four Palestinian political posters, including one glorifying violence using grenades, which portrayed grenades as fruit falling from a tree. Another image was a PFLP poster showing barbed wire and a blood-stained keffiyeh.

On August 11, 2019, Prabhakar shared to Facebook a PYM post that claimed: “Today, after Eid Al Adha prayers, Zionist settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque with the protection of Zionist armed forces … ”  

On that same day, Israeli police and Palestinians clashed at the Al Aqsa Mosque where Palestinians reportedly threw stones at police and chairs and other objects at a group of Jewish visitors to the site. 


On July 27, 2017, Prabhakar tweeted in support of a Palestinian “day of rage” in Jerusalem, called a day earlier to protest Israel’s new security measures in the Al Aqsa Mosque compound. Prabhakar commented: “MAY THERE BE RAGE UNTIL ISRAEL IS PALESTINE AGAIN!”

Demonizing Israel

On April 20, 2021, Prabhakar wrote an article where she said: “The Nakba, however, is not merely an occurrence in the distant past. Israel is an enduring settler colonial project that relies on the destruction of Indigenous peoples, or what Australian anthropologist Patrick Wolfe calls ‘the logic of elimination.’” 

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.

Prabhakar wrote in the same April 2021 article in support of the “Right of Return.”

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.

On February 8, 2021, Prabhakar tweeted: “it's f**k israel till i die.”

On June 28, 2020, Prabhakar tweeted: “Genocide is not merely a governmental project. It is enveloped into the Israeli state and Israeli citizenship…”

On April 29, 2020, Israeli Independence Day, Prabhakar tweeted: “years of genocide, apartheid, settler-colonialism, occupation, and endless violence,” in response to an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) tweet commemorating 72 years since Israel’s Declaration of Independence in 1948. 

On December 9, 2018, Prabhakar tweeted: “puar demarcates 'the right to maim' from 'the right to kill' (deployed as an imperial tactic of the US). It shows the ways in which the IDF seeks to gravely debilitate Palestinians in order to espouse a ‘humanitarian approach to warfare.’” 

Prabhakar’s tweet referenced a 2017 anti-Israel book by professor Jasbir Puar, titled: “The Right to Maim.”

On July 27, 2017, Prabhakar tweeted that “the state of israel seeks to ethnically cleanse” Palestinians.

Hatred of Police

On June 21, 2017, Prabhakar tweeted: “all cops are murderers. all cops are pigs. all cops are lynchers. abolish the police.”

On May 29, 2020, Prabhakar tweeted: “cops are so goddamn evil. pure evil. all of them. EVIL.”

On June 1, 2020, Prabhakar tweeted: “shut up about good cops shut up about good cops shut up about good cops shut up about good cops shut up about good cops shut up about good cops (they don’t exist).”

On June 6, 2020, Prabhakar tweeted: “the cops are the public health menace, NOT PROTESTERS. tear-gassing protesters (which attacks the respiratory system), holding them hostage in crowded spaces, closing down COVID-19 testing centers...this is ALL biological warfare against Black folks.”

SJP Activism

On December 16, 2020, Prabhakar featured in a Claremont SJP event where she spoke alongside Vijay Prashad, an advisory board member of the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI). The event was titled: “Kashmiri-Palestinian Solidarity in the Age of Surveillance Capitalism.”

On May 17, 2020, Prabhakar posted [slide 7] on Instagram a photo of herself and other Claremont SJP activists in front of a display demonizing Israel’s security barrier.

Israel’s security barrier, 97 percent of which is a low chain-link barrier, was built as a deterrent to Palestinian terror attacks. The concrete portions of the fence were built in response to Palestinian sniper attacks.

On February 28, 2020, Prabhakar tweeted that she designed a poster for Claremont SJP’s 2019 Palestine Freedom Week (PFW), which was held from March 25 - April 7, 2019. One of the events promoted in the poster was a “mock apartheid wall.”

Mock “apartheid” walls have been constructed by SJP groups on campuses to draw attention to alleged Israeli human rights violations against Palestinians. 

On April 9, 2017, Prabhakar tweeted a Claremont SJP Facebook event page, commenting: “LONG LIVE PALESTINE!!!! COME THROUGH TO OUR ISRAELI APARTHEID WEEK, COMRADES!!!”

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 BDS movement.

On April 5, 2017, Prabhakar tweeted: “Our campus' Israeli Apartheid Week is happening, we put up an apartheid wall, Zionist org erected colonial Israeli flag last night over it.”

Supporting BDS

On May 25, 2021, Prabhakar tweeted: “good. BDS until liberation!” Prabhakar was responding to a tweet that said: “I have heard half a dozen stories like this in the past week. Friends' hair dressers, trainers, editors saying they can no longer do business with them because they are Zionists.”

On June 24, 2019, Prabhakar tweeted against U.S. Congressman Ro Khanna’s opposition to BDS, commenting: “you’re a spineless coward and Palestinian civil society (people actually materially impacted by BDS) has repeatedly said otherwise.”

In August 2016, BDS leader Ilan Pappé admitted that BDS was not initiated by a “call” from Palestinian civil society; rather, it was initiated by a small number of radical anti-Israel extremists.

On January 29, 2019, Prabhakar shared a tweet opposing an anti-BDS bill in the U.S. Senate that said: “For many of us, it’s not abt [about] support for BDS. It’s abt [about] ensuring the right to nonviolent protest.” Prabhakar commented: “well it should be about supporting BDS.”

Promoting BDS at Pomona

In April 2021, Prabhakar showed support multiple times on Twitter for a BDS resolution at Pomona College, which is part of Claremont.

The resolution compelled BDS compliance for Pomona’s student government, the Associated Students of Pomona College (ASPC), including the ASPC campus stores and student clubs receiving ASPC funding. Claremont SJP and the campus Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) chapter (5C JVP) co-sponsored the resolution. “5C” is another name used for Claremont.On April 15, 2021, Claremont SJP and 5C JVP introduced their resolution to the ASPC Senate that mandated ASPC compliance with BDS. 

The resolution was titled [p.1], “Banning the Use of ASPC Funding to Support the Occupation of Palestine” and it required [p.2] that ASPC “internal spending” could not be used on products or services from companies that “knowingly support the Israeli occupation of Palestine.” 

The Claremont SJP and 5C JVP resolution cited [p.2] a list of mostly Israeli companies compiled by the United Nations Human Rights Council as a guide for which companies to boycott. ASPC internal spending includes multiple items such as funding 5C student clubs and student-run events. 

The resolution created [p.2] an oversight role for Claremont SJP over the ASPC-run Coop Store and the Coop Fountain restaurant. ASPC would “work in tandem with members of SJP, and other pertinent parties, to perform an annual check on the ASPC’s businesses to ensure all goods sold adhere to the guidelines outlined in this resolution.”

The resolution also said [p.2]: “Clubs that fail to divest and/or refrain from such uses of funding would face the loss of all Claremont Colleges Student Government Association funds.” This clause effectively mandated BDS compliance even for pro-Israel and Jewish student organizations like Claremont Hillel and Claremont Chabad.

Claremont Colleges pool mandatory student activity fees and distribute the money to the 5C student governments. ASPC provides almost 47% of the funding for all 5C clubs, although each 5C student government can fund 5C clubs. 

In spring 2021, ASPC gave more than $10,000 to 5C clubs. It also gave $30,000 for student-run events at Pomona that were coordinated through the ASPC’s Pomona Events Committee (PEC). The full ASPC spring 2021 budget was $216,700. 

The Claremont SJP and Claremont JVP resolution also said [p.2] that ASPC’s “end goal” would be to lead other 5C student governments to pass similar BDS resolutions.

On April 22, 2021, the ASPC Senate passed the resolution with a vote of 10-0-0. Five senators were not present, representing one third of ASPC Senate’s 15 seats.

On the same day, Claremont SJP issued a press release calling the resolution’s passage “an important first step in reducing our complicity with a country that maintains an illegal military occupation and regularly commits crimes against humanity against the indigenous Palestinian population.”

On April 23, 2021, following criticism of the resolution reportedly among campus and national Jewish groups, Pomona President G. Gabrielle Starr sent an email to the student body opposing the resolution. Starr said that requiring student clubs to boycott Israel was “deeply concerning.” He said that since the vote “was held without representation from any student opposition,” the ASPC Senate should “reverse course and allow for full discussion.” 
 
On April 29, 2021, the ASPC Senate held a Zoom meeting that included a “comment period” for student senators and student guest speakers to express their feedback on the resolution. 

On April 30, 2021, the ASPC Senate reportedly decided to “table the resolution” for further discussion on the resolution’s call to deny funding to student clubs that failed to adhere to BDS.

On May 6, 2021, the ASPC Senate reportedly passed a modified resolution that omitted the original clause forcing student clubs funded by ASPC to comply with BDS.

Promoting BDS at Pitzer

On June 21, 2017, Prabhakar was quoted in an article in the Claremont student newspaper supporting a BDS campaign and resolution at Pitzer College (Pitzer), which is part of Claremont. In the article, she said: “I fully support the [Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions] movement and stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people.”

In March 2019, Prabhakar showed support on Twitter for a motion at Pitzer to end its study abroad program with the University of Haifa.  On November 8, 2018, Pitzer College faculty reportedly voted for a motion to suspend Pitzer’s Haifa program, which Pitzer had run since 2007. Professor Daniel Segal, the Claremont SJP and Claremont JVP faculty advisor, led the boycott campaign. 

The faculty motion was a non-binding recommendation to Pitzer President Melvin L. Oliver. The motion called for the “suspension of the College’s exchange with Haifa University, until (a) the Israeli state ends its restrictions on entry to Israel based on ancestry and/or political speech and (b) the Israeli state adopts policies granting visas for exchanges to Palestinian universities on a fully equal basis as it does to Israeli universities.”

After the faculty vote, the motion was sent to the Pitzer College Council (PCC), Pitzer’s “primary legislative body,” which “votes on policy recommendations forwarded by the faculty as well as committees.” The PCC includes faculty and student senators who issue recommendations to the Pitzer president. The president is then free to approve or disapprove the recommendations.

On November 18, 2018, Claremont SJP issued a statement supporting the pro-BDS faculty vote, saying that it was “imperative” to end the “deeply problematic” Haifa program. Claremont SJP also circulated a petition to the public titled, “No Academic Freedom Under Occupation,” which accused Israel of having “increasingly draconian policies” and employing a “systemic practice of racial discrimination.”

On November 29, 2018, President Oliver responded to the faculty recommendation, opposing it and calling it a “repudiation of our educational mission… an anathema to Pitzer’s core values.” Oliver also questioned the faculty in singling out Israel for special scrutiny among foreign countries like China and Nepal where Pitzer also has study abroad programs.

On March 14, 2019, the PCC passed an amended motion to end the Haifa program. Segal co-sponsored the motion along with Pitzer Professor Claudia Strauss, who served as the Chair of the Pitzer Faculty Executive Committee (FEC). Their motion was a non-binding recommendation for Oliver and it passed with 68 voting in favor, 25 against and eight abstentions.

The amended motion outlined a “uniform policy” ending study abroad programs in countries that “restrict entry on the basis of either (a) legally protected political speech or (b) race or ancestry (as distinct from citizenship).” The motion claimed that the Haifa program violated the “uniform policy” and would be suspended immediately.

Also on March 14, 2019, Oliver released a statement declining to implement the PCC motion, where he said: “By singling out Israel, the recommendation itself is prejudiced.” 

In the statement, Oliver also said: “Although some claim that this is not an academic boycott of Israel, I disagree. The recommendation puts in place a form of academic boycott of Israel and, in the process, sets us on a path away from the free exchange of ideas, a direction which ultimately destroys the academy’s ability to fulfill our educational mission.”

On the same day, Pitzer’s student newspaper, The Student Life, reported: “In advance of the Haifa vote, the organization [Claremont SJP] has focused on outreach to Pitzer faculty and student senators, and on building a coalition of other campus groups.”

On March 15, 2019, Claremont SJP posted on Facebook that they would “continue to organize to suspend Haifa and demand that President Oliver reverse his decision.” Claremont SJP also posted an online petition demanding Oliver rescind his veto of the PCC motion and included the hashtag “#ProApartheidOliver.”

On March 25, 2019, Claremont SJP posted a Facebook event page for its “Palestine Freedom Weeks,” scheduled for March 25 to April 7, 2019. The event page promoted the BDS campaign against the Haifa program and used the hashtags “#SuspendPitzerHaifa” and “#MelvinWontListen.”

On March 31, 2019, the Pitzer College Student Senate, the student government,introduced two resolutions at an “Emergency Meeting” called to address the Haifa program boycott campaign.

Claremont SJP members Shay Lari-Hosain and Jorj Chisam-Majid were among the co-sponsors for the first resolution, which said: “The Pitzer College Student Senate votes no confidence in President Melvin Oliver and, if President Oliver does not retract his anti-democratic decision by the end of the day on April 11, 2019, call for his immediate resignation or removal from office.” 

Pitzer Senate president Shivani Kavuluru and vice presidents Kamyab Mashian and Dawson Reckers were among the co-sponsors for the second resolution. Their resolution censured Oliver for keeping the Haifa program and demanded that Oliver reverse his veto. 

On April 7, 2019, the Pitzer Senate reportedly voted down the resolution of no confidence with 12 for and 20 against. The resolution censuring Oliver passed 29-0.

Claremont SJP - Overview  

Claremont SJP has expressed support for terrorists, called for Israel’s destruction and rejected dialogue. The group has also demonized Israel, promoted anti-Israel agitators and campaigned for the BDS movement.

Claremont SJP - Demonizing Israel 2018-2019  

On April 2, 2019, Claremont SJP hosted an event titled “The Washings: Pinkwashing, Greenwashing, and Faithwashing,” as part of PFW 2019. The Facebook event page accused Israel of “settler colonialism” and also said: “The Washing Campaign has been fundamental in sustaining Israeli apartheid by way of presenting Israel as a progressive entity in an effort to deflect from state-sanctioned crimes against Palestine.”

“Pinkwashing” is an accusation anti-Israel activists use to demean Israel’s engagement with the LGBTQ community as a publicity ruse. “Greenwashing” is an accusation that Israel advocates manipulate the environmental community in order to gain support for Israel. “Faithwashing” is an accusation that supporters of Israel engage in interfaith dialogue to promote a pro-Zionist agenda.  

On March 27, 2019, Claremont SJP hosted an event titled “Open Air & Cages: Prison Abolition from Attica to Gaza,” as part of PFW 2019, held on campus from March 25 - April 7, 2019. The event’s Facebook page called the United States and Israel “white supremacist and settler colonial projects.” 

The same event page also said: “This event will work through the solidarity pacts of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Black Panther party who attempted to draw ‘comparisons between racial capitalism in the United States and Israel ...’”

Yasser Arafat, known as the “father of modern terrorism,” was the former leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). During the second intifada, Arafat encouraged children to carry out “martyrdom” operations against Israel.
The Black Panther Party (BPP) was a revolutionary Marxist political organization founded by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton in 1966. BPP advocated the use of violence and guerilla tactics to overthrow the U.S. government. BPP members were involved in many fatal firefights with police; in 1967, Newton allegedly killed police officer John Frey. 

On March 25, 2019, Claremont SJP hosted an event titled, “Visit the Mock Apartheid Wall,” where they built a wall on campus meant to simulate Israel’s security barrier.

Claremont SJP - Promoting Anti-Israel Agitators 2019-2020

On November 14, 2019, Claremont SJP hosted a film screening event featuring anti-Israel activists Abby Martin and Mike Prysner, where Martin reportedly “defended Hamas and placed sole blame on Israel for the lack of peace between both states.” 

Hamas has been designated aterrorist organizationby the European Union, Canada, Australia, the United States and Israel.

Martin was a former anchor for Russian state news agency RT and Venezuelan state news agency Telasur. She has compared [00:00:13] Israel to Nazi Germany and spread anti-Israel propaganda. Martin’s husband, Michael Prysner has defended terrorism and has referred to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as the “Apartheid Defense Forces.”At the Claremont SJP event, Martin reportedly accused a Jewish student journalist of being “associated with ‘white nationalists.’” Prysner also called Israel an “attack dog” of the United States.

At the same event, Claremont SJP screened the film “Gaza Fights for Freedom,” which Prysner and Martin directed and produced. The film’s website said: “Gaza’s protest movement like you’ve never seen before. Filmed during the height of the Great March Of Return protests, it features exclusive footage of demonstrations where 200 unarmed civilians have been killed by Israeli snipers since March 30, 2018.”

On March 30, 2018, some 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza approached Israel’s border to take part in “Land Day Protests” or the “March of Return.” The March of Return was organized and funded by Hamas as a campaign of violent protests along Israel’s border to spotlight the demand of Palestinians to “return” to Israel. 

The “right of return” is a Palestinian demand discredited as a means to eliminate Israel.

March participants declared their intention to harm Jews across the border under the pretext of “peaceful resistance.” Participants also attempted to breach the border fence, which caused the Israeli Defense Forces to respond with live fire.

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.

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