Rachel Kuykendall
Overview
As of June 2018, Kuykendall was a member of the public Facebook group for Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA), an affiliate of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at George Mason University (GMU).
Kuykendall also protested with CODEPINK against the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
As of June 2019, Kuykendall’s LinkedIn page said she was a Program Officer at USAID, Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), in Washington, DC.
As of June 2019, Kuykendall’s LinkedIn also said she received a master’s degree in Conflict Resolution from Georgetown University (Georgetown) in 2015 and a bachelor’s degree in International Conflict Analysis and Resolution from GMU in 2014.
Kuykendall is listed on Facebook as a member of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity (IPSC) Facebook group since 2014.
Promoting Hatred of Israel
On March 3, 2013, Kuykendall participated [00:01:15] in an “Expose AIPAC” protest, organized by CODEPINK, in front of the Washington D.C. Convention Center where AIPAC held its 2013 policy conference.The stated mission of AIPAC is to “strengthen, protect and promote the U.S.-Israel relationship in ways that enhance the security of the United States and Israel.”
Kuykendall indicated on Facebook that she “went” to an August 2, 2014 event, titled “National March on the White House: End the Massacre in Gaza!”
The event, held during Operation Protective Edge (OPE), was “initially co-sponsored” by a number of anti-Israel groups including, American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and Al-Awda: Palestine Right to Return Coalition.
Israel commenced Operation Protective Edge (OPE) in July 2014, to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.
In a video of the event published to YouTube the following day, participants can be heard chanting [00:00:27] “Hey Hey, Ho Ho The Occupation has got to go!” and displaying signs that said: [00:10:28] “Stop the Palestinian Holocaust” and [00:13:16] “State of Israel Terrorizing Neighbors and The Whole World Since 1948.”
On March 2, 2014, Kuykendall participated in a CODEPINK protest titled “Boycott AIPAC 2014.”
The event description said: “Disgusted by AIPAC's moves to bring us to war with Iran? Sick of seeing US tax dollars go to Israel while they commit human rights violations in Palestine? Inspired by all the BDS victories happening left and right? Then join us to protest AIPAC's conference in DC!”
On July 11, 2014, Kuykendall participated in a protest at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. The event, titled: “DC: EMERGENCY PROTEST Against the Bombing of Gaza!” was co-sponsored by the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) and CODEPINK.
At the event, protestors held signs that read: “Resist Zionism & Imperialism” and “Let Gaza Live End U.S. Aid to Israel.” Kuykendall indicated on Facebook that she “went” to a July 12, 2014 rally against Operation Protective Edge in front of the White House in Washington, D.C. titled, “EMERGENCY PROTEST Against the Bombing of Gaza!”
On March 20, 2019, Kuykendall tweeted: “The Golan Heights belongs to Syria. Israel is an apartheid, settler-colonial state. The occupation of Palestine and the Golan is illegal.”
Kuykendall retweeted a March 25, 2019 tweet from anti-Israel professor Steven Salaita: “Know what happened before ‘the rocket’ corporate media won't shut up about? Israel stole a ton of land, ethnically cleansed an entire nation, instituted apartheid, shot thousands of unarmed protestors, and established a military occupation that produces continuous suffering.”
On March 25, 2019, a rocket was launched from the Gaza Strip to Tel Aviv and destroyed a home in Central Israel. Seven people were reportedly wounded, including four children.
Supporting BDS
Kuykendall indicated on Facebook that she “went” to an August 9, 2014 protest at the White House called “Call to End US Aid to Israel #GazaDayofRage”The Facebook event description stated: “This protest at the White House is being organized as a response to the call from Palestinian civil society for an August Day of Rage...This action will be focused on ending aid to Israel and promoting the call for boycott, divestment, and sanctions in the face of Israeli impunity.”
Kuykendall appeared in a group photo posted to Facebook by GMU SAIA on November 25, 2013. The photo description said: “SAIA at the #2013ASA [American Studies Association (ASA)] conference! #boycottapartheid.”
During the 2013 ASA conference, the ASA passed a resolution that endorsed the academic boycott of Israel.
On November 21, 2013, Kuykendall signed a petition as part of a GMU SAIA campaign to boycott Sabra hummus at GMU. Sabra is partially owned by an Israeli company, the Strauss Group.
Kuykendall was featured in a video titled, “Diversity Boycotts Apartheid” posted to YouTube by GMU SAIA on October 28, 2013. In the video, Kuykendall said [00:00:18]: “In the face of opposition, we stand for one united cause, ending Israeli Apartheid.”
On April 25, 2013, Kuykendall appeared in a group photo posted by GMU SAIA to Facebook at a panel event on BDS, titled “Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement and South African Apartheid: Panel Discussion.”
GMU SAIA - Promoting A Graduation Day Walkout
On December 19, 2013, SAIA staged a graduation day walkout during a speech delivered by American-Israeli businesswoman and philanthropist Shari Arison, who SAIA described as an “apartheid profiteer.”
During the walk-out,several graduates reportedly wore “no honor in apartheid” stickers on the tops of their graduate caps while their guests waved [00:02:04]keffiyehs.
Before the event, SAIA leader Tareq Radi co-authored with GMU professor and SAIA advisor Craig Willse an "open letter outlining our concerns," hosted on the GMU SAIA website. The open letter quoted University President Ángel Cabrera’s praise of “Arison’s example of practicing moral responsibility in business” as the basis to allege that the “university’s name is being used to whitewash the activities of the Arison Group.”
Radi and Willse claimed “Honoring Arison makes Mason appear to be a PR machine for robber baron billionaires” and claimed that the Arison Group was displacing Bedouins, constructing a “cross-Israel Jewish-only highway”, building a portion of “the Apartheid Wall,” operating “an illegal factory for construction materials” and illegally extracting minerals from the occupied portion of the Dead Sea.
GMU SAIA - “Day of Anger” Rally
On August 1, 2013, GMU SAIA hosted a "Day of Anger: Stop Prawer DC" rally outside The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) headquarters in Washington D.C. At the protest, students chanted [00:00:07] “5-6-7-8 Israel is a racist state” and [00:00:32] “1-2-3-4 occupation no more.”
GMU SAIA - Shutting Down Dialogue
On November 5, 2013, SAIA staged a walkout to disrupt a talk given by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Sgt. Benjamin Anthony at GMU about his personal experiences of the Israeli-Arab Conflict. The group also projected [00:00:48] the SAIA logo on the building used to host the event.
SAIA produced a video of the walkout with a description claiming: “The walkout was part of SAIA's anti-normalization strategy that seeks to expose normalizing events…”
Proponents of the “anti-normalization” policy seek to police all interactions between Israelis and Palestinians and shut down all conversations, interactions and speech that they perceive as being ideologically unaligned with their own agenda. Adherents to this position reject “liberal Zionist” groups who seek to dialogue with Palestinians, on the grounds that such interaction “normalizes” entrenched power dynamic.
In June 2013, SAIA members interrupted a speech given by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert at the Wilson Center in Washington D.C, screaming insults and accusations at Olmert, including “War Criminal” and “Murderer.”
One individual screamed [00:02:01] a blood libel that Israeli soldiers were seen “playing soccer with the head of a dead two-year-old child.” The only documented abuse of severed heads in Gaza was committed by Palestinian factions, Islamic Jihad and Hamas, as revealed in a 2004 Al Jazeera broadcast.
SAIA’s repeated interruptions forced the Wilson Center Director Jane Harman to call for a tightening of security. Harman later commented: “I also defend free speech in this country...but it is unfortunate that people feel the need to disrupt a gathering where they could peacefully and civilly ask questions.”
SAIA - Supporting BDS
In March 2013, SAIA launched campaign to boycott Sabra Hummus at GMU. Sabra is partially owned by an Israeli company, the Strauss Group. SAIA member Keil Eggers organized a petition "[i]]n accordance with the call issued by Palestinian civil society" alleging that The Strauss Group was complicit in human right violations.
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 April 25, 2013, GMU SAIA held a panel event featuring SAIA Advisor and GMU professor Craig Willse delivering a lecture on BDS.
On November 25, 2013, SAIA members participated in the American Studies Association (ASA) Conference, during which a resolution calling for an academic boycott of Israel was adopted.
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.
Social Media and Weblinks
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/100000197335604https://www.facebook.com/kuyky17i [Deleted]
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kuyky17
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lasdneaiubdsk/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelkuykendall [Deleted]
Contact Out: https://contactout.com/Rachel-Kuykendall-69583387
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachelkuyk
- Status:
- Professional
- University:
- DMV GMU,
- more...
- George-Mason,
- Georgetown
- Organizations:
- BDS,
- SJP (SAIA)
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- Craig Willse
- Last Modified:
- 06/23/2025
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