Rachel Marandett

In October 2021, Israel’s Ministry of Defense declared six Palestinian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to be “terror organizations” operating “as an arm” of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror group. The six NGOs were accused of funneling donor aid to militants and employing senior PFLP members, “including activists involved in terror activity.”

In May 2021, violent clashes broke out between Palestinian worshippers and Israeli police at the Al-Aqsa compound following claims the Al-Aqsa Mosque was in danger. The subsequent incitement was a leading factor in Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists firing over 4,300 rockets from Gaza into Israel later that month. Israel responded by launching “Operation Guardian of the Walls (OGW),” carrying out targeted military strikes in Gaza. Allegations of Jews “threatening” to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque have been a traditional pretext for Arab attacks on Jews predating the State of Israel.

On May 11, 2021, Marandett posted [slide 28] to her Instagram Stories Highlights a post with text that read: “Israeli forces Attack Al-Aqsa again.”

On the same day, Marandett posted [slide 30] to her Instagram Stories Highlights a video with text that read: “Israelis celebrate as trees in front of Al-Aqsa mosque are set on fire. They dance, sing, cheer and celebrate while Israel brutalizes thousands of Palestinians … ”


On May 6, 2021, Marandett shared [slide 18] to her Instagram Stories Highlights a post [slide 7] accusing Israel of “brutal ethnic cleansing” and promoted a petition urging the U.S. “to condemn the dispossession in Sheikh Jarrah.”

Whitewashing Anti-Semitism

On May 29, 2021, Marandett shared [slide 75] to her Instagram Stories Highlights a JVP photo of a tweet that claimed: “Every Palestinian I know is condemning anti-semitism, when I don’t even need them to. What I *haven’t* see is any perpetrators of antisemitism with any credible links to Palestinian organizers…”

Anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S. “more than doubled” during OGW and its aftermath, compared to the same time period in 2020, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).  

On May 26, 2021, Marandett shared [slide 66] to her Instagram Stories Highlights a screenshot of a Remi Kanazi tweet that read: “It is not antisemitic to call Israel genocidal. It doesn't ‘fuel antisemitism’ to call Israel genocidal. It is not antisemitic to describe what Israel is doing to Palestinians. It is however anti-Palestinian racism to call people antisemitic for calling Israel genocidal.”

Poet Remi Kanazi is known for his aggressively anti-Israel spoken-word performances. He has supported terrorism and has compared Israel to both ISIS and the Ku Klux Klan.

Spreading Hatred of Zionism

On June 30, 2021, Marandett shared [slide 93] to her Instagram Stories Highlights a screenshot of a Remi Kanazi tweet that claimed: “Zionism is bulldozing homes. Zionism is stealing land. Zionism is ethnically cleansing Palestinians. Zionism is torturing children. Zionism is teargassing demonstrators. Zionism is bombing Gaza. Zionism is enforcing siege. Zionism is and has always been the root of the problem.”

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 21, 2021, Marandett posted [slide 62] to her Instagram Stories Highlights a video of an anti-Israel rally at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City. In the video, protesters placed banners on the ground that read: “Zionism is Terrorism” and “Abolish the Settler State.”

On May 12, 2021, Marandett posted to Instagram a series of images [slides 5-10] she said were produced by anti-Israel activist Siriana Abboud, founder of the Allusio Academy, “an online preschool program and parent consultation service.”

One of the images that Marandett shared [slide 8] claimed that Zionism resulted in a “CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY.” The same post also promoted the Palestinian “right to return” and alleged that Israel practices “apartheid.”

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.

Another one of the images that Marandett shared from Abboud read [slide 7]: “From 1948 till the present you have seen the continued ethnic cleansing and genocide of Palestinians. (Yes, It’s that simple).” The same image said: “As Europe was facing the tragedy and horrors of the Holocaust and European antisemitism, Zionists took the opportunity to invade Palestine.”

Demonizing Israel

On April 11, 2022, Marandett tweeted: “From the river to the sea… you’re threats aren’t gonna stop us”

“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free” is a chant calling to dismantle the State of Israel. It has also been employed by Hamas leader Khaled Mashal to call for the replacement of Israel with an Islamic state.

As of November 2021, Marandett posted in her Instagram bio a link to the website Decolonize Palestine. 

Decolonize Palestine has called for the destruction of Israel, writing: “... Israeli colonialism and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians is an objective fact. Maintaining a neutral position on this war crime is not only immoral, but enables Israel to commit further heinous acts in the future. Therefore, we take a very clear position: For the liberation of Palestine.”

On June 5, 2021, Marandett shared [slide 86] to her Instagram Stories Highlights a post showing a concrete section of Israel’s security barrier and the text: “Israel’s Apartheid Wall Explained.”

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 May 20, 2021, Marandett shared [slide 55] to her Instagram Stories Highlights a post [slide 4] accusing Israel of “mass slaughter” during OGW as well as “ethnic cleansing & apartheid.”

On May 17, 2021, Marandett shared [slide 48] to her Instagram Stories Highlights a postthat read: “5 Facts on Palestine to Make Genocide ‘Not Complicated.’” 

The post Marandett shared alleged [slide 4]: “This apartheid state of Israel is oppressive, violent, racist, thrives on settler colonialism, imperialism, inequality, white supremacy, occupation, and ethnic cleansing.” The post also included [slide 6] a series of misleading maps popular among anti-Israel activists.

The maps claim that lands once controlled by Britain, Egypt and Jordan as autonomous “Palestinian land” were purportedly stolen by Israel. In February 2016, publisher McGraw-Hill Education recalled copies of a college textbook containing the fraudulent maps. In October 2015, American cable news network MSNBC apologized for airing a similar series of maps and retracted them.

On May 11, 2021, Marandett posted [slide 41] on her Instagram Stories Highlights a video of an anti-Israel rally where protesters chanted [00:00:01]: “From the River to the Sea.”

On January 26, 2021, during the Covid-19 pandemic, Marandett shared [slide 4] to her Instagram Stories Highlights a post suggesting Israel practiced “Vaccine Apartheid.” The same post also claimed “Israel’s denial of vaccines to Palestinians living under its military occupation.”


On January 19, 2021, Marandett posted [slide 1] to her Instagram Stories Highlights a cartoon by Carlos Latuff accusing Israel of “APARTHEID.”

Carlos Latuff is a Brazilian political cartoonist who has equated Israel and America with Nazi Germany and promoted violence. In 2006, he won second prize at Iran’s “International Holocaust Cartoon Competition” for a cartoon that compared Israel’s security barrier to Nazi concentration camps.  

On July 25, 2019, Marandett published an article in the anti-Israel website Mondoweiss where she said: “I also ask the US government to rethink their unequivocal support for Israel in the wake of the crimes against humanity they are committing ...” 

The article was titled: “My name is Rachel, and Israel thinks I’m a security threat.” It detailed how Marandett chose to not fly to Israel after being questioned by Israeli security in America. Mandarett also urged readers to “support BDS” and referred to Gaza as an “open-air prison.” 

5C JVP Anti-Israel Activism

In February 2020, Marandett was reported to be the “founder and president of the 5Cs chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace.” The chapter is also known as Claremont JVP. As of March 2022, Marandett’s LinkedIn page said she had been a JVP activist since July 2019. 

On June 24, 2020, 5C JVP posted to Facebook a statement in support of Malak Afaneh, 
who one week earlier reportedly posted a graphic containing a tweet that suggested a comparison of the grave humanitarian situation in Yemen to the Nazi Holocaust. 

That image also had a caption written by Afaneh’s friend that suggested that Zionist Jews “hate brown ppl” and that they are “stuck-on comparing-Holocaust-to-racism WW2 [World War II]-worshipping-b**ches.” Afaneh wrote at the top of the image that the image’s text “put into words all I’ve been thinking!”

The 5C JVP statement in Afaneh’s support claimed that Afaneh was only accused of reposting “a tweet and caption … that unintentionally delegitimized the gravity of the Holocaust … ”

5C JVP’s statement in support Afaneh also featured a quote it said was from JVP National, calling Zionism a “settler-colonial movement” and claiming that Israel is an “apartheid state.” 5C JVP then stated: “We therefore reject Zionism and denounce all forms of state oppression and settler-colonialism.” 

On February 6, 2020, Marandett reportedly organized a Claremont JVP event featuring NYU professor Andrew Ross, who spoke about his new book: “Stone Men: The Palestinians Who Built Israel.”

Ross has framed Palestinian terrorism as a legitimate form of “resistance" and accused Jewish residents of the West Bank of ethnic cleansing. Ross is an advisory board member of the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI).

On November 25, 2019, Marandett hosted a Facebook fundraiser in support of multiple groups, including JVP and the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM). The fundraiser’s “about” section said: “We believe...that Jewish organizing is critical to ending U.S. support for Israeli military occupation and apartheid.”

PYM supports and has glorified terrorists, promotes incitement to violence and spreads anti-Israel conspiracy theories. PYM also advocates for the dissolution of the State of Israel, supports BDS, demonizes Israel, supports anti-Israel agitators and praises violent protesters.

Supporting BDS

On July 21, 2021, Marandett shared [slide 100] on her Instagram Stories Highlights a post that called on Ben & Jerry’s ice cream company to close its operations in Israel. Two days earlier, the company announced its decision to end sales in ”the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).” 
 
On June 3, 2021, Marandett posted [slide 93] to her Instagram Stories Highlights a “Block the Boat: New York & New Jersey Call to Action,” scheduled for June 6, 2021. The protest sought to stop a cargo ship owned by ZIM, an Israeli shipping company, from docking at the Port of New York.

The “Block the Boat'' campaign is a BDS initiative founded by the Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC) in 2014. The campaign’s goal is to disrupt the Israeli shipping company Zim from accessing American ports in both the east and west coasts.  

On May 27, 2021, Marandett promoted [slide 70 on her Instagram Stories Highlights a CODEPINK campaign calling on the National Geographic Television Network to drop its series “Impact,” featuring Israeli actress Gal Gadot. CODEPINK claimed that Gadot’s participation helped “whitewash Israeli war crimes.” 

On May 19, 2021, Marandett shared [slide 54] to her Instagram Stories Highlights aJVP post including an image that said: “Jews for BDS.” The JVP post linked to a “A call for Jews to endorse Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” and included a pledge endorsing a restatement of the BDS movement’s demands.

Supporting a 2019 Pitzer BDS Campaign

In March 2019, Marandett signed a Claremont SJP petition calling on Pitzer President Melvin Oliver to rescind his veto of a Pitzer College Council recommendation to suspend the college’s study abroad program with the University of Haifa in Israel.  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.

Supporting a 2021 Pomona BDS Resolution

On April 22, 2021, Marandett posted [slide 8] to her Instagram Stories Highlights a Claremont SJP Instagram post that announced the passage of a BDS resolution at Pomona College (Pomona) as “A HISTORIC BDS VICTORY!!!” Pomona is one of the undergraduate colleges at Claremont.Claremont SJP and 5C JVP co-sponsored the resolution in the Associated Students of Pomona College (ASPC) Senate, the Pomona student government. The resolution compelled BDS compliance for ASPC campus stores and student clubs receiving ASPC funding.  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.

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 - Supporting Terrorists 2017-2018  

On April 17, 2018, Claremont SJP hosted “PFW: Political Prisoner Letter Writing Night!” as part of Palestinian Freedom Week (PFW) 2018, held on campus April 9 - 20, 2018.

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 - Demonizing Israel 2017-2018  

On April 9, 2018, Claremont SJP hosted PFW 2018, held on campus from April 9 - 21, 2018. The event’s Facebook description read: “2018 marks the 70th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba — the planned mass expulsion of more than 750,000 indigenous Palestinians to establish an exclusionary Jewish-majority state in Palestine.”Nakba is an Arabic term for “catastrophe” and refers to the outcome of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It is a term often used to delegitimize the creation of the State of Israel.  

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.

Claremont SJP - Promoting Anti-Israel Agitators 2017-2018

On April 15, 2018, Claremont SJP hosted a “Solidarity Vigil with Gaza” on campus in support of the March of Return riots. The event’s Facebook description alleged Israeli snipers “opened fire on thousands of unarmed protesters, killing at least 35 people, including photojournalist Yaser Murtaja while he was wearing a press jacket, and injuring at least 3,000.”

Photojournalist, Yasser Murtaja was reportedly a Hamas spy who useddrones to film Israeli positions and was shot as he filmed the 2018 “March of Return” protest in Gaza, on April 6, 2018.  

On April 14, 2018, Claremont SJP hosted an event on campus, titled “Voices of Palestine Resistance” to promote the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).


The event’s Facebook description said: “The presentation includes an abridged version of Radiance of Resistance, a film by three ISM volunteers serving in Nabi Salih and featuring Ahed Tamimi and her cousin, Janna Ayyad.”

Ahed Tamimi, who has a long history of physically attacking Israeli soldiers, was detained after she was filmed punching and kicking Israeli soldiers. Ayyad, also known as “Janna Jihad,” is a relative of Palestinian propagandist Bassem Tamimi and an anti-Israel youth activist and amateur journalist.

Claremont SJP - Campaigning for BDS 2018-2019

On November 18, 2018, Claremont SJP issued a statement supporting a pro-BDS faculty vote to suspend Pitzer’s study abroad program with the University of Haifa in Israel, which Pitzer had run since 2007. Professor Daniel Segal, the Claremont SJP and Claremont JVP faculty advisor, led the boycott campaign. 

In March 2019, the Pitzer College Council (PCC) also voted to suspend the program, but Pitzer President Melvin Oliver said he would veto the PCC recommendation. The PCC is a body of student and faculty members who vote on recommendations to the Pitzer president.

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 values.”

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.”

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.