Reyna Valdezparticipated in an anti-Israel encampment at the University of Houston (UH) in May 2024. She has also engaged in anti-Israel activism and is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement (BDS) movement.
Valdez's anti-Israel activism occurred during Israel’s war against Hamas, which Israel launched after the October 7, 2023, terror attacks when Hamas murdered nearly 1,200 Israelis, injured thousands and kidnapped hundreds.
On May 13, 2024, during Israel's war against Hamas terrorists, Reyna Vladez was featured in an Instagram video participating in the anti-Israel encampment at UH.
In the video, Valdez said [00:01:10]: "...we're determined to continue to fight for divestment at the University of Houston until they are fully divested from any company that profits off the genocide of Gaza."
The encampment was one of about 200 anti-Israel college encampments set up in North America, and over 20 globally, in the spring of 2024. The first began on April 17, 2024, at Columbia University. Protesters harassed Jewish students, blocked Jews from campus facilities and used anti-Semitic language in their activism. They also promoted BDS and protested Israel’s war against Hamas, launched after Hamas murdered approximately 1,200 Israelis on October 7, 2023.
For more information, see the Canary Mission page on Hamas.
On April 22, 2024, Reyna Valdez was featured in an Instagram video expressing support for the BDS movement during an anti-Israel event on the UH campus.
In the video Valdez said [00:00:12]: "...we decided to take up space, make a visible space for Gaza, for Palestine in the center of social life on our campus in the University of Houston. And, essentially, what we want is for people to...visibly [call] for divestment on this campus."
On September 4, 2024, Valdez said in an interview to Prism that "she believes her university’s divestment from Israel and the corporations supporting its war is not only possible but inevitable."
SJPis the leading student organization engaged in anti-Israel activity on North American college and university campuses. The first chapter of SJP was founded in 2001at the University of California at Berkeley by Professor Hatem Bazian, who has spread anti-Semitism and defended the Hamas terror group.
The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement was founded by pro-terror activist Omar Barghouti in 2005 to turn “Israel into a pariah state, as South Africa once was.” Barghouti has also called for Israel's destruction and the BDS movement demands would result in that same goal.
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 infiltrating university campuses through lobbying for “BDS resolutions.” In these cases, student governments propose resolutions to boycott or divestment from Israel or Israeli-affiliated entities. 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 and pro-terror activism on campus.
