Shellyne Rodriguez

Shellyne Rodriguez’s Participation in the Pro-Hamas Encampment at Columbia University (Columbia)

Shellyne Rodriguez is an anti-Israel activist who participated in the pro-Hamas encampment at Columbia in April 2024. She had pleaded guilty to harassment and menacing in a machete attack on journalists earlier and lost two university teaching jobs as a result of the incident. She also verbally assaulted students on one of the campuses. Both incidents occurred in May 2023.

Rodriguez was also fired in January 2024 from her next university teaching job for spreading anti-Semitism and suggesting the withholding of rental payments from Jewish and Israel-supporting landlords in New York.

Rodriguez spread hatred of Israel in October 2023. She also reportedly co-organized an anti-Israel protest and expressed support for a terrorist while speaking on a pro-Palestine panel in January 2024.

Rodriguez’s activism in late 2023 and early 2024 took place in the wake of Hamas terror atrocities and war crimes against Israeli civilians, including mass murder, torture, rape, beheadings and kidnappings, which were executed on October 7, 2023.

The Hamas terror attacks left over 1,200 Israelis dead, hundreds kidnapped and thousands wounded. Israel retaliated with a war called “Swords of Iron.”

Rodriguez was an activist with the pro-terror group Within Our Lifetime (WOL) in 2021 and 2022. She participated in multiple WOL protests, where she led a chant that promoted violence, burned an American flag and expressed hatred of the police.

Rodriguez is a supporter [00:00:19] of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

As of February 2024, Rodriguez’s website said she was an “artist, educator, writer, and community organizer based in the Bronx,” New York.

Also as of February 2024, Rodriguez’s website said she graduated from Hunter with a master’s degree in fine art in 2014 and from SVA with a bachelor’s degree in visual and critical studies in 2011.

Hunter is part of the City University of New York (CUNY).

January 23, 2024 - Fired for Spreading Anti-Semitism

On January 23, 2024, Rodriguez was fired for making anti-Semitic remarks at an anti-Israel teach-in held the week before on Zoom and organized by the group CUNY for Palestine.

On January 23, 2024, Rodriguez was reportedly [slide 5] fired for anti-Semitic remarks she made [slide 6] on January 15, 2024, while participating as a speaker in CUNY for Palestine's online teach-in titled: “RADICAL SOLIDARITY AND ORGANIC CONNECTIONS: PALESTINIAN, BLACK, PUERTO RICAN, AND FILIPINO LIBERATION STRUGGLES.”

According to a February 13, 2024, Instagram post from the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter at Cooper Union College (Cooper Union), Rodriguez reportedly [slide 6] “presented research on ties between Israeli banks and New York City landlords in the Bronx, particularly in buildings with derelict housing conditions, threatening the lives and health of Black and Latinx tenants. She…speculated on the possibility of a BDS rent strike as a form of protest against Israeli apartheid and ethnic cleansing.”

On January 23, 2024, Rodriguez reportedly sent out an email to her students at Cooper Union, saying [slide 2]: “...Cooper union has fired me because of a social media post I made about ‘Zionists’…effective immediately…This is fascism. Y’all are learning about it in real time…stay defiant…”

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. Zionism is a core part of the identity of most Jews.

January 15, 2024 - Support for a Terrorist

On January 15, 2024, during Rodriguez’s Zoom presentation at CUNY for Palestine's online teach-in, she compared [00:00:48] the case of Kalief Browder, an African American imprisoned for “allegedly stealing a backpack containing valuables,” with that of terrorist Ahmed Manasra.

Rodriguez described [00:00:57] Manasra as a “Palestinian child that was arrested” without mentioning his terror crime.

October 2023 - Hatred of Israel during a Hamas War

In October 2023, less than two weeks after the Hamas terror attack on Israel, Rodriguez reportedly wrote on Instagram: “Look at this dirty f**king roach former bronx borough president…a Zionist lapdog.” Rodriguez’s post featured a flyer publicizing a pro-Israel event in which a local politician was participating. The flyer was edited with cockroaches crawling over it.

May 2023 - Verbal Assault and Machete Attack

On May 2, 2023, Rodriguez verbally assaulted students at Hunter College, New York City, where she was teaching art.

Shellyne Rodriguez, Cooper Union College, Verbal Assault and Machete Attack

On May 2, 2023, Rodriguez confronted [video - 00:00:01] a group of students who were tabling against abortion at Hunter College (Hunter). She shouted: “You’re not educating s**t! This is f**king propaganda!...This is bulls**t! This is violent. You’re triggering my students.”

A male student behind the table told [00:00:13] her: “I’m sorry about that” to which Rodriguez responded: “No, you’re not, because you can’t even have a f**king baby! So, you don’t even know what that is…Get this s**t the f**k out of here!”

Rodriguez then scattered [00:00:21] the anti-abortion pamphlets over the table, some of which fell on the floor, while saying: “F**k this s**t!”

On May 23, 2023, Rodriguez attacked two journalists with a machete at her home in the Bronx, New York.

The journalists visited Rodriguez’s home to interview and photograph her regarding her May 2, 2023, verbal assault [00:00:54] against a group of students at Hunter.

When Rodriguez answered the door to the two journalists, she held [00:01:30] a machete against the neck of one of them, yelling: “Get the f**k away from my door or I’m gonna chop you up with this machete!”

Rodriguez then followed [00:00:15] the reporter and photographer out to the street and chased after the photographer with her machete. She reportedly told them: “If I see you on this block one more f**king time, you’re gonna…” and “Get the f**k off the block! Get the f**k out of here!”

After chasing the photographer down the street, Rodriguez returned to the reporter and kicked him in the shins.

Rodriguez was reportedly fired from Hunter the same day. On May 26, 2023, New York City’s School of Visual Arts (SVA) reportedly “made the decision not to new [sic] Shellyne Rodriguez’s contract” for her position as an adjunct professor.

On May 25, 2023, Rodriguez was arrested for the machete attack. In October 2023, Rodriguez reportedly struck a plea deal for “harassment and menacing,” according to the Bronx District Attorney’s office. Her plea agreement stated that she “must complete a therapy program and, if successful…will be sentenced on the violation to a conditional discharge.”

September 17, 2021 - Promoting Incitement at a WOL rally

Rodriguez led a chant that promoted violence as she participated in a September 17, 2021, WOL rally.

On September 17, 2021, Rodriguez led [00:00:01] a chant at a WOL rally in Manhattan. The flyer for the event called people to “Globalize the Intifada. Free All Palestinian prisoners…Defund the Settler Organizations, Honor the Martyrs…”

At the rally, Rodriguez led [00:00:01] the chant: “We’re Intifada! A global Intifada! Fighting for justice! And global liberation!”

The term “intifada,” which translates from Arabic as “uprising” or “insurrection,” carries the connotation of violence. Palestinian intifadas waged against Israel have been marked since 1987 by hundreds of hijackings, shootings, stabbings, bombings and suicide missions.

One group of protesters held [00:19:21] a banner that said: “Prisoners Revolt from Attica to Gilboa…,” alluding to the Attica, New York, prison riot of 1971 and the escape of six terrorists from Israel’s Gilboa prison a week and a half before the protest.

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.

July 4, 2021 - Burning an American Flag at a WOL Protest

Rodriguez burned [00:00:20] an American flag and led [00:24:22] a chant spreading hatred of the police while participating in a July 4, 2021 protest co-organized by WOL.

The protest was held on U.S. Independence Day in Brooklyn, New York. The flyer promoting it said: “Freedom means dignity. Free them all!” The flyer also said: “Join us…to resist U.S. imperialism and defend the right of all colonized people to resist from Palestine to Mexico…”

At the rally, Rodriguez led [00:24:22] the chant: “La migra. La policia. La misma porqueria! [The Migration Authority. The police. The same crap!]

Later, after anti-Israel agitator Rameen Mahmood set Israeli flags on fire and spit on them, Rodriguez threw [00:00:20] an American flag on top of the flames to burn along with them, while protest participants cheered.

At the rally, anti-Israel activists chanted [00:00:10]: “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free!”

“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free” is a chant used [00:02:47] to call for the elimination of 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. In April 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning the chant as antisemitic.

May 14, 2021 - Expressing Hatred of the Police at a Rally

Rodriguez expressed [00:03:52] hatred of the Police and filmed [00:00:25] the burning of an Israeli flag while participating in a May 14, 2021, WOL rally.

The rally was held in New York City and was titled: “All Eyes on Palestine.”

At the rally, Rodriguez referred [00:03:52] to police officers as “pigs” as she expressed support for violent anti-Israel agitator Saadah Masoud after his arrest.

Masoud was arrested for blocking traffic during the WOL protest. He had to be restrained by multiple officers during his arrest, during which he yelled at police: “Yeah, I’ll go to jail proudly!...Allahu Akbar [God is Great]! I’ll go to jail proudly, baby! I love it!”

Rodriguez and other WOL activists marched to the precinct where Masoud was being held to demand his release.

Rodriguez also filmed [00:00:25] anti-Israel protesters burning an Israeli flag. She appeared on the left side of the screen wearing a red cap.

Participation in the Pro-Hamas Encampment at Columbia

On April 19, 2024, Rodriguez was featured [04:05:54] in a YouTube video speaking at the Columbia encampment. She can be seen in the video wearing a keffiyeh.

On April 17, 2024, Columbia students and anti-Israel activists set up a pro-Hamas encampment on campus to protest Israel’s war against Hamas and promote BDS. The encampment was forcibly dismantled and approximately 80 Columbia students were arrested.

A new Columbia encampment was erected, during which participants forced their way into the university’s Hamilton Hall, vandalizing [00:00:55] and destroying university property. They barricaded themselves in the building, taking three Columbia custodians hostage. An NYPD raid on the building found knives, gas masks, ropes and literature that read: “...DESTROY zionist business interests everywhere!...DEATH TO AMERICA!...”

The encampment was also in support of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

WOL

Within Our Lifetime (WOL) is a pro-terror activist group in New York City dedicated to Israel’s destruction within the lifetime of its members.

Acts of violence and physical confrontations with police have frequently occurred at WOL protests and marches. WOL uses harassment campaigns to target pro-Israel organizations or companies that do business with Israel, making it a part of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Multiple activists who have either burned Israeli flags or led chants at WOL rallies were later jailed for violent anti-Semitic hate crimes, including Saadah Masoud and Waseem Awawdeh. In Masoud’s case, he received 18 months in jail for an anti-Semitic assault at an April 2022 WOL rally and two other anti-Semitic assaults in 2021.

WOL promotes “resistance” against Israel “by any means necessary,” calls to “Globalize the Intifada,” spreads incitement and idolizes [00:34:06] Palestinian terrorists like Leila Khaled and others at rallies and online events.

WOL was founded by Nerdeen Kiswani and Dan Cione in 2015. Kiswani is a frequent speaker at WOL rallies where she has promoted terrorism against Israelis and called for the death of Zionists. She has also provided support for Masoud and other activists following their arrests.

WOL began as the New York City chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), going by NYC SJP, but changed its name in 2018. The group is not found to be registered in any U.S. state as a nonprofit organization under its official name. Nor is there any listing for WOL under its name on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) website for tax-exempt organizations.

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.