Sid Patel
Overview
In 2014, Patel attended the National SJP conference, as part of the Stanford SJP delegation. In 2015, Patel was a member of Stanford Out of Occupied Palestine (SOOP), which defines itself as a coalition of 19 student groups promoting divestment from "human rights abuses in Palestine & around the world."
In 2014, Patel was also a member of the International Socialist Organization (ISO) and in 2012 he was affiliated with their chapter in Northern California. Patel has authored numerous articles for the socialistworker.org publication.
In 2015,Patel was quoted on Facebook stating that joined SJP at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) in 2002 and was “inspired” by the second Intifada.
The second intifada (2000-2005) was characterized by more than 120 suicide bombings targeting Israeli civilians on buses and in cafes.
As of April 2021, Patel’s LinkedIn page said he was a Senior Data Scientist at Robinhood in San Mateo, California, since October 2018. Patel’s LinkedIn page also said he received a Ph.D. in 2019 and that he graduated with a master’s degree in Economics, both from Stanford.
Patel’s LinkedIn page also stated that he graduated from UC Berkeley in 2005 with a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2003.
Demonizing Israel
On July 2, 2015, Patel spoke at a “We are Many” panel event, titled: “Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: Grassroots Movement Against Israeli Apartheid,” alongside anti-Israel activists Nashiha Alam, Stephanie Navarro and Remi Kanazi.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.
He also referred [00:06:41] to Israel’s Operation Protective Edge (OPE), as well as Operation Cast Lead (OCL) and Operation Pillar of Defense (OPD) as the “three massacres” committed by Israel.
Israel commenced OPE in July 2014 to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.
Israel commenced Operation Cast Lead (OCL)in 2008-09 in order to stop Hamas rocket fire from Gaza targeting Israeli civilians. In 2010, Hamas admitted that nearly 700 of the Palestinian casualties in OCL were combatants.
Israel launched OPD to stop Hamas rocket attacks on Israeli civilians from Gaza. Over the course of eight days in November 2012, Palestinian terrorist groups fired more than 1,500 rockets at Israel. The majority struck Israel, damaging homes, schools and other civilian areas. Human Rights Watch noted: “Palestinian armed groups made clear in their statements that harming civilians was their aim.”
Patel wrote an article, published on January 21, 2015, by Stanford’s student newspaper, titled: “A False Security,” in which he claimed that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is “the greatest purveyor of terrorism — political violence against civilians.”
On June 4, 2010, an article that Patel contributed to, titled “Standing Against Israel’s War Crimes,” referred to Israel's confrontation with Gaza’s “Freedom Flotilla” as a “Murderous attack.”
The Mavi Marmara was the lead ship in the “Freedom Flotilla” that attempted to sail to Gaza in May 2010. Activists aboard the ship agitated for violent confrontation and chanted a slogan glorifying the killing of Jews. When Israeli security forces boarded the Marmara, protesters attacked them with iron bars, metal chairs, knives, stun grenades and firearms, rocks and bottles. A United Nations report found that the flotilla agitators initiated an organized, violent confrontation with Israeli forces, and that the Marmara was carrying no humanitarian aid, only weaponry.
Promoting BDS at Stanford
Patel featured in a January 9, 2015 video uploaded to YouTube by SOOP as part of their “#filasteenfridays” series. During the video, Patel encouraged [00:01:53] Stanford University to divest from companies that “facilitate Israel’s war crimes.”
On January 28, 2015, Patel endorsed SOOP’s divestment campaign to Facebook, writing: “I support divestment from companies that enable the occupation of Palestine because Israel has shown over and over that it intends to continue with collective punishment…”
In February 2015, members of SOOP presented a petition, as well as a divestment resolution to the Associated Students of Stanford University (ASSU) Undergraduate Senate to further the agenda of the Boycott, Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Patel was the 2nd person who signed SOOP’s 2015 petition, which accompanied SOOP’s divestment resolution and was one of the “organizers” of the divestment campaign.
The resolution, titled: “A Resolution to Divest from Companies Violating Human Rights in Occupied Palestine,” called for Stanford University Trustees to divest from companies that it alleged: “violate international humanitarian law by: maintaining the illegal infrastructure of the Israeli occupation.”
The resolution also called for divestment from companies it claimed facilitates Israel’s “collective punishment of Palestinian civilians…[and] state repression against Palestinians.”
On February 8, 2015, The Stanford Review, a student-run political magazine reported that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings showed no evidence that Stanford has been invested in any of the companies that SOOP targeted for divestment over the last ten years, with the exception of Raytheon, for one filing period.
On February 9, 2015, Patel featured as a representative of SJP in a SOOP Divest campaign video that was published on YouTube.
The SOOP divestment resolution initially failed [00:00:42] to garner the required 66% majority senate approval, in a vote held on February 10, 2015.
Senate Chair Ana Ordonez then brought forward a motion calling for a re-vote. Ordonez reportedly initially abstained from voting and was later quoted in the student newspaper, the Stanford Daily, as saying: “Now that the noise has subsided, I know that I voted incorrectly.”
Ordonez voted in favor of the resolution in the re-vote, which passed on February 17, 2015. However, the Stanford Board of Trustees later announced on April 14, 2015, that Stanford would take no action on SJP’s request.
In accordance with the board’s Statement on Investment Responsibility, the board said in its statement on the resolution that they focused on “questions of divisiveness and negative impact” and determined that acting on the request would be “likely to impair the capacity of the University to carry out its educational mission.”
In a March 3, 2015 article titled “A STEP TOWARD DIVESTMENT AT STANFORD,” Patel claimed that: “divestment can be a tool for change” and that “there is more education to be done on campus” about BDS.
He also wrote: “The success of the divestment resolution will make it easier for proponents of BDS at Stanford, like Students for Justice in Palestine, to clarify what the movement stands for and why it's worth supporting.”
At the July 2, 2015 “We are Many” panel event, Patel endorsed [00:09:03] BDS founder Omar Barghouti and said they “should not distance” themselves from him and “let his name just be dragged through the mud as that is going make things hard going forward.”
Barghouti, the founder of the BDS movement, has claimed [00:04:28] that international law grants everyone with Palestinian ancestry the unqualified right to settle in Israel. Barghouti has also insisted [01:18:21]that the demands of BDS are “inflexible” and “non-negotiable,” and if people object, then “tough.”
Patel further stated [00:08.40]: “I think it is important for our campaigns to carry out simultaneous education about our particular targets and about the fact that Israel is a racist state that should be boycotted and sanctioned.”
SJP Activism
On November 14, 2014, Stanford SJP uploaded multiple photos that featured Patel. Thephotos were part of a Facebook album titled: “From Palestine to Stanford: A Night With Students from #Right2Edu” and the post read: “Stanford SJP is proud to host a stop of the nationwide Right To Education tour!”
On November 6, 2014, Patel featured in a Stanford SJP Facebook photo alongside Sahar Francis, the director of Addameer.
Addameer is an NGO that advocates on behalf of prisoners held in Israeli jail, including many terrorists such as Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) recruiters Mohammad Allan and Khader Adnan. Addameer’s senior leadership includes [pp. 29-35] senior Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorists like Khalida Jarrar, whom Addameer also advocates for. In 2021, Israel officially designated Addameer as a terror organization.
The Facebook photo was taken from an event titled: "Case for Divestment: Justice for Political Prisoners."
In October of 2014, Patel was one of six Stanford students who traveled to Boston for the 2014 SJP National Conference, held at Tufts University.
On September 26, 2014, Stanford SJP posted a photo of Patel and other SJP activists to Facebook tabling at the “Activities Fair.” The Facebook post read: “if you're interested in getting involved with campus organizing for justice in Palestine and Israeli, come stop by at the Activities Fair...”
On May 16, 2014, Patel was pictured speaking in front of an audience in a Stanford SJP Facebook photo. The Facebook post read: “Thank you to everyone who came to our final event of the year--our Palestine 101 teach-in! It really meant a lot to see so many people willing to engage with the Palestinian issue...”
On April 14, 2015, Patel attended an SJP event at Stanford titled: “Iyad Burnat: Resisting Occupation in Palestine” and wrote on Facebook: “Thanks to everyone who made it out today! Also, next week SJP is hosting an event on BDS and life narratives of Palestinians:''
Patel also promoted an April 21, 2015 Stanford SJP event on Facebook.
Iyad Burnat is the coordinator of the Bil’in popular resistance committee, organizing weekly, often violent demonstrations against the Israeli security barrier since 2005. Burnat has repeatedly equated Israel with Hitler and ISIS. He has also claimed that Zionism is a “racist ideology” and accused “Zionists” of controlling American politics.
The Stanford SJP event was titled: “Life in Occupied Palestine: BDS and the Stakes of Life Narratives.” The Facebook event description page said: “Franklin and Shihade will make the case for the academic and cultural boycott of Israel as part of the international movement in solidarity with Palestine.”
SOOP #Stanford Divest
Stanford Out of Occupied Palestine (SOOP) was reportedly a coalition of 19 student groups campaigning for Stanford University (Stanford) to “divest from corporations profiting from human rights abuses in occupied Palestine.”The campaign was initiated [00:12:16] by Stanford Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and promoted on social media under the hashtag “#Stanford Divest.”
As of January 2020, SOOP’s Facebook page said its mission was “To end Stanford's investments in corporations which profit from the Israeli Occupation of the Palestinian Territories.”
SOOP has reportedly stated that it is not connected to the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and is focused on “selective divestment.” However, the coalition has reportedly disseminated BDS materials and promoted a video that solicited donations for BDS.
SOOP - Promoting BDS
On February 10, 2015, SOOP promoted a BDS Youtube video on Facebook, titled: “Stanford Student Groups Support #StanfordDivest.”The video featured members of student groups, including [00:03:38] SJP Stanford, expressing why they support “#StanfordDivest.” Ramah Awad, SOOP leader and co-president of SJP Stanford at the time, said [00:03:45]: “We recognize divestment as one step on that path to liberation.”
On January 23, 2015, SOOP posted a photo album on Facebook titled: “Human of ‘Out of Occupied Palestine,’” which featured photos of Stanford students holding posters with anti-Israel messages and showing support for #StanfordDivest.
One photo showed a student holding a sign which read: “I support divestment because collective punishment is a war crime.” Another sign read: “There are better & more commendable ways to fiscally profit that doesn’t contribute to the displacement & exploitation of human lives.”
On January 21, 2015, SOOP reportedly organized a panel discussion to promote its BDS petition, which called for Stanford’s divestment from corporations that allegedly “facilitate human rights violations in Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian Territories.”
On January 9, 2015, SOOP published a Youtube video titled: “FilasteenFridays: Collective Punishment in the Palestinian Territories.” The video urged Stanford students to support their BDS campaign as “the only way to show true moral neutrality.”
On January 8, 2015, SOOP hosted an informational event titled: “Case for Divestment from the Occupation of Palestine.”
The event’s Facebook description said it would include an explanation of SOOP’s “divestment criteria, followed by a moderated discussion with some of the campaign organizers.”
Stanford SJP - Protesting Against a Vigil for Terror Victims
In October 2015, SJP Stanford organized a protest as a “preemptive response” to a vigil scheduled to mourn Israeli civilians and soldiers killed in stabbing and ramming attacks, during the “Knife Intifada,” then occurring in Israel.SJP Stanford co-president Fatima Zehra was quoted in Stanford’s campus newspaper, saying: “We wanted to do something because we felt that Sunday’s protest was going to be really one-sided.”
Zehra reportedly considered e-mails advertising the scheduled mourning vigil problematic, because they referred to Israelis who had been murdered as “victims of terror.” Zehra claimed: “There’s implicit racism in that, because it’s like, all Palestinian Arabs are terrorists...”
SJP Stanford - Hosting Anti-Israel Agitators
On April 27, 2016, Stanford SJP held an event hosting Omar Barghouti for a live-video lecture.Barghouti, who is the founder of the BDS movement, rejects Israel’s existence. Barghouti has claimed [00:04:28] that international law allows anyone with Palestinian ancestry the right to settle in Israel and said [01:18:21] BDS demands are “inflexible” and “non-negotiable.”
On November 9, 2015, Stanford SJP held a “Visual Talk” featuring Dr. Mads Gilbert, noting that he was “hit with a lifetime ban from entering Gaza by the Israeli government.”
Gilbert, who is banned indefinitely from entering Gaza via Israel due to his connections with Hamas leadership, was stationed at a hospital that served as a Hamas command center and rocket launching site in 2008, 2009, 2012 and 2014.
While at the hospital, Gilbert acted as a propagandist for the Hamas government in Gaza and was accused of faking resuscitation on a dead child in Gaza for dramatic effect for a CNN video.
After the September 11 terrorist attacks, Gilbert called the attack a “legitimate response.”
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/1174838071Twitter:https://twitter.com/sidpatelsf
Videos
Photos & Screenshots
