Sofia Dadap

Overview

Sofia Dadap is a student activist who has been working to establish a Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter at Fordham University (Fordham) since September of 2016. In April 2017, Dadap and fellow Fordham students sued the university for banning their SJP chapter.

Dadap supports the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and listed the website for the Party for Socialism and Liberation on her Twitter page.

Dadap is a junior at Fordham and has posted on LinkedIn that she is majoring in Anthropology and Women’s Studies.

Defying the Fordham SJP Ban

In January of 2017, Fordham decided to not give SJP official club status at the university, stating: "Fordham has no registered student clubs the sole focus of which is the political agenda of one nation, against another nation…The narrowness of Students for Justice in Palestine’s political focus makes it more akin to a lobbying group than a student club."

Following the decision, numerous anti-Israel organizations, as well as over 70 academics signed a petition in “Solidarity with Fordham SJP.”

Signatories included Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), often criticized for serving as a tokenized Jewish voice for the pro-Palestinian camp and widely regarded as the BDS movement’s "Jewish wing," as well as Al-Awda, which advocates for BDS and the dismantling of Israel as a Jewish state.

Professors who signed the petition included Steven Salaita, notorious for anti-Semitic tweets that prompted the University of Illinois (U of I) to withdraw an offer of employment.

On January 23, 2017, Dadap attended a rally organized by fellow SJP activist Sapphira Lurie protesting Fordham’s decision to ban SJP from the school.

On February 1, 2017, Fordham Dean of Students Keith Eldredge issued a disciplinary charge against Lurie for violating the demonstration policy within the university code of conduct. According to the Fordham administration, Lurie did not receive proper authorization to host a protest, nor was she assigned space to occupy through the established university procedures. On the eve of the hearing, students and community members organized a rally on Lurie’s behalf.

On April 26, 2017, The New York Post reported that Dadap and fellow Fordham students are taking legal action against the university for banning their SJP chapter.

On June 3, 2017, Palestine Legal produced a short fundraising video, featuring Ahmad Awad, to pay for the legal fees of the lawsuit.

On June 5, 2017 Fordham University moved to dismiss the lawsuit on grounds that is a “straightforward educational decision” rather than Palestine Legal’s claim that it is “a First Amendment challenge” which is generally not extended to private institutions.

Eldredge further clarified in his affidavit that following extensive research, he denied the SJP group status in order to “prevent polarization” on campus “and the resulting possible negative impacts on student safety and the general security.”

Protesting the Israeli Ambassador to the UN

On February 13, 2017, Dadap participated in a protest against allowing Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon to speak on the Columbia University campus. The protest was co-hosted by Columbia SJP and the Columbia/Barnard JVP chapter.

The protest Facebook event page described Danon as a "virulent racist" as well as “the official representative of a state born, like America, through savage ethnic cleansing of the original inhabitants.”

Prior to the protest, demonstrators chanted the claim that Mr. Danon is responsible for genocide. During the speech, protesters reportedly interrupted Danon seven times, yelling "racists not welcome!" as well as “Israel is a terrorist state!” Protesters also chanted “From the river to the seas Palestine will be free!”

A Columbia University spokesman has stated that the “small number” of students that disrupted the event would be dealt with “under the Rules of University Conduct.”

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.