Tyler Katz

Overview

Tyler Katz has expressed support for terrorists and spread hatred of Israel as an activist with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement at George Washington University (GWU).

Katz is also an activist with the anti-Israel Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) organization.

Katz promoted the 2018 BDS campaign at GWU, known as #DivestThisTime, which was led by SJP at GWU activists.

As of April 2018, Katz was reportedly a senior at GWU, majoring in biology.

As of July 2018, Katz’s Facebook page said he was a greenhouse assistant at GWU since November 2017.

Support for Terrorists

On May 12, 2017, Katz appeared [00:00:01] in a Facebook video with other SJP at GWU activists doing a “Saltwater Challenge” in support of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jail.

The “Saltwater Challenge” was held in solidarity with hunger-striking Palestinian prison inmates convicted of terrorism. The strike was initiated by Marwan Barghouti, who was serving five consecutive life sentences for his role in suicide bombings that killed five Israelis during the second intifada. Aarab Barghouti, the son of Marwan Barghouti, launched the "Saltwater Challenge."

On November 6, 2017, Katz claimed on Facebook: “Asserting that the state of Israel has the right to exist through the shameless genocide of Palestinians is a direct condonation of genocide and an act of aggression against Palestinians everywhere.”

Katz’s post criticized another GWU student who wrote an op-ed in the GW Hatchet calling attention to a “new strain of anti-Semitism disguised as anti-Zionism.” The op-ed said that anti-Semitism in the progressive movement manifests itself as denying Israel’s right to exist, and that pro-Israel Jews find themselves increasingly unwelcome in progressive circles.

In response to a sentence in the op-ed that said, “Claiming the state of Israel does not have the right to exist isn’t anti-Zionist: it’s anti-Semitic,” Katz wrote on Facebook: “Condoning genocide as a means through which you can celebrate Israel is not the progressive movement you should celebrate.”

In later comments to the post, Katz doubled down on his allegation that Israel is committing “genocide.”

On March 24, 2018, Katz featured [00:01:33] in the #DivestThisTime campaign Facebook video where he said: “Supporting Israel as the world’s only Jewish state is not harmonious with my Jewish values.”

BDS Activism

On March 26, 2018, Katz featured in a #DivestThisTime Facebook photo, holding a sign that read: “#DivestThisTime because supporting Israel as the only ‘Jewish State’ is not harmonious with my Jewish Values.”

On April 23, 2018, Katz spoke [00:53:03] before the GWU Student Association (SA) in support of the BDS resolution that capped the #DivestThisTime campaign.

The resolution passed [00:21:53] with 18 votes for, six against and six abstentions via a secret ballot.

The resolution implied that “Israel is the worst apartheid regime” and that Israel imposes “forced labour” on Palestinians. It also implied that Israel divides “its population along racial lines by the creation of separate reserves and ghettos for the members of a racial group or groups.”

The resolution portrayed Israeli military campaigns against Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) as deliberate attempts to kill children and civilians. It also singled out Israel for alleged violations of the Geneva Convention and war crimes.

Israel commenced Operations Cast Lead (OCL), Pillar of Defense (OPD) and Protective Edge (OPE) in 2008-09, 2012 and 2014, respectively, in order to stop Hamas rocket fire from Gaza targeting Israeli civilians.

Three of the resolution’s four co-sponsors voted [00:09:59] against an amendment [00:07:15] acknowledging that “Israel is a state and has the right to exist” and that Israelis have the “right to safety, security and self-determination.” The fourth co-sponsor abstained.

On April 24, 2018, Katz shared a Facebook post celebrating the #DivestThisTime victory and promoting SJP at GWU’s “Israeli Apartheid Week.”

Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) is presented internationally as a “series of events that seeks to raise awareness of…Israel’s settler-colonial project and apartheid system over the Palestinian people.” One of its goals is to build support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. IAW has been renamed Palestine Awareness Week.

On May 10, 2018, Katz appeared [00:01:43] in an Al Jazeera documentary, published on Youtube, setting up a display [00:01:43] labeled as the “Israeli Apartheid Wall.” The display demonized Israel’s security barrier and promoted BDS and [00:01:51] the “right of return.”

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.

The “right of return” is a Palestinian demand discredited as a means to eliminate Israel.

Anti-Israel Activism

On October 2, 2017, Katz indicated on Facebook that he “went” to a CODEPINK event featuring anti-Israel agitator Issa Amro and Yousef Munnayer, the executive director of U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR), formerly the U.S. Campaign to End the Occupation (ETO).

Anti-Israel agitator Issa Amro is known for vandalism and attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians. Amro heads the Youth Against Settlements (YAS) movement, an anti-Israel organization based in Hebron that promotes anti-Semitism, rock-throwing and violence against Israelis.

On December 6, 2017, Katz indicated on Facebook that he “went” to an American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) rally, titled: “Rally to Tell Trump: Jerusalem is NOT the Capital of Israel!”

AMP organized the protest against U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and to relocate the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

On April 5, 2018, Katz indicated on Facebook that he “went” to an IfNotNow (INN) protest condemning Israel’s security measures taken during Hamas-led riots known as the “March of Return.”

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 sent scores of kites bearing explosive devices across Israel’s border to burn Israeli crops and homes. Participants also attempted to breach the border fence, which caused the Israeli Defense Forces to respond with live fire.

Agitators threw Molotov cocktails, firebombs, shot firearms and threw rocks under the cover of smoke from burning tires.

On May 16, 2018, a Hamas senior official stated that 50 out of 62 protesters killed during a May 14 protest were Hamas operatives. Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) also claimed that three of its members were killed at the same protest.

Media reports in later weeks confirmed [00:00:20] the Gaza protesters’ breaches and attempted breaches of Israel’s border fence, some by armed Palestinians. One Hamas leader declared [00:00:30]: “We will take down the border [with Israel] and we will tear out their hearts from their bodies.

#DivestThisTime at GWU 2018 - Instigated by SJP at GWU

On March 24, 2018, student groups at GWU launched the second BDS campaign in two years; both were titled “#DivestThisTime.” Activists with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at GWU (SJP at GWU) led both campaigns.

On the campaign launch day, #DivestThisTime released a Facebook promotional video, in which activists alleged [00:01:23] that Israel has committed “crimes against humanity.” They also claimed [00:03:34] that Palestinians are “bombed every day” and blamed Israel [00:02:06] for police violence against black Americans in Ferguson, Missouri.

SJP at GWU held five events leading up to the launch of #DivestThisTime, which formed part of its 2018 Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW). IAW is presented as “an international series of events that seek to raise awareness of Israel’s settler-colonial project and apartheid system over the Palestinian people” and build support for the BDS movement.

#DivestThisTime at GWU 2018 - Demonizing Israel

On April 23-24, 2018, the GWU Student Association (SA) held a hearing and vote on the BDS resolution. At least 18 SJP at GWU activists and affiliates addressed [01:07:50] the SA in defense of the resolution, where it passed [00:21:53] via [00:11:14] a secret ballot with 18 votes for, six against and six abstentions.

During the hearing, many Jewish students said [01:09:05] they experienced [01:24:45] anti-Semitism related to #DivestThisTime. One student spoke [00:50:40] about the Jewish community’s pain when “this hateful and divisive resolution was proposed over Passover.” One Jewish Israeli-American student said [00:48:05] it “creates an environment where I am made to feel that my identity is taboo” at GWU.

One black Jewish student said [01:39:24] that an SJP activist told him he was “weaponizing” his identity when he asked why a clause mentioning the “discriminatory conditions black people face in the Gaza Strip under Palestinian leadership” was omitted from the resolution.

SJP at GWU activists mocked [00:52:48] or dismissed [00:39:50] concerns over anti-Semitism. Other resolution supporters voiced agreement [00:45:40] with the SJP at GWU activists, including one who claimed [01:04:13] that resolution opponents were stoking “racial fears and sowing the divisions.”

A number of Jewish students walked out [00:35:19] of the hearing to protest [00:33:21] the resolution and to protest the SA’s inaction to combat anti-Semitism within its own ranks.

On April 24, 2018, three of the four resolution co-sponsors — Joshua Gomez, Eden Vitoff and Shaheera Jalil Albasit — voted [00:09:59] against an amendment [00:07:15] that said: “Palestinians and Israelis, like all people, have the right to safety, security, and self-determination” and “Israel is a state and has the right to exist.” Jessica Martinez, the other co-sponsor, abstained [00:10:06].

On May 10, 2018, Al Jazeera published a report on Youtube about #DivestThisTime. SJP at GWU activists spoke [00:01:47] to passers-by on campus and stood next to a display [00:01:43] labeled the “Israeli Apartheid Wall” that demonized Israel’s security barrier.

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.