William Ruhm
Overview
William Ruhm [William Christopher Ruhm] has expressed support for terrorists, promoted hatred of a Jewish organization and demonized Israel as an activist in the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.Russell has been an activist with BDS Boston since 2016 when the group was launched and he has continued activism with the group through 2022. In May 2019, the BDS group Massachusetts Against Hewlett-Packard (MAHP) decided to rebrand itself as BDS Boston in order to focus on more campaigns.
In June 2022, BDS Boston launched the Mapping Project, a BDS campaign targeting Jewish and pro-Israel institutions in Massachusetts. The campaign’s website said that its goal was to reveal “the local entities and networks that enact devastation, so we can dismantle them.”
In 2017, Ruhm reportedly was a Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) Boston chapter (JVP Boston) leader. Ruhm was listed [p.20] as a presenter at the 2017 JVP National Member Meeting held in Chicago, Illinois, from March 31 to April 2, 2017.
As of July 2022, Ruhm’s sharecare.com profile said he was a social worker in Cambridge, MA, and that he “currently practices at CHA [Cambridge Health Alliance] Cambridge Hospital.”
As of July 2022, Ruhm’s provider practice location was listed by the National Provider Identifier (NPI) as Cambridge, MA. His NPI number was listed as 1144857806.
Ruhm graduated [00:39:38] from the Boston University (BU) School of Social Work with a master’s degree. Ruhm also attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) from 2010 to 2014.
Supporting Terrorists
In October 2021, Ruhm signed an open letter on behalf of BDS Boston where he called for the release of Georges Abdallah, who was being held in a French prison.Georges Abdallah is a convicted Lebanese terrorist, reportedly a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and co-founder of the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions (LARF). He murdered an American military attaché and an Israeli diplomat in 1982.
On May 10, 2017, Ruhm featured in a Boston BDS Facebook video participating in the “Saltwater Challenge.”
Promoting Hatred of a Jewish Organization
On March 31, 2022, Ruhm featured [00:43:23] in a Youtube video where he spoke at an anti-Israel rally outside the Boston office of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).Ruhm said [00:53:32]: “The ADL believes that the only way Jewish people can be free…is by assimilating into American white supremacy and providing our utmost support to the violent incarceral institutions that uphold it.”
Ruhm, who spoke on behalf of BDS Boston, continued [00:53:48]: “The ADL believes that the only way Jewish people can keep the boot of anti-Semitism off of our necks is by supporting the U.S. government to drive the boot of settler-colonialism and white supremacy into the necks of black brown and indigenous peoples around the world.”
The co-hosts of the rally included BDS Boston, JVP Boston and local Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapters. The rally was titled: “Boston Rally to End the Deadly Exchange.”
In 2017, JVP launched the “Deadly Exchange (DX)” campaign, which accused American Jewish organizations of promoting human rights abuses. JVP also released a video that blamed [00:04:04] U.S.-based Jewish organizations for violence that occurs against Black and Brown communities, immigrants and activists in the U.S.
JVP Boston posted a video to Youtube where one rally speaker led [00:42:34] the chant: “Intifada, intifada! Free, free Palestine! Long live Palestine! Long live the intifada! Intifada, intifada! Intifada, intifada!” After the speaker ended his chants, he introduced [00:43:24] Ruhm as the next rally speaker.
Since the early 2000s, the term “intifada,” which translates from Arabic as “uprising” or “insurrection,” has carried the connotation of violence.
Demonizing Israel
On December 12, 2021, Ruhm featured [00:00:24] in a BDS Boston Facebook video picketing outside of a PUMA store in Somerville, MA.In the video, Ruhm yelled [00:00:21]: “PUMA! Start listening! Or you'll have to listen to us, every damn weekend! Drop the IFA [Israel Football Association]! Stop supporting apartheid! Or we will shut you down!”
On April 20, 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic, Ruhm participated [00:00:45] in an online event in support of Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association and the group’s demand to release all “political prisoners” in Israeli prisons. Ruhm held [00:00:45] a sign that read: “Free the Prisoners. End Apartheid. #FREETHEMALL.”
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.
On June 1, 2017, Ruhm wrote an article in Mondoweiss titled: “With steadfastness: a report from Palestine.” In his article, he accused Israel of “ongoing colonization of the West Bank” and of having “apartheid legal and criminal justice systems.”
On May 18, 2017, Ruhm was quoted in a JVP Boston blog, where he said: “The actions Israel uses to displace Palestinians from their homes and land may be more direct and more extreme than those America uses to displace Black and Brown people from their communities.”
The blog post documented his experience on the Interfaith Peace-Builders (IFPB) May 2017 Delegation.
Eyewitness Palestine, formerly known as IFPB until 2018, is an anti-Israel NGO that organizes activist delegations to Israel and the West Bank.
BDS Boston Activism
Ruhm has been a BDS Boston activist since 2016, when the group was first launched as MAHP. In May 2019, MAHP changed its name to BDS Boston.On May 18, 2016, Ruhm participated in the launch of MAHP, a coalition that included JVP Boston and Massachusetts Peace Action (MAPA).
The group was formed as part of an international BDS campaign against HP. MAHP called on “the elected officials of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and its municipalities to end contracts with Hewlett-Packard (HP) until the company ends its corporate complicity in the Israeli occupation of Palestine, U.S. deportations, and mass incarceration.”
In 2018 and 2021, MAHP attempted to pass a resolutions in the Cambridge City Council (CCC) to end the city’s contracts with HP.
On April 8, 2018, Ruhm was named [00:10:44] head of the media working group responsible for promoting MAHP’s BDS hearing and vote in the CCC, originally scheduled for April 23, 2018. However, on April 22, 2018, the City Council declined to consider the resolution.
In September 2018, Ruhm was a presenter [p.24] at a workshop, on behalf of MAHP, at the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) national conference.
On February 28, 2019, Ruhm testified as a MAHP member at a Boston City Council Hearing held that day to discuss “pension fund disclosure, socially responsible investment and reinvestment.”
On April 6, 2019, Ruhm participated in a protest titled: “Don’t Dance With Apartheid,” which aimed to boycott a performance in Boston by the Israeli Batsheva Dance Company. The protest was co-organized by MAHP and the Boston Democratic Socialists of America (Boston DSA).
Protesters reportedly chanted: “While we dance to liberate, Batsheva dances for a racist state!” They also chanted [00:03:00]: “Palestine will be free! From the river to the sea!”
“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free” is a chant calling to dismantle 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.
On December 16, 2020, Ruhm featured [00:00:03] in a BDS Boston Facebook video at a boycott PUMA rally holding a sign that read: “Boycott PUMA. End sponsorship of Israeli settlement teams on stolen Palestinian land.”
Ruhm marched [00:00:03] in a circle outside of a PUMA store in Somerville, MA with other BDS activists, chanting: “PUMA sells to a racist state!”
On October 23, 2021, Ruhm featured in a BDS Boston Twitter photo participating in another anti-PUMA protest.
On May 24, 2021, Ruhm reportedly participated in a CCC meeting and vote on Policy Order #109 (POR #109). As originally worded, the Order would have prohibited Cambridge from contracting with any company “whose products are used to perpetuate violations of International Human Rights Laws and Cambridge’s policy on discrimination.”
The Order as originally proposed failed to pass. On May 25, 2021, CCC adopted an amended Policy Order, which recognized Israel’s right to exist and defend itself.
As of March 26, 2022, Ruhm continued [00:00:01] to participate in weekly BDS Boston protests outside PUMA’s store in Somerville, MA.
JVP Activism
In 2017, Ruhm co-presented [p.20] a workshop at the 2017 JVP National Member Meeting held in Chicago, Illinois, from March 31 to April 2, 2017, with other activists including Noah Habeeb and Garrick Ruiz. The workshop was titled: “Want to Boycott Israeli Apartheid? Start an HP BDS Campaign!”The workshop description said the presentation would include “tactics to bring this … international campaign to your community to challenge Israeli apartheid locally through consumer boycotts, culture jamming, HP-free churches, municipal resolutions, and more. Boycott HP!”
On May 7, 2017, Ruhm helped lead [00:02:08] a JVP Boston protest outside of an American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) event in Boston. He was listed as the contact person on a JVP Boston press release promoting the event, titled: “Demonstration Against AIPAC Support for Deadly Police Exchanges.”
The stated mission of AIPAC is to “strengthen, protect and promote the U.S.-Israel relationship in ways that enhance the security of the United States and Israel.”
In a JVP Boston Facebook video from the event, Ruhm led [00:02:20] protesters in chanting: “From Boston to Palestine, occupation is a crime!” He also led [00:03:00] the chant: “Shame on AIPAC!”
On June 10, 2017, Ruhm participated in a JVP Boston event titled: “Mobilizing Against Anti-BDS Legislation,” held at the Central Square Public Library in Cambridge, MA.
On June 12, 2017, Ruhm featured in a Facebook photo of an anti-Israel event titled: “Protest Against Israel’s 50 Year Military Occupation.” The protest was at Cambridge’s city hall and was organized by JVP Boston, MAHP and other groups.
Protesters at the event reportedly chanted: “Not another nickel, not another dime, no more money for Israel’s crimes!” They also chanted: “From Palestine to Mexico, these border walls have got to go!”
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.
JVP
JVP was founded in Berkeley, California in 1996, as an activist group with an emphasis on the “Jewish tradition” of peace, social justice and human rights. The organization is currently led by Rebecca Vilkomerson and its board members include Israel critics Naomi Klein, Judith Butler, Noam Chomsky and Tony Kushner.
JVP, which generally employs civil disobedience tactics to disrupt pro-Israel speakers and events, consists of American Jews and non-Jewish “allies” highly critical of Israeli policies. A staunch supporter of the BDS movement, JVP claims to aim its campaigns at companies that either support the Israeli military (Hewlett-Packard) or are active in the West Bank (SodaStream).
Although several Jewish groups critical of Israeli policies, like J Street and Partners for a Progressive Israel, make efforts to operate within the mainstream American Jewish community, JVP functions outside. The group is often criticized for serving as a tokenized Jewish voice for the pro-Palestinian camp and is widely regarded as the BDS movement’s “Jewish wing.”
JVP denies the notion of “Jewish peoplehood” and has even gone so far as to refer to its own Ashkenazi (Jews who spent the Diaspora in European countries) leadership as “white supremacy inside of JVP.”
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has accused JVP of being “the largest and most influential Jewish anti-Zionist group in the United States,” and said the group “exploits Jewish culture and rituals to reassure its own supporters that opposition to Israel not only does not contradict, but is actually consistent with, Jewish values.”
The ADL also claimed that “JVP consistently co-sponsors rallies to oppose Israeli military policy that are marked by signs and slogans comparing Israel to Nazi Germany, demonizing Jews and voicing support for groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.”
According to the ADL website, JVP “uses its Jewish identity to shield the anti-Israel movement from allegations of anti-Semitism and provide it with a greater degree of legitimacy and credibility.”
Social Media and Weblinks
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/williamruhm/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKGVtUoDcDIX_RAgkgDcW0g
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/wruhm1/
Researchgate.net: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/William-Ruhm
Academia.edu: https://independent.academia.edu/WilliamRuhm
Extra Videos
Boston BDS PUMA Protest Dec 12 2021Saltwater Challenge by BDS Boston Facebook May 10 2017
Photos & Screenshots
