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“With not all due respect, fuck Zionism.”
– Katie Nelson, Facebook post, July 21, 2014
“…I don’t need to persuade anyone that Zionism and Israel are the equivalent of Nazi Germany, I don’t need to persuade them that Zionism and Israel are murderers, disgusting, shameful – committing genocide and ethnic cleansing – People watch it on TV Laura.”
– Katie Nelson, Facebook post, July 21, 2014
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Katie Nelson
Occupation: Student
University: Concordia
Organization(s): BDS
Close Connection(s):
Overview
Katie Nelson is a student at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, majoring in Philosophy, with a minor in Human Rights. Nelson serves as Academic Vice President of her departmental student association, SoPhiA.
In 2014, Nelson played a leading role in Concordia’s Student Union officially endorsing the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement – under a campaign entitled “YES TO BDS.”
Nelson is an ardent anti-Israel poster across social media. On July 21, 2014, on Facebook, she likened Israel to Nazi Germany — and claimed universal acceptance of her comparison, asserting: “I don’t need to persuade anyone that Zionism and Israel are the equivalent of Nazi Germany. I don’t need to persuade [anyone] that Zionism and Israel are murderers, disgusting, shameful – committing genocide and ethnic cleansing … They already believe it.”
Additionally, Nelson displayed her support for violence against Israeli civilians via a retweet of self-described “anti-colonial anarchist” Jaggi Singh. The tweet called the tunnels used by the terrorist group Hamas to attack Israeli civilans, an “inspiring and justifiable example of anti-colonial resistance…”
In July 2014, Nelson’s Facebook account was suspended. According to Nelson, the revocation came after she “got into a public debate with zionists.”
Her Twitter account was also suspended.
Nelson v. City of Montreal
Nelson, described by a friend an “avowed anarchist,” has racked up over $10,000.00 in fines from the City of Montreal, following dozens of confrontations with the police. The following is a partial list of offenses with which Nelson has been charged: participating in illegal demonstrations, obstructing vehicular traffic, jaywalking, swearing, spitting on the ground, flicking cigarette ashes and “emitting a noise” in public.
Nelson is currently suing the City of Montreal and its police force for “political profiling.” She has started a GoFund me campaign to raise money in order to cover her legal fees.
BDS
A Concordia Student Union divestment vote, which called for the university to boycott all Israeli products, passed on 5 December 2014. Leading up to the vote, Nelson used her Facebook account to brand Concordia students who protested BDS as “pro-Apartheid” and “racists.”
The BDS movement was co-founded in 2005 by Omar Barghouti. The movement is self-described as “a campaign of boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel until it complies with international law and Palestinian rights.”
Campaigns include compelling institutions and individuals to divest from Israeli-affiliated companies, academic boycotts as well as rallies and protests.
The group’s most notable achievement has been the infiltration of university campuses through lobbying for “BDS resolutions.” In these cases, backed by university anti-Israel affiliates, the university student government has been brought to vote on some sort of boycott of and divestment from Israel and Israeli-affiliated organizations. These resolutions, although non-binding, have been passed by student governments on numerous North American campuses.
BDS activity is often aggressive and disruptive. It is documented that universities that pass BDS resolutions see a marked increase in anti-Semitism on campus. In 2013, the student government of the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) debated a BDS resolution. Reports emerged of threats of violence, the spitting on a female student senator, and theft of the personal property of anti-BDS activists. As a result, the student government chose to vote via a “secret ballot” in order to ensure their own safety.
Barghouti and the BDS movement are proponents of the radical “one-state solution” that has been denounced as a scheme to dissolve Israel as the Jewish State. Barghouti has been quoted as saying, “Good riddance! The two-state solution for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is finally dead”, and that in a one-state “by definition, Jews will be a minority.”
The organization is affiliated with numerous anti-Israel groups worldwide, including ones that have been labeled terrorist organizations. The Jerusalem Post claims the BDS movement receives directives from Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood and the movement is considered extreme even by Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas, who stated his opposition to a BDS boycott of Israel in 2013.
Social Media and Web Links
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/changeisinthewind?hc_location=ufi
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KatieNelsonMTL
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katienelsonmtl/
