Afshin Matin-Asgari
Overview
Afshin Matin-Asgari has demonized Israel and is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.He is a professor in the Department of History at California State University, Los Angeles (CSU LA).
Demonizing Israel
Matin-Asgari signed an open letter to United States President Barack Obama and the U.S. Congress, dated July 31, 2014, condemning “the disproportionate harm that the Israeli military, which the United States has armed and supported for decades, is inflicting on the population of Gaza.”The letter exclusively blamed Israel for the Gazan civilian crisis and called upon the administration “to suspend US military aid to Israel, until there is assurance that this aid will no longer be used for the commission of war crimes.”
Matin-Asgari also signed an open letter of academics, published on July 13, 2014, which claimed that Israel “provoked the firing of rockets by its rampage through the West Bank, is now using that response as the pretext for an aerial assault on Gaza.”
The letter went on to claim that “An atmosphere of hysteria is being deliberately provoked in Israel” and to accuse Israel of committing a “war crime.”
Israel commenced Operation Protective Edge (OPE) in July 2014, to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.
Signatories of the letter specifically condemned ISIS’s inclusion of a professor from Ariel University in their upcoming event. The letter claimed that “by hosting a representative of such ‘university,’ your organization… lends legitimacy to the brutal military occupation of a people’s homeland. By recognizing this ‘university,’ the ISIS is endorsing the illegal and immoral occupation of Palestine.”
After ISIS failed to concede to the demands of Matin-Asgari and his fellow signatories, they held a demonstration on May 28, 2010, which Matin-Asgari participated in. The demonstration was organized by the USACBI and supported by other organizations, including Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).
Supporting BDS
Matin-Asgari signed the “Middle East Scholars and Librarians Call for Boycott of Israeli Academia,” published on August 6, 2014.In signing this petition, Matin-Asgari and others committed “not to collaborate on projects and events involving Israeli academic institutions, not to teach at or to attend conferences and other events at such institutions, and not to publish in academic journals based in Israel.”
Matin-Asgari signed an open letter to California State University (CSU) Chancellor Charles Reed, opposing the reinstatement of a CSU-Israel study abroad program.
Signatories of the letter argued that “CSU participation with the government of Israel in the proposed study abroad program could be interpreted as an endorsement of the international crime of apartheid.”
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.
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.
Social Media and Weblinks
University Website:https://www2.calstate.edu/csu-system/faculty-staff/outstanding-faculty/Pages/afshin-matin-asgari-ph-d.aspx
- Status:
- Professor
- University:
- California-State-Los-Angeles
- Organizations:
- BDS
- Related Profiles:
- Last Modified:
- 05/04/2026
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