Anthony Alessandrini
Overview
Anthony Alessandrini solicited funds in 2018 for an organization allegedly connected to terrorism and has published numerous articles against Israel and in support of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.Alessandrini is a professor of English at Kingsborough Community College (KCC) and began involvement with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) in 2002.
Soliciting Funds
A March 22, 2019, New York Daily News article, reported that Alessandri spoke at a May 2018 event on KCC’s campus, titled: “Youth Activism in Palestine” and solicited funds for “a fundraising drive by Medical Aid for Palestinians [MAP].”The article said that MAP, endorsed by Alessandrini, was reportedly “linked with groups affiliated with” the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The article also notedthat “The U.S. State Department cited the PFLP as a “foreign terrorist organization” in 1997, and designated the group for global terrorism sanctions four years later.”
Responding to Daily News article, Alessandrini published a Facebook post, in which he wrote that all he said was that MAP “was conducting a Facebook fundraiser.”
He went on to say that “the attempts to somehow link MAP to ‘terrorism’ are completely false” and asked his followers to “please take a moment to contact the editors of the Daily News and the author of this article to demand that they retract these incredible and completely unsubstantiated allegations, or at the very least, provide me the chance to respond.”
In June 2018, the Lawfare Project and UK Lawyers for Israel filed a complaint with the Charity Commission for England and Wales against MAP. “The complaint outlines ways in which some of MAP’s annual income of £5.4 million may have been spent for political propaganda rather than for its stated purpose of providing medical aid.”
According to the Lawfare Project: “The complaint details: MAP’s links with and funding of NGOs linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), designated as a terrorist organization by the UK, US, EU, Canada, Israel, and others.”
The complaint noted: “Content on MAP’s website, including material promoting racist hatred and false claims regarding the medical situation facing the Palestinian Arabs.”
The Lawfare Project also noted that MAP disseminated: “anti-Semitic propaganda, including a video by former KKK leader David Duke, by MAP’s founder and patron, Dr. Swee Ang” and promoted “the anti-Semitic play, ‘Seven Jewish Children.’”
In November 2018, the Charity Commission concluded its assessment of the complaint by warning MAP about misusing its funds. The Charity Commission reportedly told MAP to “‘take care’ in heeding regulatory guidelines” and that if they receive similar information again they may have to “re-engage.”
Demonizing Israel
On January 9, 2017, Alessandrini published an article, in which he accused Israel of causing Palestinian “statelessness, disposition, forced migration, apartheid, [and] genocide” and later, of “settler colonialism.”In an article published on March 26, 2011, Alessandri referred to Israel’s security fence as an “apartheid wall.” Alessandri used the same term again in an article published on September 9, 2014.
In that same article, Alessandrini referred to Israel, multiple times, as a “settler-colonial state building project.”
In an article published on September 4, 2006, Alessandrini described Israel as “a state whose policies are based in apartheid.”
Later in that article, Alessandrini claimed that: “the policies of the state of Israel continue to impose a condition of apartheid upon those living within its borders and the territories it occupies.”
Supporting BDS
In an article published on January 9, 2017, Alessandrini advocated for the academic boycott of Israel and decried the defeat of BDS by the Modern Language Association (MLA).In January 2017, the MLA Delegate Assembly approved a resolution (2017-1) acknowledging “the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel contradicts the MLA’s purpose” and conflicted with another resolution (2002-1), that condemned boycotts against scholars. Therefore, the Assembly “resolved that the MLA refrain from endorsing the boycott.”
On September 9, 2014, Alessandrini wrote an article in which he promoted BDS, defending the movement based on “the notion of Palestinian solidarity as a form of anti-racism and anti-colonialism.”
Alessandrini served as a moderator for the “Faculty Panel on the Academic Boycott of Israel at CUNY,” an event hosted by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI).
On September 4, 2006, Alessandrini published a letter in which he advocated for BDS, in general, and specifically, for boycotting Aroma Espresso Bar. Alessandrini went on to claim “... all Israeli companies, and especially large chains such as Aroma, benefit from the use of stolen land, resources, and cheap labor from the occupied territories, prevent Palestinian trade and economic development, and use the occupied territories as a captive market.”
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.
Social Media and Weblinks
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/anthony.alessandrini.10
- Status:
- Professor
- University:
- Kingsborough-Community
- Organizations:
- BDS,
- SJP
- Related Profiles:
- Ahmad R Musa,
- Last Modified:
- 05/04/2026
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