Barbara Ransby
Overview
Barbara Ransby has expressed support for a terrorist as well as violent protests. Ransby has also demonized Israel, defended anti-Israel agitators and promoted the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.Ransby was a 2017 featured speaker at the anti-Israel organization Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) National Member Meeting (NMM) and continued to be involved with the organization in 2020.
As of November 2020, Ransby was listed as an advisory board member with the United States Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR), since 2007.
In 2016, Ransby was affiliated with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).
In 2019, Ransby was an advisor [00:01:58] for the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL).
As of November 2020, Ransby was listed as a History, African American Studies, and Gender and Women's Studies professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). As of the same date, she was listed as the director of the Social Justice Initiative at UIC and served as the 2016-2018 president of the National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA).
In July 2020, Ransby was named John D. MacArthur Endowed Chair by UIC. MacArthur Chairs are held by faculty members who are “internationally recognized scholar(s)” and who “give promise of making a substantial impact” on their department and campus.
Supporting Terrorist Rasmea Odeh
On November 10, 2014, Ransby tweeted: “Rasmea Odeh, torture victim& Chi-Palestinian activist convicted 4 not revealing that Israelis imprisoned her 40 yrs ago - now bail denied!”Odeh was a key military operative [00:02:08]with the terrorist group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). In 1969, Odeh masterminded a PFLP bombing that killed two college students in a Jerusalem supermarket. Odeh also attempted to bomb the British consulate.
Odeh confessed, in a highly detailed account, the day following her arrest. In a 2004 documentary, one of Odeh’s co-conspirators directly implicated [00:10:53] Odeh as the mastermind.
In 1970, an Israeli court tried and convicted Odeh for her involvement in both bombings and sentenced her to life imprisonment. However, Odeh was released 10 years later, in a prisoner swap and emigrated to the United States.
On November 10, 2014, a Michigan federal jury convicted Odeh for immigration fraud because she failed to disclose her prior conviction and life sentence on her immigration application. On March 12, 2015, she was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
In 2017, after an appeal and a lengthy court battle, Odeh admitted to immigration fraud, was stripped of her U.S. citizenship, deported to Jordan and banned from re-entering the U.S.
On December 8, 2014, Ransby tweeted: “NEWS FLASH. Judge rules Sister Rasmea Odeh can be released til sentencing. Help raise bail, contact: hatem85@yahoo.com.”
On June 28, 2015, Ransby tweeted: “Look forward to event today with Angela Davis and Rasmea Odeh in Chicago…”
Angela Davis made the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitive List in 1970 after being charged as a principal in an aggravated kidnapping and first-degree murder, for purchasing the shotgun used in the abduction and killing of a judge.
On February 6, 2017, Ransby co-authored an opinion piece together with Odeh and other activists titled: “Women of America: we're going on strike. Join us so Trump will see our power.”
On March 8, 2017, Odeh described [00:00:21] Ransby as a “friend” during a speech Odeh gave during a USCPR International Women's Day (IWD) event.
On March 24, 2017, Ransby tweeted: “Our dear courageous sister Rasmea - makes her peace w/ the situation she faces. Let's speak out against this. She is not who they say she is.”
On August 8, 2017, Ransby tweeted: “Sat., CHI will say farewell to Rasmea Odeh. Rasmea was there 4 Ferguson, for Oscar, for OCAD. Let's be there 4 her.” Ransby’s tweet linked to the August 12, 2017 event titled: “A Farewell To Rasmea.”
The event description said: Join us for an evening of music, culture and struggle to honor Palestinian Icon Rasmea Odeh.”
Supporting Violent Protests
JVP Chicago also tweeted: “Here with a simple message: Palestinians should be free. Mourn the #Nakba70 and call your legislator to demand Israel stop killing protesters in Gaza #GreatReturnMarch.”
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 violent demonstrations were instigated by Hamas on the Israeli-Gaza border. Participants declared their intention to harm Jews across the border under the pretext of “peaceful resistance.”
March participants sent scores of kites bearing explosive devices across Israel’s border to burn Israeli crops and homes. Rioters also made numerous attempts to breach Israel’s border fence, which caused the Israeli Defense Forces to respond with live fire.
On May 15, 2018, Ransby tweeted: “Chicago activists stand with the Palestinian people as they resist the violence of the Israeli government.” Ransby attached a tweet that said: “TODAY in Chicago (5/15): Emergency Rally: Reject US Embassy Move & Israeli Massacres” and linked to the Facebook event page for the rally.
The event’s Facebook page called to protest the “massacre” of Palestinians participating in the violent protests. The event description also claimed that “protestors have been met with unimaginable brutality with over 50 killed and 2700 inured[sic.].”
The event’s Facebook page also called to demonstrate against the U.S. Embassy move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
On May 16, 2018, a Hamas senior official, Salah al-Bardawil, stated that 50 out of 62 protesters killed during the May 14 Gaza border protest were Hamas operatives. Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) also claimed that three of its members were killed at the same protest.
As of November 2020, Ransby was listed as a signatory on a petition titled: “A Black Church Call to End Israeli Apartheid,” supporting the March of Return protests. Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA), an anti-Israel organization that promotes BDS in Protestant churches, launched the petition.
Demonizing Israel
On January 20, 2019, Ransby tweeted: “A letter, signed by 300+ scholars & veterans of civil rights movement will be issued tomorrow that underscores Michelle Alexander's arguments on solidarity w/ Palestine & in defense of AYD [Angela Yvonne Davis].”Ransby’s tweet linked to an article titled: “Time To Break The Silence on Palestine,” which said: “Our elected representatives, who operate in a political environment where Israel's political lobby holds well-documented power, have consistently minimized and deflected criticism of the State of Israel, even as it has grown more emboldened in its occupation of Palestinian territory and adopted some practices reminiscent of apartheid in South Africa and Jim Crow segregation in the United States.”
On August 5, 2014, during Operation Protective Edge (OPE), Ransby signed a Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) “Statement in Solidarity with the Palestinian people of Gaza and with seekers of freedom and justice world-wide.”
The statement read: “We condemn and are horrified by the current acts of Israeli brutality.” The letter also said: “We stand with the Palestinian community and with activists all over the world in condemning the flagrant injustices of the current Israeli massacre against the Palestinians of Gaza.”
Israel commenced OPE in July 2014 to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.
On August 4, 2014, Ransby tweeted: “@RevJJackson -- Reverend, if the Israeli government chose non-violence or even less violence, we would have many fewer dead children to bury.”
Ransby’s tweet was in response to a tweet by Reverend Jesse Jackson that read: “If Hamas would choose nonviolence as a transformative force following King, Mandela & Gandhi,we could literally change the course of history.”
On July 19, 2014, during OPE, Ransby tweeted: “The slaughter of civilians in Gaza is not about tunnels but the unacceptable human rights atrocity in Gaza.”
On March 19, 2014, Ransby and Ali Abunimah, founder of the anti-Israel publication Electronic Intifada (EI) held a public discussion at a bookstore, where Abunimah promoted his book titled “The Battle for Justice in Palestine.”
At the event, Ransby alleged [00:19:44] that Israel has “apartheid policies,” expressed [00:36:24] support for the anti-Israel group SJP and claimed [00:36:42] that Israel is an “open prison” for Palestinians.
Ransby said [00:46:23] to Abunimah: “You argue that defending Israel’s right to exist is to acknowledge the racism toward the Palestinians, which is, you know, incorporated into Israeli policy so intricately. So it’s an anti-racist issue, it’s an anti-colonial issue.”
In June 2011, Ransby participated in and reportedly led a trip to Israel for a US delegation of feminist women of color, including anti-Israel activists Rabab Abdulhadi, Chandra Talpade Mohanty and Angela Davis.
Ransby authored and co-signed an article in COLORLINES, a daily news site, published by Race Forward, a national organization that advances racial justice, on July 11, 2011.
The article, titled: “Why We, as Women of Color, Join the Call for Divestment From Israel” outlined the trip to Israel and alleged that Israel has a “project of apartheid and ethnic cleansing.” The article also claimed that Israel plans to “remove” Arabs from Jerusalem and characterized Israel’s security fence as an “apartheid wall.”
The article also reported that trip participants met with “an Islamist leader just after his release from prison and heard a riveting account of his experience on the Mavi Marmara and the 2010 Gaza Flotilla.”
The Mavi Marmara was the lead ship in the “Freedom Flotilla” that attempted to sail to Gaza in May 2010. Activists aboard the ship agitated for violent confrontation and chanted a slogan glorifying the killing of Jews. When Israeli security forces boarded the Marmara, protesters attacked them with iron bars, metal chairs, knives, stun grenades and firearms, rocks and bottles. A United Nations report found that the flotilla agitators initiated an organized, violent confrontation with Israeli forces, and that the Marmara was carrying no humanitarian aid, only weaponry.
Defending Anti-Israel Agitators
On August 16, 2019, Ransby tweeted: “Apartheid S.A. refused visa to Black leaders in the 70s & 80s... Israel offered@RepRashida Tlaib to enter the country only if she agrees to be censored.@Ilhanis denied entry altogether. Reps. that have visited Israel should be pressed 2 condemn this racist exclusion.”Ransby’s tweet referred to Israel's denial of travel visas to U.S. Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar in August 2019, due to their BDS support. Tlaib laterrejected an offer to enter Israel on humanitarian grounds, to visit her elderly grandmother.
In 2019, Ransby helped [00:02:01] plan an M4BL-hosted [00:05:53] rally titled “Black Women in Defense of Ilhan Omar.”
On April 30, 2019, Ransby and Davis gave an interview with Democracy Now, promoting the Omar rally. During the interview, Ransby also defended [00:06:45] the anti-Israel positions of Marc Lamont Hill and Angela Davis.
In November 2018, Hill was fired from his contributor position at CNN (Cable News Network) after he gave an anti-Israel speech at the United Nations. He called [00:20:47] for a “free Palestine from the river to the sea,” a phrase associated with demands to dismantle the State of Israel. Hill also accused [00:16:19] Israel of “ethnic cleansing,” as well as [00:17:49] “white supremacy” and [00:17:56] “settler colonialism.”
On February 24, 2019, Ransby tweeted: “Proud of @Mvmnt4BlkLives statement on the issue of justice in Palestine & opposition 2 real forms of anti-Semitism. It also critiques the conflation of anti-Semitism w/ pol. critique of Israel, & exposes attempts 2 censor Blk internationalist voices @IlhanMN @marclamonthill.”
On February 18, 2019, Ransby tweeted: “Honored to have been in Birmingham on Sat. 2/16 to applaud our sis, Angela Davis. Happy to see other freedom fighters like @lsarsour there as well.” Ransby added: “Proud that @ScholarsForSJ had 300 sign letter in support of AYD. https://angeladavispalestinesolidarity.com.”
Ransby’s tweet linked to an “Open Letter in Support of Dr. Angela Y Davis and Palestine Solidarity” in Davis’s defense. Ransby was also one of the letter’s initial signatories.
The letter endorsed “Dr. Davis’ view that the Israeli Occupation is wrong, and that the repressive, discriminatory and often violent policies of the Israeli government vis-à-vis the Palestinian population are wrong and indefensible.”
On November 30, 2018, Ransby tweeted: “Outrageous racist censorship @CNN as Black contributor @marclamonthill is fired for daring to speak out for Palestinian rights. Let @CNN know what you think.”
On September 26, 2018, Ransby signed an NWSA Letter “in Support of Jasbir K. Puar” as the President of NWSA. The letter also reaffirmed the NWSA’s commitment to BDS.
Anti-Israel professor Jasbir Puar has incited violence, spread an anti-Israel conspiracy theory and demonized Israel.
On October 2, 2015, Ransby tweeted: “Join us for a book talk by Steven Salaita at UIC on October 12.”
In 2014, The University of Illinois withdrew an offer of employment to Salaita after becoming aware of his anti-Semitic tweets. One tweet, posted shortly after Hamas kidnapped three teenage Israeli high school students, read: "You may be too refined to say it, but I’m not: I wish all the f**king West Bank settlers would go missing.” In 2017, Salaita posted to Facebook: “People ask if I would go back in time and change anything. I would not…I will die unapologetic.” In February 2019, Salaita stated that he had become a school bus driver in the Washington, D.C., area.
On September 27, 2014, Ransby tweeted: “Salaita case is more about basic civil liberties than academic freedom. Can we be fired for political activity on our own time?”
On September 9, 2014, Ransby tweeted: “Read Steven Salaita's statement today about his lost of employment because of tweeting in solidarity with Gaza.” Her tweet included a statement from Salaita where he claimed the tweets were “critical of recent atrocities committed by the Israeli government.”
Promoting BDS
Ransby added: “[w]e call upon all of our academic and activist colleagues in the U.S. and elsewhere to join us by endorsing the BDS campaign.”
Ransby signed a July 2013 petition launched by the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI), titled: “African Americans Affirming the Jim Crow analogy in Palestine/Israel.”
The petition labeled Israel an “apartheid” state and endorsed a May 29, 2013 open letter by anti-Israel activist Alice Walker that called on musician Alicia Keys to cancel her scheduled concert in Israel.
On March 19, 2014, Ransby moderated a bookstore event with Ali Abunimah during which she stated: [00:30:20] "you know I support BDS” and called [00:29:41] BDS a “movement in solidarity that’s called for by Palestinian civil society.”
In August 2016, BDS leader Ilan Pappé admitted that BDS was not initiated by a “call” from Palestinian civil society; rather, it was initiated by a small number of radical anti-Israel extremists.
JVP Activism
Ransby was listed as a panelist at a December 15, 2020 “Dismantling Antisemitism, Winning Justice” panel discussion co-hosted by JVP.As of November 2020, Ransby was listed as a “Campaign Advisory Team” member for JVP’s “Deadly Exchange” initiative.
In 2017, JVP launched the “Deadly Exchange” (DX) campaign, accusing American Jewish organizations of promoting human rights abuses by coordinating exchange programs between American and Israeli security personnel to advance “worst practices" and racist policies. The campaign blamed [00:04:04] Jewish organizations for violence against Black and Brown communities, immigrants and activists in the U.S.
Ransby was also a featured speaker at the 2017 JVP National Member Meeting (NMM), for a workshop titled “Freedom Fighting Under State Repression.”
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.”
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/735608111Twitter: https://twitter.com/BarbaraRansby
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbara-ransby-61b56712/
Website: http://barbararansby.com/
University Website 1:https://hist.uic.edu/history/people/faculty/barbara-ransby
University Website 2:https://aast.uic.edu/aast/people/faculty/barbara-ransby
University Website 3:https://gws.uic.edu/people/gws-faculty/barbara-ransby12
- Status:
- Professor
- University:
- Illinois-Chicago
- Organizations:
- BDS,
- JVP,
- more...
- Related Profiles:
- Anna Guevarra,
- Last Modified:
- 05/04/2026
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