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Bashir Abu-Manneh

Overview

Bashir Abu-Manneh is a regular contributor to the Israeli Occupation Archive, where he publishes articles demonizing Israel. 

In his writing, Abu-Manneh has characterized Israel as a settler-colonialist state and described conspiratorial relationships between the United States and Israel to dominate the Middle East. 

He is a vocal supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanction (BDS) movement, which he endorsed at a speech delivered at the 2011 national Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) conference. 

Abu-Manneh is an assistant professor at Columbia University's Global Centers. 

Demonizing Israel 

On November 30, 2006, Abu-Manneh published an article in which he described “Zionism as both a colonial and a national movement… obviously bent on displacing Palestinians and expropriating their country.”

In 2008, Abu-Manneh published an article titled: “Israel’s Colonial Siege and the Palestinians.” 

In the article, Abu-Manneh wrote that “If there's one short phrase that can describe Palestinian reality under Israeli occupation today, it is this: enduring under permanent siege, without surrender.”

On March 20, 2010, Abu-Manneh published an article in which he wrote that “The only thing that Israel can be sure of is that the more it brutalizes and kills and oppresses and strangulates Palestinians, the more Palestinians and other Arabs will be convinced that its future is bleak… What Israel does every day will simply not pass.”

Abu-Manneh concluded the article by asking “will Israelis come to see themselves for what they really are: brutal, self-indulgent occupiers who are holding a whole people hostage?”

Abu-Manneh published an article on August 4, 2014, in which he discussed the 2014 military operation in Gaza, attributing the conflict to Israel’s “unrestrained, state-sponsored racism” and “genocidal desires.” 

Blaming Israel for the Conflict

In an article published on March 21, 2016, Abu-Manneh argued that Israel is to blame for intentionally continuing the conflict with Palestinians and preventing peace, in order to justify its military and maintain power over the region.

In the article, Abu-Manneh stated that “there is no question that Israel, like all overlords, seeks to divide and rule.”

Abu-Manneh went on to claim that “contra Netanyahu’s racist obsession with ‘Islamic terrorism,’ the real impediment to peace is Israel’s war society. Lasting peace has proven so difficult for Israel to aspire to and achieve because of the kind of society that Israel is: arrogant, aggressive, and apathetic to the suffering it inflicts on others.”

Spreading Anti-Israel Conspiracy Theories 

In March 2007, Abu-Manneh published an article entitled “Israel in the U.S. Empire,” in which he argued that Israel’s colonialist agenda, paired with American imperialism, have worked together to dominate the Middle East and prevent democracy in Arab states. 

In the article, Abu-Manneh defined Israel as a “colonial-settler state and society, both in foundation and in continuing practice,” whose role is to be a “watchdog of U.S. interests in the region.”

Abu-Manneh went on to conclude that “Washington’s interests in the Middle East have become consistent with supporting the Jewish state and defending its colonialist objectives.”

Abu-Manneh reiterated these claims in an interview, published on December 31, 2007, in which he described the American-Israeli relationship as being based on a desire to “squash Arab nationalism” and maintain control over the region. 

On April 16, 2015, Abu-Manneh gave a lecture titled: “Israel, the Occupation and BDS” 

In his speech, Abu-Manneh stated that “we must see Israel as a settler-colonial project. It is a continuation of late nineteenth century colonization.”

Abu-Manneh went on to describe a conspiratorial relationship between the U.S. and Israel, wherein Israel manipulates Middle East politics in favor of the U.S., in exchange for protection for Israel at the U.N.

Supporting BDS

In an April 16, 2015 speech, Abu-Manneh endorsed the BDS movement, stating that “BDS is the best way to alert Israelis that their present society, where racism and occupation is routine, is abnormal.”

In an article published on August 4, 2014, Abu-Manneh called for “boycotting occupation-linked goods and services” and “calling for arms sanctions against Israel,” concluding that “BDS is the best way for people in the West to tell Israel that colonialism is unacceptable.”

In October 2011, Abu-Manneh delivered a lecture at the national SJP conference at Columbia. 

In his lecture, Abu-Manneh stated that “Sanctions are the best way to alleviate Palestinian suffering. It is crucial to create a strategy around that in the US: to push the US government to end its military support for Israel and to push American companies to divest from the occupation.”  

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

Bashir Abu-Manneh
Status:
Professor
University:
Columbia
Organizations:
BDS,
SJP

Related Profiles:
Marianne Hirsch,

Last Modified:
06/23/2025

Photos & Screenshots

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Infamous Quotes

“BDS is the best way to alert Israelis that their present society, where racism and occupation is routine, is abnormal.”
Bashir Abu-Manneh, Academics for Palestine.com, Apr 16 2015
“Lasting peace has proven so difficult for Israel to aspire to and achieve because of the kind of society that Israel is: arrogant, aggressive, and apathetic to the suffering it inflicts on others.”
Bashir Abu-Manneh, Israeli Occupation Archives.com, Mar 21 2016