Craig Willse

Craig Willse was reportedly a member of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) who was arrested in 2017 for “trespassing and disorderly conduct” after participating in a JVP-organized disruption, targeting an LGBTQ contingent during the Celebrate Israel Parade in New York City.

Willse has spread hatred of Zionists and expressed support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. Willse also promoted the Deadly Exchange campaign launched by JVP.

Willse is a member of the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI) organizing collective, since 2015

As of May 2019, Willse was listed as a "Leader" on the American Studies Association (ASA)’s webpage for the "Caucus on Academic and Community Activism."

In 2013, Willse also served as the caucus coordinator for the ASA, when the organization voted to endorse an academic boycott of Israel.

In 2014, Willse was the creator and administrator of the Critical Ethnic Studies Association (CESA) BDS Facebook group. Willse reportedly helped write an academic boycott resolution which was passed by CESA in 2014.

As of May 2019, Willse was an assistant professor of Cultural Studies at George Mason University (GMU) and the faculty adviser for Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA), an alternative name for Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at GMU.

Disrupting Israel Day Parade

On June 4, 2017, Craig Willse was arrested for “trespassing and disorderly conduct” after participating in a JVP disruption, targeting an LGBTQ contingent during the Celebrate Israel Parade in New York City.

Rebecca Vilkomerson, the Executive Director of JVP, reportedly said the LGBTQ contingent was “a carefully chosen target.”

On June 5, 2017, Willse shared a JVP video of the disruption on Facebook and commented: “Such an honor and privilege to participate in these actions disrupting the Israel Day parade's celebration of apartheid and racist policing.”

Spreading Hatred of Zionists

On January 14, 2019, Willse posted to Facebook and quoted a JVP statement on Zionism, titled: “JVP’s Approach To Zionism.”

On January 24, 2018, Willse tweeted: “Here’s a tool: does your org reject all workshops on Palestine and partner with Zionist Israel PR groups? White supremacy #cc18 #cancelpinkwashing http://cancelpinkwashing.org “

Wilse wrote: "While it had many strains historically, the Zionism that took hold and stands today is a settler-colonial movement, establishing an apartheid state where Jews have more rights than others."

On February 26, 2014, Willse tweeted: “Note to self: Be sure to tell your Israeli Apartheid Week speakers they can't invite a Zionist audience member up to the podium. #bdsfail.”

On January 8, 2014, Willse wrote on Facebook: “Did the internet invent Zionist trolls, or did Zionist trolls invent the internet?”

Supporting BDS

On April 25, 2013, Willse lectured on BDS at a GMU SAIA event titled: “Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement and South African Apartheid: Panel Discussion.” The event included speakers who would “present their perspectives on...the system of Israeli apartheid...in the context of the South African example.”

On May 2, 2013, while Caucus Coordinator for the ASA, Willse signed an ASA petition which, in which signatories stood “in solidarity with the” Association of Asian American Studies (AAAS) resolution in support of a boycott of Israeli academic institutions.  

That same day, the ASA Caucus on Academic and Community Activism resolved to present a resolution to the ASA executive committee to “Honor the Call of Palestinian Civil Society for a Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions.” On December 16, 2013, the ASA voted to endorse an academic boycott of Israel.

On November 21, 2013, Willse signed a petition as part of a GMU SAIA campaign to boycott Sabra hummus at GMU. Sabra is partially owned by an Israeli company, the Strauss Group.

On July 18, 2014, CESA passed a resolution endorsing the academic boycott of Israeli academic institutions, which was reportedly written by Willse.

On September 9, 2015, Willse linked to a petition on Facebook asking American performer Kanye West: “to honor the Palestinian boycott and refuse to perform in Apartheid Israel.”

On February 13, 2017, Willse tweeted: “Michael Bennett boycotts trip, says he won't be used by Israel” and linked to a CNN article reporting that NFL Pro Bowl defensive end Michael Bennett, from the Seattle Seahawks, withdrew from a trip to Israel hosted by the Israeli government.

Willse retweeted an August 31, 2018 tweet from Electronic Intifada on Lana Del Ray’s cancellation of her scheduled performance in Israel, that said: “Del Rey’s cancelation is a major blow to Israeli government efforts to use arts and culture to whitewash its military occupation and colonial apartheid system.”

Willse retweeted a September 1, 2018 tweet from the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) that said: “We thank producer Shlohmo for heeding our call and ‘supporting the oppressed thru [his] absence.’ The most fundamental form of solidarity with the oppressed is refusing to whitewash oppression. At least twelve artists have now withdrawn from Israel's Meteor festival.”

Promoting the Deadly Exchange

On December 12, 2018, Willse reportedly said in an interview about the “Deadly Exchange” campaign: “This is an exchange of worst practices, of profiling, of surveillance and violence. And the ADL, which claims to be a civil rights organization, has no business training police.”

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.

On December 11, 2018, Willse co-wrote an article titled: “US and Israeli Police Are Sharing Violent and Repressive Tactics.” The article said: “Why would the ADL be in the business of training two of the world’s most racist, repressive and violent police and military forces?”

Willse indicated on Facebook that he “went” to a December 10, 2018 event sponsored by JVP. The event’s Facebook description said: “we seek to disrupt these toxic convergences between the US and Israeli government and #EndTheDeadlyExchange.”

On April 18, 2018, Willse tweeted: “@Starbucks has partnered with the Anti-Defamation League for its anti-racist training. The ADL claims to ‘fight hate,’ but funds police trainings between the US and Israel so these two racist, occupying forces can share worst practices. #DropTheADL and end the #DeadlyExchange!”

On June 5, 2017, while at the JVP disruption of the LGBTQ contingent at the Israeli Day Parade in New York, Willse appeared [00:00:62] in a video wearing a t-shirt that promoted JVP’s “Deadly Exchange” campaign.

GMU SAIA  - Crashing an Israel Festival 

In May 2014, GMU SAIA members crashed an Israeli Independence Festival wearing garments with the SAIA emblem and Keffiyehs. The police permitted the group to enter only after issuing [00:01:53] a warning not to cause trouble. The group subsequently spent their time at the festival arguing [00:05:37] with pro-Israel attendees.  

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 value.”

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.”

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/564295259

Twitter: https://twitter.com/cwillse

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-willse-b4674b179/

Website:https://www.craigwillse.com/