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Cynthia Franklin
Cynthia Franklin [Cynthia G. Franklin] has spread anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, expressed support for terrorists and celebrated intifada violence. She has also demonized Israel and shown support for violent protests.
Franklin was the founder of the anti-Israel group, Faculty and Students for Justice in Palestine (FJP) at the University of Hawai‘i. Franklin was also a co-founder of the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapters at the University of California Davis, Purdue University, Kent State University and the University of Florida.
As of September 2023, Franklin was a member of the “Organizing Collective” of the US Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI), which is part of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Franklin was also the co-founder of the Hawai‘i Coalition for Justice in Palestine (HCJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) Hawai‘i.
As of March 2025, Franklin was listed as a professor in the Department of English at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa (UH Manoa).
Franklin is the author of “Narrating Humanity: Life Writing and Movement Politics from Palestine to Mauna Kea,” which was published in 2023.
Franklin is also a co-editor of a special issue of Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, titled: “Life in Occupied Palestine,” which was published in 2014.
Franklin received a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) in 1994.
As of September 2023, Franklin was located in Honolulu, Hawaii.
As of March 2025, Franklin used the handle “@cfrankli808” on X.
On December 11, 2020, Franklin was featured as a speaker on a UH Manoa Department of Ethnic Studies TV program titled: “Island Connections: Censoring Palestine,” where she said [00:20:07]: “Operation of Zionist organizations and Israeli lobbying in the U.S., which results in the censorship here, is directly linked to this brutal [Israeli] military occupation in Palestine.”
The “Israel Lobby” is a conspiracy theory alleging Israeli and Jewish control over the U.S. government. Proponents of the theory decry the negative effects on American interests, particularly in foreign policy.
On May 25, 2020, Franklin posted on Twitter: “To Students and Teachers Targeted by the Israel Lobby…” linked to an article by Steven Salaita.
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.
In 2017, Franklin signed a letter in defense of Jasbir Puar.
Jasbir Puar is an anti-Israel professor at Rutgers University and a supporter of BDS. In her 2016 talk at Vassar College, Puar called for organized, armed resistance against Israel. In the same lecture, she alleged that Israel kills Palestinians to harvest their organs and employs “scientifically executed ‘maiming’...to permanently debilitate and disable the Palestinians.”
On July 13, 2021, Franklin posted on Facebook: “Imprisoned But Free: Letter from the heart from jailed Palestinian leader Khalida Jarrar, to her daughter, Suha, gone too soon…”
Khalida Jarrar is a senior member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror organization. In 2019, she was arrested for her role as the leader of the PFLP in the West Bank, which had carried out a deadly 2018 bombing and was reportedly “planning additional attacks.” She was among 50 PFLP operatives arrested.
On October 23, 2020, Franklin posted on Twitter: “Zoom wants to censor Leila Khaled again - join us October 23 to defend academic freedom and Palestinian rights!...”
Leila Khaled is a leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and participated in the hijacking of TWA Flight 840 in 1969 and El Al Flight 219 in 1970. As of 2017, Khaled was a member of PFLP's Political Bureau. Khaled has said that the second intifada failed because it was not violent enough, advocated [00:36:07] for the use of children in terror activities and compared Zionists to Nazis.
On September 23, 2020, Franklin posted on Twitter: “USACBI stands with Prof. Rabab Abdulhadi and Leila Khaled…”
In September 2020, anti-Israel professor Rabab Abdulhadi co-organized an online “conversation” with Leila Khaled. Zoom canceled the planned live stream of the event, and Facebook followed Zoom’s lead. YouTube shut down the event after 23 minutes, stating that Khaled’s speech violated its policies with “content praising or justifying violent acts carried out by violent criminal or terrorist organizations.”
On December 6, 2019, Franklin was featured as a speaker on a UH Manoa Department of Ethnic Studies TV program titled: “Island Connections: From Palestine to Hawaiʻi.” Franklin said [00:47:42]: “A really exciting thing, which was there are students at Birzeit University who, in conjunction with the National Students for Justice in Palestine group, organized a Right to Education Tour.”
Birzeit University’s student body has celebrated terrorists since at least 2003. That year, student government elections featured models of exploding Israeli buses, as parties competed on the basis of which Palestinian faction had killed the most Israelis.
The Right to Education Tour brings Birzeit University students to U.S. campuses, where they claim that Israel is obstructing the rights of Palestinians to higher education. This claim mischaracterizes the sweeps Israeli security forces have made to shut down terror cells operating on the Birzeit campus, including cells linked to Hamas.
Franklin continued [00:47:55]: “And so, we had Noor Daghlas and Mai Hasan come for a week and visit here as students from Birzeit University like three years ago. And Angela Davis engaged in a roundtable with them.” Franklin further said [00:50:13]: “Let’s face it, Angela Davis was a crowd. And she was so generous. She really gave her time over to Noor and to Mai.”
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 of a judge. Davis has advocated for BDS and accused Israel of apartheid and ethnic cleansing. In 2015, Davis published a book in which she purported to reveal “the deep connections between the incarceration of Black Americans and the continued occupation of Palestine by the state of Israel.”
On October 8, 2017, Franklin posted on Facebook: “...There is also the sorrow and outrage that since then Rasmea Odeh has been deported…”
Rasmea Odeh was a key military operative [00:02:08] with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization. In 1969, she masterminded a PFLP supermarket bombing that killed two college students. She also attempted to bomb the British consulate in Jerusalem. Odeh later moved to the United States but was deported to Jordan in 2017 for immigration fraud.
On July 15, 2016, Franklin posted on Twitter: “Israel Imprisons Palestinian Poet Dareen Tatour…”
In October 2015, Tatour was placed under house arrest for incitement to violence and for support of a terrorist organization on social media. Tatour had supported the terror group Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and posted to Facebook: “I am the next shahid [martyr].”
On May 21, 2021, during Israel’s Operation Guardian of the Walls (OGW) against Hamas terrorists in Gaza, Franklin posted on Twitter: “Salwa Ibrahim writes about the novelty of the third intifada currently taking shape in Palestine.”
In May 2021, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists fired over 4,300 rockets from Gaza at major population centers in Israel. Israel responded by launching OGW, carrying out targeted military strikes in Gaza.
Since the early 2000s, the term “intifada,” which translates from Arabic as “uprising” or “insurrection,” has carried the connotation of violence.
Franklin’s post linked to an article that stated: “...the Israeli far-right is not the problem – Zionism is. It is Zionism, this colonialism which aims to expel and replace Palestinians, that is the origin of this third intifada.”
On January 13, 2025, Franklin posted on Instagram: “Bye bye MLA! Pls consider joining me in signing the pledge not to return to this org that cares more about its ‘fiduciary concerns’ than the US Israeli genocide and the Zionist entity’s ongoing Nakba making life unliveable for our Palestinian members…”
The term “Nakba” is generally translated as “catastrophe” in Arabic, referring to the outcome of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It is a term used to delegitimize the creation of the State of Israel by drawing a comparison to the Holocaust, known in Hebrew as the Shoah, meaning “catastrophe.”
Franklin’s post included a photograph of Franklin’s Modern Language Association (MLA) conference nametag, to which she pinned a ribbon that read: “I Stand With Palestine #BDS” and a watermelon pin.
The watermelon has been appropriated by anti-Israel activists as a symbol of Palestinian "resistance" to "Israeli occupation," as it shares the Pan-Arab colors. It gained popularity following the Hamas terror attacks of October 7, 2023.
On August 17, 2022, Franklin updated her profile background picture on Facebook to a photo of her next to a mural featuring Leila Khaled, while pointing to a sign that read: “ZIONISM IS RACISM.”
The United States Department of State defines as one contemporary example of antisemitism: “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.” As of July 2023, over 40 countries have adopted the same definition.
On June 3, 2022, Franklin posted on Twitter: “...don’t normalize [Israeli] settler colonialism, occupation, apartheid and ethnic cleansing #BDS.”
On February 15, 2022, Franklin was featured as a speaker in a webinar hosted by anti-Israel organization CODEPINK, titled: “Resisting Attacks on Palestinian Human Rights Activists,” where she said [00:34:06]: “Zionism is regularly accompanied by sexism and homophobia, as well as Islamophobia and racism.”
On May 15, 2021, during Israel’s defensive Operation Guardian of the Walls (OGW), Franklin posted on Facebook: “Throughout the world, people are saying no on this 73rd year of an ongoing Nakba to Israel’s reign of terror and dispossession. This year it is especially urgent to stand in solidarity with Palestine…”
In May 2021, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists fired over 4,300 rockets from Gaza at major population centers in Israel. Israel responded by launching OGW, carrying out targeted military strikes in Gaza.
On March 9, 2021, Franklin posted on Twitter: “...say No to Israel’s Medical Apartheid…”
On March 30, 2019, Franklin posted on Twitter: “Israel is trying to maim Gazans into silence…”
On May 21, 2018, Franklin posted on Twitter: “Israel’s New Ideology of Genocide…”
On May 11, 2018, Franklin posted on Twitter: “At 70, Israel more than ever deserves a cultural and academic boycott.”
The modern State of Israel was founded in 1948.
On August 11, 2017, Franklin posted on Twitter: “To Be an Antiracist Today One Must be Anti-Zionist: USACBI Statement on Trumpism, White Supremacy, and Zionism…” Her post was linked to an article of the same name on the USACBI website.
On April 16, 2016, Franklin posted on Twitter: “Fighting Israeli occupying forces is ‘terrorism.’ Boycotting [Israel] is ‘anti-Semitism.’ What’s allowed?...”
“Israeli Occupation Forces,” or “IOF,” is a derogatory name for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) used by anti-Israel activists to demonize Israel’s army.
On April 8, 2016, Franklin was featured as a speaker on a UH Manoa Department of Ethnic Studies TV program titled: “Island Connections: Israeli Occupation and Resistance.” Speaking of Israel, she said [00:41:26]: “It’s state-sponsored terrorism, but then it’s this supposedly extra-state terrorism. But actually, [Israel] is sanctioning and doing much the same…[Israeli] settler colonialism seeks to destroy and replace.”
On February 15, 2022, Franklin was featured as a speaker in a webinar hosted by CODEPINK, titled: “Resisting Attacks on Palestinian Human Rights Activists,” where she said [00:38:23]: “[The website] ‘Against Canary Mission’…exists to respect the martyrs of Palestine murdered by the State of Israel, like those killed in cold blood during the March of Return on Land Day.”
On March 30, 2018, about 30,000 Gazans approached Israel’s border fence to join in “Land Day Protests,” which were also called the “March of Return.” The march was organized and funded by Hamas as a campaign of violent protests to spotlight the “right of return,” a policy discredited as a means to eliminate Israel.
During the 2018 March of Return, Hamas routinely directed its members to infiltrate the border between Gaza and Israel to train for an attack on Israeli communities in the area, leading to the October 7, 2023 massacre. For more information, see the Canary Mission page on Hamas.
On May 15, 2018, Franklin posted on Facebook: “60 people were killed by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip on Monday as thousands of Palestinians demonstrated across the occupied territory to mark the 70th anniversary of the Nakba…Remember their names…”
In May 2018, terror group Hamas instigated violent riots on the Israeli-Gaza border. Thousands of rioters attempted to breach Israel’s border fence, declaring their intention to harm Jews across the border under the pretext of “peaceful resistance.”
On May 16, 2018, 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.
The term “Nakba” is generally translated as “catastrophe” in Arabic, referring to the outcome of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It is a term used to delegitimize the creation of the State of Israel by drawing a comparison to the Holocaust, known in Hebrew as the Shoah, meaning “catastrophe.”
SJP is the leading 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, who has spread anti-Semitism and defended the Hamas terror group.
SJP organizes anti-Israel campus campaigns, including running annual Israel Apartheid Weeks and pushing the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. SJP activists have reportedly physically assaulted, intimidated and harassed Jewish students, and SJP chapters have often endorsed and campaigned for terrorists.
The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement was founded by pro-terror activist Omar Barghouti in 2005 to turn “Israel into a pariah state, as South Africa once was.” Barghouti has also called for Israel's destruction and the BDS movement demands would result in that same goal.
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 infiltrating university campuses through lobbying for “BDS resolutions.” In these cases, student governments propose resolutions to boycott or divestment from Israel or Israeli-affiliated entities. 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 and pro-terror activism on campus.
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