Dana Olwan

Overview

Olwan is a staunch supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, which she has attempted to link to the feminist cause.

Olwan has also justified acts of Palestinian terrorism and incitement to violence against Israeli Jews.

Demonizing Israel as a Colonial State

The term “Nakba” is generally translated as “catastrophe” in Arabic, referring to the outcome of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It is a term often used to delegitimize the creation of the State of Israel by defining it as a catastrophe.

In that same article, Olwan attempted to delegitimize the State of Israel, calling it a "Colonialist State" and referred to its people as “settler colonialists.”

Denying all Jewish connection to the land of Israel, Olwan statedthat "The first and defining aspect of… Israeli settler colonialism is the displacement of indigenous people from their land, and the theft of that land and all its possible resources for the use and benefit of the settler population."

On March 28, 2008, Olwan published an article, in which she claimed that "the creation of the Israeli state was made possible at the expense of the indigenous population... its creation was legitimized through racist Zionist narratives… [and] it actively engages in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Palestine through expulsion, massacre, and state terrorism."

Excusing Terrorism and Incitement

On the 25th of October 2011, Olwan wrote an article, in which she blasted the Canadian government and the Palestinian Authority (PA) for their decision to dismiss Linda Sobeh Ali, a member of the PA’s Ottawa delegation. Ali’s dismissal was the result of her retweet of a poem in which a young girl allegedly called for "the death of Jews."

Olwan called into question the accuracy of this translation and argued that the true meaning of the poem is to "extinguish the soul of a Zionist" — a call which Olwan argues to be a legitimate form of resistance. Olwan went on to suggest that Ali’s dismissal represents only the latest manifestation of a larger conspiracy, of “strategies used in the US to stifle expressions of Palestinian children who live under Israeli occupation.”

Accusations of Rape/Abuse of Palestinian Women  

In the same article, Olwan wrote at length about purported crimes against Palestinian women, claiming: "In [Deir Yassin], Palestinian women were molested, raped, and then killed. In one example of such gendered and sexualised violence, the womb of a nine months pregnant Palestinian woman was cut open before she was murdered".

Accusing Israel of Apartheid  

Conflating Feminism with BDS

On November 24, 2015, she wrote: "A vote for the boycott of the Israeli state is a vote for feminism that takes just sides. It is a vote in favour of a decolonial, collective feminist politics rooted in firm solidarities and coalitions with those who are most oppressed, marginalized and invisibilized."

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.