Diane Wolf

Overview

Diane Wolf has sponsored and defended anti-Israel and Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) activism. She has also supported the disruption of pro-Israel campus events.

Wolf is a professor of Sociology and the director of the Jewish Studies Program at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis).

Supporting Anti-Israel Activism

On October 21, 2011, UC Davis’ Jewish Studies Program, of which Wolf is the director, sponsored an event featuring anti-Zionist author Gilbert Achcar.

After being introduced by Wolf, Achcar reportedly “repeated anti-Israel clichés, denying Israel’s right to exist and referring to it as a ‘settler colonial project’ built on ‘Arab land,’ accusing Zionists of ‘ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians’, and downplaying any suggestion of Pan-Arab racism toward the Jewish people.”

In an article published on January 15, 2016, Wolf was quoted defending anti-Israel activism in general, and pro-BDS positions specifically at campus Hillels. According to the report, Wolf argued that “such debates, while difficult, should be embraced” and that to hold otherwise would be an exercise in “censorship.”

In an article published on May 9, 2016, Wolf was again cited as a defender of anti-Israel and pro-BDS activism on campus. The article reported about a declaration, published by the University of California, “condemning anti-Semitism on its campuses.”

According to the report, “Among some of the more vocal opponents of the declaration was Diane Wolf, director of the Jewish Studies program at UC Davis, who says she fears it will be used to stifle legitimate criticism of Israel on campuses.”

Defending the “Irvine 11”

In March of 2011, Wolf signed a letter opposing legal action being taken against the “Irvine 11.”

The “Irvine 11” were a group of eleven students from University of California, Irvine’s (UC Irvine) Muslim Student Union (MSU) who, in 2010, were detained by the police for disrupting a speech given by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren.

Following their arrest, ten of the eleven students were charged with conspiracy to disrupt and disrupting the event. The students received probation and community service and the MSU was suspended by the university.