Dominic Wetzel
Overview
As of March 2023, Wetzel was an associate professor of sociology at Kingsborough Community College (KBCC) of the City University of New York (CUNY).
Also as of March 2023, Wetzel’s LinkedIn page said he was an adjunct professor of sociology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice (John Jay).
As of the same date, Wetzel’s LinkedIn said he was located in Brooklyn, New York.
Justifying Anti-Semitism
In an undated interview with Protect The Protest, Wetzel stated: “The Lawfare Project describes itself as an organization that provides pro bono legal services to protect the civil and human rights of Jewish people worldwide. A very worthy goal, but in reality it’s an organization that uses lawsuits to bully people who criticize the Israeli government by labeling them as antisemitic.”Anti-Israel Activism
The statement read [p. 1]: “We condemn the brutal bombing of Gaza, one of the world’s most densely populated areas, by Israeli forces. This represents the latest chapter of a nearly-fifteen-year illegal blockade that has transformed the territory into a prison…”
Incitement surrounding Al-Aqsa and Sheikh Jarrah were leading factors in Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists firing over 4,300 rockets from Gaza at Israeli population centers from May 10 to 21, 2021. In response to rocket attacks from Gaza, Israel launched “Operation Guardian of the Walls (OGW),” striking military targets in the terrorist-controlled enclave.
The statement also included [p. 2] a BDS clause which read: “...we pledge to: Initiate, support, and amplify campaigns in solidarity with Palestinian calls for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israeli apartheid, at CUNY and in our wider communities.”
U.S. Representative Betty McCollum introduced Bill H.R. 2590 in April 2021to “ensure that United States taxpayer funds are not used by the Government of Israel to support the military detention of Palestinian children…or further annexation of Palestinian land in violation of international law.” It did not become law during the Congress in which it was introduced, and in January 2023 the bill was declared dead.
Wetzel’s tweet included a link to the petition, which accused Israel of “repression and militarized violence” against Palestinian children and labeled Israel an “apartheid” state.
Wetzel retweeted a December 12, 2022 tweet that said: “On December 8th, @NIONCUNY [Not In Our Name CUNY] & @Cuny4P [Cuny4Palestine] teamed up to disrupt a blatantly racist anti-Palestinian propaganda event that was headed by rightwing Zionist speakers…”
Wetzel retweeted a December 14, 2022 tweet that said: “This lawsuit against PSC-CUNY [Professional Staff Congress union] has been part of a broader attack on the successes of Palestine solidarity organizing at CUNY. We are happy to see this anti-Palestinian lawfare defeated! CUNY community support for Palestine liberation will not be silenced!”
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/dominic.wetzel.1Twitter: https://twitter.com/DominicWetzel
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dominic.wetzel/ [Private]
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominic-wetzel-44671667/
University Website: https://www.kbcc.cuny.edu/facultyprofiles/dominicwetzel.html
Academia.edu: https://cuny.academia.edu/DominicWetzel
