Ece Algan
Overview
Algan is an associate professor in the Department of Communication Studies at California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB).
Supporting BDS
On August 29, 2014, Algan signed the “Open Letter on Gaza and BDS from the Middle East Caucus of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies.”The letter described “indiscriminate and disproportionate violence that has been waged… by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) against the civilian population of Gaza” that it characterized as “the largest ‘open air prison’ in the world.”
The letter went on to endorse the BDS movement and to conclude that “the violence has taken an unprecedented and savage turn, having reached genocidal proportions.”
On April 29, 2014 Algan signed a petition to “Boycott Israeli Cinema and TV Studies Conference at Tel Aviv University.”
The petition called upon scholars to boycott an upcoming conference at Tel Aviv University (TAU) and provided a link to the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI).
Algan also signed her name to a list of individuals endorsing the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI).
Algan is a member of the California Scholars for Academic Freedom (cs4af). In August of 2012, the group published an open letter, which Algan signed, to California Assembly Members opposing a piece of anti-BDS legislation.
In the letter, the group argued that BDS, descriptions of Israel as “an apartheid state” and accusations against Israel of “ethnic cleansing” and “crimes against humanity” do not constitute anti-Semitism and should be protected on campus.
Algan also signed an open letter to California State University (CSU) Chancellor Charles Reed, opposing the reinstatement of a CSU-Israel study abroad program.
Signatories of the letter argued that “CSU participation with the government of Israel in the proposed study abroad program could be interpreted as an endorsement of the international crime of apartheid.”
On July 3, 2012, Algan signed an open letter, published by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), to the Executive Director of the Center for Asian American Media Studies (CAAM) Stephen Gong, calling upon him to end the department’s partnership with Israel.
The letter endorsed PACBI and BDS, which it characterized as opposing “cultural programs that are sponsored by the Israeli state and are increasingly used to whitewash Israel’s violations of international human rights and war crimes and to legitimize its illegal occupation and apartheid practices.”
Supporting Steven Salaita
Algan signed a petition published on August 21, 2014, by the BDS movement titled:“A Call to People of Conscience Not to Speak at the University Of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Until Chancellor Wise Honor [sic] the Contract to Hire Professor 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.
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
University Website: http://csusb.academia.edu/EceAlgan
- Status:
- Professor
- University:
- California-State-San-Bernadino
- Organizations:
- BDS
- Related Profiles:
- Dany Doueiri,
- Jamal Nassar,
- Ahlam Muhtaseb,
- Razan Tabel,
- Last Modified:
- 05/04/2026
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