Eleanor Roffman
Overview
Eleanor Roffman has demonized Israel, expressed support for a convicted terrorist and defended campus anti-Israel activists. She is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and is affiliated with the anti-Israel group, Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP).Roffman is a professor emeritus of Counseling and Psychology at Lesley University (Lesley).
Demonizing Israel
On August 16, 2016, an open letter written by Roffman to Alan Dershowitz was published by JVP on its blog.In her letter, Roffman said: “Israel would not be able to engage in their brutal occupation of Palestine without American tax dollars, approximately 9 billion dollars of aid every year. These are our tax dollars and I do not support investing in occupation and oppression.”
In August 2014, Roffman signed a petition demonizing Israel and condemning Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel.
The 2014 petition signed was titled: “SUPPORTERS OF NYTs Letter: Jewish survivors and descendants of survivors and victims of the Nazi genocide unequivocally condemn the massacre of Palestinians in Gaza” and published by the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN).
The petitioners condemned Elie Wiesel for an ad he wrote that compared Hamas to the Nazis and condemned Hamas’s use of children as human shields.
Throughout the summer of 2014 — during Operation Protective Edge (OPE) — Hamas's deployment of human shields was extensively documented and publicized. Hamas encouraged Gazans to act as human shields to frustrate Israeli efforts to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza.
In an article published by Open Media Boston on August 11, 2013, Roffman was cited as an activist who participated in a “Rally to Support Gaza Freedom March Held Outside Israeli Consulate.”
The article stated: “Eleanor Roffman representing the Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights and Jewish Women for Justice in Israel/Palestine spoke of the protest as a way to ‘keep momentum going’ for the Gaza Freedom March.”
In 2012, Roffman signed a petition of “a diverse group of lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer and trans activists, academics, artists, and cultural workers from the United States who participated in a solidarity tour in the West Bank of Palestine and Israel from January 7-13, 2012.”
Signatories of the 2012 petition stated that “Our time together in Palestine has led us to understand that we have a responsibility to share with our US based LGBTIQ communities what we saw and heard so that we can do more together to end this occupation.”
In September 2010, Roffman signed a petition that called on Palestinians to reject negotiations with Israel.
The 2010 petition was described by the US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) as a “statement rejecting the resumption of direct negotiations, in the midst of ongoing Israeli structural racism and violence inflicted upon Palestinians.”
Signatories of the petition stated that they “reject the direct negotiations taking place in Washington, DC on September 2, 2010, which shield Israel as it continues its colonial and apartheid project.”
The petition concluded: “we call for international support of our people, not a ‘peace process’ that perpetuates our dispossession and displacement and provides cover for the occupier. International isolation of Israel, boycott, divestment and sanctions, international prosecution of Israeli war criminals are necessary, as is clear support for our rights, including the right to resist occupation, the right to self-determination, and the right to return home – the key to our cause
Supporting Rasmea Odeh
Roffman signed a petition, authored by the anti-Israel website Electronic Intifada and published on October 24, 2014, expressing support for convicted terrorist Rasmea Odeh. The petition claimed Odeh’s conviction for terror activity in Israel “was based on a confession she made in the midst of 45 days of sexual and physical torture while in detention.”Odeh was a key military operative [00:02:08]with the terrorist group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). In 1969, Odeh masterminded a PFLP bombing that killed two college students in a Jerusalem supermarket. Odeh also attempted to bomb the British consulate.
Odeh confessed, in a highly detailed account, the day following her arrest. In a 2004 documentary, one of Odeh’s co-conspirators directly implicated [00:10:53] Odeh as the mastermind.
In 1970, an Israeli court tried and convicted Odeh for her involvement in both bombings and sentenced her to life imprisonment. However, Odeh was released 10 years later, in a prisoner swap and emigrated to the United States.
On November 10, 2014, a Michigan federal jury convicted Odeh for immigration fraud because she failed to disclose her prior conviction and life sentence on her immigration application. On March 12, 2015, she was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
In 2017, after an appeal and a lengthy court battle, Odeh admitted to immigration fraud, was stripped of her U.S. citizenship, deported to Jordan and banned from re-entering the U.S.
Defending Campus Anti-Israel Activists
Roffman signed a 2017 letter, authored by the anti-Israel organization JVP, condemning a decision by Fordham University (Fordham)’s dean to block the establishment of a Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter at Fordham.In 2016, Fordham reportedly blocked the formation of a Fordham SJP chapter “based on the reported behavior of other [SJP] chapters on other campuses,” indicating that “the establishment of a local branch could be ‘polarizing’ and pose a safety concern to students and faculty.”
Signatories demanded that Fordham “immediately rescind the rejection of SJP as a student group on campus, apologize to the students affected by this harmful decision, and reaffirm Fordham’s commitment to free speech and academic freedom.”
The petitioners also highlighted SJP’s BDS activity, characterizing SJP’s efforts to promote anti-Israel boycott as part of “a time-honored non-violent mode of political expression.” The petition accused Fordham’s administration of a “fundamental misunderstanding of what boycotts are, the purpose of a university, and the goals of SJP.”
The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) in cooperation with Palestine Legal (PL), and civil rights attorney Alan Levine sued Fordham on behalf of four students in April 2017. A New York court annulled Fordham’s decision in August 2019, mandating that the university recognize SJP as an official club.
Fordham appealed the ruling to the NY State Supreme Court Appellate Division in January 2020. On July 24, 2020, Fordham SJP students filed a brief asking the appellate court to deny Fordham’s appeal of the lower court’s decision.
As of October 2020, a variety of groups, not directly involved in the case, filed amicus briefs with the Appellate Division for the court's consideration including JVP.
Supporting BDS
In 2016, Roffman signed a petition opposing the Society for Psychotherapy Reseach’s (SPR) decision to host their international conference in Jerusalem.Signatories of the petition wrote that “Israel’s policies in the Occupied Territories, including house demolitions, movement restrictions and imprisonment without trial, cause insecurity, despair, helplessness and humiliation. They create family tension, disrupted child attachment and widespread traumatisation. The calamitous impact of Israel’s Occupation on the psychological health of the Palestinians is well-documented.”
On November 1, 2012, Roffman co-authored an article in which she reflected on her experience pushing for the boycott of numerous Israeli brands. In the article, Roffman described her efforts to push for a local co-op to remove products from Israeli brands Strauss and Osem from its shelves.
After the failure of her campaign, Roffman concluded: “We made a difference in that we educated, organized and encouraged shoppers at the co-op to take a stand against Israeli apartheid.”
Roffman signed a 2011 petition that called for divestment of funds from Israeli companies.
The petition, authored by Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP) and published in March 2011, called on the investment company TIAA-CREF, to “divest from Israeli occupation.” The petition provided a list of Israeli companies from which signatories demanded TIAA-CREF divest its funds, claiming that the companies listed “were “profiting from Israelʼs violations of international law and international human rights standards.”
Roffman also signed her name to a list of individuals endorsing the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI).
In 2010, Roffman signed another letter that expressed support for BDS.
The letter, addressed to Indian writer, Amitav Ghosh and published on May 7, 2010 condemned his decision to accept a prize in Israel and called on him to join the BDS movement by “refusing to legitimize a state guilty of war crimes and illegal occupation and instead joining the growing movement for an academic and cultural boycott of Israel.”
The letter concluded: “One of the most significant questions that call [for academic and cultural boycott] poses to us is simply this: How could those of us who oppose apartheid, occupation, and colonialism not support such a call?”
In September 2009, Roffman signed a petition to the Connecticut AFL-CIO Executive Board and AFL-CIO Convention that called on them to divest from Israel.
Signatories of the petition wrote: “The government of Israel is notorious worldwide for its mistreatment of Palestinians, and its anti-labor policies among Jewish workers. We call upon the CT AFL-CIO to join the worldwide movement to bring pressure on the Israeli government by selling its Israel bonds.“
Roffman signed an open letter to former United States President Barack Obama, published on January 12, 2009.
The USACBI letter accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing” and compared Israel to Apartheid South Africa and concluded that “Israel too maintains an apartheid regime.”
After charging Israel with inflicting “one of the most massive, ethnocidal atrocities of modern times,” the signatories called upon Obama to join in the BDS movement.
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.
JVP
JVP was founded in Berkeley, California in 1996, as an activist group with an emphasis on the “Jewish tradition” of peace, social justice and human rights. The organization is currently led by Rebecca Vilkomerson and its board members include Israel critics Naomi Klein, Judith Butler, Noam Chomsky and Tony Kushner.
JVP, which generally employs civil disobedience tactics to disrupt pro-Israel speakers and events, consists of American Jews and non-Jewish “allies” highly critical of Israeli policies. A staunch supporter of the BDS movement, JVP claims to aim its campaigns at companies that either support the Israeli military (Hewlett-Packard) or are active in the West Bank (SodaStream).
Although several Jewish groups critical of Israeli policies, like J Street and Partners for a Progressive Israel, make efforts to operate within the mainstream American Jewish community, JVP functions outside. The group is often criticized for serving as a tokenized Jewish voice for the pro-Palestinian camp and is widely regarded as the BDS movement’s “Jewish wing.”
JVP denies the notion of “Jewish peoplehood” and has even gone so far as to refer to its own Ashkenazi (Jews who spent the Diaspora in European countries) leadership as “white supremacy inside of JVP.”
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has accused JVP of being “the largest and most influential Jewish anti-Zionist group in the United States,” and said the group “exploits Jewish culture and rituals to reassure its own supporters that opposition to Israel not only does not contradict, but is actually consistent with, Jewish value.”
The ADL also claimed that “JVP consistently co-sponsors rallies to oppose Israeli military policy that are marked by signs and slogans comparing Israel to Nazi Germany, demonizing Jews and voicing support for groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.”
According to the ADL website, JVP “uses its Jewish identity to shield the anti-Israel movement from allegations of anti-Semitism and provide it with a greater degree of legitimacy and credibility.”
