Elizabeth Heineman
Overview
Elizabeth Heineman has demonized Israel and is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.She is a professor and chair of the Department of History at the University of Iowa (UIowa).
Demonizing Israel
On November 24, 2015, Heineman published an article accusing mainstream Israeli society of exploiting the Holocaust in order to justify “Israel’s continued violence towards and expropriation of Palestinians.”Heineman went on to write that “Nationalist deployments of Holocaust memory deserve a share the blame for anti-Arab paranoia in the United States as well as in Israel.”
Heineman signed a petition condemning United States President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, claiming “it assured continued occupation harshness, apartheid viciousness, land theft, ethnic cleansing, and cold-blooded murder at Israel’s discretion, supported and encouraged by Washington.”
The petition concluded with a “call on the US government to take immediate steps to deescalate the tensions resulting from the President’s declaration and to clarify Palestinians’ legitimate stake in the future of Jerusalem.”
Heineman signed a petition, published on August 29, 2014, which accused Israel of “racist dehumanization of Palestinians,” claiming that Israeli media “has called openly for genocide of Palestinians” and that “right-wing Israelis are adopting Neo-Nazi insignia.”
The petition opened: “As Jewish survivors and descendants of survivors and victims of the Nazi genocide we unequivocally condemn the massacre of Palestinians in Gaza and the ongoing occupation and colonization of historic Palestine.
Supporting BDS
Heineman signed an open letter to United States President Barack Obama and the American Congress, dated July 31, 2014, calling to halt US aid to Israel.The letter condemned “the disproportionate harm that the Israeli military, which the United States has armed and supported for decades, is inflicting on the population of Gaza.”
The letter exclusively blamed Israel for the Gazan civilian crisis and called upon the administration “to suspend US military aid to Israel, until there is assurance that this aid will no longer be used for the commission of war crimes.”
The letter was in response to Operation Protective Edge (OPE).
Israel commenced Operation Protective Edge (OPE) in July 2014, to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.
The petition went on to demand that “the AHA commits itself to monitoring Israeli actions.”
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:https://clas.uiowa.edu/history/people/elizabeth-heineman_203x172_4lZS2U.jpg "Professor Elizabeth Heineman")
- Status:
- Professor
- University:
- Iowa
- Organizations:
- BDS
- Related Profiles:
- Last Modified:
- 05/04/2026
Photos & Screenshots
