Evelyn Alsultany
Overview
Evelyn Alsultany is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and blames Israel for creating a psychological association between Arabs and terrorism.Alsultany is an associate professor of American Culture at the University of Michigan (Michigan).
Support for BDS
In January 2014, Alsultany signed a petition in support of an American Studies Association (ASA) resolution singling out Israel for academic boycott.The petition accused Israel of “settler-colonialism, occupation, and apartheid” and likened BDS to the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa.
In 2016, Alsultany signed a petition urging the PEN American Center to to reject sponsorship from the Israeli government and to adopt BDS.
Demonizing Israel
In an interview, published in the fall of 2014, Alsultany blamed Israel for the mental association made by many Americans between Arabs and terrorism.Alsultany charged that “Representations of Arab men as terrorists emerge with the inauguration of the state of Israel in 1948… the violence of Palestinian resistance movements that have opposed the illegal Israeli military occupation has been portrayed as terrorism while the violence of Israel has been portrayed as defense.”
In 2010, Alsultany co-edited a book titled Arab and Arab American Feminisms together with anti-Israel professors Rabab Abdulhadi and Nadine Naber.
The book included essays that “discuss colonial feminism, which draws on Orientalist discourses to dehumanize Arab women and to justify US and Israeli state violence and war against Arabs and Muslims in general, and Palestinians in particular.”
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
- Status:
- Professor
- University:
- Michigan
- Organizations:
- BDS
- Related Profiles:
- Salah Hassan,
- Juan Cole,
- Last Modified:
- 05/04/2026
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