Frederick Neuhouser

Overview

Frederick Neuhouser has defended anti-Israel activism on campus, is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and has expressed support for disgraced anti-Israel Professor Steven Salaita.

He is a professor in the Department of Philosophy at Columbia University (Columbia).

Defending Anti-Israel Activism on Campus

Neuhouser signed a letter published by the anti-Israel Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP) organization on January 25, 2017, whose purpose was to “condemn Fordham University’s decision to deny Students for Justice in Palestine student group status.”

Signatories of the letter defended boycotts, like BDS, as “a time-honored non-violent mode of political expression” and went on to “demand that you immediately rescind the rejection of SJP as a student group on campus.”

On October 17, 2011, Neuhouser moderated a lecture delivered at Barnard College by anti-Israel philosopher and professor Noam Chomsky.

During his opening remarks, Neuhouser promoted an anti-Israel book, “Gaza in Crisis: Reflections on Israel’s War Against the Palestinians” co-authored by Chomsky and fellow anti-Israel activist, Ilan Pappe.

Supporting BDS

Neuhouser signed a Faculty Petition at Columbia, in which signatories expressed that they “take issue with our financial involvements in institutions associated with the State of Israel's military occupation of Palestinian lands, continued violations of Palestinian human rights, systematic destruction of life and property, inhumane segregation and systemic forms of discrimination.”

The petition went on to state that “We now stand with Columbia University Apartheid Divest, Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine as well as with Jewish Voice for Peace” and demanded “that the University divest from corporations” doing business with Israel.”
Defending Steven Salaita

Neuhouser signed a petition, published by Mondoweiss on November 13, 2015, which charged that Steven Salaita “was illegally terminated in retaliation for his comments in connection with the Israeli war on Gaza, and that UIUC [University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign] officials’ decision to terminate Professor Salaita was motivated, at least in part, by pressure they received from large donors.”

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://philosophy.columbia.edu/directories/faculty/frederick-neuhouser