Grover Furr

Overview

Grover Furr is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and has demonized Israel. 

As of March 2020, Furr was a professor of English at Montclair State University (Montclair State). 

Supporting BDS

In 2016, Furr signed an open letter calling for the academic boycott of Israel. 

The open letter was addressed to the Modern Language Association (MLA), “calling on the association to pass a resolution endorsing the boycott of Israeli academic institutions.”
In an article published on January 12, 2015, Furr was cited as “a professor of English at Montclair State University and one of the organizers of the MLA's Radical Caucus (a frequent sponsor of resolutions).” The article went on to quote Furr, expressing support for the MLA resolution, stating that ”the MLA should always be looking for important political issues on which to speak out.” 

At the 2014 Modern Language Association (MLA) Conference, Furr submitted an emergency resolution, calling for the MLA to stand behind a 2013 BDS resolution passed by the American Studies Association (ASA).

In a Chronicle of Higher Education article, published on January 13, 2014, Furr was quoted expressing his intention to propose the resolution again the following year. 

Demonizing Israel 

As of March 2020, reproduced on Furr’s University blog page was an essay titled: “ISRAEL'S SACRED TERRORISM,” by Livia Rokach.

Rokach dedicated her piece on Furr’s blog: “To all the Palestinian victims of Israel's unholy terrorism, whose sacrifice, suffering and ongoing struggle will yet prove to be the pangs of the rebirth of Palestine…”

Rokach claimed that support for Israel is partially based on “the myth of Israel’s security,” which she alleged has been used “as a legitimate explanation for Israel’s violation of international resolutions calling for the return of the Palestinian people to their homes.”

The “right of return” is a Palestinian demand discredited as a means to eliminate Israel. International law mandates no absolute right of return and UN Resolution 194, which defined principles for “refugees wishing to return to their homes,” was unanimously rejected by Arab nations following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

Rokach’s piece on Furr’s University blog also said: “The persistence of the myth of Israel's security shows that there is considerable public belief in the so-called Arab commitment to eliminate the Jewish state. Most of the distinguished Western writers who present this case derive their arguments from Zionist versions of events in the late 1940s, at the time of the establishment of Israel.”

In 1988, Furr published an article for the Montclair State College (now University)y newspaper titled: “Israeli Rule over the Palestinians is Fascist.” 

In the article, Furr stated that the actions of the Israeli military “can only be described as a pogrom — brutal, murderous assault such as the Tsarist police and the Nazis committed against Jews.” Furr went on to claim that Israeli actions were “akin to Nazi terrorism.” 

He then accused Zionist leaders of colluding with “some of the worst fascists on earth, including South Africa, Iran, Turkey, and Argentina” and described conspiratorial deals between Nazi Germany and Israel “if the Nazis would permit a Zionist state, run along fascist lines, in Palestine.” 

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://www.montclair.edu/profilepages/view_profile.php?username=furrg

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/pages/Grover-Furr/174540779314767

Twitter: https://twitter.com/groverfurr

University Blog:https://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/