Hertha Sweet Wong

Overview

Hertha Sweet Wong has expressed support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and demonized Israel. 

Wong is a Professor and the Associate Dean of Arts and Humanities in the English Department at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley).    

Supporting BDS

In April 2010, Wong signed an open letter to the Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC), published by the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI), whose purpose was to “call for reaffirming the ASUC Bill in Support of UC Divestment from War Crimes.”

Signatories of the letter wrote: “We stand united in support of the right of the Palestinian people to be free of the repression and violence that the Israeli military policy is inflicting upon them. We also stand united in our strong belief that divesting from companies that provide significant support for the Israeli military is both a moral and strategic way to take responsibility for how tuition and taxpayer-funded research dollars are used in our educational institutions.”

The letter was referring to a BDS resolution, proposed to the University of California (UC) titled “Bill In Support Of ASUC Divestment From War Crimes,” whose purpose was to “advocate that the UC divests, all stocks, securities, or other obligations” from companies that “provide military support for or weaponry to support the occupation of the Palestinian territories.”

In an article published on March 25, 2010, it was reported that Wong was a signatory of the BDS resolution. 

Demonizing Israel

Wong signed an open-letter, signatories of the letter identified as “active participants in the struggle for justice for Palestinians.” The petition defended anti-Israel organizations including Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.

Signatories of the letter also specifically defended organizations that “disapprove of working with Zionist groups and failure to state that Zionism is racism.” 

The letter also defended anti-Israel activist, Alison Weir against accusations of anti-Semitism, stating that such accusations are “scurrilous and without foundation.” 

In October 2010, Sweet Wong participated as a speaker at a “teach in” whose purpose was to discuss issues including “What is life like under Israeli occupation?” and “Does the Holocaust justify the creation of the state of Israel?”

An article reporting on the event cited Sweet Wong as a “participant in the Gaza Freedom Movement.”

The “Free Gaza Movement” [Gaza Freedom Movement] has organized boats to Gaza meant to “break the siege,” including a May 2010, “Freedom Flotilla.” Activists on board the lead ship, the Mavi Marmara, were found to be carrying crude weapons and initiated an organized, violent confrontation with Israeli forces.  

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://english.berkeley.edu/profiles/75

Second University Website: https://vcresearch.berkeley.edu/faculty/hertha-d-sweet-wong

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/717724846