Ibrahim Aoude
Overview
Ibrahim Aoude [Ibrahim G. Aoude] has spread anti-Semitic blood libels and denigrated Israelis. He is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and has signed numerous statements demonizing Israel.In the spring of 2014, Aoude co-edited a literary journal that focused on “life in Palestine under conditions of occupation, apartheid, and settler colonialism.”
Aoude is a professor in the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of Hawaii-Manoa (UH Manoa) and hosts a show on the UH Manoa Department of Ethnic Studies’ Youtube channel, where he has demonized Israel and promoted Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and BDS.
Spreading Anti-Israel Libels
On October 9, 2015, Aoude hosted anti-Israel professors Cynthia Franklin and Noel Kent on a Youtube show titled “Island Connections: Faculty and Students for Justice in Palestine.”In addition to promoting SJP, Aoude claimed that Israel threatens Muslim and Christian holy sites and propagated a libel that Israel intends to destroy the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
Promoting BDS
In a biographical essay included in the volume, Aoude referred to Israelis as “barbarians” and noted “with pride that the Department of Ethnic Studies to which I belong was the first and only academic department in the United States to unanimously endorse the American Studies Association’s (ASA) Resolution of 2013 calling for the boycott of Israel’s academic institutions.”
In 2012, the ASA Caucus proposed a resolution calling for an academic boycott of Israel, which was later adopted at the ASA Conference in 2013.
In February 2014, after UH Manoa’s condemned the ASA Israel boycott, Aoude was signatory to a statement written to “to register… strong opposition to this condemnation.”
In August of 2014, Aoude signed the “Middle East Scholars and Librarians Call for Boycott of Israeli Academia.”
In signing this petition, Aoude committed “not to collaborate on projects and events involving Israeli academic institutions, not to teach at or to attend conferences and other events at such institutions, and not to publish in academic journals based in Israel.”
Aoude has also publicly endorsed the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI).
Anti-Israel Letters
In 2009, Aoude signed a letter to United States President Barack Obama, calling Israel the perpetrator of “one of the most massive, ethnocidal atrocities of modern times.”The letter was written during Israel’s Operation Cast Lead, launched to stop Hamas rocket fire targeting civilians and to curtail weapons smuggling into the Gaza strip.
In August of 2014, Aoude signed a statement titled “Statement by American Muslim Organizations: End Israeli Aggression and Occupation, Uphold American principles.” The statement called for BDS and and end of U.S. aid to Israel because “Funding racism and Apartheid is un-American and we call for an end to it.”
The statement was published during Israel’s Operation Protective Edge (OPE), which was implemented to destroy Hamas attack tunnels and stop rocket fire from Gaza targeting Israeli civilians — that increased dramatically in the weeks prior to the operation.
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.
SJP
SJP is a student organization engaged in anti-Israel activity on North American college and university campuses.
The first chapter of SJP was founded in 2001 at the University of California at Berkeley by Professor Hatem Bazian. Bazian has spread classic anti-Semitism, reportedly promoted religious anti-Semitism and defended the Hamas terror group. In 2004, Bazian called for “intifada” in America.
SJP organizes anti-Israel campaigns, including running annual Israel Apartheid Weeks, often in collaboration with Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and Muslim Students Association (MSA) campus chapters.
SJP has been a major force in pushing the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement on campuses. Chapters have initiated dozens of BDS resolutions in student governments, which have been proposed on or around Jewish holidays, a time when many Jewish students are off-campus.
SJP activists have reportedly physically assaulted, intimidated and harassed Jewish students, disrupted pro-Israel campus events and demonized pro-Israel campus organizations.
Chapters have often endorsed and campaigned for numerous terrorists and whitewashed terrorism.
