Jemima Pierre

In a June 2012 essay, Pierre argued that in Israel, “the weight of Jewish identity lies in a presumed white racial superiority – and purity.” 

In November of 2015, Pierre wrote an essay supporting the AAA BDS resolution and and characterized Zionism as “explicit racial project.”

In 2009, Pierre signed a letter to United States President Barack Obama, calling Israel the perpetrator of “one of the most massive, ethnocidal atrocities of modern times.” 

Pierre is an associate professor of Anthropology and African American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Pushing BDS

Pierre has publicly endorsed the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI) and co-authored a resolution encouraging the AAA to boycott Israeli academic institutions. 

She is also a member of an “advisory group” that guides the organization “Anthropologists for the Boycott of Israeli Academic institutions.”

In November of 2015, Pierre wrote an essay titled “Zionism, Anti-Blackness, and the Struggle for Palestine” to promote the AAA BDS resolution. In her essay, Pierre characterized Zionism as “explicit racial project” and claimed that “The Zionist dehumanization of Palestinians and its culture of anti-Blackness depend on the same system.” 

Pierre also argued that “Black people living within Israel –asylum seekers, documented residents, and citizens – can easily become victims of the ethno-supremacist Zionist edifice.”

In June of 2016, the AAA announced that the resolution to boycott Israeli universities was defeated but that there are “other actions planned.”

The AAA vote on the anti-Israel resolution took place from April 15 to May 31, 2016, with approximately half of the AAA membership voting on the resolution. Of the half that voted concerning the resolution, 50.4% voted against it, meaning that only one quarter of AAA’s membership — at most — voted in favor of the resolution. 

Demonizing Israel

In June of 2012, Pierre wrote an essay titled “Black Migrants in White Israel.” In her essay, she claimed that anti-Black racism in Israel reflects “implicit and explicit claims that the weight of Jewish identity lies in a presumed white racial superiority – and purity.” Pierre concluded that “Black people in Israel, along with Palestinians, know only too well what that means.”

In 2009, Pierre 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 (OPE), launched to stop Hamas rocket fire targeting civilians and to curtail weapons smuggling into the Gaza strip.

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

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jemimapierre/

University Website:http://www.anthro.ucla.edu/faculty/jemima-pierre