John Kaufman-McKivigan
Overview
John Kaufman-McKivigan has defended campus anti-Israel activism and is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.Kaufman-McKivigan is the Mary O'Brien Gibson Professor of History and Africana Studies at Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). He is also a member of the IUPUI Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine.
Defending Campus Anti-Israel Activism
In November 2017, Kaufman-McKivigan signed an open letter to IUPUI’s Chancellor, defending an event that was characterized by students as anti-Israel and anti-Semitic.In addition to defending the event, signatories of the letter went on to charge that “only the most ideological or perverse person would deny the human rights violations of the Israeli military.”
Following the controversy, organizers of the festival where the event took place apologized for the event, acknowledging that it “contained information about the Middle East conflict that was factually inaccurate and lacked an appropriate framework to explore the complexities of this challenging issue.”
Kaufman-McKivigan also signed a petition, published on March 2, 2015, in support of international BDS leader, Ilan Pappe, speaking at IUPUI about Israel.
Kaufman-McKivigan is also a member of the IUPUI Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine.
According to the IUPUI Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine’s purpose statement: “We condemn the illegal occupation of their lands, violations of their human rights, and discriminatory laws that deny them equal educational and economic opportunities in both Israel and Palestine.”
The statement goes on to say: “We recognize the Palestinian struggle for self-determination as part of a progressive alliance committed to the political, economic, and social liberation of other oppressed persons, including but not limited to people of color, workers, immigrants, LGBTQ+ persons, religious minorities, veterans, and indebted students.”
Supporting BDS
Kaufman-McKivignan signed a 2014 open letter calling for an end to U.S. military aid to Israel.The letter was in response to Operation Protective Edge (OPE), which Israel commenced in July 2014, to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.
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://liberalarts.iupui.edu/about/directory/kaufman-mckivigan-john-r.html_203x172_xvL5Mx.jpg "Professor John Kaufman-McKivigan")
- Status:
- Professor
- University:
- Indiana-Purdue-Indianapolis
- Organizations:
- BDS
- Related Profiles:
- Last Modified:
- 05/04/2026
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