Jonathan Dresner
Overview
Jonathan Dresner is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. He has demonized Israel online and is a supporter of disgraced anti-Israel professor Steven Salaita.As of March 2019, Dresner’s blog said he was Associate Professor of History at Pittsburg State University (PSU).
Supporting BDS
On March 7, 2017, Dresner referenced his support for BDS, tweeting: “So much for my ‘Right of Return,’” and linked to an article about Israel turning away BDS supporters seeking to enter Israel.On July 19, 2016, he tweeted the Republican National Platform Committee’s statement that BDS is anti-Semitic and “seeks to destroy Israel,” and commented “If by 'destroy' you mean 'save'...”
On July 6, 2015, he tweeted “Clinton just lost me” in response to an article titled “Clinton 'Alarmed' Over Calls for Israel Boycott, Urges Bi-partisan Action.”
On November 4, 2014, he tweeted an article opposing BDS, commenting: “Seriously, is this the best they've got?... The [Pitifully Weak] Case Against Academic Boycotts of #Israel.”
On February 4, 2014, Dresner signed “An Open Letter on the Anti-Boycott Bills,” which opposed anti-BDS legislation pending before New York State’s legislature. The open letter appeared on the Crooked Timber blog.
Demonizing Israel
Dresner has frequently demonized Israel on Twitter. On November 23, 2014, he tweeted regarding the show Fiddler on the Roof, “I don't know how anyone can see the Pogrom, hear ‘Anatevka,’ without understanding that the IDF has become the Cossacks.”On January 24, 2015, he tweeted “Agreed” in response to someone else’s tweet that said: “We should call Israel for what it is, a Zionist, Jewish supremacist state. ‘Jewish supremacist’ accurate. ‘Jewish’ not.”
On February 24, 2015, he tweeted: “I'm upset that Israel carried out ethnic cleansing attacks in 1948 that made peace harder.”
On January 5, 2016, Dresner tweeted about a Historians Against War anti-Israel resolution: “Frankly, I think the resolution is minimal, barely scratches the surface of negative judgements historians should make of Israel at present.”
On May 28, 2016, he tweeted an image of a comment he had posted on an NPR segment that claimed “Israel doesn’t allow people to define their own religion” and wrote “I still don't know why this comment was removed.”
On May 29, 2016, he tweeted that he uses the anti-Israel sites Jewish Voice for Peace and +972 Magazine as his “sources” and that they are “a good place to start for Jewish critiques.”
On January 28, 2017, he tweeted “Netanyahu has been a white supremacist for a long time. He's not just anti-Palestinian, pro-ethnic cleansing:”
Defending Steven Salaita
In 2014, Dresner signed two petitions in support of Professor Steven Salaita. The petitions pledged to boycott the University of Illinois (U of I) and refuse to participate in any events on its campus until Salaita would be reinstated.In 2014, The University of Illinois withdrew an offer of employment to Salaita after becoming aware of his anti-Semitic tweets. One tweet, posted shortly after Hamas kidnapped three teenage Israeli high school students, read: "You may be too refined to say it, but I’m not: I wish all the f**king West Bank settlers would go missing.” In 2017, Salaita posted to Facebook: “People ask if I would go back in time and change anything. I would not…I will die unapologetic.” In February 2019, Salaita stated that he had become a school bus driver in the Washington, D.C., area.
Social Media and Weblinks
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jondresnerFlickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jondresner/
University Website: http://www.pittstate.edu/faculty-staff/jonathan-f-dresner
Blog: http://dresnerworld.edublogs.org/
- Status:
- Professor
- University:
- Pittsburgh
- Organizations:
- BDS
- Related Profiles:
- Last Modified:
- 05/04/2026
Photos & Screenshots
25 images
Infamous Quotes
“I don't know how anyone can see the Pogrom, hear "Anatevka," without understanding that the IDF has become the Cossacks.”
“I'm upset that Israel carried out ethnic cleansing attacks in 1948 that made peace harder.”
“Netanyahu has been a white supremacist for a long time. He's not just anti-Palestinian, pro-ethnic cleansing:”
