Juana Celia Djelal

Overview

Juana Celia Djelal has promoted anti-Israel activism on campus, shown support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and has demonized Israel.

Djelal has also defended disgraced anti-Israel Professor Steven Salaita.

Djelal is a senior lecturer in Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies and Humanities at Pennsylvania State University (Penn State).

Promoting Anti-Israel Activism on Campus

Djelal signed a letter, authored by the anti-Israel Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) organization and published on January 25, 2017, condemning Fordham University’s decision to block the establishment of a Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter at Fordham. 

In 2016, Fordham reportedly blocked the formation of a Fordham SJP chapter “based on the reported behavior of other [SJP] chapters on other campuses,” indicating that “the establishment of a local branch could be ‘polarizing’ and pose a safety concern to students and faculty.”

Signatories demanded that Fordham “immediately rescind the rejection of SJP as a student group on campus, apologize to the students affected by this harmful decision, and reaffirm Fordham’s commitment to free speech and academic freedom.” 

The petitioners also highlighted SJP’s BDS activity, characterizing SJP’s efforts to promote anti-Israel boycott as part of “a time-honored non-violent mode of political expression.” The petition accused Fordham’s administration of a “fundamental misunderstanding of what boycotts are, the purpose of a university, and the goals of SJP.”

The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) in cooperation with Palestine Legal (PL), and civil rights attorney Alan Levine sued Fordham on behalf of four students in April 2017. A New York court annulled Fordham’s decision in August 2019, mandating that the university recognize SJP as an official club. 
 
Fordham appealed the ruling to the NY State Supreme Court Appellate Division in January 2020. On July 24, 2020, Fordham SJP students filed a brief asking the appellate court to deny Fordham’s appeal of the lower court’s decision.
 
As of October 2020, a variety of groups, not directly involved in the case, filed amicus briefs with the Appellate Division for the court's consideration including JVP. 

Djelal signed a March 15, 2015 open letter encouraging the University of Southamptonto proceed with an upcoming conference titled “International Law and the State of Israel: Legitimacy, Responsibility and Exceptionalism.”

After much controversy, the University of Southampton cancelled the conference “due to concerns that the safety of staff, students and visitors could not be guaranteed.”

In March 2015, Djelal signed a letter to the Vice Chancellor of the University of Sydney, condemning his decision to fire several professors and penalize students who led an anti-Israel disruption of a lecture on the university’s campus. 

On March 11, 2015, British Colonel Richard Kemp was hosted by the University of Sydney to deliver a lecture. During his presentation, Kemp was interrupted by a group of students and faculty, in a protest “that began with heckling and descended into students being dragged out of the hall by security guards.”

Among the faculty members protesting the event was professor Jake Lynch, who had been previously investigated by the Israeli law firm Shurat HaDin, for accusations of anti-Semitism. 

Following the event, a petition circulated calling for Lynch’s dismissal, claiming that, at the protest, Lynch “shouted in the face of students, obstructed campus security, filmed students without their consent and waved money in the faces of Jewish students and guests.”

The letter, signed by Djelal, expressed support for Lynch and his fellow protesters, claiming that “​demands ​for the dismissal of staff members or the disciplining of students are entirely unwarranted and unjustifiable.”

The letter went on: “we call on you to firmly reject the suggestion that any action should be taken against anyone present at the lecture. Associate Professor Lynch is one of Australia’s most prominent human-rights campaigners and anti-racists. His unshaking commitment to the cause of Palestine justice has earned him formidable enemies.”

Supporting BDS

Djelal is a signatory to a list of individuals endorsing the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI).

In 2002, Djelal signed a petition demanding “Israeli evacuation of all settlements in the occupied territories except those within the agreed swapped areas.”

The petition went on to state that “Our country has an extraordinary leverage on Israeli policy, if only our government would dare to use it. As American Jews... we call on our government to make continued aid conditional on Israeli acceptance of an internationally agreed two-state settlement.”

Demonizing Israel

In 2017, Djelal signed an open letter, authored by CODEPINK, to former United States Secretary of State John Kerry, which stated that: “The people of Gaza are living under a crippling naval blockade… They have been repeatedly subjected to brutal Israeli military assaults and reside in what can only be described as an open-air prison. As civil and human rights advocates, we ask that you stop enabling the blockade with US military assistance.”