Katherine Jensen

Overview

Katherine Jensen [Katherine C. Jensen] disrupted a campus event, co-sponsored a Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement resolution and defended an anti-Israel agitator while she was a student at the University of Texas (UT Austin).

In 2015, Jensen was a member of the Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC) at UT Austin (pscatx). PSC is an alternative name for Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).

Jensen attended National SJP’s 2015 conference, which was held at San Diego State University (SDSU).

In 2015, Jensen was a “Graduate Student Representative” for the Student Government at UT Austin (UTSG), but resigned from her position later that year.

In 2018, Jensen received a Ph.D. in Sociology from UT Austin, as well as a master’s degree in Sociology in 2013. In 2015, she was an Assistant Instructor for the department of Sociology at UT Austin. In 2009, Jensen graduated from Vassar College (Vassar) with a bachelor’s degree in Latin American and Latino/a Studies.

As of May 2021, Jensen was an Assistant Professor of Sociology and International Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), since 2019.

Disrupting a Campus Event

On November 13, 2015, Jensen was one of twelve PSC members who disrupted an event organized by Professor Ami Pedahzur of UT’s Institute for Israeli Studies titled: “The Origin of a Species: The Birth of the Israeli Defense Forces’ Military Culture.”

Jensen led [00:04:54] the chant: “Free Free Palestine.” PSC members also chanted: “Long Live the intifada!”

In October 2015, there was an upsurge in violence across Israel incited by Palestinian political and religious leaders. The wave of stabbings, known as the “Knife Intifada,” was characterized by young Palestinians throughout the country stabbing and attempting to stab Israeli civilians.

The disruption resulted in a near-physical confrontation between PSC activist Mohammed Nabulsi and Professor Pedhazur. Campus police later arrived and detained the PSC members.

Following the incident, PSC released an edited video of the protest and accused Professor Pedahzur of assault. PSC filed a complaint with the university and launched a campaign on Facebook that called on students to file complaints against Pedahzur.

PSC finance committee chair Ahmed Khawaja also initiated a GoFundMe fundraising campaign to sue Pedahzur.

Professor Pedahzur later received death threats and vacated the offices at the Israeli Studies Institute due to concern for his personal safety and that of his students.

On December 23, 2015, Jensen published an article about the disruption in the HuffPost. Jensen’s article was titled “The Palestine Exception on Campus,” and claimed that the 12 PSC members “peacefully protested.”

On December 24, 2015, pscatx promoted Jensen’s article to Facebook and wrote: “PSC's very Katie Jensen writing… in relation to the incident with Ami Pedahzur... who physically intimidated PSC members during our demonstration.”

BDS Activism

In April 2015, while serving on the UTSG, Jensen co-sponsored a divestment resolution that called on the University of Texas Investment Management Company (UTIMCO) to divest itself of holdings in companies that “facilitate… the oppression of the Palestinian people by the State of Israel.”

PSC Austin spearheaded the #UTDivest campaign to introduce the divestment resolution to the Student Government Assembly (SGA). The campaign’s goal was to have [00:01:45] UT Austin join the BDS movement.

On April 9, 2015, Jensen was quoted in an article published by UT Austin’s student newspaper, The Daily Texan and titled: “UTDivest, Unify Texas debate foreign divestment.”

Jensen reportedly said: “I don’t want my tuition money going to the corporations that have produced the infrastructure that enables the segregation, inequality and painful uncertainties that subjugate Palestinian people.”

On April 15, 2015, Jensen featured as a panelist for an event hosted by pscatx and titled: “Public Forum: UT Divest, Palestine, and the Global BDS Movement.”

On April 21, 2015, the SGA voted down the divestment resolution that Jensen co-sponsored by an 11 - 23 -1 vote.

Defending an Anti-Israel Agitator

In Jensen’s December 23, 2015 HuffPost article, she defended anti-Israel professor Steven Salaita, writing that he “was wrongfully fired,” for tweets she said were “condemning Israel’s Operation Protective Edge in Gaza.”

In 2014, The University of Illinois withdrew an offer of employment to Steven 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.”

PSC Activism

In a September 11, 2015 Facebook post, pscatx campaigned for funds to allow Jensen and four other members to attend that year’s National SJP conference, urging readers to help “finance” the delegation since “the knowledge they bring back to PSC will be crucial for the organization as we move forward with BDS and other activities…”

pscatx wrote: “donations will go to covering flights and conference registration fees for the delegates” and linked to a gofundme page that was organized by PSC activist Mohammed Nabulsi.

On April 16, 2015, pscatx posted to their Facebook page: “TODAY Student Government will be debating the Divestment Resolution… in the SG Governmental Affairs Committee… PSC's own Katie Jensen is on the committee and will be fighting hard for the Divestment Resolution. If there's anything you'd like her to take into account... please share it via facebook message.”

On April 11, 2015, pscatx posted to their Facebook page: “Great writeup by SG representative and PSC's own Katie Jensen on the question of framing and the Apartheid system in Israel; a great resource to get acquainted with the violent discriminatory policies by Israel against the Palestinian people in the Occupied Territories. #UTDivest.”

On March 25, 2015, Jensen participated in [00:01:47] a PSC protest against an event held by pro-Israel groups Texas Hillel and Texans for Israel to celebrate Israeli culture, titled: “Israel Block Party.”

PSC members protested across the street from the block party and constructed a mock “apartheid wall” meant to simulate Israel’s security barrier.

Israel’s security barrier, 97 percent of which is a low chain-link barrier, was built as a deterrent to Palestinian terror attacks. The concrete portions of the fence were built in response to Palestinian sniper attacks.

PSC activists also promoted [00:01:47] a PSC divestment campaign to have UT Austin join the BDS movement.

PSC Austin - Disrupting A Campus Event 2014

On October 14, 2014, members of several student organizations, including PSC, disrupted [00:00:18] a talk about ISIS given by Israeli Major General Meir Dagan, former head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service.

The Daily Texan, a UT Austin student newspaper, reported that students protested outside the event and “At one point during Dagan’s talk, some protesters inside the auditorium interrupted the event by yelling pro-Palestinian phrases.”

PSC Austin - Glorifying Intifada 2015

In November 2015, PSC Austin, together with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Houston, scheduled an event titled: “Solidarity with the Palestinian Uprising: Call to Action!”

The event’s Facebook description claimed: “The Zionist state occupation forces” were “killing dozens of unarmed Palestinians…with the participation of racist Zionist settlers.”

The event took place during a wave of stabbing attacks carried out by Palestinians against Israeli civilians, termed the “Knife Intifada.” Palestinians shared graphics and video tutorials across social media explaining how to most effectively stab Jews. One widely shared video showed a young girl from Gaza brandishing a knife while calling on West Bank Palestinians to stab Israelis.

The event’s Facebook description also said: “Palestinians across historic Palestine—including 1948 Palestine—have taken it upon themselves to launch a popular resistance…to fight the genocidal Zionist project. The Palestinian youth…have in particular taken the lead in this uprising. They are sacrificing themselves so that Palestine may have a future. The least we can do is show our support for them.”

The event’s Facebook description concluded: “Long Live the Resistance! Long Live the Intifada!”

Since the early 2000s, the term “intifada,” which translates from Arabic as “uprising” or “insurrection,” has carried the connotation of violence.

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.

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.