Kevin Bruyneel

On September 7, 2017, Bruyneel was arrested by Cambridge police at a protest held in Harvard Square and charged with “Disturbing the Peace,” a misdemeanor criminal offense.

As of May 2023, Bruyneel was a professor of politics at Babson College (Babson).

Bruyneel received a PhD in political science from the New School for Social Research (the New School) in 2001 and a master’s degree in political science, also from the New School, in 1995. 

As of May 2023, Bruyneel’s Twitter bio said he was located in Somerville, Massachusetts.

Spreading Incitement

On May 8, 2021, Bruyneel tweeted: “#SaveSheikhJarraj / There is not enough national/global attention to this story; forced evictions, war crimes, settler colonial displacement/violence in Palestine.”



On May 16, 2021, Bruyneel tweeted: “...I call for a free Palestine and an end to the Israeli state’s apartheid…Pass it on. #FreeSheikJarrah.”

In May 2021, Palestinian violence erupted in anticipation of an Israel High Court ruling on eviction proceedings concerning over 70 Palestinian tenants illegally residing in Jewish-owned properties in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. 

Hatred of Israel

On June 25, 2022, Bruyneel tweeted that both Israel and the United States were examples of a “settler colonial state.”

On May 13, 2021, Bruyneel tweeted about measures Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took to curb rioting in multiple Israeli cities. He wrote: “...Netanyahu’s message is clear; harm/kill/remove/brutalize as many Palestinians as you want and the state (and its allies) has your back. It’s settler colonial genocide…”

On May 11, 2021, during OGW, violent Arab riots broke out in Israel’s mixed Jewish-Arab city of Lod and in other Israeli cities with large Arab populations. The rioters in Lod reportedly raised Hamas and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) flags and attacked Israeli civilians with slabs and rocks, as well as firebombs and metal rods. Rioters also torched synagogues, cars and businesses, and vandalized hospital medical equipment, schools and government buildings.  

On May 10, 2021, Bruyneel tweeted in reference to Israel: “Ethnic cleansing, population removal...it is the settler colonial logic of elimination against Palestinians…”

On May 14, 2018, Bruyneel posted on Facebook a New York Times article about the “March of Return” and the relocation of the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Bruyneel wrote: “US and Israel and the violent logic of elimination at the core of these two settler colonial regimes…this is a sickening day of two sickening states.” 


In December 2017, the U.S. government announced its decision to formally recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and to relocate the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Supporting BDS

On August 15, 2019, Bruyneel was mentioned in a Facebook post by anti-Israel professor Corey Robin. Robin’s post said: “...there’s a good academic boycott [of Israel] resolution being discussed at the [Foundations of Political Theory] section meeting…If you want more information on it, feel free to contact…Kevin Bruyneel.”

On July 23, 2019, Bruyneel tweeted: “Right on! @RashidaTlaib speaking against #HRes246 to defend the right to boycott, and calling out the racist policies and practices of the state of Israel. #bdsmovement.”

House Resolution 246 (H.Res.246), which opposed “efforts to delegitimize the State of Israel and the Global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions [BDS] Movement targeting Israel,” was passed by the United States House of Representatives on July 23, 2019.

Rashida Tlaib was elected to the U.S. Congress in November 2018. She has advocated for a one-state solution, endorsed the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and called for reduced foreign aid to Israel. In July 2019, Tlaib co-sponsored a pro-BDS bill in the U.S. Congress introduced by Rep. Ilhan Omar.
On July 8, 2019, Bruyneel co-authored a pro-BDS article titled: “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) and Political Theory.”

On February 13, 2019, Bruyneel tweeted: “#IStandWithIlan / I call upon our great MA-7 rep, @AyannaPressley…to stand with her colleagues @IlhanMN and @RashidaTlaib by refusing AIPAC trips to Israel and voting no on anti-BDS measures…”


The stated mission of AIPAC is to “strengthen, protect and promote the U.S.-Israel relationship in ways that enhance the security of the United States and Israel.”

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

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/kevin.bruyneel/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kbruyneel 

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/kevinbruyneel/ 

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-bruyneel-996658171/ 

Academia.edu:https://babson.academia.edu/KevinBruyneel 

University Website:https://www.babson.edu/about/our-leaders-and-scholars/faculty-and-academic-divisions/faculty-profiles/kevin-bruyneel.php 

Personal Website:https://kevinbruyneel.net/