Kimberly Katz
Overview
Kimberly Katz has glorified anti-Israel activism and is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.Katz is a professor in the Department of History at Towson University (TU).
Glorifying Anti-Israel Activism
On March 7, 2011, Katz published an article praising Budrus, an anti-Israel documentary glorifying Palestinian activism against Israel.In her article, Katz described how “documentary tells the story of the villagers' struggle to liberate themselves and their olive groves from Israel's creeping, self-described security fence, which Palestinians call ‘the Wall’.”
Supporting BDS
Katz signed an open letter to United States President Barack Obama and the American Congress, dated July 31, 2014, condemning “the disproportionate harm that the Israeli military, which the United States has armed and supported for decades, is inflicting on the population of Gaza.”The letter exclusively blamed Israel for the Gazan civilian crisis and called upon the administration “to suspend US military aid to Israel, until there is assurance that this aid will no longer be used for the commission of war crimes.”
The letter was in response to Operation Protective Edge (OPE).
Israel commenced Operation Protective Edge (OPE) in July 2014, to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.
The letter, published by the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI), accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing,” compared Israel to Apartheid South Africa and concluded that “Israel too maintains an apartheid regime.”
After charging Israel with inflicting “one of the most massive, ethnocidal atrocities of modern times,” the signatories called upon President Obama to join in the BDS movement.
Katz signed an open letter, published on February 4, 2014, condemning anti-BDS legislation and, specifically, efforts made in opposition to the BDS resolution proposed to the American Studies Association (ASA).
Signatories of the letter defended BDS, arguing that “Boycotts are a long recognized and legally protected mode of political speech.”
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
Personal Website:https://kbkatz08.wixsite.com/kimberlykatzUniversity Website:https://www.towson.edu/cla/departments/history/facultystaff/kkatz.html
- Status:
- Professor
- University:
- Towson
- Organizations:
- BDS
- Related Profiles:
- Last Modified:
- 05/04/2026
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