Leo Parascondola

Overview

Leo Parascondola is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and has demonized Israel. 

As of January 2020, Parascondola was an adjunct professor of English at William Paterson University (William Paterson). 

Supporting BDS

In 2016, Parascondola signed an open letter calling for the academic boycott of Israel. 

The open letter was addressed to the Modern Language Association (MLA), “calling on the association to pass a resolution endorsing the boycott of Israeli academic institutions.”
On August 29, 2014, Parascondola signed the “Open Letter on Gaza and BDS from the Middle East Caucus of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies.”

The letter described “indiscriminate and disproportionate violence that has been waged… by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) against the civilian population of Gaza” that it characterized as “the largest ‘open air prison’ in the world.” 

The letter went on to endorse the BDS movement and to conclude that “the violence has taken an unprecedented and savage turn, having reached genocidal proportions.” 

On April 29, 2014, Parascondola signed a petition to “Boycott Israeli Cinema and TV Studies Conference at Tel Aviv University.” 

The petition called upon scholars to boycott an upcoming conference at Tel Aviv University (TAU) and provided a link to the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI). 

Demonizing Israel 

Parascondola signed a letter, published by the US Campaign to End the Occupation (now known as the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights), published on December 13, 2013, addressed to the American Studies Association National Council.

The U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation (ETO), now called the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR), is a coalition of American-based anti-Israel organizations. ETO’s activities include lobbying Congress to end aid to Israel, promoting BDS, organizing Israeli Apartheid Week on college campuses and initiating publicity-generating campaigns to demonize Israel.

The 2013 letter Parascondola signed said: “Israeli academia has never been a catalyst for change; it is at the core of Israel’s occupation and apartheid policies.”

The 2013 letter was “to extend our deepest congratulations and full support for the ASA National Council’s historic and principled decision to endorse and honor the Palestinian civil society call for the academic boycott of Israel.”

On December 4, 2013, the ASA National Council voted to support the academic boycott against Israel.

In 2003, Parascondola signed a petition demonizing Israel. 

The petition, published on January 30, 2003, stated: “With an average of more than $10 million dollars per day of American tax dollars going to Israel, we believe Americans cannot remain silent while crimes as abhorrent as ethnic cleansing are being openly advocated.”

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

University Website: http://wpunj.academia.edu/LParascondola

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/551524349

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leo-parascondola-6494b342/