Les Field
Overview
In March of 2016, Field wrote an essay supporting the AAA BDS resolution and blaming Israel for violence against “indigenous and Afro communities” in Latin America. In June of 2017, Field wrote another essay titled “Why Jewish Anthropologists Should Support the Boycott.”
Field has signed a letter calling on academics to boycott a history conference at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, as well as a statement condemning Israel for passing anti-BDS legislation.
Field is a professor of Anthropology at the University of New Mexico (UNM), where he promoted BDS as the faculty advisor of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). Field has also co-organized two field schools for UNM students in Israel.
Pushing BDS
In March of 2016, Field wrote an essay to promote the AAA BDS resolution. In his essay, Field argued that Israel’s support of certain regimes in Latin America reflect Israel’s “deliberate and systemic political, economic and ideological commitments to military and right-wing regimes that have violently defended social systems based upon profound racial, economic and political inequalities.”
Field also blamed Israel for violence against “indigenous and Afro communities” in Latin America.
Field then argued that “if in Latin America, successive Israeli governments have supported brutally violent even genocidal campaigns against indigenous peoples (which the AAA has often opposed) and also supported the most right-wing even anti-Semitic regimes, pay attention to what Israel does in the Occupied Territories because foreign and domestic policies are, I would argue, part and parcel of the same nationalism.”
Field went on to suggest that scholars “can fruitfully understand the violence against Palestinian communities conducted by both the IDF and the settler para-militaries through the prism of Israel’s historic alliances in Latin America.”
In June of 2016, the AAA announced that the resolution to boycott Israeli universities was defeated but that there are “other actions planned.”
In June of 2017, Field wrote another essay titled “Why Jewish Anthropologists Should Support the Boycott” as part of an Anthroboycott series commemorating the Six-Day War. In his essay, Field described how he abandoned ZIonism to become a BDS activist and encouraged Jewish anthropologists to engage in a “critical re-examination of our upbringing” and to support BDS.
In 2013, Field signed a letter calling on academics to boycott a history conference at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The letter accused Israel of practicing “colonialism” and “apartheid.”
In 2011, Field signed a statement condemning the Israeli Knesset for passing anti-BDS legislation. The statement also accused Israel of carrying out “ethnic cleansing since before 1948.”
Anti-Israel Activity at UNM
The resolution did not pass.
SJP activities at UNM have reportedly contributed to creating an environment of hostility towards Jewish students.
On October 12, 2015, Field gave a presentation, alongside anti-Israel activist Alex Lubin, titled "Panel presentation on Israel and Palestine." The presentation contextualized data through an ideological anti-Zionist position. Both Field and Lubin were involved in organizing a field school for UNM students in 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.
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.
Social Media and Weblinks
- Status:
- Professor
- University:
- New-Mexico
- Organizations:
- BDS,
- SJP
- Related Profiles:
- Alex Lubin,
- Deena Aggad,
- Last Modified:
- 05/04/2026
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