Linda Gordon

Overview

Linda Gordon is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and has defended intimidation tactics by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) on campus. She has also defended disgraced anti-Israel Professor Steven Salaita.  

She is a professor in the Department of History at the New York University (NYU).

Supporting BDS

Following the January 4, 2015 defeat of a BDS proposal by the American Historical Association (AHA), Gordon wrote an article expressing her personal support for BDS.

In the article, Gordon stated, “BDS as a whole has already had a positive impact.” She went on to claim that “the occupation is not just one aspect of the Israeli nation but has become fundamental to most of its policies, including those within Israel.”

In the same article, Gordon argued that “As an American Jew, I think our primary responsibility should be changing our own government support for Israel’s repressive policies.”

Gordon also signed a petition stating that “NYU must divest itself of any holdings it may have” in Israeli companies.”

The petition claimed that “Israel has turned the impoverished and densely-populated Gaza strip into the world’s largest open-air prison and launched repeated military assaults against it.”

Gordon 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.  

Operation Protective Edge (OPE)
On December 31, 2013, Gordon co-authored an article describing the form of BDS they viewed as most effective. The authors wrote “We would call on those concerned for the future of a democratic Israel to concentrate on what our own country does in supporting Israeli policy toward Palestinians and their lands…. our politicians are still far too subservient to the money and threats from lobbyists who support Israeli policy.”

Supporting SJP Intimidation Tactics

Gordon signed a petition, published on April 28, 2014, defending controversial intimidation tactics by NYU’s SJP chapter.

The petition stated that “We, the undersigned NYU faculty members, believe that the First Amendment right of NYU students to express, and advocate for, their opinions on issues of public concern must be respected and protected. This includes the mock eviction notices that members of the NYU chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), a recognized student organization, recently distributed in NYU dormitories.”

In April 2014, SJP at NYU served fake eviction notices to undergraduate students. According to a report, the notices, slipped under the doors of the students’ dormitories, read “We regret to inform you that your suite is scheduled for demolition in three days...If you do not vacate the premise by midnight on 25 April, 2014, we reserve the right to destroy all remaining belongings. Charges for demolition will be applied to your student accounts.”

One NYU student was quoted stating that "It's an attack on the Jewish community… It's specifically targeting Jewish students, which makes them feel not so safe."

After serving the notices, NYU SJP released a statement validating their campaign, claiming that “Through its policy of housing demolitions, Israel aims to ethnically cleanse Israel/Palestine of its Arab inhabitants in a systematic manner.”

Defending Steven Salaita

Gordon signed a petition published on August 21, 2014, by the BDS movement titled:“A Call to People of Conscience Not to Speak at the University Of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Until Chancellor Wise Honor [sic.] the Contract to Hire Professor Steven Salaita.”  

In 2014, The University of Illinois withdrew an offer of employment to 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.” In 2017, Salaita posted to Facebook: “People ask if I would go back in time and change anything. I would not…I will die unapologetic.” In February 2019, Salaita stated that he had become a school bus driver in the Washington, D.C., area.

Social Media and Weblinks