Maimuna Islam
Overview
Maimuna Islam [Maimuna Dali Islam] is a supporter of the Boycott, DivestmentSanctions (BDS) movement. She has promoted hatred of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), has supported anti-Israel campus activists and defended anti-Israel Professor Steven Salaita.She also participated in an activist trip to Israel sponsored by the anti-Israel Palestinian-American Research Center, in 2014.
As of August 2019, Islam was a professor of English at the College of Idaho (CI). She chaired CI’s English Department from 2010-2013.
Supporting BDS
Islam is a signatory to a list of individuals endorsing the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI).In 2016, Islam 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.”
In January 2017, the MLA Delegate Assembly approved a resolution (2017-1) acknowledging “the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel contradicts the MLA’s purpose” and conflicted with another resolution (2002-1), that condemned boycotts against scholars. Therefore, the Assembly “resolved that the MLA refrain from endorsing the boycott.”
Promoting Hatred of the ADL
On May 30, 2018, Islam shared a tweet from fellow anti-Israel activist Zahra Billoo and wrote: “Brilliant thread.”Billoo’s thread demonized Israel, as well as Muslim activists and organizations that do interfaith work with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). The thread began with a tweet in which Billoo said that she: “wants to talk to you about the Muslims who work with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) under the guise of interfaith relations and civil work.”
A tweet in the thread said: “3) After 9/11, when the Holy Land Foundation was unjustly targeted for their previous, legal humanitarian work, the ADL supported their prosecution.”
Five individuals, known as the HL5, associated with the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) were convicted and sentenced in 2009 to federal prison terms ranging from 15 to 65 years on charges of funneling funds to Hamas in the guise of humanitarian aid.
A later tweet in Billoo’s thread referred to the anti-Israel organization Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP)’s “Deadly Exchange” campaign and said: “7) If you're wondering about police militarization, the ADL actually facilitates learning trips for US police to go study how apartheid Israel's police force profiles and otherwise represses Palestinian communities.”
JVP’s “Deadly Exchange” campaign accuses American Jewish organizations of promoting human rights abuses. On August 17, 2017, JVP published a YouTube video that accused [00:04:19] these organizations of coordinating exchange programs between American and Israeli security personnel, to advance “worst practices” and “racist policies.”
The campaign page claimed that these “policies” included: “extrajudicial executions, shoot-to-kill policies, police murders, racial profiling, massive spying and surveillance, deportation and detention.”
Supporting Anti-Israel Campus Activists
Islam signed a 2016 letter opposing an effort by the Regents of the University of California to fight against anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism on California campuses.The letter, published by the anti-Israel Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) organization, opposed the inclusion of anti-Zionism as an “intolerant position” in the University of California (UC)’s proposed “Statement of Principles Against Intolerance.”
Signatories of the letter argued that “The definition of ‘anti-Zionism’ as intolerance and/or bigotry is vague and overbroad” and urged the Chair of the UC Committee on Academic Freedom to reject the inclusion of anti-Zionism “as a form of bigotry and intolerance.”
When she signed the petition, Islam purported to be from the University of California (UC).
Defending Steven Salaita
Islam signeda 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.”Islam also signed a petition titled: “#StudentsforSalaia.”
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.
Activist Trip
Islam participated in a 2014 Development Seminar on Palestine, organized by the Palestine American Research Center (PARC). The seminar takes “full-time faculty members at recognized U.S. colleges or universities” to Israel.Prerequisites for trip eligibility included having “little previous travel experience to Palestine,” being willing to integrate ... experiences from the seminar into their own teaching” and pursuit of a joint research project or publication with a Palestinian colleague.”
The PARC Board of Directors includes numerous anti-Israel professors including Ilana Feldman, Sherene Seikaly, Amahl Bishara and Susan Slyomovics.
PARC also has also worked with the pro-BDS organization, the Middle East Studies Association (MESA), including sponsoring “a roundtable, a discussion, and a film” at MESA’s 2019 annual meeting.
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: https://www.collegeofidaho.edu/directory/maimuna-islamTwitter:https://twitter.com/maimunaislam70
- Status:
- Professor
- University:
- Idaho
- Organizations:
- BDS
- Related Profiles:
- Last Modified:
- 05/04/2026
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