Marjorie Cohn
Overview
Marjorie Cohn has demonized Israel in her writing, accusing Israel of war crimes, intentional killings and genocide.Cohn has expressed support for arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti’s Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strike and endorsed the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Cohn is a professor emeritus at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law (TJSL) and former president of the National Lawyers Guild, which regularly partners with NGOs highly active in BDS campaigns.
Demonizing Israel
In an article published on October 19, 2017, Cohn claimed “US-backed Israeli violence and aggression” vastly exceeds anything attributed to Hamas and Hezbollah.On January 13, 2017, Cohn published an article in which she condemned “Obama's unwavering enabling of Israel's illegal policies.”
In the same article, Cohn went on to charge that “Building illegal settlements in occupied Palestinian territories is not the only war crime Israeli leaders have committed.” Cohn then elaborated on that point, accusing Israel of “war crimes of building settlements and targeting civilians in Gaza.”
On September 30, 2016, Cohn published an article titled “President Obama: ‘Patron’ of the Israeli Occupation,” in which she accused Israel of “collective punishment” and “war crimes.”
In an article published on June 14, 2016, Cohn claimed that “Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories is a form of colonialism” and that “The occupation constitutes collective punishment, which is considered a war crime.”
In the same article, Cohn went on to endorse the BDS movement, arguing that “BDS should be embraced as a nonviolent strategy to challenge the Israeli occupation.”
On March 25, 2015, Cohn published an article condemning Amreican support for Israel and calling on former United States President Barack Obama to support international efforts to charge Israel with war crimes.
Cohn wrote that “It is high time for the US government to halt its longstanding policy of turning a blind eye to Israel's many violations of the law.”
On August 9, 2014, Cohn published an article titled “US Leaders Aid and Abet Israeli War Crimes, Genocide and Crimes against Humanity.”
There, Cohn claimed Israel was guilty of“war crimes” including “willful killing,” “genocide” and “crimes against humanity.” Based on these accusations, Cohn concluded that “Both Israeli and US leaders must be criminally prosecuted for committing and aiding and abetting these crimes.”
In an article published on January 8, 2012, Cohn alleged a conspiracy whereby Israeli and American efforts to stop Iranian nuclear development “constitute acts of terrorism” which “are designed to provoke Iran to retaliate.”
In the same article, Cohn argued that “Iran is not a threat to Israel’s security” and that “It is up to us to prevail upon our elected officials to avoid a tragic conflagration in Iran by pressuring Israel to cease and desist.”
Supporting Terrorists
On May 20, 2017, she expressed support for arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti’s Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strike.Supporting BDS
On December 2, 2017, Cohn published an article in which she endorsed the BDS movement and described a conspiracy whereby Israel and the United States sought to “hide names of companies supporting Israeli settlement.”In an article published on April 2, 2017, Cohn expressed support for the BDS movement and its leader, Omar Barghouti, who she described as a “a prominent Palestinian human rights defender.”
Barghouti, co-founder of the BDS movement, rejects the existence of Israel.
Barghouti falsely claimed that the demand that all Palestinian refugees be allowed to settle in Israel is a "right" under international law, and further asserted that the demands of BDS are “inflexible” and “non-negotiable” — and if people object then “tough.”
Barghouti also accusedIsrael of "colonizing the minds of Palestinians" by (temporarily) shutting down Palestinian educational institutions — particularly Birzeit University — whose militant student body was involvedin riots and terror activity during the first Intifada and later remained ridden with terrorists. Barghouti omitted that under Israeli occupation five Arab universities and 70 teaching colleges were created on the West Bank, between 1967 and 1987 alone; none were permitted when the area was under Jordanian rule before 1967.
In January of 2016, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) swept Birzeit, seizing weapons stockpiles and Hamas propaganda. The university administration echoed Barghouti’s claims, characterizing the sweep as a "belligerent ... attack on the university and our right to education and all the principles involved in the freedom of education."
Barghouti also condemned Israel for shutting down other educational institutions, like kindergartens and high schools, which were also used to educate children to hate Israeli Jews — and become suicide bombers.
Barghouti also falsely claimed that Israel is guilty of Apartheid towards its Arab citizens.
On July 22, 2014, Cohn signed a petition titled “Jews Say: End the War on Gaza — No Aid to Apartheid Israel!”
The petition charged Israel with “more than a century of Zionist colonialism, dispossession, ethnic cleaning, racism, and genocide” and claimed that “Israel uses resistance to such policies as an excuse to terrorize and collectively punish the indigenous population for its very existence.”
On March 24, 2014, Cohn wrote an article praising supporters of BDS and endorsing the movement as a means of “resistance to Israeli occupation.”
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
Twitter: https://twitter.com/marjoriecohn?lang=enPersonal Website:http://marjoriecohn.com/
University Website:https://www.tjsl.edu/directory/marjorie-cohn
- Status:
- Professor
- University:
- Thomas-Jefferson-Law
- Organizations:
- BDS
- Related Profiles:
- Last Modified:
- 05/04/2026
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