Mervat Hatem

MESA is considered the most important academic association of Middle East Studies.

Hatem is a professor in the department of Political Science at Howard University (Howard).

Supporting BDS

During MESA’s annual 2014 conference, Hatem signed a resolution that defended “the right of scholarly associations to boycott Israel” and called on MESA to “provide platforms for a sustained discussion of the academic boycott and foster careful consideration of an appropriate position for MESA to assume.”

Demonizing Israel

In 2008, during her tenure as president of MESA, Hatem wrote three letters criticizing Israel and Israelis.

In June 2008, Hatem wrote a letter criticizing Israel for barring anti-Israel activist Norman Finkelstein from entering Israel. 

In May 2008, Hatem wrote a letter criticizing former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for allegedly preventing Gazans from pursuing educational opportunities abroad.

In March 2008, Hatem wrote a letter demonizing Sapir College in Israel for censuring lecturer Nizar Hassan, who had refused to teach a reservist student because he was in uniform.

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://coas.howard.edu/politicalscience/hatem/