Nancy Kalow
Overview
Nancy Kalow has promoted campus anti-Israel activists, defended an anti-Israel agitator and is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. She has also demonized Israel.Kalow is a lecturing fellow in the Center of Documentary Studies at Duke University (Duke).
Promoting Campus Anti-Israel Activists
In November 2018, Kalow sponsored an event titled: “Film Screening: A Festival of Student Films from Palestine” at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC Chapel Hill). The event was co-sponsored by the UNC chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).In a tweet published on September 7, 2018, SJP promoted the upcoming event.
Kalow signed a 2017 letter, condemning a decision by Fordham’s dean to block the establishment of a SJP chapter on campus. The letter was authored by the anti-Israel Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) organization.
In 2016, Fordham reportedly blocked the formation of a Fordham SJP chapter “based on the reported behavior of other [SJP] chapters on other campuses,” indicating that “the establishment of a local branch could be ‘polarizing’ and pose a safety concern to students and faculty.”
Signatories demanded that Fordham “immediately rescind the rejection of SJP as a student group on campus, apologize to the students affected by this harmful decision, and reaffirm Fordham’s commitment to free speech and academic freedom.”
The petitioners also highlighted SJP’s BDS activity, characterizing SJP’s efforts to promote anti-Israel boycott as part of “a time-honored non-violent mode of political expression.” The petition accused Fordham’s administration of a “fundamental misunderstanding of what boycotts are, the purpose of a university, and the goals of SJP.”
The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) in cooperation with Palestine Legal (PL), and civil rights attorney Alan Levine sued Fordham on behalf of four students in April 2017. A New York court annulled Fordham’s decision in August 2019, mandating that the university recognize SJP as an official club.
Fordham appealed the ruling to the NY State Supreme Court Appellate Division in January 2020. On July 24, 2020, Fordham SJP students filed a brief asking the appellate court to deny Fordham’s appeal of the lower court’s decision.
As of October 2020, a variety of groups, not directly involved in the case, filed amicus briefs with the Appellate Division for the court's consideration including JVP.
Defending an Anti-Israel Agitator
In 2018, Kalow signed a petition, expressing support for anti-Israel activist, Lara Alqasem, demanding that the Israeli government permit her into the country.Supporting BDS
Kalow signed her name to a list of individuals endorsing the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI).Demonizing Israel
Kalow signed a petition published on October 11, 2016, condemning the local Jewish community and supporters of Israel because they “prioritized its support for Israel over its commitment to Black lives.”Signatories went on to state: “As Jews, we recommit ourselves to doing whatever it takes—alongside the Movement for Black Lives—to end militarization in Israel and in the United States once and for all.”
In 2016, Kalow signed a petition, published by Code Pink, to former Secretary of State John Kerry, claiming that the people of Gaza “have been repeatedly subjected to brutal Israeli military assaults and reside in what can only be described as an open-air prison” and demanding that he “stop enabling the blockade with US military assistance.”
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://documentarystudies.duke.edu/people/nancy-kalow
- Status:
- Professor
- University:
- Duke
- Organizations:
- BDS
- Related Profiles:
- Last Modified:
- 05/04/2026
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