Nancy Stern

The term “Nakba” is generally translated as “catastrophe” in Arabic, referring to the outcome of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It is a term often used to delegitimize the creation of the State of Israel by defining it as a catastrophe.

On May 7, 2021, Stern tweeted: “Israeli occupation forces continue to injure and kill Palestinians with impunity#Jerusalem #SaveSheikhJarrah…”

“Israeli Occupation Forces,” or “IOF,” is a derogatory name for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) used by anti-Israel activists to demonize Israel’s army.  

On May 10, 2021, at the beginning of OGW, Stern tweeted: “I just signed a @IfNotNowOrg petition: American Jews Demand Sec. Blinken Respond to Israeli Actions Against Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah. Sign here…”

IfNotNow (INN) is an organization that has demonized Israel and seeks to drive a wedge between American Jewry and Israel. 

On June 30, 2021, Stern tweeted: “#SaveSilwan.”

Jewish ownership claims to lands in Silwan, a Jerusalem neighborhood also known as Shiloach, have been frequently met with Palestinian violence against Israelis who sought to reclaim their property rights.

On January 19, 2022, Stern tweeted: “Ethnic cleansing in Sheikh Jarrah, the Naqab [Israel’s Negev region], and across Palestine is escalating. What you do and say now about what’s happening will go down in history. Silence in these moments equals complicity.#SaveSheikhJarrah.”

Hatred of Israel

Stern retweeted an October 27, 2021 tweet from Combatants for Peace (CFP) that said: “Now at the offices of Al-Haq in Ramallah: Rana Salman and Yonatan Gher, our CEOs, together with representatives of 25 Israeli human rights organizations in a solidarity visit with the six Palestinian human rights organizations under attack.”



On March 13, 2021, Stern tweeted: “@CoryBooker @SenatorMenendez @BillPascrell Pls join congressional colleagues to call on @SecBlinken and @StateDeptto ground its engagement on Palestine and Israel in international law and human rights.Defund the occupation.”

On July 31, 2020, Stern tweeted: “I just signed a @theactionnet petition to demand an end to the harassment of Palestinian scientists and academics and an immediate release of Prof. Imad Barghouthi…academics please consider signing…”

Al Quds University professor Imad Barghouthi is a vocal supporter of Hamas’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, and has called [00:02:43] for killing “Zionist soldiers” and being killed in the name of Islam. In 2016, Barghouthi was sentenced to seven months in prison for incitement to violence.

On June 25, 2020, Stern tweeted: “Please don’t pinkwash Israel’s apartheid policies…Israel murders Palestinians with impunity because the US and others fail to hold it accountable. Stop military aid to Israel. Defund the IDF [Israel Defense Forces].”

“Pinkwashing” is a claim that Israel advocates manipulate the LGBTQ community in order to garner support for Israel.  

Stern retweeted a January 28, 2020 tweet that called Israel a “violent, settler-colonial state.”

Stern retweeted an August 15, 2019 tweet that said: “No means of resistance is acceptable to Israel or its backers. No popular protest. No armed resistance. No boycotts. No rallies, no demonstrations, no songs, no poetry, no entry, no nothing. Just collapse and die, or disappear, or remain occupied and completely silent.”

Among Palestinians and anti-Israel activists, the term “resistance” can be a euphemism for nationalistic terror. It is often used to excuse or even glorify anti-Israel and anti-Semitic violence.  

On August 15, 2019, Stern tweeted: “Israel is not a democracy.”

Stern retweeted a July 22, 2019 tweet calling Israel’s security barrier an “Apartheid Wall.”

Israel’s security barrier, 97 percent of which is a low chain-link barrier, was built as a deterrent to Palestinian terror attacks. The concrete portions of the fence were built in response to Palestinian sniper attacks.

On May 15, 2019, Stern tweeted: “I canceled my @Airbnb account today for #Nakba Day as part of the international #DeactivateAirbnb - because they continue to list properties in illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.”

On June 20, 2017, Stern tweeted: “[presidential senior advisor Jared] Kushner is going to Israel…is end of #Gaza blockade part of your peace process?”

Israel and Egypt implemented a United Nations-approved [pp. 39–41] joint blockade of the Gaza Strip in 2011 to stop Hamas from acquiring more sophisticated rockets.

Justifying Anti-Semitism

On July 31, 2022, Stern tweeted: “...Academic freedom does indeed include the right to criticize any political idea…Anti-Zionism is not antisemitism.” 

Stern’s tweet was in response to a tweet featuring an article about anti-Semitism at CUNY. The tweet said: “Yet another college campus is plagued by crazies who think that hating Jewish people is part of their ‘academic freedom.’”

Zionism is the belief that Jews have the right to self-determination in their own national home, and the right to develop their national culture.

On March 4, 2019, Stern tweeted: “...Criticism of Israel or AIPAC is not antisemitic. #JewsForIhlan [U.S. congresswoman Ilhan Omar] #IStandWithIlhan…”

The stated mission of American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is to “strengthen, protect and promote the U.S.-Israel relationship in ways that enhance the security of the United States and Israel.”

On February 27, 2019, Ilhan Omar suggested that Israel supporters were disloyal to America. She said: “I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is OK for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country.” After the incident, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee described Omar’s comments as a “vile anti-Semitic slur” and “unacceptable and deeply offensive.”

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.