Renate Bridenthal

Overview

Renate Bridenthal has demonized Israel and is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

In 2018, Bridenthal was listed as professor of Women’s and Gender Studies at CUNY’s Graduate Center (GC) as well as a retired professor of History at Brooklyn College.

Demonizing Israel

On September 22, 2014, Bridenthal participated in a panel discussion on CUNY campus titled “CUNY Stands for Justice -- From Ferguson to Palestine.”

According to the event page, the discussion aimed “to connect the Israeli siege on Gaza and militarized police brutality in the U.S.”

Bridenthal also signed the “Jewish Appeal to Support the Goldstone Report,” published on October 20, 2009.

Signatories of the petition claimed that “We must hold the Israeli government and the Jewish establishment accountable for attempting to vilify a truth-teller and for suppressing the truth about Israeli government crimes against the Palestinian people.”

The Goldstone Report was the product of a 2009 United Nations Fact-Finding Mission, sent to investigate Operation Cast Lead.

Israel commenced Operations Cast Lead (OCL)in 2008-09 in order to stop Hamas rocket fire from Gaza targeting Israeli civilians.

Following widespread criticism and rejection of the report for its “methodological failings, legal and factual errors, and falsehoods,” Judge Richard Goldstone (author of the report) expressed “regrets about his report” and retracted its central thesis.

In an article published in April 2011, Goldstone wrote that while “the crimes allegedly committed by Hamas were intentional goes without saying.... The allegations of intentionality by Israel… had no evidence on which to draw.” Goldstone concluded that “If I had known then what I know now, the Goldstone Report would have been a different document.”

Supporting BDS

Bridenthal signed a petition, published on January 17, 2018, condemning the inclusion of Scarlett Johansson as a guest speaker at the Women’s March in Los Angeles (WMLA) because of her support for Israel.

The petition also condemned the participation of the National Council of Jewish Women as a major organizer and donor for the event, claiming that the group was “determined to silence the voices of critics of Israel and supporters of Palestinian rights.”

Bridenthal signed a controversial petition, submitted to the American Historical Association (AHA) in 2016, which alleged that “Israel’s restrictions on the movement of faculty, staff and visitors in the West Bank impede instruction at Palestinian institutions of higher learning” and that “Israel restricts the right to lecture or teach at Palestinian universities.”

The petition went on to demand that “the AHA commits itself to monitoring Israeli actions.”

Bridenthal also signed a petition, published on the BDS website on August 8, 2014, titled “Jewish survivors and descendants of survivors of Nazi genocide unequivocally condemn the massacre of Palestinians in Gaza.”

Signatories of the petition accused Israel of “the massacre of Palestinians in Gaza and the ongoing occupation and colonization of historic Palestine.” The petition also claimed  that “In Israel, politicians and pundits...have called openly for genocide of Palestinians and right-wing Israelis are adopting Neo-Nazi insignia.”

The petition concluded with a “call for the full economic, cultural and academic boycott of Israel.”

Bridenthal signed an open letter to United States President, Barack Obama and the American Congress, dated July 31, 2014, condemning “the disproportionate harm that the Israeli military, which the United States has armed and supported for decades, is inflicting on the population of Gaza.”

The letter blamed Israel exclusively for the Gazan civilian crisis  and called upon the administration “to suspend US military aid to Israel, until there is assurance that this aid will no longer be used for the commission of war crimes.”

The letter was in response to Operation Protective Edge (OPE), which Israel commenced in July of 2014, to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.

Bridenthal signed an open letter, authored by anti-Israel activists Judith Butler and Rashid Khalidi and published on March 5, 2014, “Condemning Censorship of Israel Critics.” Signatories of the letter called upon “cultural and educational institutions to have the courage and the principle to stand for, and safeguard” BDS activism.

Bridenthal also co-sponsored an event, held on November 11, 2010, titled “JEWISH PERSPECTIVES ON THE BOYCOTT/DIVESTMENT/SANCTIONS (BDS) MOVEMENT.”

The event was moderated by Adam Horowitz, writer and co-editor of the anti-Israel online Mondoweiss publication.

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://centerforstudyofwomen.commons.gc.cuny.edu/faculty-emeritus/