Riad Bahhur
Overview
Riad Bahhur has produced anti-Israel documentaries, encouraged anti-Israel activism on the Sacramento City College (SCC) campus and is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.He is a professor in the International Studies Program at SCC.
Producing Anti-Israel Documentaries
In 2014, Bahhur co-produced an anti-Israel documentary called “Two Blue Lines” with anti-Israel filmmaker Tom Hayes.The documentary’s trailer opens with images of an Israeli flag — a Star of David flanked by two blue stripes — and Hayes stating: “You cannot come into an area, where other people are living, establish a state, confiscate their lands, and expect to live in safety… And that’s what happened, they came and conquered and confiscated.”
These words are immediately followed [00:00:41] by footage of the aftermath of a bus bombing in Israel. The images opening the trailer accompanying Hayes’s commentary, start with a portrayal of soldiers inspecting a vehicle and questioning passengers.
On March 13, 2015, the film was shown as part of an event sponsored by the anti-Israel Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP) organization. At the event, Hayes thanked Bahhur for his contribution to the film.
Bahhur also co-produced another anti-Israel film with Hayes, released in 1998, titled “The People and the Land.” That film reportedly accused Israel of violating Palestinian human rights and criticized the United States “for sending billions of tax payers’ dollars to aid Israel while cutting back on domestic programs.”
The making of that film and Riad’s involvement was chronicled by Hayes in an interview published on the If Americans Knew website.
The anti-Semitic organization If Americans Knew (IAK) was founded by anti-Israel agitator Alison Weir. IAK has been condemned for anti-Semitism by both the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the anti-Israel U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR).
Supporting Anti-Israel Activism on Campus
On February 16, 2016, Bahhur was a featured speaker at an event, sponsored by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), titled “Thirsting for Justice.”In an article published on October 23, 2014, Bahhur was quoted encouraging the establishment of a pro-Palestinian student organization on campus. In the article, Bahhur stated that “if students wanted to form a club for Palestinian rights, there would be some support for them from the faculty. I would support a Palestine rights club.”
In October 2014, Bahhur offered students of the International Studies Program at SCC a class credit opportunity to attend an event whose purpose was “speaking out against the current occupation of Gaza.”
In May 2011, Bahhur featured as a speaker at the first annual “Remembering the Nakba: A Palestinian Celebration” event in Sacramento. According to a report chronicling the event, “Bahhur discussed the history of Palestine and Israel, and stressed the importance of remembering the past.”
Supporting BDS
Bahhur signed the “Middle East Scholars and Librarians Call for Boycott of Israeli Academia” published on August 6, 2014.In signing this petition, Bahhur and others committed “not to collaborate on projects and events involving Israeli academic institutions, not to teach at or to attend conferences and other events at such institutions, and not to publish in academic journals based in Israel.”
Bahhur also 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 exclusively blamed Israel 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).
Israel commenced Operation Protective Edge (OPE) in July 2014, to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.
SJP
SJP is a student organization engaged in anti-Israel activity on North American college and university campuses.
The first chapter of SJP was founded in 2001 at the University of California at Berkeley by Professor Hatem Bazian. Bazian has spread classic anti-Semitism, reportedly promoted religious anti-Semitism and defended the Hamas terror group. In 2004, Bazian called for “intifada” in America.
SJP organizes anti-Israel campaigns, including running annual Israel Apartheid Weeks, often in collaboration with Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and Muslim Students Association (MSA) campus chapters.
SJP has been a major force in pushing the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement on campuses. Chapters have initiated dozens of BDS resolutions in student governments, which have been proposed on or around Jewish holidays, a time when many Jewish students are off-campus.
SJP activists have reportedly physically assaulted, intimidated and harassed Jewish students, disrupted pro-Israel campus events and demonized pro-Israel campus organizations.
Chapters have often endorsed and campaigned for numerous terrorists and whitewashed terrorism.
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.
