Rick Luttmann

Overview

Rick Luttmann is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement He has expressed support for convicted terrorist, Khalida Jarrar and defended anti-Israel activist Professor Rabab Abdulhadi.

Luttmann is a professor emeritus of Mathematics at Sonoma State University (Sonoma State).

Supporting BDS

In 2017, Luttmann signed an open letter published by CodePink to California Governor Jerry Brown demanding that he veto a bill which, the the letter claimed would “stigmatize and suppress... advocacy for Palestinian human rights through the nonviolent tactics of boycott, divestment and sanctions.”

In June of 2016, Luttmann signed an open letter to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, demanding “protection of human rights defenders active in the BDS movement.”

Signatories of the letter called upon the commissioner to make “a public statement strongly condemning all intimidation and unlawful restrictions on BDS campaigners and affirming that the right of citizens to advocate for and carry out BDS campaigns.”

Luttman also signed a petition, published in August of 2014, by Holocaust survivors and children of survivors calling for the boycott of Israel. Signatories of the letter condemned “the massacre of Palestinians in Gaza and the ongoing occupation and colonization of historic Palestine.”

The petition went on to accuse Israel of “racist dehumanization of Palestinians,” claiming that Israeli media “has called openly for genocide of Palestinians” and that “right-wing Israelis are adopting Neo-Nazi insignia.”

Luttmann signed an open letter to California State University (CSU) Chancellor Charles Reed, opposing the reinstatement of a CSU-Israel study abroad program.  

Signatories of the letter argued that “CSU participation with the government of Israel in the proposed study abroad program could be interpreted as an endorsement of the international crime of apartheid.”

Expressing Support for Khalida Jarrar

Luttmann signed a petition, published on August 26, 2014, demanding  the immediate cancellation of the expulsion order against Khalida Jarrar.”

The petition claimed that “It is clear that Khalida Jarrar is being targeted in order to suppress Palestinian political organizing.”

Khalida Jarrar is a senior member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror organization. In 2015, an Israeli military court sentenced Jarrar to 15 months in prison for calling to kidnap Israeli soldiers. Israel arrested her again in 2017 “on suspicion of involvement with terrorist activities and violent public disturbances.”

Expressing Support for Rabab Abdulhadi

Luttmann signed a letter authored by “members of Jewish communities” and published on July 1, 2014, to CSU President Leslie Wong, defending anti-Israel activist and professor Rabab Abdulhadi.

The letter condemned organizations working to fight Abdulhadi’s anti-Israel activism, claiming that “their political intervention to support Israel and Zionism feeds into anti-Jewish racism.”

According to a Middle East Forum report, Professor Rabab Abdulhadi has — since at least January 2014 — sought to cultivate alliances between SFSU and two Hamas-dominated Palestinian universities.

During a March 2014 SFSU faculty event, Abdulhadi praised international hijacker Leila Khaled as an “icon in liberations movements and… an icon for women’s liberation.”

In 2016, Abdulhadi signed a letter to Vassar College President Catherine Bond Hill, defending Jasbir Puar. Puar demonized Israel, suggesting that Israelis harvest the organs of dead Palestinians.

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.