Robin D.G. Kelley
Overview
In June 2021, Kelley was a member of the advisory board of Palestine Legal, a group that provides advice and support to anti-Israel activists.
Kelley has been affiliated with the campus group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) since 2014 [p. 2]. In 2022, he was affiliated with the anti-Israel group Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). In 2019, he was affiliated with the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM).
As of February 2023, Kelley was a professor of U.S. history and served as the Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. history at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Kelley has contributed essays to two anti-Israel books: “Letters to Palestine: Writers Respond to War and Occupation” and “Apartheid Israel: The Politics of an Analogy.” The books were both published in 2015.
Honoring a Terrorist and a Violent Criminal
Kanafani was a leading member and spokesperson for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) during the terrorist organization’s early years. Kanafani announced the PFLP’s responsibility for the Lod Airport Massacre of May 1972 and was linked to the airport attackers. The attack killed 26 people and wounded 80 others.
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 June 20, 2021, Kelley posted on Facebook a link to a campaign titled: “Grant Clemency for Dr. Mutulu Shakur, a father, grandfather, healer, & human rights activist.”
On March 27, 2023, Kelley was tagged in a Facebook post that said: “
MUTULU SHAKUR WEBINAR WED 7-9 PMEST, March 29 w RUKIA LUMUMBA, Monifa Bandele, Robin D. G. Kelley.” The poster for the event indicated that Kelley was the moderator.
Spreading Incitement
On May 18, 2021, during Israel’s Operation Guardian of the Walls (OGW) against Hamas, Kelley posted on Facebook: “If you have not already signed, please do.”Kelley linked to an open letter that he signed that described Israeli reactions to “Palestinian resistance” at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah as “eliminatory violence.”
In May 2021, Palestinian violence erupted in anticipation of an Israel High Court ruling on eviction proceedings concerning over 70 Palestinian tenants illegally residing in Jewish-owned properties in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.
Incitement surrounding Al-Aqsa and Sheikh Jarrah were leading factors in Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists firing over 4,300 rockets from Gaza at Israeli population centers from May 10 to 21, 2021. In response to rocket attacks from Gaza, Israel launched “Operation Guardian of the Walls (OGW),” striking military targets in the terrorist-controlled enclave.
The allegation that Jews “threaten” to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque has been a pretext for Arab attacks on Jews long before the existence of the modern Jewish state. Such propaganda has led to multiple periods of violence against Israeli civilians.
Hatred of Israel
On April 12, 2022, Kelley participated in a #DroptheADL webinar organized by JVP, where he said [00:22:49]: “The ADL [Anti-Defamation League] essentially work for the apartheid government as Israel’s U.S. proxy.”In the same webinar, Kelley also said [00:25:42]: “What these [U.S.-Israeli police exchange] trainings have done, and the ADL basically designed, supported and backed it, is focus on counterinsurgency tactics directed at black, brown, Arab, indigenous communities, gathering intelligence, teaching deployment of so-called non-lethal weapons against local populations… they promote the militarization of the police...”
The accusation that Israeli law enforcement teaches American police brutal tactics during police exchange programs is used to demonize Israel. Participants in these programshave stated [00:02:14] that the training in Israel focuses [00:13:36] on public policy, counter-terrorism and leadership training in the form of lectures and discussions.
On May 18, 2021, Kelley posted on Facebook a link to an “Open Letter and Call to Action” in which, by signing, Kelly publicly committed himself to demonizing Israel and promoting BDS on campus and in the classroom.
Also on May 18, 2021, Kelley wrote on Facebook: “Today we join the general strike for Palestine.The Nakba, the ongoing war on Palestinians must end. U. S. Support for Israeli settler colonialism must end.”
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 April 26, 2021, in a presentation titled: “Resisting Israel’s Lobby on Campus and in the Community,” Kelley said [00:07:17]: “Just to be clear, the college presidents have been at the forefront of doing the bidding of the lobby…”
The “Israel Lobby” is a conspiracy theory alleging Israeli and Jewish control over the U.S. government. Proponents of the theory decry the negative effects on American interests, particularly in foreign policy.
On August 1, 2017, Kelley gave a lecture at the University of Toronto, where he said [01:24:21]: “The way that Zionism has emerged in Israel has basically taken up the mantle of white supremacy… that is domination by the peoples, through colonial domination.”
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 August 8, 2014, Kelley published an article in Mondoweiss during Israel’s Operation Protective Edge (OPE) against Hamas. In the article, he wrote: “Israel’s illegal, genocidal war on the people of Gaza has the characteristics of a massive tsunami.”
Israel commenced OPE in July 2014 to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.
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.
On December 10, 2013, Kelley co-wrote an article on CounterPunch.org, which alleged: “Israel is governed by racial policies of exclusion, dispossession, and subjugation” and “...many of us work to build the BDS movement and the academic and cultural boycott of Israel to end the occupation, guarantee the right of Palestinians to return, and dismantle the system of apartheid in Israel (including the separation wall)...”
The “right of return” is a Palestinian demand discredited as a means to eliminate Israel. International law mandates no absolute right of return and UN Resolution 194, which defined principles for “refugees wishing to return to their homes,” was unanimously rejected by Arab nations following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
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.
Whitewashing Violent Protests
On June 19, 2018, Kelley shared on Facebook a link to a letter he wrote in his capacity as an “active” Palestine Legal board member, which said: “...our tax dollars are steadily supporting war everywhere, including Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and the ongoing deadly rampage on unarmed protesters in Gaza.”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.
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- Status:
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- University:
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- California-State-Long-Beach
- Organizations:
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- Last Modified:
- 06/23/2025
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