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Robin Riley
Overview
Robin Riley is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanction (BDS) movement at Syracuse University (Syracuse) and has expressed support for Palestinian terrorists.
Riley is an assistant professor of Women’s and Gender Studies and the Director of LGBT Studies at Syracuse.
In September of 2016, Riley repeatedly pushed for BDS — specifically the academic boycott of Israel — at Syracuse.
Riley first expressed her position in response to a controversy that erupted at Syracuse when an Israeli filmmaker was disinvited from screening his film on campus because he was Israeli.
In an article chronicling the controversy, Riley was cited as a supporter of the BDS movement and quoted as accusing the anti-BDS professors on campus of painting its supporters as a “bunch of bullies.”
Following the controversy, Riley signed a petition reaffirming her support for the BDS movement.
A few weeks later, Riley signed a petition opposing an upcoming conference at Syracuse because it involved a collaboration with Tel Aviv University (TAU).
Signatories of the petition expressed support for the BDS movement in general and specifically endorsed the guidelines laid out by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI).
After rejecting the idea of dialogue, the petition concluded that BDS “rightly names Israeli occupation and apartheid as the root of the conflict and offers a realistic path toward ending Israeli apartheid by targeting its structural basis.”
In February 2012, Riley signed a petition demanding the “immediate release” of Khader Adnan.
Khader Adnan was a senior member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist organization. A 2007 YouTube video showed Adnan praising and encouraging suicide bombings: "Who among you will carry the next explosive belt? Who among you will fire the next bullets? Who among you will have his body parts blown all over?” In May 2023, Adnan died in prison after refusing medical treatment during a hunger strike.
In October 2014, Riley signed an open letter to United States President Barack Obama, expressing support for convicted terrorist Rasmea Odeh.
Rasmea Odeh was a key military operative [00:02:08] with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization. In 1969, she masterminded a PFLP supermarket bombing that killed two college students. She also attempted to bomb the British consulate in Jerusalem. Odeh later moved to the United States but was deported to Jordan in 2017 for immigration fraud.
The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement was founded by pro-terror activist Omar Barghouti in 2005 to turn “Israel into a pariah state, as South Africa once was.” Barghouti has also called for Israel's destruction and the BDS movement demands would result in that same goal.
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 infiltrating university campuses through lobbying for “BDS resolutions.” In these cases, student governments propose resolutions to boycott or divestment from Israel or Israeli-affiliated entities. 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 and pro-terror activism on campus.
