Sarah Schulman

Overview

Sarah Schulman [Sarah Miriam Schulman] has spread anti-Semitism, expressed support for terrorists and spread hatred of Israel.

As of June 2023, Schulman had been on the advisory board of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) since 2010.

In June 2023, Schulman was listed as the “faculty advisor” for the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter at the College of Staten Island (CSI SJP). She was affiliated with CSI SJP as early as 2014.

Schulman is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

As of May 2023, Schulman had been a professor at CSI, part of the City University of New York (CUNY) since September 1999. Her LinkedIn profile said she taught “Fiction, Nonfiction, Playwrighting, Modern Drama, Women's and Gender Studies, Journalism.”

As of June 2023, Schulman was also a Ralla Klepak professor of English at Northwestern University (Northwestern) and has been the Ralla Klepak Chair in creative writing at Northwestern since September 2022. Schulman has also been a fellow at the New York Institute for the Humanities (NYIH) at New York University (NYU), since 2009.

As of the same date, Schulman wrote on Facebook that she was a board member of Researching the American-Israeli Alliance (RAIA), a research initiative “dedicated to exposing the connections between American and Israeli state violence.”

As of June 2023, Schulman’s LinkedIn said she was a “Novelist, Playwright, Nonfiction Writer, Screenwriter, AIDS Historian.” Her LinkedIn said she was located in New York, New York.

Anti-Semitism

In an October 11, 2022 podcast posted to YouTube, Schulman said [00:26:52]: “...the minority that is supporting Zionism controls the finances, the U.S. government…”

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 December 26, 2018, Schulman wrote an article published by the anti-Israel website Mondoweiss. The article was titled “On Alice Walker, Judaism, and Palestine,” and it addressed anti-Israel activist Alice Walker’s anti-Semitic 2017 poem: “It Is Our (Frightful) Duty to Study the Talmud.” In her activism, Walker has compared Israeli soldiers to Nazis and excused suicide bombings.

The Talmud is a fundamental text of Rabbinic Judaism and a primary source of Jewish religious law and Jewish theology.

In her article, Schulman wrote: “Like many of us, Walker has tried to understand the source of Israeli cruelty, violence, self-righteous racism, and supremacy ideology.” She also claimed that: “…Zionist ideology uses those brutal murderous events to justify repeating racial supremacy theory, apartheid, murder and erasure –.”

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) highlights multiple forms of contemporary anti-Semitism related to Israel, including “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor” and “Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.” The U.S. State Department adopted the IHRA’s working definition of anti-Semitism in 2016. Over 40 other countries have adopted the definition as well.

On March 21, 2016, Schulman posted on Facebook: “Yes, we live in absurd times, and I have actually been accused of ‘anti-semitism’ in today's Daily News.”

Schulman linked to the Daily News article, which reported that a pro-Israel advocacy group had accused her of engaging in anti-Semitism and cited Schulman’s October 12, 2014 tweet in which she wrote: “The murder of 2,000 Gazans also reflects Jewish values.”

In 2016, Schulman published her book: “Conflict Is Not Abuse: Overstating Harm, Community Responsibility, and the Duty of Repair.”

Schulman wrote [p. 210] about Palestinian terrorism during Israel’s Operation Protective Edge (OPE) in Gaza: “I thought about the Warsaw Ghetto uprising and liquidation, a direct comparison to the killing in Gaza, displayed live for all to see.”

The Warsaw Ghetto confined over 450,000 Jews during the Holocaust and 80,000 of those Jews died due to the harsh conditions, starvation and dense population. The IHRA highlights as one example of contemporary anti-Semitism: “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.”

Israel commenced OPE in July 2014 to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.

Supporting Terrorists (Hamas, PIJ, PFLP)

In a 2013 interview, Schulman reportedly said: “Well you know HAMAS is like the Republican party. HAMAS is a government, it’s a political party that is in power… HAMAS is no worse than any other political party in power.”

Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S., Canada, European Union, Israel and other countries. Founded in 1987, it has killed thousands of Israeli civilians through mass shootings and suicide bombings. Hamas has also kidnapped children, families and the elderly and held them hostage in Gaza. It has desecrated [slide 2] dead bodies and launched numerous rocket attacks against Israeli civilians.

On August 16, 2015, Schulman promoted on Facebook a New York City SJP (NYC SJP) rally, now known as Within Our Lifetime (WOL), that was titled: “EMERGENCY PROTEST FOR MUHAMMAD ALLAN!”

Allan is a member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), a terror group “whose objective is the destruction of the State of Israel and the establishment of a sovereign, Islamic Palestinian state.” Allan was first jailed by Israel in 2006 for trying to recruit a suicide bomber to carry out an attack in Israel. He was detained in 2014 for similar reasons. PIJ is backed by Iran and has killed dozens of Israelis in suicide bombings and other attacks.

On October 24, 2020, Schulman tweeted: “NYU Webinar - We Will Not Be Silenced https://youtu.be/kaTk53RReIM via@YouTubeHere is the webinar blocked by Zoom with Andrew Ross, Leila Khaled, Nerdeen Kiswani and Fred Moten.”

Leila Khaled is a leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and participated in the hijacking of TWA Flight 840 in 1969 and El Al Flight 219 in 1970. As of 2017, Khaled was a member of PFLP's Political Bureau. Khaled has said that the second intifada failed because it was not violent enough, advocated [00:36:07] for the use of children in terror activities and compared Zionists to Nazis.

Schulman retweeted a May 4, 2023 tweet that said: “Israel today carried out a military assault on the old city of Nablus using missiles, drones & special forces resulting in the extrajudicial execution of three young men & the wounding of scores. Logic: Escalating official crimes will only lead to the escalation of resistance.”

The tweet featured a photo memorializing three terrorists who died in a shootout with the Israeli army following the terrorists’ murder of three Israeli civilians from the Dee family.

On April 7, 2023, British-Israeli sisters Maia and Rina Dee were killed by Palestinian terrorists in a shooting attack while the family was driving on a highway in Israel’s Jordan Valley. Their mother, Lucy, sustained critical injuries and died three days later. The terrorists who murdered the Dees were killed on May 4, 2023 when Israeli soldiers attempted to arrest them.

Hatred of Israel

Schulman retweeted a May 2, 2023 tweet that read: “Fellow academics, it’s never ok to speak at Israeli universities. With Israel’s brutal war on Palestinians & Israeli universities being part of it, do the bare minimum and comply with Palestinian call for academic boycott. It doesn’t take much. #BDS.”

On April 5, 2023, Schulman shared to Facebook a New York Times article titled: “Columbia University’s Tel Aviv Plans Draw Strong Faculty Rebuke.” Shulman wrote: “Let me translate this: Someone gave Columbia a lot of money to buy their complicity with Apartheid and open a center in Israel, so they did.”

On April 3, 2023, Columbia University (Columbia) announced that “it will launch a new Columbia Global Center in Tel Aviv to build on its existing collaborations in Israel and facilitate further engagement and partnerships.”

On July 13, 2022, Schulman shared on Facebook a photo of a sign that read: “MR. PRESIDENT, THIS IS APARTHEID.” The photo was part of a billboard campaign launched by the anti-Israel organization B’tselem ahead of U.S. President Joe Biden’s trip to Israel.

On February 26, 2022, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Schulman tweeted: “1. What Russia is doing to Ukraine is what Israel is doing to Palestine…”

On December 22, 2018, Schulman tweeted: “...I want to comment on the discussion of Alice Walker and her conclusions about Judaism…”

American author Alice Walker has reportedly compared Israeli to Nazis and excused suicide bombings.

In the same thread, Schulman tweeted: “...Like many of us, Walker has tried to understand the source of Israeli cruelty, violence, self-righteous racism, and supremacy ideology...”

Also in the same thread, Schulman tweeted: “...There are many different ways to think about why and how one group of people justify the domination and destruction of another…Religious and racial groups all over the world claim supremacy and use violence and genocide to destroy other humans.”

Schulman continued in the same thread: “...The case of Israel stands out from many of these other on-going examples of extreme violence, cultural erasure and illegal cruelty because the perpetrators, who are Jewish, were profoundly victimized in recent memory along similar ideological lines -.”

On July 24, 2014, during OPE, Schulman tweeted: “Another day watching genocide unfold in real time.”

Anti-Israel Activism (JVP, SJP, BDS)

On September 12, 2018, Schulman wrote on Facebook that she was “so proud to be involved with the production” of JVP’s “Deadly Exchange” report, co-produced by RAIA.

In 2017, JVP launched the “Deadly Exchange (DX)” campaign, which accused American Jewish organizations of promoting human rights abuses. JVP also released a video that blamed [00:04:04] U.S.-based Jewish organizations for violence that occurs against Black and Brown communities, immigrants and activists in the U.S.

In 2016, Schulman testified before a CUNY Task Force on Anti-Semitism, in her role as CSI SJP faculty advisor to address allegations of anti-Semitism by the group.

Schulman said in a February 2013 interview that following her public endorsement of BDS, she met with BDS founder Omar Barghouti on a solidarity visit to Ramallah and “that’s how this whole thing got started.”

Omar Barghouti founded the BDS movement in July 2005 and the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions National Committee (BNC) in November 2007.

Barghouti was pursuing a master’s degree in philosophy at Tel Aviv University (TAU) In 2009 and 2010. Barghouti has expressed support for terrorism, promoted anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and regularly demonizes Israel. He openly calls [00:05:53] for the destruction of Israel as a Jewish state.

In 2009, Schulman rejected an invitation to give the keynote address at the Lesbian and Gay Studies Conference at Tel Aviv University because of her allegiance to BDS.

JVP

JVP was founded in Berkeley, California in 1996, as an activist group with an emphasis on the “Jewish tradition” of peace, social justice and human rights. The organization is currently led by Rebecca Vilkomerson and its board members include Israel critics Naomi Klein, Judith Butler, Noam Chomsky and Tony Kushner.

JVP, which generally employs civil disobedience tactics to disrupt pro-Israel speakers and events, consists of American Jews and non-Jewish “allies” highly critical of Israeli policies. A staunch supporter of the BDS movement, JVP claims to aim its campaigns at companies that either support the Israeli military (Hewlett-Packard) or are active in the West Bank (SodaStream).

Although several Jewish groups critical of Israeli policies, like J Street and Partners for a Progressive Israel, make efforts to operate within the mainstream American Jewish community, JVP functions outside. The group is often criticized for serving as a tokenized Jewish voice for the pro-Palestinian camp and is widely regarded as the BDS movement’s “Jewish wing.”

JVP denies the notion of “Jewish peoplehood” and has even gone so far as to refer to its own Ashkenazi (Jews who spent the Diaspora in European countries) leadership as “white supremacy inside of JVP.”

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has accused JVP of being “the largest and most influential Jewish anti-Zionist group in the United States,” and said the group “exploits Jewish culture and rituals to reassure its own supporters that opposition to Israel not only does not contradict, but is actually consistent with, Jewish value.”

The ADL also claimed that “JVP consistently co-sponsors rallies to oppose Israeli military policy that are marked by signs and slogans comparing Israel to Nazi Germany, demonizing Jews and voicing support for groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.”

According to the ADL website, JVP “uses its Jewish identity to shield the anti-Israel movement from allegations of anti-Semitism and provide it with a greater degree of legitimacy and credibility.”

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.