Scott Laderman

Overview

Scott Laderman is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement who has demonized a pro-Israel student organization and spread hatred of Israel.

Laderman is a professorin the Department of History at the University of Minnesota, Duluth (UMN).

Supporting BDS

In 2016, Laderman signed a controversial petition submitted to the American Historical Association (AHA) in 2016, which alleged that “Israel’s restrictions on the movement of faculty, staff and visitors in the West Bank impede instruction at Palestinian institutions of higher learning” and that “Israel restricts the right to lecture or teach at Palestinian universities.”

The petition went on to demand that “the AHA commits itself to monitoring Israeli actions.”

In 2014, Laderman signed an open letter calling for an end to U.S. military aid to Israel. 

The July 31, 2014 letter, addressed to former U.S. President Barack Obama and the American Congress, called “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.”

Demonizing Pro-Israel Student Organization 

On October 22, 2002, Laderman published an article condemning pro-Israel student organization, Friends of Israel. In his article, Landerman slammed materials published by the organization, describing them as “among the vilest, racist drivel I have read in some time.”

Laderman went on to criticize the group’s failure to acknowledge “the Zionist reign of terror that induced the Arab exodus” and concluded that “One has to marvel at the collective stupidity of the members of this campus group.”

On February 24, 2003, Laderman published a follow-up article, defending his October 2002 “piece denouncing the racist drivel of Friends of Israel,” as an important exercise of the First Amendment.  

In his follow-up article, Laderman described the widespread criticism he received in response to his original piece, and then dismissed the criticism, claiming his critics’ “objective is the silence of those who write critically about taboo topics.”

Spreading Hatred of Israel

On April 16, 2002, Laderman published an article with the stated purpose “to denounce Israeli aggression (there really is no milder word with which to describe Israel's continuing atrocities against a relatively defenseless civilian population) and place the blame for much of the terror afflicting ordinary Israelis squarely on officials in Jerusalem and Washington, D.C.”

Laderman went on to write: “it would be difficult not to conclude the Israeli government deserves a considerable share of the blame for these tragic deaths.”

In the same article, Laderman claimed that “Twenty years ago, Israel began initiating attacks against Palestinian targets in Lebanon... precisely in order to generate a violent Palestinian response. The goal for Israel was to create a Palestinian ‘provocation,’ thereby justifying a long-planned Israeli invasion of its northern neighbor.”

Laderman reiterated these claims in an article published on May 1, 2002, in which he wrote that “In a morally bizarre and illogical formulation, this Israeli perpetration of ‘war crimes’ has somehow been interpreted by some apologists for Israeli terror as a demonstration of the country’s commitment to limiting civilian casualties.”

The articles were published during and in response to the Second Intifada. 

The second intifada (2000-2005) was characterized by more than 120 suicide bombings targeting Israeli civilians on buses and in cafes.

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.

Social Media and Weblinks

University Website:https://cla.d.umn.edu/history/faculty-staff/dr-scott-laderman