Steven Niva
Overview
Steven Niva has accused Israel of deliberately provoking suicide bombings in order to use the attacks as a pretext to "destroy Palestinian society."
He has promoted various anti-Israel conspiracies.
He has alleged collaborative colonialist efforts between the United States and Israel and claimed that Israel fabricates Jewish archeology in order to build “Disney-style Jewish heritage archeology theme parks... across the West Bank.”
Niva is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and has praised theInternational Solidarity Movement (ISM).
Niva is a professor of International Politics and Middle Eastern Studies at Evergreen State College (TESC).
Blaming Israel for Suicide Bombings
In an article published on August 19, 2010, Niva suggested that Palestinian suicide bombings are caused by Israeli provocation.
In the article, Niva wrote that “an almost predictable sequence emerges: Israeli attacks that cause substantial Palestinian civilian casualties and Israeli assassinations of important militant leaders are the most common triggers for suicide bombing cycles.”
Later in the text, Niva concluded that “the cycle of Israeli military actions leading to suicide bombings raises troubling questions about Israel’s insistence that suicide bombings are simply random acts of mass murder and that its own actions are merely self-defense.”
On March 24, 2004, Niva published an article blaming Israeli government policies for the murder of Israelis.
In the article, Niva wrote that then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel “Sharon appears willing to sacrifice Israeli lives in order to justify his relentless efforts to colonize Palestinian lands with Israeli settlements and destroy Palestinian society… Suicide bombings have become a crucial pretext for enabling the brute force and violence needed to achieve these objectives.”
Niva further alleged that Israel encouraged Palestinian suicide bombings, which it then used as a “pretext” to build settlements and “destroy Palestinian society.”
On September 2, 2003, Niva published an article, entitled “Israel’s Assassination Policy Triggers Latest Suicide Bombings,” in which he blamed the Israeli government for provoking a wave of suicide bombings.
In the article, Niva wrote that “it is nearly impossible to avoid concluding that the current Israeli government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has either deliberately provoked a number of… [suicide bombings] or at least undertaken actions that would clearly risk them. Either way, it is complicit in the deaths of scores of Israeli citizens.”
Niva also wrote that no one should “believe that Israeli political and intelligence officials who planned and implemented the assassinations [of Palestinian militants] were surprised by the ensuing suicide attacks.”
Anti-Israel Conspiracy Theories
On March 8, 2008, Niva published an article accusing Israel of fabricating cause to attack Gaza and intentionally perpetuating a cycle of violence.
In the article, Niva charged that “The deeper reason Israel chooses violence over a cease-fire is that Israel wants to avoid negotiations with a united Palestinian government”.
In an article published on April 23, 2008, Niva alleged a military conspiracy between the United States and Israel, whereby the U.S. draws upon Israeli tactics to subjugate Iraqis.
In the article, Niva stated that “What we are seeing in Iraq today has much less to do with the declared shift in U.S. military doctrine than with a deeper and more far-reaching ‘Israelization’ of U.S. military strategy and tactics.”
In the same article, Niva concluded that “Both Israel and the U.S. are seeking to replace direct military occupation with a form of occupation management in order to preserve the fruits of their respective occupations.”
On January 9, 2009, Niva authored an article, entitled “War of Choice: How Israel Manufactured the Gaza Escalation,” in which he claimed that “Israel's current assault on Gaza bears many trademark elements of Israel's long history of employing ‘strategic escalation’ to manufacture a major crisis, if not a war.”
In the same article, Niva claimed that “Israel has a long history of deliberately using violence and other provocative measures to trigger reactions in order to create a pretext for military action, and to portray its opponents as the aggressors and Israel as the victim.”
Niva went on to conclude that “as the vastly more powerful actor holding nearly all the cards in this conflict, the war in Gaza was ultimately Israel's choice. And for all this bloodshed and violence, Israel must be held accountable.”
Niva later went on to claim that Israeli military operations in Gaza are not carried out in self-defense but rather as a ploy to “create chaos” and maintain control over the region.
Niva repeated this allegation in an article published on December 7, 2012, in which he stated that “Israel seems to prefer a state of endless conflict with the Palestinians.”
Later in the article, Niva stated that “The strategic form of Israel’s operations in Gaza is… best understood as a lethal exercise in population management that aims to restore equilibrium to Israel’s ongoing aerial occupation and siege on Gaza.”
Accusing Israel of Colonization
On July 24, 2009, Niva was featured on a radio program, “One Land, Many Voices” alongside fellow anti-Israel professor, Jamal Nassar.
During the segment, Niva accused Israel of creating a “ghetto system” of implementing “settler urbanism”.
Niva also characterized Israelis as a “colonial settler population.”
On April 27, 2014, Niva appeared on a panel discussion, entitled “The Judaization of Palestine.”
During his presentation, Niva claimed that the Israeli government endorses the fabrication of Jewish archeology projects in order to create “Disney-style Jewish heritage archeology theme parks… particularly in suspiciously strategic areas across the West Bank.”
According to Niva, the purpose of these “Jewish Disney-style theme parks… is to solidify Israel's colonization of the West Bank.”
Support for BDS
On July 26, 2010, Niva published an article defending the decision of a local food co-op, to join the BDS movement.
In the article, Niva praised the co-op’s decision, and went on to condemn critics of the BDS movement.
Niva wrote that “As for the critics of the Food Co-op… they should just be honest and admit that they have no interest in justice and that killing and imprisoning Palestinians for the sake of Israeli territorial expansion is acceptable to them.”
Supporting the ISM
On March 15, 2004, Niva published an article praising the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and stating that “Gaza is arguably the world’s largest open-air prison, not a threat to Israeli civilians.”
ISM was founded in 2001 as a movement ostensibly “committed to resisting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land using nonviolent, direct-action methods and principles.” The group has been accused of supporting terrorism and has encouraged its foreign volunteers to act “as human shields in cities, towns and refugee camps.”
ISM has encouraged activists to break curfew and disregard Israeli directives prohibiting access to closed military zones.
That policy resulted in the death of Rachel Corrie, who was accidentally killed while interfering with an Israeli military operation in 2003.
A wrongful death suit brought by Corrie’s family was dismissed, because the judge ruled that Corrie unreasonably chose to put her own life in danger.
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:http://www.evergreen.edu/
- Status:
- Professor
- University:
- Ever-Green-State
- Organizations:
- BDS
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- Last Modified:
- 06/23/2025
Photos & Screenshots
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Infamous Quotes
“It is nearly impossible to avoid concluding that the current Israeli government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has either deliberately provoked a number of… [suicide bombings] or at least undertaken actions that would clearly risk them. Either way, it is complicit in the deaths of scores of Israeli citizens.”
“The strategic form of Israel’s operations in Gaza is… best understood as a lethal exercise in population management that aims to restore equilibrium to Israel’s ongoing aerial occupation and siege on Gaza.”
