Vidar Thorsteinsson
Overview
Vidar Thorsteinsson has glorified terrorists, promoted violent protesters, spread hatred of Israel and demonized supporters of Israel. Thorsteinsson also expressed support for a high school student accused of bullying her pro-Israel classmates.As of August 2019, Ohio State University (OSU)’s Academia.edu website said Thorsteinsson was a lecturer in Comparative Studies at OSU. OSU’s website listed Thorsteinsson as a Ph.D. candidate in Comparative Studies.
Thorsteinsson is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and participated in BDS campaigns on the OSU campus in 2016 and 2017.
As of August 2019, Thorsteinsson indicated on Facebook that he was a “Managing Director at Efling - union,” since April 2018. Efling is a trade-union in Iceland.
Glorifying Terrorists
On February 13, 2014, Thorsteinsson tweeted: “Statement of imprisoned PFLP leader Ahmad Sa'adat to Landless Workers Movement in Brazil: Victory to the oppressed.”
On January 27, 2014, Thorsteinsson tweeted “Not the only brave Palestinian activist called Odeh. #fb” and linked to an article published in Jacobin Magazine defending Rasmea Odeh.
Ahmad Sa’adat is the Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). He is currently serving in an Israeli prison for terror activities, including his role in the 2001 assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze’evi. Under Sa’adat’s leadership, the PFLP perpetrated many suicide bombings against Israeli civilians during the second intifada.
On January 27, 2014, Thorsteinsson tweeted “Not the only brave Palestinian activist called Odeh. #fb” and linked to an article published in Jacobin Magazine defending Rasmea Odeh.
Odeh was a key military operative 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.
On March 6, 2012, Thorsteinsson tweeted: “Second Palestinian female prisoner to go on hunger strike:” and linked to a YouTube video of Hana Shalabi.
The 2012 prisoners’ hunger strike included convicted terrorists such as Tha'er Halahleh and Bilal Diab — both members of the terror group Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
Also participating was Hamas military commander, Abdullah al-Barghouti— who was sentenced to serve 67 life sentences for his significant role in multiple terrorist attacks, including the Sbarro Cafe Bombing of 2001, which murdered 15 people and wounded more than 120.
Another hunger striker was Palestinian terrorist Samer Issawi — who received a 26 year prison sentence for shooting at Hebrew University students and Israeli police in 2002, as well as for manufacturing and distributing pipe bombs.
Also among the 2000 Palestinian hunger strikers was Khader Adnan, a senior member of PIJ. 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?”
That same day, Thorsteinsson tweeted: “Red flags over Gaza: Palestinian leftists rally for Hana Shalabi” and added the hashtag “#CoverHanaDay20.”
Hana Shalabi is reportedly a supporter of the terror group Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). Shalabi was arrested in 2012 for alleged “involvement in planned attacks” by PIJ.
Promoting Violent Protesters
On May 13, 2018, Thorsteinsson shared to Facebook a post, in Icelandic, that said: “With Israel's victory in Eurovision, Europe has once again delivered its blessings on mass murder, robbery, occupation, torture and inhumane and cruel treatment of the Israeli military and Israeli government to innocent Palestinian children, women and men.”
In May 2018, terror group Hamas instigated violent riots on the Israeli-Gaza border. Thousands of rioters attempted to breach Israel’s border fence, declaring their intention to harm Jews across the border under the pretext of “peaceful resistance.”
On May 15, 2018, Thorsteinsson shared to Facebook a May 14, 2018 post by Jeremy Corbyn, the controversial leader of Britain's Labour party. The post said: “Today’s killing of dozens of unarmed protesters and the wounding of many more by Israeli forces in Gaza is an outrage that demands not just international condemnation, but action to hold those responsible to account.”
The post went on to say: “This slaughter follows weeks of killings of Palestinian civilians demonstrating for their right to return, most of whom are refugees or the families of refugees.”
On May 16, 2018, a Hamas senior official, Salah al-Bardawil, stated that 50 out of 62 protesters killed during the May 14 Gaza border protest were Hamas operatives. Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) also claimed that three of its members were killed at the same protest.
On January 20, 2019, Thorsteinsson shared on Facebook a New York Times opinion piece, titled: “Time to Break the Silence on Palestine.”
On May 16, 2018, a Hamas senior official, Salah al-Bardawil, stated that 50 out of 62 protesters killed during the May 14 Gaza border protest were Hamas operatives. Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) also claimed that three of its members were killed at the same protest.
Spreading Hatred of Israel
Thorsteinsson re-posted a May 20, 2024 post during Israel’s war against Hamas on X that said: “I reject the Prosecutor’s equivalence of Israel with Hamas. It is shameful. Israel is a brutal terrorist organization that occupies the land of Palestine, is carrying out a war of extermination against Palestinians and is holding thousands of innocent people hostage.”
The piece accused Israel of adopting “practices reminiscent of apartheid in South Africa and Jim Crow segregation in the United States” and promoted BDS.
On April 9, 2014, Thorsteinsson commented on an article written by a student, charging Israel with “ethnic-cleansing” and added: “the human rights violations committed by Israel against Palestinians have no legitimacy.”
Demonizing Supporters of Israel
On February 11, 2019, Thorsteinsson posted to Facebook: “What is this stupid nonsense? Support for Israel's actions against Palestinians has obviously lost all moral legitimacy and popular appeal. Hence it has come to depend on nothing but greed and opportunism of cowards. Ilhan Omar had nothing to apologize for.”
Ilhan Omar was elected to the U.S. Congress in 2018. In February 2019, top Congressional leaders denounced Omar for tweeting anti-Semitic remarks.Omar has demonized Israel and endorsed BDS. In July 2019, Omar introduced a pro-BDS resolution in the U.S. Congress, which she described as “an opportunity for us to explain why it is we support…the BDS movement.”
On January 17, 2016, Thorsteinsson tweeted: “Nobody supports Israeli policies any longer unless they get paid, so the lesson here is: pay HRC more, please.”
On January 8, 2016, Thorsteinsson tweeted: “#IstandwithBenny” in support of Bethany Koval.
In January 2016, Koval, a 16 year-old NJ high-schooler, reportedly [00:01:44] bullied her pro-Israel classmates on social media, with tweets like: “Feed me your facist [sic] tears I am SOOO thirsty.”
On November 14, 2013, during a Democratic party debate, Thorsteinsson tweeted: “It's been 30 mins and they still haven't affirmed their unwavering support for Israeli apartheid. What's the world coming to? #DemDebate”
Supporting BDS
On May 20, 2019, Thorsteinsson posted an article on Facebook by the anti-Israel website Electronic Intifada (EI), titled: “Don’t praise Iceland’s Hatari for violating Eurovision boycott.”Thorsteinsson also quoted from the article: “‘Scabbing undermines the principle and effectiveness of collective action – whether it is a strike by workers against an abusive employer, or a boycott called by a people fighting for their very existence.’”
On May 19, 2019, Thorsteinsson posted to Facebook: “There should be nothing wrong in boycotting Israel.”
On March 16, 2014, Thorsteinsson wrote an article for the student newspaper titled: “Support for BDS is support for academic freedom.” In the article, Thorsteinsson defended an academic boycott on Israel and accused Israel of “human rights” abuses.
Thorsteinsson also wrote: “Israel’s military rule over Palestinians, described as ‘apartheid’ by South African veteran activists, entails an ethnically-based discrimination against the original inhabitants of the Palestinian lands occupied by Israel in 1967.”
On March 19, 2014, Thorsteinsson co-authored an article on the anti-Israel site Mondoweiss, attacking the former and current OSU presidents for OSU’s condemnation of the American Studies Association (ASA)’s vote to boycott Israel. Appended to the article was Thorsteinssons March 2014 article supporting the academic boycott.
On November 29, 2015, Thorsteinsson tweeted: “#BDS wins again” and embedded a tweet reporting that “Women's studies scholars adopt Israel boycott in landslide vote.”
On Jan 28, 2016, Thorsteinsson tweeted: “Thank @UAW2865 for taking a brave stand for BDS!”
In December 2014, the United Auto Workers (UAW) BDS Caucus launched a campaign calling on the UAW 2865 union and their employers to divest from companies that have been complicit in “human rights violations” against Palestinians.
UAW 2865 is a union representing 19,000 Academic Student Employees (ASEs) at the nine teaching campuses of the University of California (UC).
The divestment proposal passed. However, in December 2015, UAW International overturned the UAW 2865 boycott resolution.
On March 16, 2014, Thorsteinsson wrote a letter to the editor of The Lantern, OSU’s campus newspaper, titled: “Support for BDS is support for academic freedom.”
Promoting OSU Divest
In 2016 and 2017, Thorsteinsson worked with OSU’s BDS group “OSU Divest,” along with OSU SJP, to pass a divestment resolution in OSU’s University Student Government (USG).On March 23, 2016, OSU Divest worked with OSU SJP to present a divestment resolution to the USG.During the pre-vote discussion of the bill, OSU Divest members accused Israel of “apartheid.” One claimed that United States presidential election candidates “all paraded to AIPAC to pledge allegiance to a foreign government.”
Thorsteinsson also spoke at the pre-vote discussion, claiming that “the racist microaggressions against Jews are real concerns but the way they’ve been portrayed are out of proportion when we look at the actual content of the resolution.”
The divestment resolution failed in a secret ballot by 21-9 votes, with 15 abstentions.
On March 24, 2016, following the vote, Thorsteinsson tweeted: “So proud of these peeps” and embedded in his tweet a group photo of OSU Divest activists.
Thorsteinsson also spoke at the pre-vote discussion, claiming that “the racist microaggressions against Jews are real concerns but the way they’ve been portrayed are out of proportion when we look at the actual content of the resolution.”
The divestment resolution failed in a secret ballot by 21-9 votes, with 15 abstentions.
On March 24, 2016, following the vote, Thorsteinsson tweeted: “So proud of these peeps” and embedded in his tweet a group photo of OSU Divest activists.
That same day, Thorsteinsson also tweeted regarding the divestment attempt: “We will never give up!”
In February 2017, OSU Divest pushed another divestment resolution, promoted by the Muslim Students Association (MSA) at OSU, onto USG’s election ballot. This divestment resolution targeted companies involved in Israel's security as "complicit in human rights abuses.”
OSU Divest received enough signatures for their divestment resolution to be placed on the USG ballot as a referendum.
Daniella Israelstam, then a sophomore at OSU who worked against the divestment resolution, reported that OSU Divest used “misleading” tactics, “disguising what was petition [sic.] by saying, ‘please sign this if you support human rights.’”
Israelstam also said: “I know a lot of people who...signed the petition by accident since they did not know the petition was meant to divest from Israel.”
The divestment resolution was defeated in March 2017, with 3,843 votes in favor and 4,084 opposed.
On February 26, 2017, Thorsteinsson changed his Facebook profile picture to OSU Divest’s graphic.
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
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/100002644967289Twitter: https://twitter.com/vidarvidarvidar
Academica.edu:http://osu.academia.edu/VidarThorsteinsson
- Status:
- Professor
- University:
- Ohio-State
- Organizations:
- BDS
- Related Profiles:
- Leila Elaqad,
- Last Modified:
- 05/04/2026
Photos & Screenshots
56 images
Infamous Quotes
“‘the last day of occupation will be the first day of peace’ - imprisoned Marwan Barghouti speaks #intifada.”
“There should be nothing wrong in boycotting Israel.”
“Support for Israel's actions against Palestinians has obviously lost all moral legitimacy and popular appeal. Hence it has come to depend on nothing but greed and opportunism of cowards. Ilhan Omar had nothing to apologize for.”
“It's been 30 mins and they still haven't affirmed their unwavering support for Israeli apartheid. What's the world coming to? #DemDebate”
