Zoe Samudzi

On the same date, Samudzi tweeted: “In 1979, [Edward] Said wrote this in ‘Zionism from the Standpoints of its Victims…’” 

Samudzi’s tweet included an image of an underlined text that read: “...there is an unmistakable coincidence between the experiences of Arab Palestinians at the hands of Zionism and the experiences of those black, yellow, and brown people who were described as inferior and subhuman by nineteenth-century imperialists.”

Zionism is the belief that Jews have the right to self-determination in their own national home, and the right to develop their national culture.

On June 21, 2019, Samudzi wrote in an article in Jewish Currents: “How do we describe Gaza, the open-air prison marked by movement-limiting checkpoints, subjected to airstrikes, and fixed within the broader eliminatory structure of Israeli settler colonialism?”

The United Nations approved [pp. 39–41] the Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza in 2011 as a security measure to stop Hamas from acquiring sophisticated rockets. Multiple flotillas have attempted to breach the blockade, with at least one flotilla initiating a violent confrontation with Israeli forces. 

On June 5, 2018, Samudzi co-authored an article that read: “...Palestinian refugees displaced by the Nakba (1948) or Six-Day War (1967) are not afforded the right of return granted to them under international law.”

The term “Nakba” is generally translated as “catastrophe” in Arabic, referring to the outcome of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It is a term often used to delegitimize the creation of the State of Israel by defining it as a catastrophe.

The “right of return” is a Palestinian demand discredited as a means to eliminate Israel. International law mandates no absolute right of return and UN Resolution 194, which defined principles for “refugees wishing to return to their homes,” was unanimously rejected by Arab nations following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

On November 19, 2015, Samudzi wrote in an article: “The parallels specifically between Black Americans and Palestinians couched within settler-colonial structures (most noticeably through ideological and financial support, arms purchases and trainings of US police forces in crowd control and ‘counterterrorism’ by the Israeli military) are impossible to ignore, but this construction of allyship is of questionable validity.”

The accusation that Israeli law enforcement teaches American police brutal tactics during police exchange programs is used to demonize Israel. Participants in these programs have stated [00:02:14] that the training in Israel focuses [00:13:36] on public policy, counterterrorism and leadership training in the form of lectures and discussions.

Defending Anti-Israel Professor Lara Sheehi

On January 25, 2023, Samudzi tweeted: “...this harassment against Lara [Sheehi] is part of a much larger structure that censures scholars for their support for the Palestinian struggle…”

Lara Sheehi is an assistant professor of clinical psychology at George Washington University (GWU). In January 2023, her students accused her of anti-Semitism and promoting violence against American and Israeli civilians, according to a complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.

GWU dismissed the allegations against Sheehi, but in April 2023, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights announced that it would open an investigation into the federal discrimination complaint.

Also on January 25, 2023, Samudzi tweeted: “As an editorial board, @Parapraxis_Mag is in firm solidarity with Lara Sheehi, a contributing editor, in the face of unsubstantiated attacks by StandWithUs on the grounds of her alleged antisemitism…”

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.

Code Pink

CODEPINK is a U.S.-based activist group founded in 2002 by Jodie Evans, Medea Benjamin and other activists to oppose the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. 

The group actively opposes “U.S. support for the Israeli occupation of Palestine” and has been criticized for maintaining close ties to Hamas. CODEPINK also promotes the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. 

CODEPINK has led a number of solidarity delegations to Gaza under Hamas protection. In March 2014, CODEPINK also helped organize an “International Women's Day” delegation to Gaza. However, upon arriving at the Cairo airport on March 3, 2014, Benjamin was detained by Egyptian authorities and refused entry into Gaza. She was then forcibly deported to Turkey.

CODEPINKBDS campaigns have targeted RE/MAX, Ahava, SodaStream, Hewlett Packard and Airbnb. On November 20, 2016, CODEPINK leader Ariel Gold disrupted a speech given by the actor Ashton Kutcher, an Airbnb investor who defended the company. Gold was escorted off the stage by security.

In September 2008, a number of CODEPINK leaders met with former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a notorious anti-Semite and Holocaust denier. CODEPINK reportedly initiated its anti-Israel campaign followeding meeting. In November 2008, Jodie Evans and a CODEPINK contingent visited Iran at the personal invitation of Ahmadinejad. 

Social Media and Weblinks

Twitter:https://twitter.com/ztsamudzi 

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/babywasu/ 

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/zo%C3%A9-samudzi-b56a8468/ 

Academia.edu:https://risd.academia.edu/Zo%C3%A9Samudzi 

Wikipedia:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zo%C3%A9_Samudzi 

Personal Website:http://www.zoesamudzi.com/ 

Linktree:https://linktr.ee/zsamudzi

University Website:https://www.risd.edu/academics/photography/faculty/zoe-samudzi 

YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi2BQBNXHHIXcdPLfVpA7yQ 

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