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<h3 class="headline">Student activists at San Francisco State,
UC Irvine facing repression</h3>
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<h5 class="text">July 11, 2016</h5>
<h5 class="text">Written By: Omar Zahzah</h5>
</aside>
<p><b>An Escalating Backlash</b></p>
<p><span>The crackdown on pro-Palestine activism in the
United States has reached a fever pitch. Early last
month, New York Governor Cuomo signed an </span><a
href="http://www.salon.com/2016/06/05/ny_gov_cuomo_signing_unconstitutional_mccarthyite_pro_israel_exec_order_punishing_bds_boycott_movement/"><span>executive
order</span></a><span> calling for the creation of
a blacklist of institutions and individuals that
support </span><a
href="https://bdsmovement.net/call"><span>Boycott,
Divestment and Sanctions</span></a><span> (BDS)
against Israel, and the denial of state funding to
organizations that have participated in and/or
support BDS activity. Though they may seem extreme,
Cuomo’s actions actually </span><a
href="http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2016/06/10/new-york-governor-cuomos-anti-bds-executive-order-akin-to-ny-ca-bills/"><span>converge</span></a><span>
with the introduction of similar legislation in
state legislatures </span><a
href="http://palestinelegal.org/legislation/"><span>across
the country</span></a><span>. As recently reported
by the </span><i><span>Electronic Intifada, </span></i><span>the
spate of anti-BDS legislation in the U.S. and the
United Kingdom (U.K.) is the result of a </span><a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israel-quietly-pushed-anti-bds-legislation-us-uk"><span>concerted
effort</span></a><span> by the Israeli foreign
ministry and sympathetic lobbying groups,
constituting the latest strategy to counter the
spread of international support for BDS.</span></p>
<p><span>In addition to increasingly intervening in U.S.
politics, Israeli officials and domestic Zionist
organizations are also turning their focus to
American university campuses, even as university
administrations display increasing hostility towards
pro-Palestine activism. Amidst this escalating
backlash, student activists now more than ever are
in vital need of support, a reality with which
several years with Students for Justice in Palestine
at UCLA has made me all too familiar.</span></p>
<p><b>Student Activists Especially Vulnerable</b></p>
<p><span>Two recent cases in particular show that
students who dare to engage in direct action
decrying Israeli </span><a
href="https://rabbibrant.com/2016/04/02/yes-zionism-is-settler-colonialism/"><span>settler
colonialism</span></a><span> and </span><a
href="http://mondoweiss.net/2014/10/ethnic-cleansing-israeli/"><span>ethnic
cleansing</span></a><span> are especially
vulnerable to the rising opposition </span><span>to
Palestine activism.</span></p>
<p><span>On April 6th, along with a coalition of other
student groups, the </span><a
href="https://www.facebook.com/GeneralUnionofPalestineStudents/"><span>General
Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS)</span></a> <a
href="https://www.rt.com/usa/338794-protest-palestine-israel-mayor/"><span>protested</span></a><span>
a speech given by Nir Barakat, the mayor of </span><a
href="http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/countries/middle-east-and-north-africa/israel-and-occupied-palestinian-territories"><span>occupied</span></a><span>
Jerusalem. The event was hosted by San Francisco
State’s Hillel. Following the action, San Francisco
State president Les Wong sent out a </span><a
href="http://news.sfsu.edu/announcements/message-president-wong-civil-discourse"><span>statement</span></a><span>
expressing concern for the “state of civil
discourse” on the San Francisco State campus and
promising an investigation. Many media outlets were
swift to cast the protest in a </span><a
href="http://goldengatexpress.org/2016/04/07/general-union-of-palestine-students-storm-meeting-with-jerusalem-mayor/"><span>negative</span></a>
<a
href="http://goldengatexpress.org/2016/04/07/general-union-of-palestine-students-storm-meeting-with-jerusalem-mayor/"><span>light</span></a><span>,
often mirroring Wong’s tone in describing it as an </span><a
href="https://www.thefire.org/san-francisco-state-student-protesters-disrupt-speech-by-jerusalem-mayor/"><span>assault
on free speech</span></a><span>.SF State Hillel
similarly claimed in a </span><a
href="http://us7.campaign-archive2.com/?u=43cc9296a4418f8febe1ddc45&id=8179c9540d"><span>blog
entry</span></a><span> that Barakat was “shouted
down” by the protesters and “prevented from
speaking,” despite the fact that even articles
condemning the demonstration observe that Barakat </span><a
href="http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Watch-Anti-Israel-protesters-crash-Jerusalem-mayor-Barkats-speech-in-San-Francisco-450543"><span>continued
his talk</span></a><span>, even if he needed to
adjust accordingly. </span></p>
<p><span>“We protested Mayor Barkat because of his role
as an Israeli official, who enforces violence and
occupation against our communities on a daily
basis…Providing a platform for Barkat on our campus
erases the violent and brutal realities faced by
Palestinians,” </span><span>GUPS wrote in a </span><a
href="http://mondoweiss.net/2016/05/protested-jerusalem-university/"><span>statement</span></a><span>.</span></p>
<p><span>GUPS’ statement goes on to enumerate several
examples of policies supported or implemented by
Barakat that amount to ethnic cleansing and </span><a
href="http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-makdisi-israel-apartheid-20140518-story.html"><span>apartheid</span></a><span>,
including the demolition of Palestinian homes,
continued expansion of settlements (or, as some of
us more accurately term them, </span><a
href="http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/32707-call-israeli-settlements-what-they-are-colonies"><span>colonies</span></a><span>)
in East Jerusalem, denial of Palestinian access to
education and the right to own property, and
measures taken to ensure that the Palestinian
presence in Jerusalem does not exceed 30 percent of
the total population by the year 2020. As GUPS’
statement makes clear, for Palestinian students and
all who acted in solidarity, Barakat’s appearance
was not simply about a distasteful perspective—it
was about the presence of a figure whose actions are
part of the cause of ongoing and systematic violence
and dispossession of Palestinians. Framing the issue
as simply a matter of challenged speech erases the
disparity in power between Barakat and Palestinian
students, whose families and communities suffer
constantly under the violent and racist practices of
the Israeli state. </span></p>
<p><span>Similarly, on May 18th, a coalition of student
organizations at University of California Irvine
(UCI) made up of Students for Justice in Palestine
(SJP), the Black Student Union (BSU), the Muslim
Student Union (MSU), Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano
de Aztl</span><span>án (MeCHa), La Resilencia
Trans/Queer de UCI, American Indian Student
Association (AISA), Asian Pacific Student
Association (APSA), and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP)
protested a film screening put on by UCI’s Students
Supporting Israel that included a panel of IDF
soldiers. The purpose of the demonstration was both
to express outrage at the </span><a
href="http://www.btselem.org/publications/summaries/201605_occupations_fig_leaf"><span>normalized
violence</span></a><span> perpetrated by the
Israeli military against Palestinians as well as to
denounce the </span><a
href="http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/gaza-testing-ground-israeli-military-technology-628438934"><span>exporting</span></a><span>
of Israeli military technology and surveillance and
suppression </span><a
href="http://thefreethoughtproject.com/u-s-police-routinely-travel-israel-learn-methods-brutality-repression/"><span>tactics</span></a><span>
honed in the occupied territories to U.S. police
forces and foreign governments.</span></p>
<p><span>“The connections between the Israeli Defense
Forces and military, colonial, and genocidal regimes
all over the world are numerous. Not only do police
departments in the U.S. send police delegations to
train in Israel, but weapons trade and
marketing–especially after the siege on Gaza in
2014–allows Israel to demonstrate the
‘effectiveness’ of its violent military technologies
in order to market it to other nations/regimes. …
For opposing students to claim to feel unsafe at the
presence of protesters is incomparable to the fear
and vulnerability of Palestinians who face violence
at gunpoint by [Israeli Occupation Forces] and who
are facing systematic genocide, ethnic cleansing and
erasure as a part of their colonization of
Palestinian land,” UC Irvine’s Students for Justice
in Palestine wrote in a </span><a
href="https://ucisjp.wordpress.com/"><span>statement</span></a><span>
following the protest. </span><span> </span></p>
<p><span>In what Palestine Legal has </span><a
href="http://palestinelegal.org/news/2016/6/9/suppression-at-uc-irvine-follows-predictable-pattern"><span>described</span></a><span>
as a “predictable pattern,” Zionist organizations
made false accusations against the protesters, </span><a
href="http://zoa.org/2016/06/10325264-zoa-and-lawfare-project-letter-to-uc-irvine-chancellor-requesting-investigation-of-campus-anti-semitic-incident/"><span>calling</span></a><span>
for disciplinary action and criminal investigation
and the media </span><a
href="http://www.ocregister.com/articles/israeli-716561-israel-uci.html"><span>mischaracterized</span></a><span>
the demonstration. Administration has </span><a
href="https://theintercept.com/2016/06/23/students-in-california-might-face-criminal-investigation-for-protesting-film-on-israeli-army/"><span>referred
the case to the District Attorney</span></a><span>—a
measure UCI administration had </span><a
href="http://palestinelegal.org/news/2016/6/23/uc-irvine-moves-to-criminalize-student-protest-of-israeli-soldiers-again"><span>previously
pursued</span></a><span> against the 11 Muslim
students who challenged a speech by then-Israeli
ambassador Michael Oren—and are considering banning
Students for Justice in Palestine. As with SF State
President Les Wong, UC Irvine Chancellor Howard
Gillman issued a </span><a
href="http://chancellor.uci.edu/engagement/campus-communications/2016/160519-ssi-incident.html"><span>statement</span></a><span>
claiming that the protest had “crossed the lines of
civility.” Gilman’s statement reiterated the false
charges raised by Zionist organizations, including
that student protesters had blocked exits, though
these charges were </span><a
href="http://www.nlg-la.org/article/nlg-contests-allegations-made-uci-chancellor-and-others"><span>disputed</span></a><span>
by legal observers working with the </span><a
href="https://www.nlg.org/about"><span>National
Lawyers Guild</span></a><span> who were present at
the demonstration.</span></p>
<p><span>The outcome in both situations remains
uncertain. </span></p>
<p><b>“Civility”</b></p>
<p><span>As most recently evidenced by the Steven </span><a
href="http://www.salon.com/2015/06/18/a_win_for_academic_freedom_steven_salaita_awarded_back_to_back_victories_against_university_that_fired_him/"><span>Salaita
affair</span></a><span>, “civility,” a </span><a
href="https://shadowproof.com/2014/10/09/fired-professor-steven-salaitas-speech-on-israel-civility-academic-freedom-at-columbia-college-chicago/"><span>colonial
and racializing</span></a><span> concept that
privileges tone over content and establishes a
rubric for etiquette by creating a contrast with a
savage and non-white Other, has become a very
popular framework for administrators in an
increasingly corporatized university system to use
in taking issue with student and faculty dissent.
“Civility” allows for proponents of an allegedly
all-encompassing freedom of speech to conveniently
falter in their enthusiasm when the object of
criticism is considered off-limits—in this case,
Palestinian oppression and dispossession, and the
entrenchment of Israeli military and surveillance
strategies in globalizing systems of racialized
state violence, surveillance and white supremacy.
“Civility” can magically transform groups of
vulnerable black, brown, undocumented, queer and
trans students standing up to powerful politicians
and soldiers responsible for the implementation of
violent and racist policies of military occupation
and ethnic cleansing into an “angry mob,” and divert
what should be righteous indignation at the
brutality endured by a colonized population into
patronizing </span><i><span>tut-tutting</span></i><span>
about the means of protest.</span></p>
<p><span>The framework of “civility” also obscures the
way (as both GUPS and SJP UCI demonstrate in their
statements) that “ideas” put forward by Barakat and
the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) are actually
extensions of violent acts of systemic erasure. For
Palestinian students, every word spoken carried with
it the weight of further harm to their families and
communities.</span></p>
<p><b>A Familiar Tactic</b></p>
<p><span>Charlotte Silver </span><a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/why-are-university-heads-racing-slander-protesters/17061"><span>documented</span></a><span>
how President Wong’s response followed a phone
conversation with Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon
Wiesenthal Center, a pro-Israel lobbying group, and
that the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA),
another lobbying group that </span><a
href="http://palestinelegal.org/news/2016/3/30/statement-banning-sjp-from-cuny-would-be-unconstitutional"><span>recently
called</span></a><span> for SJP to be investigated
and banned from CUNY campuses on false accusations
of anti-Semitism, is now urging administration at UC
Irvine to take action against SJP. And, in a </span><a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israel-lawfare-group-plans-massive-punishments-activists?utm_content=buffer81508&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer"><span>breakthrough
report</span></a><span>, Ali Abunimah reveals how
admissions from Brooke Goldstein of the Lawfare
Project at an anti-BDS conference in early June
“[cast] the latest attacks by pro-Israel groups on
Palestine solidarity activists at UC Irvine and San
Francisco State University in a new light . . .
Goldstein said her group was encouraging Jewish
students on those campuses to file police complaints
against Palestine solidarity activists, ‘so we can
pressure the [district attorney] to bring criminal
charges against those students, just like was done
with Michael Oren’s speech.’”</span> <span>These
revelations should quell any serious doubt of a
coordinated and far-reaching effort to shut down
campus activism for Palestine. Sadly, as already
revealed in the cases of San Francisco State and UC
Irvine, it will be students who bear the brunt of
this repressive campaign. </span><i><span> </span></i><span> </span></p>
<p><span>Nearly four years of involvement with SJP UCLA
has allowed me to see first-hand that this state of
affairs is far from anomalous: consistent outside
pressure from Zionist groups can often lead to
serious ramifications for students who engage in
Palestine activism. In June 2014, in collaboration
with Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and the Armenian
Student Association (ASA), SJP at UCLA circulated a
non-binding </span><a
href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1QG-honFOsbKDk5eQ6X5mMM2TTJBgseYOKM6VC6psq-8/viewform"><span>ethics
pledge</span></a><span> for student politicians to
sign promising on good faith not to accept free or
sponsored trips from lobbying groups with a history
of discriminatory behavior. Working with six other
pro-Israel organizations, the AMCHA Initiative </span><a
href="http://www.amchainitiative.org/amcha-demands-ucla-stop-horrendous-bullying-of-jewish-students/"><span>initiated
a campaign</span></a><span> to pressure UCLA
administration to take action against SJP UCLA and
casting the impetus for the ethics pledge (as well
as earlier Judicial Board charges filed by SJP
against student representatives we believed had a </span><a
href="http://www.sjpbruins.com/news--opinion/the-israel-lobbys-use-of-free-trips-to-sway-ucla-student-government"><span>conflict
of interest</span></a><span> when voting for a
divestment resolution presented in February of that
year) as rooted in anti-Semitism and terrorist
sympathies. The ethics pledge </span><a
href="http://dailybruin.com/2014/05/16/students-respond-to-criticisms-joint-ethics-statement-by-block-napolitano/"><span>garnered
condemnation</span></a><span> from both UCLA
Chancellor Gene Block and UC President (and former
Head of Homeland Security) Janet Napolitano, and the
Los Angeles City Council even </span><a
href="http://mondoweiss.net/2014/06/denounce-activists-critiquing/"><span>considered</span></a><span>
a </span><a
href="https://www.scribd.com/doc/227571013/LA-City-Council-Resolution-on-USAC-Ethics-Statement"><span>resolution</span></a><span>
criticizing the ethics pledge and calling on the UC
Regents to intervene more directly in campus affairs
by instituting harsher punishments for actions such
as the ethics pledge, which included consulting law
enforcement “where appropriate.” Though this
resolution was ultimately tabled, the chilling
effect of having a legislative body consider taking
action against your campus activist group by calling
on administration to refer you to the police cannot
be overstated.</span></p>
<p><span>More recently, the AMCHA Initiative </span><a
href="https://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/reflections-on-the-uc-regents-meeting/"><span>pushed
for the UC Regents</span></a><span> to adopt the </span><a
href="http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/fs/2010/122352.htm"><span>State
Department Definition</span></a><span> of
anti-Semitism, a move that would have stigmatized
virtually all student organizing for Palestine as
this definition </span><a
href="http://static1.squarespace.com/static/548748b1e4b083fc03ebf70e/t/55a0073ce4b00bbec50d8063/1436550972939/FAQ+onDefinition+of+Anti-Semitism-3-9-15.pdf"><span>does
not distinguish</span></a><span> between criticism
of Israeli policy and genuine anti-Semitism. The UC
Regents abandoned the State Department definition </span><a
href="http://www.salon.com/2015/07/26/a_win_for_activists_in_university_of_californias_anti_semitism_debate/"><span>following
considerable criticism</span></a><span>. However,
they later drafted a “Statement of Principles
Against Intolerance” that in its earliest stages
directly linked anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism (a
conflation that would have been just as damaging as
the adoption of the State Department definition),
but which was </span><a
href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-uc-regents-intolerance-20160322-story.html"><span>later
amended</span></a><span> following further outcry
to condemn instead “anti-Semitic forms of
anti-Zionism.” Yet this change has not stopped the </span><a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/us-university-lecturers-shocking-hate-speech-against-arab-muslim"><span>racist
and Islamophobic</span></a><span> AMCHA Initiative
co-founder Tammi Rossman-Benjamin from citing the
Regents’ “Statement of Principles” in a recent </span><a
href="http://www.stopthejewhatredoncampus.org/news/36-advocacy-groups-uc-irvine-chancellor-gillman-what-your-plan-implementing-regents-principles"><span>letter</span></a><span>
to Chancellor Gillman making false and inciting
allegations about UCI SJP and asking for him to make
clear how he “intends to implement” the Regents’
statement—not so subtle code for sanctioning SJP.</span></p>
<p><b>Means of Support</b></p>
<p><span>As my own experiences with SJP UCLA taught me,
what has befallen protesters at SF State and UC
Irvine is not exceptional: Zionist organizations are
aggressively intervening in campus affairs in an
ongoing attempt to stamp out pro-Palestine activity.</span></p>
<p><span>Given that Palestine activism is often
grassroots, it is all the more imperative for all
who advocate for Palestinian freedom and
self-determination to come together in lending our
support to the student activists who put themselves
at great personal risk to denounce Israel’s
oppression of the Palestinian people. Two simple yet
nevertheless crucial displays of such support would
be to sign the </span><a
href="https://org.salsalabs.com/o/301/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=20010"><span>action
alert</span></a><span> circulated by </span><a
href="https://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/mission/"><span>Jewish
Voice for Peace</span></a><span> (JVP) urging the
Orange County District Attorney not to prosecute
the student activists at UC Irvine, as well as
contacting both SF State </span><a
href="http://president.sfsu.edu/"><span>President
Les Wong</span></a><span> and UC Irvine Chancellor
</span><a href="http://chancellor.uci.edu/about/"><span>Howard
Gillman</span></a><span> and calling on them to
end the proceedings against members of GUPS and SJP,
respectively. “Civility” should not be a binding
criterion for circumscribing political activism, and
pressure from external organizations should not
determine students’ ability to advocate for a just
cause.</span></p>
<aside class="mobile-post-meta">
<h5 class="text">July 11, 2016</h5>
<h5 class="text">Written By: Omar Zahzah</h5>
</aside>
<section class="author-bio clearfix">
<h3 class="title">About Omar Zahzah</h3>
<p class="bio">Omar Zahzah is a PhD student in
comparative literature at UCLA of Lebanese
Palestinian origin as well as a member of Students
for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the Palestinian
Youth Movement (PYM).</p>
<p class="bio"><font size="+1"><i><b>_____________________________________________________</b></i></font></p>
<p class="bio"> </p>
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<div id="reader-header" class="header"
style="display: block;"> <font size="-2"><a
id="reader-domain" class="domain"
href="http://mondoweiss.net/2017/07/struggling-francisco-university/">http://mondoweiss.net/2017/07/struggling-francisco-university/</a></font>
<h1 id="reader-title">Struggling for justice at
San Francisco State University<br>
</h1>
<div id="reader-credits" class="credits">Saliem
Shehadeh - July 13, 2017<br>
</div>
</div>
<hr>
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style="display: block;">
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<p class="sizeable"><span>Students, staff,
and faculty at San Francisco State
University are under investigation by
the university on trumped up charges of
anti-Semitism brought forth by San
Francisco Hillel. This is the latest in
a long history of accusations made
against Palestinians and Palestinian
advocates at SFSU by the pro-Israel
organization. Pro-Israel groups have
time and again sought criminal and
punitive charges for political and
scholarly expressions critical of Israel
on college campuses constituting
assaults on civil liberties and
anti-colonial struggles. One of the more
famous cases includes the Irvine 11 in
which the Orange County District
Attorney’s Office charged students who
protested a speech by Israeli Ambassador
Michael Oren on UC Irvine campus with </span><a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/irvine-11-appeals-filed-defense-lawyers-say-convictions-were"
class="sizeable"><span>two misdemeanors</span></a><span>.
And most recently, pro-Israel legal
organizations have brought a civil
rights based lawsuit alleging the
institutionalization of anti-Semitism on
SFSU campus and blaming a slew of
defendants including top-level SFSU
administrators, staff, and Dr. Rabab
Abdulhadi the founding director of the
Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and
Diasporas Studies program and the
longtime advisor to the General Union of
Palestine Students on campus. The
Lawfare Project and the law firm of
Winston & Strawn who brought filed
the lawsuit on behalf of three SF Hillel
students is similar in nature to a 2011
lawsuit alleging an “anti-Semitic
climate at UC Berkeley.” US District
Judge Richard Seeborg dismissed the
lawsuit as its accusations presented </span><a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/judge-dismisses-claims-anti-semitic-climate-uc-berkeley/10780"
class="sizeable"><span>no coherent or
plausible argument</span></a><span>.
Such episodes highlight the willingness
and strategy of pro-Israel organizations
to legally harass Palestinians advocacy
on campuses and to attack knowledge
production rooted in social justice and
anti-colonial principles. </span></p>
<p class="sizeable"><span>The latest
allegations of anti-Semitism by Hillel
were made in reaction to the
organization not receiving a table at a
“Know Your Rights” (KYR) Fair held in
February of 2017 at SFSU. The purpose of
the Fair was consistent from its
inception: to outreach to groups
vulnerable in the new political climate,
with a focus on Arab and Muslim, LGTBQ,
and Undocumented communities.
Participating at the fair included
Palestine Legal, La Raza Centro Legal
and ACLU, it featured one-on-one
interface among Fair participants,
self-defense training led by Girl Army,
and legal advice panels to educate
students on community efforts combatting
Trump’s Executive Orders. Jewish Voice
for Peace participated in the Fair,
among the over 20 participating
organizations, where they reached out to
Jewish students (some of whom were
members of Hillel) in the potential
makings of a JVP chapter at SFSU.
Despite this reality, Hillel continues
to allege that Jews were excluded from
the fair and that the Fair organizers
not making room for Hillel at the
already over-booked event was an act of
religious discrimination. I, being one
of the organizers of the Fair, have
stated at every occasion that no such
discrimination has taken place. There is
no evidence to support such claims, and
in fact, the evidence proves that such
claims are false. Instead, Hillel has
fabricated a storyline in which the Fair
organizers changed the description of
the Fair to the exclusion of pro-Israel
and Zionist organizations. </span><em>Anti-Zionism
is not Anti-Semitism.</em><b> </b><span>I
reject Hillel’s or any other definition
of anti-Semitism which equates criticism
of Israel with anti-Jewish hatred. The
literature (and we’re at an academic
institution where knowledge is
paramount) is full of debates on what
anti-Semitism constitutes and how it
should not be used to stifle political
criticism of Israel. If this is the
definition of anti-Semitism which is
being used to determine the merits of
Hillel’s complaint, then the university
is in violation of the First Amendment
and ignoring volumes of scholarship. </span></p>
<p class="sizeable"><span>Hillel not
receiving a table at the event was a
unanimous and consensus decision based
on Hillel’s conduct and table capacity.
The discussion and decision took place
over email and during two meetings. It
was given ample time to raise points,
concerns and to address those points or
concerns. Our adherence to shared
governance and accordance with
horizontal leadership style was
reaffirmed the day of the Fair when a
paid staff member of Hillel attempted to
“negotiate” his way into the Fair by
cornering one of the Fair organizers and
attempting to force them into making a
unilateral decision displacing already
booked organizations for the benefit of
Hillel. This is the same Hillel staff
member who made false claims that the
organizers had invited Hillel on the
basis that he received an email </span><em>forwarded
</em><span>to them by an unaffiliated
organization who was in fact invited.
Attempting to hide their blunder, Hillel
removed the sender’s address before
submitting it as evidence, but us having
the original email were quickly able to
prove Hillel’s tampering of evidence.
This is the same staff member of Hillel
who told university investigators that
he had no intention of discussing Israel
at the Fair. This is not a credible
statement given that his job title, as
the </span><a
href="http://www.sfhillel.org/our-professional-team.html"
class="sizeable"><span>SF Hillel website</span></a><span>
confirms, is “Israel Engagement
Associate.” Lastly, this is the same
individual who told one of the Fair
organizers that even if Hillel had a
table, Hillel would have a very limited/
no participation in the Fair because
they were already otherwise committed to
tabling on the University quad for
Jewish Heritage Week. His
misrepresentations and actions are only
relevant to point out that his
statements are dishonest; despite this,
the university has based their
investigation on the accusations brought
forth by this Hillel staff member.</span></p>
<p class="sizeable"><span>Further, GUPS and
other Arab groups noted that they would
pull out of the Fair if Hillel was given
a table. This guardedness is a defense
tactic, one in which we avoid the same
organization that harasses and seeks to
criminalize us, one that does so with
the complicity and involvement of the
university. University administrators
who were made aware of the potential
pull-out noted their indifference if
GUPS and other Arab groups did not
attend the Fair. This is a racist
reflection of the impression that
Palestinian and Arab voices are
disposable. The absence of Palestinian
and Arab organizations would have
destroyed the very event that was
intended to make them a focal point and
it is alarming to learn that the
administration would so easily dispose
of them. University prejudice against
Palestinians is also seen in that every
single public General Union of Palestine
Students event is monitored by
university administrators in the Office
of Student Services who have tightened
the screws on GUPS activities. All of
these administrators have a visibly and
publicly friendly relationship with the
Hillel director Ollie Ben.</span></p>
<h3 class="sizeable">SFSU Top-Level
Administrators Interfering with the
Investigation</h3>
<p class="sizeable"><span>From the
beginning, the university has treated us
with the utmost disrespect by violating
our due process and through the
consistent oddities in the manner the
university has carried out the
investigation. The allegations against
the KYR committee were not made formally
in writing, rather, members from SF
Hillel’s paid-staff met with Vice
President Luoluo Hong whom they have a
very public friendly relationship with
and who oversees a number of university
departments including the Title IX
Coordinator/ Discrimination, Harassment,
and Retaliation Administrator. After one
of their meetings, VP Hong issued formal
allegations against the Fair organizers
on March 10, 2017, two weeks after the
Fair took place on February 28, 2017.
For weeks the university made little to
no progress on the investigation, that
is until the Jewish Studies program at
SFSU and SF Hillel made claims of
institutional anti-Semitism at SFSU and
cited the KYR Fair as a point of
evidence. In response, SFSU President
Leslie Wong issued a campus-wide
statement shifting attention away from
university administrators and onto
Palestinians and the KYR Fair organizers
promising a forceful investigation and
affirming anti-Semitic activity on
campus by Palestinian advocates. This
new position from Wong is in stark
contrast to multiple university
investigations that proved those claims
false. Within the week, the university
added a second investigator onto the
case in the middle of the investigation,
another oddity itself. The
co-investigator admitted as much when he
noted that in his time at SFSU he held
the role of co-investigator a ballpark
of ten times and that those were usually
for the purpose of training new
investigators. As there was no training
involved, the move was a clear attempt
to politically side with pressure from
pro-Israel communities. This display was
repeated in an </span><a
href="https://news.sfsu.edu/announcements/san-francisco-state-university-statement-disputing-lawsuit-affirming-commitment"
class="sizeable"><span>SF State News
announcement</span></a><span> dated
June 20, 2017, responding to a lawsuit
brought forth by The Lawfare Project on
formal allegations of institutionalized
anti-Semitism. When such displays are
made by the University President, they
are reminiscent of subtle discursive
tactics prejudging the outcome and a
“guilty verdict”. It is widely known
that bosses and managers engage in such
tactics, as former FBI Director James
Comey made clear in the latest
Congressional hearings concerning
Russian interference. </span></p>
<p class="sizeable"><span>We were not made
aware of the evidence and the
specificities of the allegations against
us until Monday, June 26, 2017. This is
over four months after we received
notice from VP Hong on March 10, 2017,
to appear for interrogation. And, on
March 1, a member of the university’s
staff asked the Fair organizers for a
comprehensive list of all emails sent
from our private accounts about the
planning of the Fair, 10 days before a
formal investigation was authorized.
Having not been presented with
specificities of the allegations nor
with their scope of evidence, we have
been forced to respond solely based on
speculation for the majority of the
investigation. This is just days before
the hard deadline of July 13, 2017, set
by </span><a
href="https://www.calstate.edu/eo/EO-1097-rev-10-5-16.pdf"
class="sizeable"><span>California State
University Chancellor Executive Order</span></a><span>
for timely response to investigate and
to present findings. The investigators
set into place a scheduling system that
has prohibited us from preparing the
most basic defense and our access to the
“evidence” brought against us until the
latest opportunity. When we requested
sufficient time to respond to the
allegations, the university investigator
did not accommodate the request and
noted the quickly approaching deadline.
While the deadline in the governing
Executive Order was presented as neutral
and immutable, I interpret the
inflexible approach as an intimidation
tactic, disparate treatment, and
discrimination against Palestinians and
advocacy for justice in Palestine. It is
commonly known that the university
violates its own deadlines routinely.
For example, it has kept on the back
burner and lacked follow up with Dr.
Rabab Abdulhadi’s grievance filed
against SFSU in February of 2017, in
which she offers evidence to the
systemic hostile and unsafe work and
study environment for Palestinians and
the physical threats and administrative
retaliation against her. But in the KYR
case, the deadlines are strict, in what
is believed to be a response to public
political pressure to punish the
organizers of the Fair. And in doing so,
the university is engaged in
discriminatory application of the
Executive Order.</span></p>
<p class="sizeable"><span>Such disparate
treatment of Palestinians by SFSU’s
investigators is both well documented
and patterned, all of which found that
SF Hillel’s and other pro-Israel
organizations accusations are baseless.
In the spring of 2016, two members of
the General Union of Palestine Students
were formally investigated by SFSU’s
Office of Student Conduct for their
participation in the protest of Barkat.
They were the only two students
investigated of the over 20 protesting,
on allegations which included
threatening Jewish students. After
having completed the in-house university
investigation which held possible
suspension or expulsion for the
students, the university hired an
independent law firm to conduct yet
another investigation, this too holding
possible punitive measures to the
students’ academic standing. In 2014,
the university investigated Dr. Rabab
Abdulhadi’s financial records of five
years of her international travel in
three redundant investigations after
pro-Israel groups led by The AMCHA
Initiative accused her of misusing
university funds to support
anti-Semitism and terrorism. In 2013,
the former GUPS president had his
information released to investigations
conducted by the FBI, the Joint
Terrorist Task Force, the Israeli
Consulate, the SFSU Police Department
and the San Francisco Police Department
after The AMCHA Initiative, SFSU Jewish
Studies and SF Hillel accused the
Palestinian student of threatening the
lives of Jewish students. And in 2002,
the San Francisco District Attorney’s
Office investigated two Palestinian
students on request of SFSU after they
were accused of anti-Semitism during a
pro-Israel rally on campus put together
by SF Hillel during the Al-Aqsa
Intifada. Every single one of these
investigations found no merit to the
allegations of terrorism or
anti-Semitism alleged by SF Hillel and
cleared the names of the Palestinians
accused. Despite having their names
cleared, the smear campaigns based on
false allegations remain a stain on
their character. Further, SFSU has been
a willing participant and has enabled
such harassment and bullying tactics to
be practiced with impunity against
Palestinians. This is a nation-wide
trend as Palestinian faculty, students,
and their allies across college campus
have been targeted in a similar manner,
many times by the same organizations.</span></p>
<h3 class="sizeable">Evidence of Hillel’s
Conduct threatening students’ and faculty
rights</h3>
<p class="sizeable"><span>SF Hillel was not
issued a table at the Fair by the
organizers after discussion of Hillel
and its ill fit in the mission of the
Fair. Our intent in organizing the KYR
fair was to provide resources and
information for vulnerable communities
to protect themselves. Providing a table
to Hillel, whose conduct has threatened
the safety of campus Palestinians and
other advocates for justice in
Palestine, is akin to giving a table to
ICE at a gathering of undocumented
communities, or having the Ferguson
Police Chief table at an event
discussing police brutality against
black teenagers. The committee
acknowledged, by consensus, that there
was no table for Hillel given the strain
on capacity and the clear problems with
Hillel’s presence at a table based on
Hillel’s conduct.</span></p>
<p class="sizeable"><span>The objections to
Hillel were always, and are still, about
the organization’s conduct threatening
students’ rights. It was in no way an
issue of religious discrimination nor
retaliation. Hillel’s threatening
conduct is most evident in the way that
Hillel made false accusations against
Palestinian students and our allies
alleging that protesters threatened
Jewish students during the 2016 protest
of a campus visit by Nir Barkat, the
mayor of occupied Jerusalem and an
architect of apartheid, colonialism, and
displacement in the city. Hillel
broadcast false allegations that
protesters were violent and
anti-Semitic. Hillel’s accusations were
not only factually incorrect, but they
are allegations rooted in Islamophobic
fear mongering and racist Orientalist
tropes of Palestinians as savages.
Hillel’s public allegations against the
protesters were proven false by
testimonies from the University Police
Department, by an in-house university
investigation, and by the external
investigation of a law firm</span><span>
contracted by the university. And yet,
the stain and trauma of these
allegations continue to follow SFSU
students in their academic and
professional pursuits, threatening
student’s rights to speak, to study, and
to even organize for our own protection
in this political climate. Indicative of
this is the means in which these false
claims were circulated by Islamophobic,
racist and anti-Palestinian
organizations including Canary Mission
and David Horowitz who on </span><a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/racist-group-launches-national-offensive-us-campuses"
class="sizeable"><span>October 14</span><span>th</span><span>
and May 3</span><span>rd</span><span>
plastered posters</span></a><span>
around campus </span><a
href="https://medium.com/@sfsugups415/immediate-sfsu-response-required-against-islamophobia-anti-arab-racism-and-hostility-to-palestine-300590ea0e77"
class="sizeable"><span>that targeted Dr.
Abdulhadi, GUPS,</span></a><span>
Palestinian student advocates, Muslim
students, Palestinian community leaders,
and the organizations Students for
Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice
for Peace. </span></p>
<p class="sizeable"><span>While Hillel
expressed a condemnation of the David
Horowitz posters, it never retracted its
false accusations against students. As a
result, students who were already
scheduled to table at the KYR Fair, and
many other students, were publicly
smeared, cyber-bullied, harassed,
threatened with violence and rape, and
stalked on campus and off-campus. The
university has refused to press charges
or even to conduct an investigation into
how and why these posters were allowed
to be put up and stay up on our campus.
The organizers of the Fair understood
that many students, faculty members, and
organizations have been victimized by
Hillel’s lies. To force us to sit
side-by-side to our oppressors cannot be
done in clear consciousness, violates
principles of restorative justice, and
would vastly endanger students and
faculty members.</span></p>
<p class="sizeable"><span>Dr. Abdulhadi was
also smeared by such lies due to her
many campus roles including faculty
adviser to GUPS and other student
organizers on campus, and the director
of the AMED program. AMED also tabled at
the KYR Fair, sitting alongside GUPS and
JVP, as AMED is the is the only academic
program on SFSU campus whose mission is
to combat Islamophobia and anti-Arab
discrimination. Framing her scholarship
and activism under the principles of an
“</span><a
href="http://www.solidarity-us.org/site/node/4220"
class="sizeable"><span>indivisibility of
justice</span></a><span>” in all her
classes, Dr. Abdulhadi teaches how to
defy anti-Semitism. She presents diverse
Jewish experiences that challenge the
monolithic construction of Jews across
time, place and contemporary times, and
that differentiate between Judaism,
Jewishness, Israel, and Zionism. At the
AMED Studies table (which I staffed), I
included a list of all the classes that
AMED offers as well as T-shirts
depicting the Palestinian Cultural Mural
(also known as the Edward Said Mural) on
SFSU campus, our pride and joy. I
intentionally requested that JVP sit at
the table between the General Union of
Palestine Students and that of the Arab
and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas
Studies to both enjoy the presence of
the community organization with whom we
closely work, and to symbolically show
Palestinian-Jewish solidarity.</span></p>
<p class="sizeable"><span>Hillel’s
accusations of anti-Semitism are the
same ones used in the aforementioned
lawsuit brought forth by The Lawfare
Project. Adding insult to injury, </span><a
href="http://thelawfareproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/SFSU-Federal-Complaint.pdf"
class="sizeable"><span>Hillel students
have actually added additional false
accusations against those protesting
Barkat</span></a><span>. They now
claim that GUPS students “adjust[ed]
their head coverings in a threatening
manner,” and that “one of them
[protestors] would eventually try to use
a weapon on those of us who attended the
event to hear the [occupied] Jerusalem
Mayor speak.” Such racist and
Islamophobic perceptions of Arabs and
Palestinians is not a new phenomenon by
White-identifying groups, which Hillel’s
predominately Ashkenazi Jewish
demographic is. Such prejudices remind
us of racist fear mongering of Black men
wearing hoodies, articulated in the
hunting down and murder of Trayvon
Martin. Anti-Arab racism and
Islamophobia have resulted in the mass
incarceration and deportation of, and,
most recently, the third reiteration of
a Travel Ban against Arabs and Muslims
exacerbated by the fear mongering
generated after the attacks on the East
Coast on September 11, 2001, and
Palestinian struggles for liberation
during the Intifadas. </span></p>
<p class="sizeable"><span>Hillel’s claims
were and continue to be </span><i><span>public</span></i><span>
fabrications, blatant lies that have led
to death threats, threats of rape, and
stalking against students and faculty.
And here is where the university
misinterprets genuine concern that any
and all interactions with Hillel results
in such smearing, a smearing that comes
with consequences that threaten the
safety of those targeted. Their racist
impressions of Palestinians along with
their deliberate conflation of
anti-Zionism and critique of Israel with
anti-Semitism has resulted in a
calculated attack on civil liberties as
its attempts to criminalize anti-Zionist
political ideologies. In non-normalizing
with Hillel, campus community organizers
are protecting ourselves from an
organization whose behavior seeks to
target and eliminate those they are in
political disagreement with. </span></p>
<p class="sizeable"><span>The umbrella
organization that SF Hillel is a chapter
of, Hillel International, has a long
record of targeting and discriminating
against Palestinians and those who stand
with them. The International Guidelines
of Hillel, that all Hillel chapters
including SF Hillel, must abide by,
codifies their exclusionary and
discriminatory policies. The Hillel </span><a
href="http://www.hillel.org/jewish/hillel-israel/hillel-israel-guidelines"
class="sizeable"><i><span>Standards of
Partnership</span></i></a> <span>state:
</span></p>
<p class="sizeable"><span>Hillel will not
partner with, house, or host
organizations, groups, or speakers that
as a matter of policy or practice: </span></p>
<ul class="sizeable">
<li><span>Deny the right of Israel to
exist as a Jewish and democratic state
with secure and recognized borders; </span></li>
<li><span>Delegitimize, demonize, or apply
a double standard to Israel; </span></li>
<li><span>Support boycott of, divestment
from, or sanctions against the State
of Israel; </span></li>
<li><span>Exhibit a pattern of disruptive
behavior towards campus events or
guest speakers or foster an atmosphere
of incivility.</span></li>
</ul>
<p class="sizeable"><span>These policies
constitute built-in discrimination and
their alignment with pro-Israel lobby
organizations. Hillel International
enforces this policy by threatening
litigation and expulsion of chapters who
do not strictly comply. This policy has
led to students being excluded and
kicked out of Hillel chapters. There are
clear examples of Hillel excommunicating
students and organizations that do not
toe Hillel’s line on Israel, regardless
of the issues or communities those
organizations served. Hillel has
expelled those who support Boycott,
Divestment and Sanction (BDS) of Israel,
protect justice for/in Palestine
political expression or criticize
Zionism as a settler-colonial project.
Hillel’s activity centers on Zionist
expressions of Judaism and has invested
much political currency and funds into
making such articulations mainstream and
part and parcel of hegemonically imaged
Jewish-American experiences. As such,
Jewish organizations such as Jewish
Voice for Peace and International Jewish
Anti-Zionist Network have been cast as
fringe organizations and expelled by
Hillel. Hillel is not the only Jewish
organization in the Bay Area, on college
campuses or in the world. And it must be
remembered that there has never been a
consensus among Jewish communities on
Israel or on Zionism. Jewish communities
are </span><b>not </b><span>a
monolithic unit. </span></p>
<p class="sizeable"><span>Yet Hillel
continues to seek partnership with
communities of color and LGBT
organizations who are politically
aligned with Israeli political
supremacy. Such groups include the Hindu
right, Christian Zionists, Greek
(Sororities and Fraternities) student
organizations and Queer organizations
that partner with Israel and its “Pink
Washing” propaganda. Despite this
history, Hillel misrepresented itself as
LGBTQ and as an immigrant rights
organization when requesting to table at
the Fair. As James Baldwin said, “I
can’t believe what you say because I see
what you do.” Tabling space at the Fair
was reserved for organizations whose
intersectional social organizing aligned
with its social-justice focus. The KYR
Committee was clear in noting that
Hillel’s conduct emboldens injustice and
should not be given a platform in a Know
Your Rights Fair for Arabs and Muslims,
Latinx communities, undocumented
peoples, and LGBTQ communities.</span></p>
<h3 class="sizeable">Pro-Israel Campus
Groups’ Smear Tactics</h3>
<p class="sizeable"><span>Working closely
with on-campus Hillels nationwide is The
David Project. It serves to train
pro-Israel students on college campuses
as instigators and has engaged in
numerous aggressive campaigns to
suppress dissent on Israel from US
campuses, by focusing on smear tactics.
The Hillel staff member who brought the
false allegations forward and attempted
to strong-arm his way onto the Fair
underwent extensive training from the
David Project while working with them
for over a year. Shedding light on these
smear tactics is a report by The David
Project’s executive director, David
Bernstein, titled “</span><a
href="https://www.iccgw.org/2011/06/how-to-name-and-shame-without-looking-like-a-jerk"
class="sizeable"><span>How to
‘name-and-shame’ without looking like
a jerk</span></a><span>.” In addition,
as quoted from their white paper on “</span><a
href="http://www.brandeiscenter.com/images/uploads/resource/ngo/davidproject.pdf"
class="sizeable"><span>Israel Advocacy
at America’s Universities and Colleges</span></a><span>,”
the David Project promotes targeting
Palestinian advocates on campus:
“Accusing faculty members who
propagandize against Israel of ‘academic
malpractice’ is likely to be a much more
effective strategy than challenging
specific allegations of invoking
anti-Jewish bigotry.” </span></p>
<p class="sizeable"><span>This indicates
their willingness to use anti-Israel and
anti-Semitism accusations
interchangeably, in a deliberate and
false conflation of the two. This
distinction is important because
anti-Zionism and anti-Israel politics
are legitimate anti-colonial positions
and protected civil liberties while
anti-Semitism is hate and oppression.
And, the David Project, in clear terms,
reveals that the tactics they use for
smearing are neither anti-Semitic nor an
infringement of rights despite their
accusations to the contrary:</span></p>
<p class="sizeable"><span>Pro-Israel
organizations have often cast the
challenge on campus as an assault on
Jewish students rather than as a
spreading pervasive negativity toward
Israel. Casting the issue in these terms
does not jive with the lived experiences
of many Jewish students, who </span><em>know
they can identify as Jews and largely
not suffer repercussions </em><span>(emphasis
theirs).</span></p>
<p class="sizeable"><span>And it’s attached
footnote in the handbook.</span></p>
<p class="sizeable"><span>This was a
recurring theme in much of the research
we undertook for this report. There are
also numerous public instances of
pro-Israel Jewish students, even at
schools with a harsh anti-Israel
climate, arguing that while anti-Jewish
outbursts occur and should be taken
seriously, they don’t significantly
erode their freedom, even to advocate on
behalf of Israel</span><span>. </span></p>
<p class="sizeable"><span>All the while the
</span><a
href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/581769d1e6f2e15be20ca730/t/585044ae2994ca496acaffea/1481655477949/2012-2013+Annual+Report.pdf"
class="sizeable"><span>David Project has
named San Francisco State University
one of its priority schools of target
in the USA</span></a><span>; it is yet
another indicator of the targeted
harassment we face today. This
harassment largely stems from both
public smearing and legal bullying as
the two build off one another but are
based on lies and misrepresentations.
Those propagating this harassment are
part of a concerted national effort. </span></p>
<h3 class="sizeable">Conclusion</h3>
<p class="sizeable"><span>The evidence
points to the conclusion that Hillel’s
baseless complaint, in this case, is
intended to wash out the grievances that
the Arab, Muslim and Palestinian
community have made to SFSU. And the
university’s misconduct of this
investigation affirms that </span><em>the
university is not able to make an
objective decision based on the facts. </em><span>The
last university official who conducted
an investigation against Palestinian
students, Mr. Osvaldo Del Valle, was
promptly “let go” after his
investigation cleared members of the
General Union of Palestine Students of
charges of anti-Semitism and other
trumped up charges after they protested
a visit by the mayor of occupied
Jerusalem, Nir Barkat. This experience
casts doubt on the ability of any
employee at SFSU whose career and
employment at SFSU is on the line to
fairly investigate grievances or charges
against or by Palestinians. Already, the
university appears to be investigating
allegations of which we have not been
notified until the last week of the
four-month long investigation.
Apparently, because there is no evidence
of anti-Semitism on the part of the Fair
organizing committee in words or deeds,
the university has expanded the scope of
the investigation to include additional
allegations of retaliation. All of this
underscores our experience of a systemic
and consistent disparate treatment.
Instead of protecting Palestinians on
campus, SFSU seeks to penalize us on
trumped up and false charges, this
cannot be allowed to continue. </span></p>
</div>
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<div> </div>
</div>
</section>
</article>
</div>
</div>
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<div> </div>
</div>
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