'Jews For Palestinian Right of Return' Endorse American Studies Association Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions

posted on: Feb 16, 2014

We salute the American Studies Association’s courageous endorsement of the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israeli academic institutions, which are leading accomplices in more than six decades of ethnic cleansing, colonization, war crimes, and apartheid.

As Jews, we refuse to remain silent as a so-called “Jewish state,” armed by the U.S. and its allies, commits these injustices with impunity in our name.

Contrary to baseless charges of “anti-Semitism,” BDS resembles the boycotts that “singled out” similarly racist regimes in Jim Crow United States and apartheid South Africa.

Applying the same standards to apartheid Israel, BDS demands nothing more — nor less — than freedom and justice throughout all of historic Palestine, by calling for:

• An end to Israeli military occupation of the 1967 territories

• Full equality for Palestinian citizens of Israel

• Right of return for Palestinian refugees, as affirmed by UN resolution 194

We call on Jews of conscience everywhere to honor our own proud heritage of resistance to oppression and injustice by standing with the Palestinian people, BDS, the ASA, and the growing international movement in support of these fundamental human rights.

Partial list of initial signers
(List in formation; affiliations listed for identification only. Add your name here.)

Avigail Abarbanel, psychotherapist, activist, writer; Inverness, Scotland
Gabriel Ash, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network-Switzerland
Prof. Jonathan Beller, Humanities and Media Studies; Director, Graduate Program in Media Studies, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn
Prof. Steve Brier, historian, New York
Eitan Bronstein Aparicio, Tel Aviv
Nora Barrows-Friedman, journalist; Oakland
Max Blumenthal, journalist and author of Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel
Daniel Boyarin, Professor of Talmudic Culture, UC Berkeley
Lenni Brenner, author of Zionism In The Age Of The Dictators
Estee Chandler, Community Organizer, Los Angeles
Mike Cushman, Convener, Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods (UK)
Eron Davidson, award-winning filmmaker, Roadmap to Apartheid, USA
Warren Davis, labor and political activist, Philadelphia, PA
Hedy Epstein, Nazi Holocaust survivor and human rights activist; St. Louis, MO
Samuel Farber, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Brooklyn College, CUNY
Joel Finkel, Jewish Voices for Peace-Chicago
Prof. Cynthia Franklin, Co-Editor, Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, University of Hawai’i
Lee Gargaliano, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network-US
Dr. Terri Ginsberg, film and media scholar, New York
Sherna Berger Gluck, emerita faculty, California State University, Long Beach; founding member, US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel; Israel Divestment Campaign
Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, Shomer Shalom Network for Jewish Nonviolence, Berkeley
Hector Grad, Prof. of Social Anthropology, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid
Ira Grupper, former National Co-Chair, New Jewish Agenda (1989-1993)
Jeff Halper, Director, Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD)
Stanley Heller, Host, “The Struggle” Video News, TSVN
Shir Hever, Jewish Voice for Just Peace, Germany
Tikva Honig-Parnass, former member of the Zionist armed forces (1948); author of False Prophets of Peace: Liberal Zionism and the Struggle for Palestine
Adam Horowitz, Co-Editor, Mondoweiss
Selma James, Global Women’s Strike; International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network-UK
Jake Javanshir, Independent Jewish Voices, Toronto
Emily Katz Kishawi, Jewish Anti Zionist Network, San Francisco
Sara Kershnar, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network-International
David Klein, Organizing Committee, US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
Toby Kramer, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network-US
David Letwin, activist and teacher, Al-Awda NY: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition
Michael Letwin, Former president, Association of Legal Aid Attorneys/UAW Local 2325; Organizing Committee, US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel; Al-Awda NY: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition
Dr. Les Levidow, Open University, UK
Brooke Lober, PhD candidate, Gender and Women’s Studies, University of Arizona
Antony Loewenstein, Australian journalist and author
Jennifer Loewenstein, Faculty Associate, Middle East Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Samantha Liapes, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network
Barbara Lubin, Executive Director, Middle East Children’s Alliance; Oakland, CA
Prof. David Makofsky, Research Anthropologist, People’s Republic of China
Mike Marqusee, author of If I Am Not for Myself: Journey of an Anti-Zionist Jew
Thomas Mayer, Professor Emeritus, University of Colorado at Boulder
Linda Milazzo, writer, activist, educator, Los Angeles
Michael Novick, Anti-Racist Action-Los Angeles/People Against Racist Terror (ARA-LA/PART)
Prof. Bertell Ollman, Dept. of Politics, New York University
Prof. Ilan Pappé, Israeli historian and socialist activist
Miko Peled, writer, activist, author of The General’s Son: Journey of an Israeli in Palestine
Prof. Nurit Peled-Elhanan, Sakharov Prize laureate, Jerusalem
Karen Pomer, granddaughter of Henri B. van Leeuwen, Dutch anti-Zionist leader and Bergen-Belsen survivor
Roland Rance, Jews Against Zionism, London
Michael Ratner, President Emeritus, Center for Constitutional Rights (for ID purposes only); New York
Ruben Rosenberg Colorni, Journalist, The News Junkie Post, Activist – Youth for Palestine; The Hague
Lillian Rosengarten, activist for Palestinian liberation and a bi-national Israel/Palestinian State; New York
Prof. Jonathan Rosenhead, London School of Economics
Ilana Rossoff, community organizer; New Jersey
Cheryl Rubenberg, retired associate professor of Middle East politics at Florida International University (Miami)
Josh Ruebner, Author of Shattered Hopes: Obama’s Failure to Broker Israeli-Palestinian Peace
Margot Salom, Just Peace for Palestine; Brisbane
Yom Shamash, Independent Jewish Voices; Vancouver
Tali Shapiro, Boycott from Within; Israel
Sid Shniad, Independent Jewish Voices; Vancouver
Jonatan Stanczak, Managing Director, The Freedom Theatre
Marsha Steinberg, BDS-LA for Justice in Palestine
Prof. Miriam Swenson, educational psychology
Steve Terry, criminal defense attorney; Brooklyn, NY
Sam Weinstein, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network-Labor
Abraham Weizfeld, Administrative Secretary, Alliance of Concerned Jewish Canadians
Marcy Winograd, former congressional candidate, Los Angeles
Bekah Wolf, UC Hastings College of Law Student; Co-founder, Palestine Solidarity Project
Sherry Wolf, Associate Editor, International Socialist Review
Dr. Roger van Zwanenberg, Non-Executive Director, Pluto Books Ltd.; London

Jews for Palestinian Right of Return