Controversial GROUPS
Controversial Groups:
1. Students for Justice in Palestine
2. Jewish Voice for Peace
3. Electronic Intifada
4. International Solidarity Movement
5. Breaking the Silence
6. CODEPINK
7. Palestine Solidarity Movement
8. Gisha
9. B’Tselem
10. If Americans Knew
11. Students Against Israeli Apartheid
12. Palestinian Solidarity Campaign
13. Al-Awda
14. Neturei Karta International
15. Women in Black
16. Council for National Interest
17. Palestinian Freedom Project
18. Institute for Palestine Studies
19. Friends of Al Aqsa
20. Innovative Minds
21. Israel Apartheid Week
22. The Jerusalem Fund
23. The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
24. Just Vision
25. War on Want
Other Controversial Group Images
Students for Justice in Palestine (EST 2001)
Students for Justice in Palestine, or SJP, is a student organization that is popular at American universities. They currently have over 100 chapters in the United States. SJP is known for promoting boycott, divestment, sanctions (BDS) campaigns, accusing Israel of genocidal practices, and hosting Israel Apartheid/Palestine Awareness week. This group also commonly protests pro-Israel groups, events and speakers.
About SJP
Students for Justice in Palestine
Backgrounder on SJP Claims
SJP Behavior
SJP Printable Infographic
Social Media Campaign: #WhereIsSJP?
Cornell SJP Publication Features Terrorist Logo
BDS Wins at UC Riverside
Walls, Checkpoints, and the Advantage of Rational Discourse
Student Op-Eds
“Die-ins” Embolden Extremists at Gazans’ Expense
Peace Takes Two
A Defense of Israel
Con: Palestinian ‘Nakba’ Event Misconstrues History
SJP Vs. Mercado, a “Fair” Fight?
Tolerance is Necessary for Campus to Remain Inclusive
Examples of SJP Materials
Infographic Thumbnails
Jewish Voice for peace
Jewish Voice for Peace, JVP, is a Jewish-based anti-Zionist group. They are known for promoting the boycott, divestment, sanctions (BDS) campaigns, calling for a complete economic, academic and cultural boycott of Israel, accusing Israel of genocidal practices and using their own Jewish identity as a way to try to separate anti-Semitism from anti-Zionism. JVP campus groups will often support SJP events such as Israel Apartheid Week. JVP’s goal is to try to get Israeli citizens and military out of areas that they view as occupied territory and end U.S. aid to Israel.
About JVP
Jewish Voice for Peace
“Jewish Voice for Peace” A Voice for Defamation
JVP Statements and Actions
Munich and the Kushner Connection
Jewish Voice for Peace Lobbying Hard for Church Divestment
Non-Binding Student Divestment Resolution Passes at UC Irvine
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Electronic intifada (est 2001)
Electronic Intifada (EI) is a website that provides articles and resources that often oppose Israel’s existence. The website has many original writers on staff that write dozens of articles that delegitimize and defame Israel. In addition to writing their own articles, their writers respond to what they believe are media injustices. Electric Intifada also provides information about anti-Israel activism and information on how to take action on the causes that they support.
Some of the more exremist aspects of the site include:
- PA President Mahmud Abbas is labled as a “collaborator,” a crime punishable by death in the PA and Gaza.
- A one-state solution, created by “coercion” is pushed, and Jewish concerns of living under an Arab majority are labeled as “irrational, racist fears.”
- Frequent Holocaust references are used and site compares Zionists to Nazis
About EI
Electronic Intifada
Two Days to the Penn BDS Conference
Correcting EI
Electronic Intifada “Refutation” Disintegrates Under Scrutiny
What Are Ben White and Electronic Intifada Hiding From?
CAMERA on Minnesota Public Radio Discusses NPR Gaza Coverage
Jodi Rudoren Enters the Scene: Tweets or Tea Leaves?
International solidarity movement (est 2001)
International Solidarity Movement, or ISM, claims to use non-violent means to oppose Israel, yet it openly supports “armed struggle” and has both aided terrorists and supported freeing convicted terrorists. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has warned that its activity “at times” is “under the auspices of Palestinian terrorist organizations.” Often, ISM members will place themselves between terrorists and the IDF forces, putting both the soldiers and themselves at risk. In the May 2010 Flotilla incident, ISM worked together with a pro-Hamas Turkish group, which led to a violent clash between the Israeli Navy and terrorists abroad one of its ships.
The ISM uses anti-Israel propaganda to delegitimize Israel and challenge its right to exist. ISM encourages people to get involved in their protests in the United States and in the Middle East.
About ISM
Backgrounder: International Solidarity Movement
Whitewashing ISM
Breaking the silence (EST 2004)
Breaking the Silence is an organization made up of Israel Defense Forces veterans “who have . . . taken it upon themselves to expose the Israeli public to the reality of everyday life in the Occupied Territories.” The organization seeks to demonize Israel by using inaccurate portrayals of military experiences. The organization collects testimonies from veterans, however, these accounts are anonymous, representing less than .005% of the IDF’s combat forces, and not backed up by other soldiers.
About Breaking the Silence
Breaking the SIlence Printable Infographic
A Letter by Captain Barak Raz of the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit
Breaking the Silence and the British Media
Breaking the Silence (Shovrim Shtika)
Kuwaiti Raises Voice Against Breaking the Silence
En Español
Codepink (EST 2002)
CODEPINK, a radical anti-Israel group, describes itself as “a women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement working to end U.S. funded wars and occupations, to challenge militarism globally, and to redirect our resources into health care, education, green jobs and other life-affirming activities.” CODEPINK often claims to align itself with “Palestinian and Israeli nonviolent activists and human rights advocates working to hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law and to promote the rights of Palestinians.” Yet the organization remains silent on much of the oppression of women and the LGBTQ community living in Palestinian areas and the Muslim world.
The organization wants the United States to end all aid to Israel. Alice Walker, who is closely associated with CODEPINK was quoted as saying, “I think Israel is the greatest terrorist in that part of the world. And I think in general, the United States and Israel are great terrorist organizations themselves.” This quote asserts the apartheid myth and many false accusations made against Israel. Additionally, they support BDS campaigns, including the boycott of Israeli companies such as Ahava, a beauty product company.
CODEPINK’s Actions:
Flotilla Participant Alice Walker: The United States and Israel are the Greatest Terrorist Organizations
Where’s the Coverage? LGBT Community Suffers in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority
Helen Thomas, Keynote Speaker at Anti-Israel Protests
Palestine solidarity movement (EST 2002)
The Palestine Solidarity Movement, or PSM, gathers together different student organizations that support their mission. PSM supports boycott, divestment, sanction (BDS) campaigns that attempt to take all foreign investments away from Israel, which they view as an Apartheid state. Their BDS campaigns have had limited success on college campuses, and have even been backed by some extremist professors, but have not been supported by the American public. Speakers at PSM conferences have refused to condemn attacks against Israelis and have spoken in support of terrorism.
About PSM:
Palestinian Solidarity Movement: Backgrounder
PSM Actions
Norman Finkelstein’s Fraudulent Scholarship
Palestine Solidarity Movement Conference Speakers Attack Israel
GISHA
Gisha is an organization whose goal “is to protect the freedom of movement of Palestinians, especially Gaza residents. Gisha promotes rights guaranteed by international and Israeli law.” Gisha uses its legal connections to try to promote rights for the Palestinians that they believe are denied by the Israelis. They have often made outrageous allegations against Israel, accusing Israel of being an apartheid regime. Additionally, Gisha has charged Israel with being “segregated,” a claim that has often been rebutted and proven false. Despite it being registered as an Israeli group, Gisha feels that Israel is an occupier and even states in its mission that the West Bank and the Gaza strip are occupied territories.
Background
Gisha
Gisha’s Actions
AP Turns Up Forged Palestinian Student Document
Bronner’s Flotilla Bias
Gisha and the Media
All News Unfit to Print
New York Times Hypes Nonstory on Nonprofits
Time Strikes (Israel) Again
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B’tSelem
B’Tselem describes itself as, “The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories.” Furthermore, it describes its goals, “to document and educate the Israeli public and policymakers about human rights violations in the Occupied Territories, combat the phenomenon of denial prevalent among the Israeli public, and help create a human rights culture in Israel.” B’Tselem, despite being an Israeli organization, holds that Gaza and the West Bank are occupied territories. The organization works to change Israel’s policy on “the Occupied Territories.” B’Tselem has been caught spreading inaccurate information on multiple occasions , including staged photos and falsified statistics.
Background
B’Tselem
B’Tselem CAMERA article
CAMERA Vol. 19 No. 1
B’Tselem’s Actions
B’Tselem Jumps on the Bandwagon
B’Tselem Knocks Goldstone Report
B’Tselem, Los Angeles Times Redefine “Civilian”
Suspicious Statistics
UPDATED: B’Tselem Photographer Stages Scene
B’Tselem’s Annual Casualty Figures Questioned
B’Tselem’s Casualty Count
UPDATED: In 2007, B’Tselem Casualty Count Doesn’t Add Up
If americans knew
If Americans Knew describes claims that their mission, “is to inform and educate the American public on issues of major significance that are unreported, underreported, or misreported in the American media.” Alison Weir, who started the organization, did so after visiting the West Bank and Gaza. She felt that Americans were severely misinformed about these areas and that if they knew what it was like to live there, they would want to end American assistance to Israel. Weir may not seem harmful, however she supports many anti-Israel arguments that have been proven to be false. One of the most disturbing myths that she supports is that Israelis harvest and traffic Palestinian organs. “Weir wrote several articles asserting that Israeli organ traffickers “coerce people into giving up their organs,” that the Israeli government has enabled a “transplant tourism” industry that exploits poor and needy individuals overseas, and that Israeli authorities have “targeted” Palestinians for autopsies and organ harvesting performed without permission.” This myth has been repeatedly debunked.
Background
Alison Weir: If Americans Knew
Alison Weir
Study of New York Times Coverage Severely Flawed
Students against Israeli Apartheid
Students Against Israeli Apartheid is a classic anti-Israel organization that seeks to delegitimize Israeli government positions and protray Israel as apartheid, even after this myth has been debunked numerous times. They also deligitimize Israeli claims and legitimate grievances against the Palestinian governments. Like SJP, SAIA is active on college campuses and tries to indoctrinate college students who know little or nothing about the conflict.
Background:
Article in George Mason University’s Broadside about SAIA
Palestinian Solidarity Campaign
The Palestinian Solidarity Campaign is a British independent, non-government, non-party political organization which claims to “campaign for peace and justice for the Palestinians, in support of international law and human rights and against non-racism”. They claim to be against all forms of racism including anti-Jewish prejudice and Islamophobia, and yet their website directly attacks Israel with headlines like “Israel kills with impunity” and “Unlawful Israeli killing of 2 Palestinians”. The Palestinian Solidarity Campaign supports the immoral, unethical and racist BDS movement agains the Jewish State, and sees Israel as the sole party to blame. The Palestinian Solidarity Campaign further propagates the racist Palestinian narrative of the Nakba, claiming that the creation of Israel was a catastrophe. The PSC is well known for disseminating false information about the security barrier, Jerusalem, and Israel-Palestine as a whole. PSC alleges a false history of the Israel-Palestine Conflict, and attempts to undermine Israel as a nation.
The Palestinian Solidarity Campaign even attacks leftist Israelis such as Tzipi Livni, Israel’s Justice Minister, and the lead negotiator for Israel in developing a two state solution. The PSC, while claiming to advocate against anti-Jewish racism directly controdicts their mission on a daily basis and cannot be trusted as a realiable source of information.
Controversy
Palestinian Solidarity Campaign Stands Solidly With Lies
Al-awda
Al-Awda claims that it is, “…a broad-based, non-partisan, democratic, and charitable organization of grassroots activists and students committed to comprehensive public education on the rights of all Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and lands of origin, and to full restitution of all their confiscated and destroyed property…” However this human-rights guise covers up their anti-Israel demonstrations, support of groups such as If Americans Knew and B’Tselem, and talk of Al-Nakba.
Background
ADL Description of Al-Awda
Neturei Karta international
Neturei Karta International is, “a group of Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem who refused (and still refuse) to recognize the existence or authority of the so-called “State of Israel” and made (and still make) a point of publicly demonstrating their position, the position of the Torah and authentic unadulterated Judaism…” They use the same anti-Israel slurs as many other controversial groups, such as “Zionism is Racism.” They, like Jewish Voice For Peace, use their Jewish identity as a way to legitimize their anti-Israel claims.
Background
ADL Description of NKI
Women in black
Women in Black is a, “a world-wide network of women committed to peace with justice and actively opposed to injustice, war, militarism and other forms of violence. As women experiencing these things in different ways in different regions of the world, we support each other’s movements.” Their tactics are nonviolent and include vigils and poster protests. However, their demonstrations are disproportionately anti-Israel.
Council for National Interest
Council for National Interest is an American group that, “seeks to encourage and promote a U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East that is consistent with American values, protects our national interests, and contributes to a just solution of the Arab-Israeli conflict.” Despite their claim to want to promote American values, they seem to forget that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East and often condemn Israel. They believe that Muslims and Christians face “systemic discrimination” in Israel. CNI also perpetuates the myth that Israel is out to Judaize what they view as Palestinian terrirtory, like East Jerusalem.
Background
ADL Description of CNI
the Palestinian Freedom project
The Palestinian Freedom Project (PFP) is, “dedicated to providing resources and logistical support to grassroots Palestine solidarity activists everywhere. PFP acts as a database for anything Pro-Palestinian. PFP’s website has a directory of hundreds of Pro-Palestinian groups. Additonally, they have BDS materials, including a very large list of “Companies Profiting from Occupation.” PFP also has a list of helpful chants to use at any anti-Israel protest, including “1234, ocupation no more…5678, Israel is an apartheid state.”
Institute for palestine studies
The goal of The Institute for Palestine Studies,”is to make reliable, thoroughly documented, and well-researched resources on the Palestine Question easily accessible to the public.” IPS’s homepage reveals its anti-Israel bias. Stories of “collective punishment” in Gaza and critcal looks at Israel’s Operation Protective Edge are plentiful.
Friends of al aqsa
Friends of Al Aqsa (FOA) describes itself as, “a UK based non-profit making NGO concerned with defending the human rights ofPalestinians and protecting the sacred al-Aqsa Sanctuary in Jerusalem.” FOA supports BDS and actively promotes the practice with a campaign called “Check The Label.” Additionally, they believe that Israel frequently breaks international laws. According to their website one of their aims/objectives is, “Putting pressure on the British government to make Israel respect International Law and human rights.”
Innovative Minds
Innovative Minds is a UK based Pro-Palestinian group that frequently promotes anti-Israel campaigns. Innovative Minds promotes BDS and insists that Israel is an apartheid state.One of their BDS campagins is entitled “Shopping Can Kill.” Innovative Minds also promotes a lot of events such as protests, vigils, campaigns, etc.
Israel Apartheid Week
“Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) is an annual international series of events held in cities and campuses across the globe. The aim of IAW is to educate people about the nature of Israel as an apartheid system and to build Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns as part of a growing global BDS movement.” This event is very common on campuses through out the world and often features an “Apartheid Wall” that is meant to be a representation of the security fence.
CAMERA articles on IAW
Letter: ‘Israeli Apartheid Week’ Unfounded
We Must Reject Israeli Apartheid Week
Where’s the Coverage? The Truth about “Israel Apartheid Week”
Fighting for Israel on College Campuses
Extremists Seek to Delegitimize Israel During “Apartheid Week”
“Apartheid Week”: A Campaign Against Human Rights
Op-ed by Gilead Ini
SJP vs. Mercado, a ‘Fair’ Fight?
How is Israeli Apartheid Week Different from All other Weeks?
THe JERUSALEM FUND
The Jerusalem Fund has three main branches, The Palestine Center, the Humanitarian Link and The Gallery. The Palestine Center, “…gives voice to the Palestinian narrative through policy briefings, lecture series, conferences, symposia, scholarly research publications and an extensive research library.” The Humanitarian Link, “…extends grants to hospitals, orphanages, clinics, schools, universities and civil society organizations in the Occupied Territory and surrounding refugee camps in an effort to sustain the basic conditions of life in Palestine and to overcome the burdens of occupation.” The Gallery, “showcases the rich culture and national heritage of the Palestinian people, as well as that of surrounding Arab societies.” The Jerusalem Fund’s slant is clear.
THE US CAMPAIGN TO END THE ISRAELI OCCUPATION
The “US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation works to end U.S. support for Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, Gaza Strip and East
Jerusalem. We support a U.S. policy that upholds freedom, justice and equality. A national coalition
of more than 400 groups, the
US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
works to end U.S. support for Israel’s
occupation of the Palestinian West Bank,
Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem and its apartheid
policies toward Palestinians.
We support a U.S. policy that upholds
freedom, justice, and equality
Just vision
“Just Vision highlights the power and potential of Palestinians and Israelis working to enf the occupation and build a future of freedom, dignity, equality and human security using nonviolent means.” Just Vision has produced films such as Budrus, Home Front, Encounter Point and My Neighborhood. All of these films contain a clear slant and ajenda. The film Budrus is very similar to 5 Broken Cameras.
War on want
“War on Want fights poverty in developing countries in parentership with people affected by globalisation. We campaign for human rights and against the root causes of global poverty, inequality and injustice.” This is a direct quote from the War on Want website. While they seem to be fighting for nobel causes, their war on injustice includes a war on Israel. They support Palestine because they believe that the conflict in Israel and Palestine is “
Other campaign images
CAMERA on Campus has put these images (as well as the images found above) on the website for reference purposes. These images are meant to inform students of the poor information and anti-Israel campagns that are too often found on campuses.