Alexa KleinMayer / Student / 2015
Alexa KleinMayer Occupation: Student University: NU Organization(s): SJP , BDS , Close Connection(s): Hazim AbdullahSmith , Yazan Abughaida , Ruba Assaf , Dania Atallah , Serene Darwish , Moira Geary , Dalia Fuleihan , Hagar Gomaa , Zahra Haider , Mayar Hamdan , Marcel Hanna , Aneesa Johnson , Imtisal Khokher , Yusuf Kudaimi , Heather Menefee , Omar Shanti , Noah Whinston , Kareem Youssef Overview Alexa KleinMayer is a student at Northwestern University (NU) pursuing a degree in Religious Studies, History and Classics. SJP KleinMayer is the Education Chair of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) NU. KleinMayer was one of 12 coauthors of a " Letter to the Editor " of the Daily Northwestern, wherein the group chastised a J Street U Northwestern hosted event, which presented both a Palestinian and Israeli perspective on major milestones in Israeli history. KleinMayer and her coauthors argued that an Israeli perspective on the region's history is inherently invalid and that only a Palestinian narrative showing Israel's "colonialism, occupation and settlements" should have been presented. They additionally objected that the presentation did not include an "authentic Palestinian perspective," that presented the "ethnic cleansing of Palestinians" by Israelis and "the systematic uprooting of Palestinians for the Zionist project." SJP was cofounded by Hatem Bazian and Snehal Shingavi in 2001 at UC Berkeley. Their intention was to advance the radical antiIsrael mission of the Muslim Students Association (MSA) , but now masked as a secular organization. SJP runs targeted and wellorchestrated campaigns against Israel including Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) resolutions, IsraelApartheid initiatives , www.canarymission.org 1/8
Alexa KleinMayer / Student / 2015
drives comparing Israel to Nazi Germany , mock checkpoints , "dieins" as well as rallies and protests SJP chapters regularly host speakers who engage in language considered antiSemitic by the U.S. State Department. Chapter events routinely include individuals and organizations who are linked to terrorist activity and call for violence against Jews. SJP members frequently intimidate and harass proIsrael supporters. Members have been responsible for physically assaulting Jewish students , vandalizing communal property and violently disrupting pro Israel speakers and events. Protests organized by SJP chapters regularly include hatespeech and chants such as "From the River to the Sea Palestine will be Free" calling for the destruction of the Jewish State. SJP demonizes and defames critics, branding attacks against them as “Islamophobic” a term popularized by cofounder Hatem Bazian. SJP, along with the MSA, is rapidly creating a hostile and unsafe environment on US campuses for all who do not share their radical antiIsrael views. For this reason, they have been labeled by some as “Hamas on Campus.” BDS KleinMayer is a very active member of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign on the NU campus. The NUDivest Resolution , which called for the university to boycott six Israeli corporations, narrowly passed on 19 February 2015 after a hearing lasting over five hours. Prior to the vote, the NU Divest team campaigned to promote the resolution. To this end, KleinMayer and fellow student Hazim AbdullahSmith presented a proBDS workshop to spotlight the “corporations that are profiting off of the illegal occupation of Palestinian lands.” NU Divest have continued to put pressure on the university since the vote, most recently through engaging in discussion with the chief Investment Office at NU. Despite this, it was reported in May 2015 that no policy changes or divestment
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Alexa KleinMayer / Student / 2015
have taken place at NU, which is usually the case following the passing of these nonbinding divestment resolutions. The BDS movement was founded in 2005 by Omar Barghouti . The movement is selfdescribed as "a campaign of boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel until it complies with international law and Palestinian rights.” Campaigns include compelling institutions and individuals to divest from Israeliaffiliated companies , academic boycotts as well as physical rallies and protests. The groups most notable achievement has been the infiltration of university campuses through lobbying for "BDS resolutions." In these cases, backed by university antiIsrael affiliates, the university student government has been brought to vote on some sort of boycott of and divestment from Israel and Israeliaffiliated organizations. These resolutions, although nonbinding, have been passed by student governments on numerous North American campuses. BDS activity is often aggressive and disruptive . It is documented that universities that pass BDS resolutions see a marked increase in antiSemitism on campus. In 2013, the student government of the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) debated a BDS resolution. Reports emerged of threats of violence, the spitting on a female student senator, and theft of the personal property of antiBDS activists. As a result, the student government chose to vote via a "secret ballot" in order to ensure their own safety. Barghouti and the BDS movement are proponents of the radical "onestate solution" that has been denounced as a scheme to dissolve Israel as the Jewish State. Barghouti has been quoted as saying, "Good riddance! The twostate solution for the PalestinianIsraeli conflict is finally dead”, and that in a onestate “by definition, Jews will be a minority.” The organization is affiliated with numerous antiIsrael groups worldwide, including ones that have been labeled terrorist organizations . The Jerusalem Post claims the BDS movement receives directives from Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood and the movement is considered extreme even by Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas who stated his opposition to a BDS boycott of Israel in 2013
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Alexa KleinMayer / Student / 2015
Social Media and Web Links
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Alexa KleinMayer / Student / 2015
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Alexa KleinMayer / Student / 2015
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Alexa KleinMayer / Student / 2015
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Alexa KleinMayer / Student / 2015
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Alexa KleinMayer / Student / 2015
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