Statement in Support of Rabab Abdulhadi
We, the undersigned student organizations and organizers, extend unconditional solidarity to Professor Rabab Abdulhadi, director of the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diaspora (AMED) program at San Francisco State University (SFSU) and faculty mentor for the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS) at that institution.
For the past several years, external Zionist organizations, including AMCHA, Canary Mission, and Campus Watch, have carried out a coordinated attack against the scholarship and social justice work of Professor Abdulhadi specifically, and Palestinian organizers, students, and scholars at SFSU more generally. These organizations have resorted to a wide range of disgraceful behavior in order to censor the protected speech of advocates for Palestinian rights on SFSU’s campus.
More recently, these organizations have waged a coordinated smear campaign—employing Islamophobia, anti-Arab racism, outright lies and innuendo, and defamation against Professor Abdulhadi—in an attempt to pressure SFSU to sever its ties with An-Najah University, one of the premier universities in Palestine. An-Najah University has collaborations with a wide range of US universities. This academic partnership provides a great opportunity for US and Palestinian universities to build collaborative research and pedagogy on issues concerning Arab, Muslim, and Palestinian communities. And yet, these external organizations, rather than acknowledging the merits of this partnership, throw their significant power and resources in order to censor anything they would construe as outside their political dictates.
The SFSU Administration is responsible for affirmatively protecting the academic freedom and freedom of speech of all its faculty, staff, and students. This obligates the administration to actively support them when that freedom is under threat. Up until now, the SFSU administration has only vaguely indicated that they stand by international agreements or support faculty initiatives. We join academic associations, including California Scholars for Academic Freedom and theUS Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, in calling on President Wong and the SFSU administration to unequivocally reaffirm SFSU’s commitment to the academic freedom and the freedom of speech of Palestinians and Palestine advocates precisely when they advocate for Palestinian rights.
As current and prospective students, we are firmly aware of the internal and external forces seeking to control or circumscribe our speech on Palestine, and we pay close attention to the ways university administrations respond to these forces. It is precisely in these moments that universities demonstrate whether or not they are truly committed to protecting the principles of academic freedom and freedom of speech.
Finally, we move to emphasize that the attacks on Professor Abdulhadi, AMED, GUPS, and the partnership between An-Najah University and SFSU cannot be delinked from the broader context of Israel’s objective of isolating Palestinians from the rest of the world and erasing the existence and narrative of Palestinians. These attacks are inextricable from Israel’s efforts to deprive Palestinians of their human right to education, whether this effort takes the shape of Zionist shelling of universities in the Gaza Strip or restrictions on the movement of Palestinian academics and scholars.
In Solidarity and Until Liberation!
Organizations
A. M Qattan Foundation
All Souls Unitarian Church
Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC)
Arab Studies Club, Hunter College
Boston Students for Justice in Palestine
Christians United for Palestine
Committee for Open Discussion of Zionism
CUNY for Palestine, Professional Staff Congress
CUPE 3902
Faculty 4 Palestine
General Union of Palestine Students, San Francisco State University
Harvard Justice for Palestine
Independent Jewish Voices, McGill University
Jewish Voice for Peace – Front Range (Colorado)
Jewish Voice for Peace – New York
Jewish Voice for Peace, Barnard College/Columbia University
Jewish Voice for Peace, Oberlin College
Kohl: a Journal for Body and Gender Research
Labor for Palestine
McGill University BDS Action Network
Muslim Woman Student Association
New York City Students for Justice in Palestine
Palestine Solidarity Alliance, Hunter College
Palestine Solidarity Committee, University of Texas–Austin
Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM)
Queers for Palestine
Real Food University of Georgia – Real Food Challenge
Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights, McGill University
Students for Justice in Palestine, Boston University
Students for Justice in Palestine, California State University Sacramento
Students for Justice in Palestine, Columbia University
Students for Justice in Palestine, Florida State University
Students for Justice in Palestine, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Students for Justice in Palestine, University of California–Berkeley
Students for Justice in Palestine, University of California–Santa Cruz
Students for Justice in Palestine, University of Central Florida
Students for Justice in Palestine, University of Georgia
Students for Justice in Palestine, University of Massachusetts–Amherst
Students for Justice in Palestine, University of North Florida
Students for Justice in Palestine, University of South Carolina
Students for Justice in Palestine, Vassar College
Students Without Borders, Temple University
US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI)
US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN)
Individuals
A. Abdelhadi
Adam Cardo
Adel Samara
Afif Emile Safieh
Alaina Pell
Albert Kishek
Alice Rougeaux
Amina Amdeen
Anna Tyshkov
Annie Paradise
Ashleigh Zimmerman
Atika Al Bashir
Audrey Bomse
Aya Khalifeh
Bahij Ashoor
Basim Mahmoud
Bayan Abusneineh
C. Heike Schotten
Camille T. Taiara
Caridad Romaine
Carmel Abuzaid
Chantelle Schultz
Chelsea McMahan
Collin Poirot
Conor Tomás Reed
Cynthia Franklin
Dana AlHasan
Daniel Cione
David Thurston
Dr. Susan Pashkoff
Eliana Meyerowitz
Elissa Zapata
Elizabeth Bishop
Elizabeth Dean
Ellen Isaacs
Eman Nabulsi
Eric Brown
Farah AbdulHadi
G. Smith
George Ghabrial
Ghiwa Sayegh
Hebatuallah Ahmad
Herman De Ley, Em. Prof. Ghent University (Belgium)
Hester Eisenstein
Ibraheem Samirah
Iman Hamam
Irène Lucia Delaney
Irene Siegel, PhD
Iyas AlQasem
Izzat Abdulhadi
Jacob Perez
Jaime Veve
Jefferson Taylor
Jehan Helou
Jennifer Mogannam
Jessica Hatrick
Josephine Lawson
Josh Strassman
Julisa García
Karin Pally
Katherine Azcona
Kathy Wouk
Katie Jensen
Kerwin Kaye
Khalil Abdulhadi
Kirsten Skillen
Lara Abu Ghannam
Lara Kiswani
Leena Widdi
Linda Ereikat
Lisa Majaj
Mahmoud Ghannam
Majed Abuzahriyeh
Marwan Fayyad
Max Fineman
Maxine Dannatt
Mohammad Hammad
Mohammed Nabulsi
Monadel Herzallah
Muhannad Qamhiyeh
Nadia Hadi
Nahla Abdo
Nastaran Mohit
Natalie El-Hai
Neal Feldman
Nefertiti Takla
Nihad Aburabi
Nizar Bekai
Noah Habeeb
Noor Wadi
Omar Hadi
Orayb Samara
Osama Mor
Oyku Tekten
Paula Thompson
Qamar Abdelhadi
Rani Allan
Raphael Eissa
Reilly Shaffer
Remonda Mansour
Rima Najjar Merriman
Robyn Spencer
Roi Livne
Ron Hayduk
Ronit Lentin
S. Afana
S. Nasr
Sabrine Azraq
Saif Abdo
Salma Anabtawi
Samer Mana
Samer S.Abdul Hadi
Sammy Homsi
Sandra Turner
Sawsan Morowah
Senan Shaibani
Seth Uzman
Shadi Rafeedie
Sirat Al-Nahi
Stephanie Hamborsky
Steve Goldfield
Suhad Khatib
Suman Barat
Summer Al-Saleh
T. Cariaga
T. Ghabin
Terri Ginsberg
Thomas Clancy
Yasmeen Abdelhadi
Yasmine Mosimann
Yasra Syed
Yousef Abudayyeh
Zeina Khoury