Temma Kaplan
Overview
Temma Kaplan is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and a distinguished professor emeritus of History at Rutgers University (Rutgers).Supporting BDS
On February 24, 2016, Kaplan’s name was added to the list of individuals endorsing a statement authored by the Campaign for Peace and Democracy “Opposing the continuing illegal and unjust Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and ending U.S. military, economic and diplomatic support for that occupation.”In 2016, Kaplan signed a letter authored by Adalah-NY: Campaign for the Boycott of Israel, calling on the PEN American Center “to reject support from the Embassy of Israel” for their upcoming panel event.
The letter alleged “a broader pattern of Israel’s systematic repression of Palestinian artists and cultural workers, as well as the suppression of voices supportive of Palestinian rights” and demanded that the PEN American Center “honor this boycott call and refuse sponsorship by the Israeli embassy or any complicit Israeli institution.”
The director and the chair of the PEN program responded jointly to Adalah-NY’s letter, answering that “PEN does not and cannot subscribe to cultural boycotts of any kind—which impede individual free expression—no matter the cause.”
Kaplan also signed an open letter to United States President Barack Obama and the American Congress, dated July 31, 2014, condemning “the disproportionate harm that the Israeli military, which the United States has armed and supported for decades, is inflicting on the population of Gaza.”
The letter exclusively blamed Israel for the Gazan civilian crisis and called upon the administration “to suspend US military aid to Israel, until there is assurance that this aid will no longer be used for the commission of war crimes.”
The letter was in response to Operation Protective Edge (OPE).
Israel commenced Operation Protective Edge (OPE) in July 2014, to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.
The petition went on to demand that “the AHA commits itself to monitoring Israeli actions.”
In 2002, Kaplan signed a petition demanding “Israeli evacuation of all settlements in the occupied territories except those within the agreed swapped areas.”
The petition went on to state that “Our country has an extraordinary leverage on Israeli policy, if only our government would dare to use it. As American Jews... we call on our government to make continued aid conditional on Israeli acceptance of an internationally agreed two-state settlement.”
BDS
The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement was founded by Omar Barghouti in 2005 to challenge “international support for Israeli apartheid and settler-colonialism.” BDS is an allegedly “Palestinian-led movement,” although leading BDS activists have admitted [00:01:01] this is not true.
One of the demands of BDS includes [point 3] what is generally known as the “right of return,” a demand discredited as a way to eliminate Israel. Barghouti said the “right of return” is a means to “end Israel’s existence as a Jewish state.”
Barghouti has said that BDS “aims to turn Israel into a pariah state, as South Africa once was.”
In his activism, Barghouti has also said [00:05:55] regarding Israel: “Definitely, most definitely, we oppose a Jewish state in any part of Palestine. No…rational Palestinian, not a sellout Palestinian, will ever accept a Jewish state in Palestine.”
The movement has been linked to numerous terrorist organizations and received a public endorsement from Hamas in 2017.
BDS initiatives include calling on institutions and individuals to divest from Israeli-affiliated companies, promoting academic and cultural boycotts of Israel, and organizing anti-Israel rallies, protests and campaigns.
The movement’s most notable achievement has been the infiltration of university campuses through lobbying for “BDS resolutions.” In these cases, student governments and student groups, backed by their own anti-Israel members and affiliates, have proposed resolutions on some form of boycott of, or divestment from, Israel and Israeli-affiliated entities.
Boycott resolutions, although non-binding, have been passed by student governments on numerous North American campuses.
BDS activity is often aggressive and disruptive. It has been noted that universities that pass BDS resolutions see a marked increase in anti-Semitic incidents on campus. On one campus, when the student government debated a BDS resolution, reports emerged of violent threats against those opposing it.
Social Media and Weblinks
University Website:http://history.rutgers.edu/faculty-directory/professors/168-kaplan-temma
- Status:
- Professor
- University:
- Rutgers
- Organizations:
- BDS
- Related Profiles:
- Last Modified:
- 06/23/2025
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