Speaker at Fordham tries to guilt trip students into boycotting Israel: EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS

Two groups at Fordham University hosted an anti-Israel event this March at which a pro-Palestinian speaker told students they might be “complicit in . . . genocide” based on what brands they financially support.

The event, titled “From Gaza to Darfur: Uniting Narratives in Palestinian and Sudanese Struggles,” was jointly held at Fordham’s Lincoln Center by the Fordham LC Muslim Students Association and Awlad AlNeel, according to an Instagram post from the latter group, and featured opening remarks by a Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) speaker.

Fordham’s SJP also advertised the event on their Instagram. The group was previously banned by the school.

The event began with a reading from the Surah Al-Baqarah, a chapter in the Quran, followed by a talk by an SJP representative.

[RELATED: Fordham SJP blames university for being ‘complicit’ in ‘genocide’ against Palestine]

The SJP member began: “The loss of hope that you’re all feeling is a normal feeling, and I want you to all understand that people in SJP, the people of all - like everyone here - we all feel it, you’re not alone, and that feeling is not normal. It’s not normal to constantly see your government disappoint you, to constantly feel like you have no output, no place to go.”  

She further asserted: “The Palestinian people have been physically, mentally tortured, starved, and killed by the Israeli occupation forces, and it’s important to note that the IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] shouldn’t be called the IDF; they are not defense forces, they are occupation forces in a land that is not theirs.”

The representative claimed: “AIPAC is probably the biggest misuse of funds in our government as they are a privately funded Israel organization that says that they get their money from United States citizens, donors.” She alleged that “in actuality, there is many [sic] indications that they get their money from the Israeli government.”

AIPAC (The American Israel Public Affairs Committee) is “a bipartisan, pro-Israel political action committee. It is the largest pro-Israel PAC in America,” according to its website.

Continuing on, she spoke of the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions (BDS) movement, saying it is “the way you all can start supporting the Palestinian people. . . . You as individuals have the choice to support something, or to not, and by being complicit in certain companies by supporting your favorite skincare brand or your favorite clothing brand, if you find out that they’re complicit in the genocide, so are you.”

The speaker also shared a slide with the attendees explaining the goals of the BDS movement in more detail, as seen from a photo obtained by Campus Reform. 

The Anti-Defamation League claims that “many of the founding goals of the BDS movement, which effectively reject or ignore the Jewish people’s right of self-determination, or that, if implemented, would result in the eradication of the world’s only Jewish state, are antisemitic,” and that “some BDS advocates and campaigns engage in antisemitic rhetoric.”

[RELATED: Rutgers student gov gave SJP over $20,000 for Palestinian ‘teach-in,’ national conference, and more: EXCLUSIVE]

“You as Americans are privileged to have the ability to buy what you want,” she continued, further saying: “This is not the same as using metal straws or using a reusable water bottle, this is people’s lives, these are people who are dying.”

The SJP speaker’s remarks were followed by a lecture with two other speakers who alleged that Palestinians and the people of Darfur are “connected through our plight for freedom from the Western imperialism,” and that “[t]he ruins of these lands is the objective of the west to maintain their profit-maximizing agendas,” as seen from a photo of a slide that Campus Reform obtained from the event.  

Another slide stated that “[y]ou have a responsibility as a Muslim to advocate for the oppressed.” 

Campus Reform has reached out to Fordham University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.