GWU, FIRE JOSEPH PELZMAN - ARCHITECT OF GENOCIDE
The George Washington University
In July of 2024, GWU Professor Joseph Pelzman authored "*An Economic Plan for Rebuilding Gaza*", a proposal to complete the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. The plan, written for and adopted by the Trump administration, has been described by the U.N. as an act of ethnic cleansing illegal under national law. In it, Pelzman implies Israel – which has already destroyed 60% of the buildings in Gaza – should have "carpet bomb[ed]" Gaza and refers to the 62,000 Palestinians killed by Israel only as "lost human capital". He goes on to propose the expulsion of all Palestinian from Gaza and the destruction of all remaining structures in the strip, which would then be turned over to "foreign investors". Pelzman's disturbing fantasy of "destroy[ing]" the whole of Gaza stems from the same Islamophobia that motivated him to call Islam a "disease" on a twitter account which publicly ties him to GW, later retweeting "fuck palestine", "fuck islam". Multiple peer reviewed journal articles describe the racism of Pelzman's earlier works.
We stress that this is not just a virulently racist paper, but a proposal prepared at the request of the Trump administration which is being used to guide a real attempt to expel Gaza's population indefinitely. This is not about "discomfort" or "feeling unsafe": Pelzman, with the backing of the current President, is proposing and committing material violence against millions of Palestinians.
This gross misconduct is incompatible with scholarly integrity and the role of knowledge production as well as deeply dangerous, and as such we demand that Pelzman be fired immediately. The same university that repressed, arrested, and brutalized its own students for protesting against your complicity in the genocide in Gaza, has a responsibility to remove active agents of genocide from the university. If this demand is not met, GWU's institutional hypocrisy and commitment to genocide will only become clearer to this community and the world.
Fire Joseph Pelzman immediately and ensure that agents of genocide are not longer welcome on our campus.
Petition by
To:
The George Washington University
From:
[Your Name]
Members of GWU administration,
I am writing to demand that GWU immediately terminate the employment and tenureship of Professor Joseph Pelzman who is responsible for authoring the plan currently being adopted by the Trump administration for the complete destruction and ethnic cleansing of Gaza.
In July of 2024, GWU Professor Joseph Pelzman authored "*An Economic Plan for Rebuilding Gaza*", a proposal to complete the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. The plan, written for and adopted by the Trump administration, has been described by the U.N. as an act of ethnic cleansing illegal under national law. In it, Pelzman implies Israel – which has already destroyed 60% of the buildings in Gaza – should have "carpet bomb[ed]" Gaza and refers to the 62,000 Palestinians killed by Israel only as "lost human capital". He goes on to propose the expulsion of all Palestinian from Gaza and the destruction of all remaining structures in the strip, which would then be turned over to "foreign investors". Pelzman's disturbing fantasy of "destroy[ing]" the whole of Gaza stems from the same Islamophobia that motivated him to call Islam a "disease" on a twitter account which publicly ties him to GW, later retweeting "fuck palestine", "fuck islam". Multiple peer reviewed journal articles describe the racism of Pelzman's earlier works.
We stress that this is not just a virulently racist paper, but a proposal prepared at the request of the Trump administration which is being used to guide a real attempt to expel Gaza's population indefinitely. This is not about "discomfort" or "feeling unsafe": Pelzman, with the backing of the current President, is proposing and committing material violence against millions of Palestinians.
This gross misconduct is incompatible with scholarly integrity and the role of knowledge production as well as deeply dangerous, and as such we demand that Pelzman be fired immediately. The same university that repressed, arrested, and brutalized its own students for protesting against your complicity in the genocide in Gaza, has a responsibility to remove active agents of genocide from the university. If this demand is not met, your institutional hypocrisy and commitment to genocide will only become clearer to this community and the world.
Fire Joseph Pelzman immediately and ensure that agents of genocide are not longer welcome on our campus.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-man-with-the-plan-dc-prof-sent-trump-gaza-relocation-development-study-in-july/