Abby Brook
Overview
Abby Brook [Abigail Brook] has expressed support for terrorists, demonized an American Jewish institution and promoted an anti-Israel agitator.Brook was a founding member [01:07:50] of the anti-Israel Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) organization at George Washington University (GWU) and an activist [01:07:50] with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). She was also a founder of a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign at GWU, known as #DivestThisTime.
In June 2017, Brook was listed as the “administrative contact” and “potential new members contact” for SJP at GWU. On November 4, 2016, Brook indicated on Facebook that she “went” to the 2016 National SJP (NSJP) Conference.
In December 2017, Brook participated [00:24:43] in the #returnthebirthright initiative, launched by JVP against Jewish heritage tours to Israel known as Birthright Israel (Birthright).
On May 21, 2018, the day following GWU’s commencement, Brook featured in an Instagram photo wearing a cap and gown next to two anti-Israel activists wearing GWU graduation gowns. However, as of July 2018, her Facebook page said she was a “student of International Affairs” at GWU.
Support for Terrorists
On May 3, 2017, Brook shared a Facebook event page from the anti-Israel CODEPINK organization calling for “solidarity with the around 1,700 Palestinian prisoners currently on hunger strike in Israeli prisons” in the “#DignityStrike.”Terrorist Marwan Barghouti was sentenced to five consecutive life terms for some of his crimes, including his role in the Sbarro Cafe bombing. In 2017, he initiated the hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners known as the “Dignity Strike.” He headed the Palestinian Authority (PA) terrorist Tanzim force and founded the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which carried out many terror attacks against Israeli civilians.
Spreading Hatred of an American Jewish Institution
On October 31, 2017, Brook shared a JVP Facebook post accusing the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) of “funding the #DeadlyExchange between U.S. police and the Israeli military” and of “spreading hate through police brutality in Palestine and the U.S.”In 2017, JVP launched the “Deadly Exchange” campaign that accused American Jewish organizations of promoting human rights abuses.
JVP also released a video that blamed [00:04:04] U.S.-based Jewish organizations for violence that occurs against Black and Brown communities, immigrants and activists in the U.S."
The video accused mainstream Jewish organizations in the United States of coordinating exchange programs between American and Israeli security personnel, to advance “worst practices” and “racist policies.”
The campaign page claimed that these “policies” included: “extrajudicial executions, shoot-to-kill policies, police murders, racial profiling, massive spying and surveillance, deportation and detention.”
JVP also released a video that blamed [00:04:04] U.S.-based Jewish organizations for violence that occurs against Black and Brown communities, immigrants and activists in the U.S."
The video accused mainstream Jewish organizations in the United States of coordinating exchange programs between American and Israeli security personnel, to advance “worst practices” and “racist policies.”
The campaign page claimed that these “policies” included: “extrajudicial executions, shoot-to-kill policies, police murders, racial profiling, massive spying and surveillance, deportation and detention.”
Also on October 31, 2017, Brook posted another #DeadlyExchange link to Facebook, urging people to “Tell the ADL: Do not host another National Counter Terrorism Seminar or Advanced Training School.”
Supporting an Anti-Israel Agitator
On February 23, 2018, Brook changed her Facebook cover photo to a drawing idolizing anti-Israel agitator Ahed Tamimi. The drawing called her a “REAL” Wonder Woman.Ahed Tamimi has a long history of physically attacking Israeli soldiers. Tamimi is the daughter of Bassem Tamimi, who is known for exploiting young children as political props in staged confrontations with Israeli soldiers.
BDS Activism
On March 29, 2017, Brook spoke [00:00:35] in the #DivestThisTime Facebook video.On April 5, 2017, the GWU newspaper reported that Brook was the founder of the #DivestThisTime BDS campaign at GWU. She was also involved [00:00:51] in the 2018 #DivestThisTime campaign.
On April 24, 2017, the resolution was introduced to the GWU Student Association (SA) and then “leaked to the general public,” just ahead of Israeli and International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
The resolution blamed Israel for a litany of alleged crimes, including “deliberately” causing “suffering to Palestinian populations,” discrimination against women, “deliberately” killing “Palestinian civilians” and causing an “epidemic of homelessness.”
The resolution invoked the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), demanding punishment for ”crimes against peace, humanity, and of war.”
On May 1, 2017, the GWU SA voted down the resolution 15-14.
On May 4, 2017, Brook told the GW Hatchet that SJP at GWU would push for a referendum vote where the entire student body would vote on divestment. The GW Hatchet’s Editorial Board criticized the decision on May 15, 2017, in an op-ed titled: “Divestment referendum would marginalize part of the student body.”
On March 24, 2018, Brook spoke [00:00:51] in the #DivestThisTime Facebook video.
On March 27, 2018, Brook featured in a #DivestThisTime Facebook photo, where she held a sign accusing Israel of “ethnic cleansing.”
On April 23-24, 2018, the GWU SA held a hearing to discuss that year’s #DivestThisTime resolution where Brook spoke [01:07:50] in favor of the measure.
The resolution passed [00:21:53] with 18 votes for, six against and six abstentions, via a secret ballot.
The resolution implied that “Israel is the worst apartheid regime” and that Israel imposes “forced labour” on Palestinians. It also implied that Israel divides “its population along racial lines by the creation of separate reserves and ghettos for the members of a racial group or groups.”
The resolution portrayed Israeli military campaigns against Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) as deliberate attempts to kill children and civilians. It also singled out Israel for alleged violations of the Geneva Convention and war crimes.
Israel commenced Operations Cast Lead (OCL), Pillar of Defense (OPD) and Protective Edge (OPE) in 2008-09, 2012 and 2014, respectively, in order to stop Hamas rocket fire from Gaza targeting Israeli civilians.
Three of the resolution’s four co-sponsors voted [00:09:59] against an amendment [00:07:15] acknowledging that “Israel is a state and has the right to exist” and that Israelis have the “right to safety, security and self-determination.” The fourth co-sponsor abstained.
Anti-Israel Activism
On March 30, 2016, Brook promoted an SJP at GWU event scheduled for that day titled: “Why You Should Take Sides: Israel/Palestine and Normalization.” The event promoted BDS and the need for “Anti-Normalization.”On April 5, 2016, Brook shared an SJP at GWU Facebook event page for an event that day featuring the Right to Education Tour.
The Right to Education Tour brings Palestinian students to U.S. campuses to promote a claim that Israel arbitrarily obstructs the rights of Palestinians to higher education. The tour has demonized Israeli security sweeps made to shut down terror cells operating from Palestinian campuses.
On April 25, 2017, Brook shared a Facebook post from fellow SJP at GWU activist Renad Uri, criticizing an Israeli cultural festival at GWU. Uri accused Israel of “apartheid” and “ethnic cleansing” in her post. She also accused Israel of the “theft of all things Palestinian” in an attempt to “erase Palestine from global memory.”
On July 30, 2016, Brook indicated on Facebook that she “went” to an event in New York City titled: “Summer Skill Share Retreat For Palestine Student Activists.”
On February 15, 2017, Brook shared an SJP at GWU Facebook event page titled: “Pali 101 Part 3: Normalization.” Brook wrote in her post: “come learn about how to not normalize occupation, and apartheid.”
On February 15, 2017, Brook indicated on Facebook that she went to an IfNotNow (INN) DC event protesting the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
On March 26, 2017, Brook indicated on Facebook that she attended an anti-Israel demonstration in Washington, D.C., organized by Al-Awda.
On March 26, 2017, anti-Israel group Al-Awda organized a rally in Washington, D.C., against the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Speakers included Holocaust revisionist Ryan Dawson, who incited [00:13:27, 00:14:30] hatred toward Jews and called [00:14:21] AIPAC a “parasite.” Protestors shouted [00:15:27] “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free!”, which Al-Awda co-founder Abbas Hamideh has confirmed [00:02:52] is a call to eliminate Israel.
On April 26, 2017, Brook indicated on Facebook that she “went” to a DC for Palestine- organized event that protested against Israeli musician Idan Raichel. Protestors alleged that Israel is a “racist state” and accused Israel of “fascism” and “apartheid.”
On April 29, 2017, Brook indicated on Facebook that she “went” to an event titled: “Third Annual Palestine Advocacy Day & Training.” The event was hosted by the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) and American Muslims for Palestine (AMP).
PYM is an international body of young Palestinians whose goal is to “Stop the Zionist occupation and colonization of all Palestine.” PYM’s slogan is “until return and liberation.”
JVP Activism
On December 3, 2017, Brook participated [00:24:43] in a JVP-organized #returnthebirthright protest, outside the Birthright offices in New York City.Brook read [00:24:43] a letter she claimed was from one of her “best friends who is Palestinian” where she said [00:28:25] that Israel is “actively” engaging in “ethnic cleansing” and that Israel is a “settler-colonial project” practicing “apartheid.” She went on to say [00:28:55] that Israel’s “structure is built on racist values” and “genocide.”
Brook also claimed [00:25:15] that: “The state of Israel has killed children, stolen land and bombed communities to ensure empty land for building illegal homes.”
Return the Birthright Campaign
In September of 2017, JVP issued its #ReturntheBirthright campaign manifesto, calling on American Jews to boycott the Birthright Israel (Birthright) program. Birthright was founded by Jewish philanthropists “in 1999 to address the growing divide between young Diaspora Jewish adults and the land and people of Israel.”After decades of demographic decline in the American Jewish community, Birthright set out “to strengthen Jewish identity, build a lasting bond with the land and people of Israel, and reinforce the solidarity of Jewish people worldwide.” The program offers “the gift of a life-changing, 10-day trip to Israel to young Jewish adults between the ages of 18 and 26.”
JVP’s anti-Birthright campaign was launched precisely to coincide with “the very moment that college students across America are returning to campus and registration for Birthright winter visits are underway.”
The #returnthebirthright manifesto accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing” and alleged “the modern state of Israel is predicated on the ongoing erasure of Palestinians.”
The text claimed: “We reject the offer of a free trip to a state that does not represent us, a trip that is only ‘free’ because it has been paid for by the dispossession of Palestinians.”
The manifesto concluded: “And as we reject this, we commit to promoting the right to return of Palestinian refugees… Israel is not our Birthright… Return the Birthright.”
On June 22, 2017, just prior to the launch of JVP’s #returnthebirthright campaign, JVP received a $140,00 two-year grant for general support for its operations from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF).
Since 2015, JVP has received $280,000 from RBF, which has a history of supporting anti-Jewish causes, including BDS campaigns and various organizations that promote BDS campaigns throughout the United States.
#DivestThisTime at GWU 2018 - Demonizing Israel
On April 23-24, 2018, the GWU Student Association (SA) held a hearing and vote on the BDS resolution. At least 18 SJP at GWU activists and affiliates addressed [01:07:50] the SA in defense of the resolution, where it passed [00:21:53] via [00:11:14] a secret ballot with 18 votes for, six against and six abstentions.
During the hearing, many Jewish students said [01:09:05] they experienced [01:24:45] anti-Semitism related to #DivestThisTime. One student spoke [00:50:40] about the Jewish community’s pain when “this hateful and divisive resolution was proposed over Passover.” One Jewish Israeli-American student said [00:48:05] it “creates an environment where I am made to feel that my identity is taboo” at GWU.
One black Jewish student said [01:39:24] that an SJP activist told him he was “weaponizing” his identity when he asked why a clause mentioning the “discriminatory conditions black people face in the Gaza Strip under Palestinian leadership” was omitted from the resolution.
SJP at GWU activists mocked [00:52:48] or dismissed [00:39:50] concerns over anti-Semitism. Other resolution supporters voiced agreement [00:45:40] with the SJP at GWU activists, including one who claimed [01:04:13] that resolution opponents were stoking “racial fears and sowing the divisions.”
A number of Jewish students walked out [00:35:19] of the hearing to protest [00:33:21] the resolution and to protest the SA’s inaction to combat anti-Semitism within its own ranks.
On April 24, 2018, three of the four resolution co-sponsors — Joshua Gomez, Eden Vitoff and Shaheera Jalil Albasit — voted [00:09:59] against an amendment [00:07:15] that said: “Palestinians and Israelis, like all people, have the right to safety, security, and self-determination” and “Israel is a state and has the right to exist.” Jessica Martinez, the other co-sponsor, abstained [00:10:06].
On May 10, 2018, Al Jazeera published a report on Youtube about #DivestThisTime. SJP at GWU activists spoke [00:01:47] to passers-by on campus and stood next to a display [00:01:43] labeled the “Israeli Apartheid Wall” that demonized Israel’s security barrier.
During the hearing, many Jewish students said [01:09:05] they experienced [01:24:45] anti-Semitism related to #DivestThisTime. One student spoke [00:50:40] about the Jewish community’s pain when “this hateful and divisive resolution was proposed over Passover.” One Jewish Israeli-American student said [00:48:05] it “creates an environment where I am made to feel that my identity is taboo” at GWU.
One black Jewish student said [01:39:24] that an SJP activist told him he was “weaponizing” his identity when he asked why a clause mentioning the “discriminatory conditions black people face in the Gaza Strip under Palestinian leadership” was omitted from the resolution.
SJP at GWU activists mocked [00:52:48] or dismissed [00:39:50] concerns over anti-Semitism. Other resolution supporters voiced agreement [00:45:40] with the SJP at GWU activists, including one who claimed [01:04:13] that resolution opponents were stoking “racial fears and sowing the divisions.”
A number of Jewish students walked out [00:35:19] of the hearing to protest [00:33:21] the resolution and to protest the SA’s inaction to combat anti-Semitism within its own ranks.
On April 24, 2018, three of the four resolution co-sponsors — Joshua Gomez, Eden Vitoff and Shaheera Jalil Albasit — voted [00:09:59] against an amendment [00:07:15] that said: “Palestinians and Israelis, like all people, have the right to safety, security, and self-determination” and “Israel is a state and has the right to exist.” Jessica Martinez, the other co-sponsor, abstained [00:10:06].
On May 10, 2018, Al Jazeera published a report on Youtube about #DivestThisTime. SJP at GWU activists spoke [00:01:47] to passers-by on campus and stood next to a display [00:01:43] labeled the “Israeli Apartheid Wall” that demonized Israel’s security barrier.
Israel’s security barrier, 97 percent of which is a low chain-link barrier, was built as a deterrent to Palestinian terror attacks. The concrete portions of the fence were built in response to Palestinian sniper attacks.
Pushing BDS at GWU
On March 27, 2017, SJP at GWU launched the Divest This Time campaign. The campaign’s name alluded to GWU’s declining to “divest from apartheid in South Africa” and called “for GWU not to make the same mistake with Palestine.”On March 28, 2017, SJP at GWU held an event titled “Why Divest?” in order to recruit support for divestment.On March 29, 2017, Divest This Time released a video that cameoed SJP at GWU student activists and their supporters promoting the campaign. Students featured in the video invoked “the Occupation of Palestine” to demonize Israel and companies that provided Israel with security technology. In the video, SJP at GWU student activists also equated Israel with Apartheid South Africa and accused Israel of “using the identities” of Transgender people to prove that Israel respects human rights.
The campaign video incorporated footage from a March 26, 2017 protest against the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) organized by Al-Awda — The Palestine Right to Return Coalition — and joined by SJP at GWU.
The text of the divestment resolution was introduced to the student senate on April 24, 2017. It was then “leaked to the general public,” just ahead of Israeli and International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Successive “whereas” clauses of the resolution blamed Israel for crimes against humanity, “deliberately” causing “suffering to Palestinian populations,” discriminating against women, “deliberately” killing “Palestinian civilians” and causing an “epidemic of homelessness” among the Palestinians. The resolution also condemned Israel’s detention of Palestinian children for violating Israeli Military Order 1651 which criminalized rock throwing with up to 20 years of prison time.
On April 25, 2017, the bill’s co-sponsor — Jack Jomarron — and others claimed the resolution did not target Israel for boycott, divestment and sanctions. However, the resolution’s third “whereas” clause stated: “The act of divesting creates political pressure on corporations to withdraw their involvement in the occupation…” The bill’s fourth “whereas” clause specifically invoked the Rome statute of the International Criminal Court, calling for criminal responsibility and punishment for ”crimes against peace, humanity, and of war.”
The resolution’s primary sponsor — Keiko Tsuboi — also attempted to distance the bill from BDS and claimed it was not meant to “paint some skewed vision of Israel,” but to “describe the situation on the ground, that palestinian students are talking about.” Tsuboi appealed to the infamous Goldstone Report to buttress paragraphs 7 through 18 of the resolution’s allegations. Although Judge Goldstone himself publicly retracted the central thesis of his report, in April of 2011, Tsuboi, insisted “these are the facts on the ground and they are not up for a debate for the purposes of this resolution.”
Some GWU students noted that the resolution was “one sided.” The bill exclusively singled out for divestment companies that supplied Israel with security technology — and demonized the use of that technology. One student suggested the resolution looked to “alienate pro Israel students from the GW community” and reflected a “hidden agenda.”
Co-sponsor Jomarron admitted that he understood the “fear of a hidden agenda” and went on to observe: “the national BDS movements and the national SJP groups are frankly super troublesome to me.” However, Jomarron continued to insist that the resolution was not connected with the agenda of the BDS movement.
On Saturday, April 27, 2017 — Holocaust Remembrance Day — BDS co-founder Omar Barghouti delivered a talk on behalf of the Jerusalem Fund/Palestine Center about the “Successes and Challenges of BDS.” During the Q & A session that followed, Barghouti said: “... if you join a campaign for justice and freedom, it doesn't have to carry the BDS logo. It doesn’t have to say ‘boycott,’ it doesn't have to say ‘BDS.’ There are many creative ways how to do things without labeling it as ‘BDS.’”
On May 1, 2017, GWU’s Student Association voted down the resolution 15-14, in a sharply divided session.
Following the resolution’s defeat, SJP at GWU organizer — Henry Rosh — said: “we will not stop calling for BDS on this campus.”
Another SJP at GWU student activist — Maryam Alhassani — posted on Facebook to label those who opposed the resolution as “PEP (Progressive Except Palestine)” and “just outright racist.”
SJP at GWU also released a statement on Facebook that read: “At GWU, this action has only just begun — SJP will continue the fight for Palestinian human rights and for those who are oppressed around the world. The Divest This Time coalition is passionate about the GW community and thus looks to further justice on campus.”
The campaign’s Facebook page also released a statement that said, among other things, “The Divest This Time coalition and SJP at GWU will continue to uplift these voices as we move forward in our campaign to end GW complicity in one-sided violence.”
On May 4, 2017, Abby Brook — Divest This Time founder and SJP at GWU student activist — told The GW Hatchet student newspaper that SJP at GWU would push for a referendum vote, in which the entire student body would vote on divestment.
On May 15, 2017, the Editorial Board of the GW Hatchet published an article titled: “Divestment referendum would marginalize part of the student body.” The article recalled the sharply divided Student Association Senate vote and criticized SJP at GWU’s announcement to push for a vote rather than increase dialogue and understanding concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on campus.
SJP at GWU student activist Maryam Alhassani shared the editorial board’s article on Facebook and commented: “This is a huge f**k you to all the Palestinians on campus and in Palestine. The GW Hatchet thank you for showing us how sh**ty you are and how Palestinians don't matter…”
SJP at GWU - Palestine Awareness Week
On March 27, 2017, SJP at GWU launched Palestine Awareness Week (PAW). The kick-off of PAW was a speaking event that featured Angela Davis. The Facebook event page noted that Davis’ 2015 book, titled” Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine and the Foundations of a Movement,” purported to reveal “the deep connections between the incarceration of Black Americans and the continued occupation of Palestine by the state of Israel.”SJP at GWU - Promoting Anti-Semites and Holocaust Deniers
As part of SJP at GWU’s 2017 PAW, SJP at GWU participated in and promoted a demonstration scheduled for March 26, 2017, organized by Al-Awda — The Palestine Right to Return Coalition.
The rally demonized the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and featured a lineup of speakers who have spread anti-Semitism. Among them was the rally’s lead organizer, Al-Awda co-founder Abbas Hamideh, who has been called out for promoting anti-Semitism on his Twitter account, by a prominent pro-Israel blog. Hamideh personally thanked SJP at GWU for promoting the event on Facebook.
The rally’s Facebook page accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing” and demanded: “End the illegal occupation of Palestine from the River to the Sea!.” The chant “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free” — which Hamideh confirmed as a call to eliminate Israel — was a constant refrain at the rally.
Another speaker at the rally was Ryan Dawson — a denier of Nazi gas chambers. Dawson mocked ancient Jewish Scriptures and attacked Jewish historical claims to the Land of Israel. Dawson’s comments were greeted with cheers. Dawson also said: “If I can give something across to the scumbags inside … AIPAC is a virus … AIPAC is a parasite.” Those comments were also greeted with shouts of approval.
Anti-Israel activist and author Miko Peled also spoke at the rally, claiming: “We know very well that the Palestinian resistance is not terrorism. Palestinian resistance is legitimate resistance. And all of us today are part of that resistance.” Peled’s comments were met with applause and shouts of approval from the crowd.
On March 27, 2017, SJP at GWU shared a video on Facebook produced by Al Jazeera with footage from the rally including David Feldman, a member of the Neturei Karta — a marginal, anti-Zionist, fringe Jewish group. He has helped to tokenize the radically anti-Zionist Neturei Karta members — and has falsely portrayed their anti-Zionism as emblematic of mainstream Judaism. The group is notorious for its delegation to an Iranian Holocaust denial conference in 2014.
SJP at GWU - Promoting “Anti-Normalization”
On March 30, 2016, SJP at GWU hosted an event titled: “Why You Should Take Sides: Israel/Palestine and Normalization.”The Facebook event page description referred to the definition of “Anti-Normalization” according to the Palestine Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) which opposes the normalization of relations between Israelis and Palestinians (and/or Arabs). PACBI defines “normalization” as “the participation in any project, initiative or activity” aiming “to bring together Palestinians (and/or Arabs) and Israelis (people or institutions) without placing as its goal resistance to and exposure of the Israeli occupation.”
The event comprised a panel discussion with the then events coordinator for the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University (Georgetown) Tareq Radi. Radi is also the founder of GMU Students Against Israeli Apartheid — an affiliate of SJP. The panel also included DC Metro Chapter Coordinator of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) Shelley Cohen Fudge and journalist Jamal Najjab.
On August 2, 2014, Radi spoke on behalf of SAIA at a rally in Washington DC during Operation Protective Edge, in which he denounced the affirmation that Israel has a right to defend itself as “ludicrous rhetoric.”
Radi claimed that Zionists “are trying to soil the words we hold sacred — Shahid, Martyr, Revolutionary’ which are sacred because they "belong to the oppressed. They empower us and strike fear into the hearts of cowards. We are people of resistance and we need to rebuild our culture of resistance.”(1.00)
He also stated: "We must resist the Zionist entity at every turn. They must know that their presence is not welcome anywhere that values justice. I don’t care what the setting may be, there is no room for a diversity of opinions on issues of human rights!" (3.30)
Radi went on to say that “by surrendering to the language of peace, we have handcuffed the means in which our people back home can resist.” (1:04)
SJP at GWU - Saltwater Challenge
On May 12, 2017, Maryam Alhassani — led SJP at GWU student activists in a “Saltwater Challenge,” in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners then hunger striking in Israeli prisons.The prisoners’ hunger strike was initiated by Marwan Barghouti, then serving five consecutive life sentences for his role in shooting attacks that killed five Israelis during the second Intifada.
Barghouti completed his doctorate in Political Science while in Israeli prison.
As head of the Palestinian Authority (PA)’s terrorist Tanzim force and founder of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Barghouti was behind attacks that killed scores of Israelis and wounded hundreds of others. Barghouti personally financed the guitar-case bomb used in the Sbarro Cafe bombing.
According to CNN, the Salt Water Challenge appears to have been invented by Marwan Barghouti’s son, Aarab Marwan Barghouti.
SJP at GWU - Hosting Right to Education Tour 2016
On April 5, 2016, SJP at GWU hosted “two Palestinian students from Birzeit University in the West Bank who are travelling the US on the Right to Education Tour.”The Facebook event page linked to a video “to learn more about R2E,” by Birzeit University students, published in 2013. The video celebrated the creation of the Palestinian curriculum and attacked what it called “a Jewish-American organization,” The Center for Monitoring The Impact of Peace, for exposing that curriculum’s indoctrination of children to terror.
The campaign brings students to U.S. campuses, who claim that Israel is obstructing the rights of Palestinians to higher education. These claims mischaracterize sweeps Israeli security forces have taken to shut down terror cells operating from Birzeit’s campus.
Birzeit’s student body elected Hamas to power in 2003, 2015 and 2016.
In January of 2016, Birzeit characterized an IDF raid to arrest wanted militants as a “belligerent ... attack on the university and our right to education …”
In September of 2014, pro-Palestinian Haaretz reporter Amira Hass was thrown off of Birzeit’s campus — because Hass is Jewish.
SJP at GWU - Hosting Radicals
On April 9, 2015, SJP at GWU hosted a speaking event featuring Iyad Burnat — the coordinator of the so-called Bil’in Popular Non Violent Resistance Committee, has repeatedly equated Israel with Hitler and ISIS has been accused of personally attacking Israeli soldiers. The weekly demonstrations he has organized against the Israeli security barrier since 2005 have frequently turned violent.On March 2, 2015, SJP at GWU hosted an event that featured anti-Israel author Miko Peled, titled: “Palestine Beyond Zionism - Hope for Peace and Co-Existence.”
The Facebook event page description claimed: “… In South Africa removing Apartheid was the key to ending the plight of black South Africans, in Palestine removing Zionism is the key to resolving the plight of the Palestinians.”
SJP at GWU – Celebrating Violence
On March 8, 2016, SJP at GWU shared, with supportive comments, photos of numerous women — masked by Keffiyehs — brandishing guns, firing slingshots and collecting large rocks.SJP
SJP is a student organization engaged in anti-Israel activity on North American college and university campuses.
The first chapter of SJP was founded in 2001 at the University of California at Berkeley by Professor Hatem Bazian. Bazian has spread classic anti-Semitism, reportedly promoted religious anti-Semitism and defended the Hamas terror group. In 2004, Bazian called for “intifada” in America.
SJP organizes anti-Israel campaigns, including running annual Israel Apartheid Weeks, often in collaboration with Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and Muslim Students Association (MSA) campus chapters.
SJP has been a major force in pushing the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement on campuses. Chapters have initiated dozens of BDS resolutions in student governments, which have been proposed on or around Jewish holidays, a time when many Jewish students are off-campus.
SJP activists have reportedly physically assaulted, intimidated and harassed Jewish students, disrupted pro-Israel campus events and demonized pro-Israel campus organizations.
Chapters have often endorsed and campaigned for numerous terrorists and whitewashed terrorism.
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.
JVP
JVP was founded in Berkeley, California in 1996, as an activist group with an emphasis on the “Jewish tradition” of peace, social justice and human rights. The organization is currently led by Rebecca Vilkomerson and its board members include Israel critics Naomi Klein, Judith Butler, Noam Chomsky and Tony Kushner.
JVP, which generally employs civil disobedience tactics to disrupt pro-Israel speakers and events, consists of American Jews and non-Jewish “allies” highly critical of Israeli policies. A staunch supporter of the BDS movement, JVP claims to aim its campaigns at companies that either support the Israeli military (Hewlett-Packard) or are active in the West Bank (SodaStream).
Although several Jewish groups critical of Israeli policies, like J Street and Partners for a Progressive Israel, make efforts to operate within the mainstream American Jewish community, JVP functions outside. The group is often criticized for serving as a tokenized Jewish voice for the pro-Palestinian camp and is widely regarded as the BDS movement’s “Jewish wing.”
JVP denies the notion of “Jewish peoplehood” and has even gone so far as to refer to its own Ashkenazi (Jews who spent the Diaspora in European countries) leadership as “white supremacy inside of JVP.”
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has accused JVP of being “the largest and most influential Jewish anti-Zionist group in the United States,” and said the group “exploits Jewish culture and rituals to reassure its own supporters that opposition to Israel not only does not contradict, but is actually consistent with, Jewish value.”
The ADL also claimed that “JVP consistently co-sponsors rallies to oppose Israeli military policy that are marked by signs and slogans comparing Israel to Nazi Germany, demonizing Jews and voicing support for groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.”
According to the ADL website, JVP “uses its Jewish identity to shield the anti-Israel movement from allegations of anti-Semitism and provide it with a greater degree of legitimacy and credibility.”
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- Status:
- Student
- University:
- George-Washington
- Organizations:
- BDS,
- JVP,
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- Last Modified:
- 06/23/2025
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