Abby Toomey

Overview

Abby Toomey [Abigail Toomey] has supported violent protests as an activist with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Bard College (Bard), in 2019 and 2020.

Toomey has also spread hatred of Israel on social media.

As of December 2020, Toomey was listed on the university website under Bard SJP Club Officers.

Toomey attended the 2019 National SJP Conference at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities (UMN) as an activist with Bard SJP.

National SJP held their conference at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities (UMN), from November 1-3, 2019. The conference was themed: “Beyond Struggle: From Roots to Branches Towards Liberation.”  

As of December 2020, Toomey’s LinkedIn page said she was studying at Bard and slated to graduate in 2022.

As of December 2020, Toomey’s Facebook About page said she worked at Rotary Youth Exchange 2017/2018, since May 2019.

Supporting Violent Protests

On March 30, 2020, Toomey featured in a Bard SJP Instagram photo posted in support of the March of Return. The caption read: “GRM [Great Return March] continues to bear witness to the strength of our people and the reality that the right of return and liberation of our homeland must be achieved within our lifetime.”

On March 30, 2018, some 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza approached Israel’s border to take part in “Land Day Protests,” or the “March of Return.” The march was organized and funded by Hamas as a campaign of violent protests to spotlight the Palestinian demand to “return” to Israel. The “right of return” has since been discredited as a means to eliminate Israel.  

In Bard SJP’s Instagram post [sixth slide], Toomey held a sign bearing the name of“Mustafa Hassan Abu Odeh [Mustafa Hassan Mohammed Abu Odeh],” reportedly an operative of the Hamas terror organization who was killed in a November 11, 2018 gun battle with Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers in Gaza.

Spreading Hatred of Israel

On June 2, 2020, Toomey tweeted: “END the deadly exchange” and shared a blog entry from Amnesty International (AI), titled: “With Whom are Many U.S. Police Departments Training? With a Chronic Human Rights Violator – Israel.”

In 2017, JVP launched the “Deadly Exchange (DX)” campaign, which 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 blog claimed: “These trainings put Baltimore police and other U.S. law enforcement employees in the hands of military, security and police systems that have racked up documented human rights violations for years… Many of the abuses documented, parallel violations by Israeli military, security and police officials.”
 
The “Deadly Exchange" campaign accused mainstream Jewish organizations in the U.S. of promoting human rights abuses and coordinating [00:02:33] 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."

Attending the 2019 National SJP Conference

On November 3, 2019, Toomey appeared in a group photo posted by Bard SJP to Instagram at the 2019 NSJP conference.

The 2019 National SJP Conference was held at the University of Minnesota- Twin Cities (UMN), from November 1-3. The Conference themes centered on support for BDS as well as the rejection of Israel and Zionism.

The Conference partnered with numerous anti-Israel organizations and conducted their event in a clandestine manner. 

2019 National SJP - Supporting BDS

The Conference website called to capitalize on shifts in the political climate, represented by the elections to the U.S. Congress of Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, who both support BDS. National SJP speakers also reportedly drew attention to Rep. Omar’s support for the BDS movement as the Representative for UMN’s Congressional district.

During the Conference, National SJP speakers reportedly “noted the success of past divestment campaigns at the University [UMN], which ultimately resulted in the passing of a campus-wide [BDS] referendum in 2018.” 

The UMN resolution passed in 2018 by a margin of 3.4 percent of those students who voted, translating to approval by 6.18% of all eligible voters. Less than 13% of the eligible voters actually voted on UMN’s BDS referendum.  

2019 National SJP - Rejecting Israel and Zionism  

The 2019 National SJP Conference website indicated that the goal of their “solidarity movement” was to push for policies that “demanded the end of” the state of Israel, referred to as “the Israeli occupation.”

The website clarified that “the Palestinian struggle against Zionism, extends beyond the confines of 1967, and well before the Nakba,” and was based on the rejection of Jewish national self-determination in Israel.

Nakba is an Arabic term for “catastrophe” and refers to the outcome of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It is a term often used to delegitimize the creation of the State of Israel.  

2019 National SJP - Heightened Secrecy  

The 2019 National SJP Conference required attendees to be “verified and vouched for” by an SJP chapter to which they belonged and required each chapter to register as a group. The conference also required each group to be verified by a “reference––someone ​​who is ​NOT going to th​is​ conference but ​who ​is or has ​recently ​been a part of your ​SJP.”

Members of allied student groups could register only as part of an SJP chapter delegation which, in turn, needed to be “vouched for by their campus’s SJP” for “security culture and accountability reasons.”

The Conference also restricted media access to journalists ���registered and confirmed by our Media Committee ​in advance ​to attend the conference.​ Absolutely no exceptions will be made.​”

During the Conference, National SJPreportedly covered the windows of the conference hall.  

2019 National SJP - Partnering Organizations  

National SJP partnered with other anti-Israel organizations to table, sell merchandise and lead workshops, including CODEPINK, Palestine Youth Movement (PYM), Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), Palestine Legal, Watan Palestine and the Adalah Justice Project.

Keynote speakers included Loubna Qutami, Chair of PYM, as well as Taher Herzallah of American Muslims for Palestine (AMP). Other speakers included Miko Peled, Sandra Tamari, Suhad Katib, Chris Gazaleh, Clarissa Bitar, Tariq Luthun, Maytha Alhassen and Sima Shakhsari.  

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.




Abby Toomey
Status:
Student
University:
Bard
Organizations:
SJP

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Last Modified:
05/20/2025

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