Abigael Fogarty

Overview

Abigael Fogarty has spread hatred of Israel and the police, co-sponsored a Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement resolution and was a Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) executive board member at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (SJP UIUC) for the 2019-2020 academic year. She was also an SJP UIUC member during the 2020-2021 academic year.

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

In March 2020, Fogarty was publicly endorsed by SJP UIUC as a candidate for the Illinois Student Government (ISG) senate.

As of December 2022, Fogarty’s resume on the UIUC website said she was an ISG graduate senator for the 2020-2021 academic year.

As of the same date, Fogarty’s LinkedIn said she worked as an Associate Data Warehouse Developer at UScellular since August 2021.

Also as of December 2022, Fogarty’s LinkedIn said she graduated with a master’s degree in Information Management from UIUC in 2021 and a bachelor’s degree in Global Studies from UIUC in 2019.

As of the same date, Fogarty used the handle “@AbbyCRUE” on Twitter. She used the handles “@abigael.stitch” and “@abigael.q” on Instagram. She also used the handle “@abby.fogarty.7” on Facebook where she went by “Abby Fogarty” and “آبي فوغرتي [Abby Fogarty].”

As of January 2022, Fogarty used the name Abigail F.” on LinkedIn.

Hatred of Israel

On November 5, 2020, Fogarty was quoted multiple times in an article titled: “Jewish students file complaint against UI, allege anti-Semitic environment.”

The article quoted Fogarty as saying: “The Israeli state was formed on the exodus, the forced removal of Palestinians from their homelands.”

The article appeared in the UIUC student newspaper, The Daily Illini, and it also reported: “Forgarty [sic] says Zionism is a political ideology with no religious context.”

Zionism is the belief that Jews have the right to self-determination in their own national home, and the right to develop their national culture.

The word “Zion” first appears in the Bible, where it is used in reference to Jerusalem and the Land of Israel. Jerusalem and Israel are central components of Judaism in history, prayer, culture and religious observance, with many of Torah’s commandments relating to Israel.

In the same article, Fogarty wore a kuffiyeh and sat in front of another anti-Israel activist who held a sign that said: “FREE PALESTINE F**K ZIONISTS.”

On May 11, 2021, Fogarty featured in a photo posted by former SJP UIUC vice president Maram Safi.

Fogarty held a sign that said: “COLONIALISM APARTHEID STATE-SANCTION VIOLENCE.” The sign also had a bloody handprint on it.

The photo was taken at an SJP UIUC rally held one day earlier, titled: “EMERGENCY rally for Sheikh Jarrah.”

In May 2021, calls to “save” Sheikh Jarrah, a Jerusalem neighborhood at the center of a property dispute, led to violence against Israelis and were one of the leading factors in Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists firing over 4,300 rockets from Gaza into Israel that month.

On May 10, 2021, SJP UIUC hosted an anti-Israel protest where protesters chanted [00:03:25]: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” They also chanted [00:27:31]: “Stop the killing, stop the hate! Israel is a terror state!”

“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free” is a chant calling to dismantle the State of Israel. It has also been employed by Hamas leader Khaled Mashal to call for the replacement of Israel with an Islamic state.

One speaker said [00:02:16]: “Zionism is genocidal.” Another speaker said [00:12:55]: “When we talk about violence it’s always from the oppressor so anything else that the oppressed do is self defense and justified.”

Hatred of Police

On November 1, 2020, SJP UIUC posted [slide 1] a photo of Fogarty and other SJP UIUC activists holding a Palestinian flag that said “F**K 12” on it.

“F**k 12,” or “F 12,” is modern slang that generally means “F**k the police.”

The same Instagram post showed Fogarty and the other activists wearing kuffiyehs and costume witch hats. The post said: “casting a spell to give indigenous land back

.”

BDS Resolution Co-Sponsor

On September 14, 2020, Fogarty co-sponsored an SJP UIUC BDS resolution calling on the university to divest from multiple companies doing business with Israel. The resolution accused [p. 5] Israel of “ethnic cleansing” and framed [pp. 5-6] BDS as the successor for the movement to boycott apartheid-era South Africa.

On September 23, 2020, Fogarty voted [03:32:07] in favor of the resolution during a live streamed ISG meeting titled: “RES.04.22 Human Rights Violations in University Investments and Police Forces.” SJP UIUC president Buthaina Hattab authored the resolution. The BDS resolution passed with a vote of 22-11-7.

During the live stream, Sophia Giakas Ayesh, a former SJP UIUC activist, commented [02:36:58]: “Honestly bruh, Zionism is a political agenda that’s racist and supports genocide so bye.”

SJP UIUC’s statement on the vote claimed that “both the BDS and the BLM [Black Lives Matter] movement resist the fundamental racism that Israeli and American entities need to survive.”

SJP Activism

On April 30, 2019, Fogarty featured in an SJP UIUC Facebook photo that said: “Welcome our 2019-20 Executive Board for SJP! Women are the leaders of the revolution!!

.”

On October 25, 2019, SJP Chicago posted [slide 1] a picture featuring Fogarty celebrating the passing of an anti-Israel SJP UIUC student government resolution. SJP Chicago wrote: “

#SJPUIUC: In a major win, Illinois Student Govt. Passed a resolution 29-2-2 addressing the false conflation of anti semitism with anti Zionism. MUCH CONGRATS TO THE HARD WORK OF @sjp.uiuc!!”

The Instagram post referred to an anti-Israel resolution defending a presentation delivered by former SJP UIUC president Dunia Ghanimah. Her presentation praised [slide 14] “Martyrdom” and honored terrorist leaders Leila Khaled and Yasser Arafat. Ghanimah, who was a Mulitcultural Advocate (MA) at UIUC, initially gave the presentation to other MAs, as well as UIUC Housing employees and Resident Advisors.

About two weeks before the resolution passed, SJP UIUC wrote on Facebook: “Zionism is a political ideology that seeks to maintain an artificial Jewish majority in historic Palestine through the systematic occupation and dispossession of Palestinians’ land and livelihoods.”

In January 2020, Fogarty attended the “Youth for Palestine conference” co-hosted by Midwest SJP and the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM). The conference was held on January 25-26, 2020 at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (UM Ann Arbor).

On February 12, 2020, Fogarty spoke [01:34:30] at an ISG meeting in favor of an SJP UIUC BDS resolution titled: “Violations of Human Rights in University Investments.” The resolution was co-authored by former SJP UIUC presidents Hattab, Ghanimah and Ahlam Khatib.

At the same meeting, a female Jewish student discussed [01:56:58] a previous incident where someone held a sign that said [p. 7]: “F**K NAZIS SUPPORT PALESTINIANS.” The student said that she attended an ISG meeting that fall about a separate anti-Israel resolution. She said [01:56:58]: “When I walked into the room I was confronted by a huge sign held up by SJP that said ‘F**k Nazis’. They called us Nazis!”

Somone in the crowd then shouted [01:57:07] at the female Jewish student: “They’re right!”

On February 15, 2020, UIUC Divest tweeted: “...UIUC Divest passes 20-9-7! ISG resolution 03.61 ‘Violation of Human Rights in University Investments’ calls on UIUC to divest from corporations that engage in human rights abuses including Israeli war crimes in Palestine.

#UIUCDivest.”

On February 17, 2020, UIUC Divest tweeted a letter signed by SJP UIUC criticizing the ISG President Connor Josellis for vetoing the resolution one day earlier.

On February 19, 2020, Josellis said [00:37:31] that he vetoed the resolution because of “a level of hate that I have not previously seen firsthand and on behalf of the student government, I condemn any hateful rhetoric that led to students feeling unsafe in this environment.”

On February 29, 2020, Fogarty posted a photo to her ISG senate campaign Facebook page that was taken after the BDS resolution passed on February 15, 2020. She appeared in the photo with SJP leaders Ghanimah, Hattab, Khatib and Sofia Sinnokrot.

On March 4, 2020, SJP UIUC endorsed Fogarty on Facebook: “Here are SJP's top picks for progressive senate positions! Be sure to vote.” The post included a graphic with a list of students, including Fogarty, who were running for ISG senate positions.

On April 23, 2020, Fogarty featured in an SJP UIUC Facebook post that said: “Our executive board and our imagined roles in a liberated Palestine

.”

Attending 2019 NSJP Conference

On March 8, 2020, Fogarty featured in an SJP Chicago Facebook from the 2019 NSJP conference at UMN, held from November 1-3, 2019. She posed in the photo with panelist Stephanie Skora and SJP UIUC board members Hattab, Sinnokrot and Khatib.

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.

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.

The term “Nakba” is generally translated as “catastrophe” in Arabic, referring to the outcome of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It is a term often used to delegitimize the creation of the State of Israel by defining it as a catastrophe.

NSJP 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 this conference but who is or has recently been a part of your SJP.”

NSJP limited 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, NSJP reportedly covered the windows of the conference hall.

SJP UIUC Chapter Overview

SJP UIUC has a history of hate-filled anti-Israel protests on campus, including in April 2022 when someone threw a rock at Jewish students. SJP UIUC leads an annual anti-Israel divestment campaign where other anti-Semitic incidents have occurred.

In November 2020, SJP UIUC featured [pp. 3-8] prominently as a source of anti-Semitism on campus in a civil rights legal complaint filed against UIUC.

SJP UIUC speakers show support for terrorists and spread hatred of Zionists and Israel. Speakers use chants that call for Israel’s destruction and other chants for “intifada,” which is a call for violence.

SJP UIUC speakers also routinely demonize Zionism and in March 2022, one speaker claimed: “Zionism is the root cause of the social issues we see today.” SJP UIUC uses social media to spread the same sort of hatred outlined above.

SJP UIUC - Creating a Hostile Campus Environment 2015-2020

In October 2020, SJP UIUC was cited [pp. 3-8] in six different incidents in a civil rights legal complaint against UIUC documenting anti-Semitic incidents on campus as early as 2015. Jewish groups filed the complaint under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The complaint said [p.12]: “UIUC has also failed to combat anti-Semitism as vigorously as it has combated other forms of bigotry on its campus prohibited by Title VI.”

One cited incident [p.4] was from 2019 when SJP UIUC members and supporters approached pro-Israel students. At least one SJP supporter spat on a pro-Israel student. Other Israel supporters were called “Nazi” and “white supremacist” and were told they had “dual loyalty” since they were “not a true citizen of the United States.”

SJP UIUC - Supporting Terrorists 2019-2020

On November 15, 2019, SJP UIUC held a protest where Sarah El Zayyat, then an SJP UIUC member, read [00:18:57] names from a list of “martyrs.” One of the names she read was Baha Abu al-Ata, a senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) commander in Gaza targeted by Israel in an airstrike who was reportedly planning terror attacks.

In November 2019, Israel launched “Operation Black Belt” to stop rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip. The rockets were sent by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terror group on November 12-14, 2019, targeting Israel’s biggest civilian population centers.

At the rally, an activist held [00:00:46] an Israeli flag defaced with the text “GENO

CIDE” and red handprints meant to signify blood.

SJP UIUC protest was titled: “EMERGENCY RALLY: #GazaUnderAttack.” The Facebook event page said: “In Gaza, Israeli airstrikes have killed over 32 Palestinians and injured over 100 in the last 24 hours. Come stand with us in solidarity against Israel's continual genocide and violation of Palestinian human rights.”

SJP UIUC - Hatred of Israel 2019-2020

On October 10, 2019, SJP UIUC wrote on Facebook: “Zionism is a political ideology that seeks to maintain an artificial Jewish majority in historic Palestine through the systematic occupation and dispossession of Palestinians’ land and livelihoods.”

The post was issued in defense of a presentation by SJP president Dunia Ghanimah that praised [slide 14] “Martyrdom” and honored terrorist leaders Leila Khaled and Yasser Arafat. Ghanimah, who was a Mulitcultural Advocate (MA) at UIUC, gave the presentation to other MAs, as well as UIUC Housing employees and Resident Advisors.

On October 16, 2019, several Illinois Student Government (ISG) senators authored a resolution defending the presentation.

On October 22, 2019, SJP UIUC posted on Facebook encouraging students to support the ISG’s resolution.

On October 24, 2019, SJP UIUC posted on Facebook in celebration of the resolution passing.

On January 16, 2020, SJP UIUC tweeted a thread protesting a training session on anti-Semitism that had been scheduled for UIUC Housing employees, Resident Advisors, and Multicultural Advocates. The session was organized by the non-profit Jewish United Fund of Chicago (JUF).

In the Twitter thread, SJP UIUC described the JUF as a “hate group.” SJP UIUC also accused JUF of the “brokering of Chicago Police Officers exchange with israeli Occupation Forces” that contributed to a “police culture of systematic violence against Black and Palestinian youth.”

“Israeli Occupation Forces,” or “IOF,” is a derogatory term used to demonize the Israeli army by anti-Israel activists. The term mocks the official name, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

SJP UIUC BDS Activities

During the 2019-2020 academic year, SJP UIUC launched a BDS campaign by authoring a student government resolution asking the university to divest funds from companies that are either based in Israel or do business in Israel.

In February 2020, SJP UIUC created the group UIUC Divest to promote BDS on campus and present BDS as an intersectional effort from different campus advocacy groups. In that academic year and each year since then, SJP UIUC or individual SJP UIUC board members authored a divestment resolution.

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.