Adham Ghannam
Overview
Adham Ghannam has promoted anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, expressed support for a terrorist and endorsed the violent March of Return in Gaza.Ghannam has also spread hatred of Israel on social media and supported an anti-Israel agitator.
Ghannam demonized Israel on campus with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at the University of Michigan, Dearborn (UM-Dearborn) in 2016 and was listed on Facebook as having “went” to the 2016 National SJP Conference at George Mason University & DMV on November 4, 2016.
Ghannam is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
In 2018, Ghannam was an activist with the US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN).
As of June 2019, Ghannam’s Facebook page said he was “Vice Chairman, Board of Directors” at Black Cavalry Holding, Inc, in Canton Michigan.
Ghannam’s Facebook page also said he studied at UM-Dearborn from “2012 to 2016.”
Promoting Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theories
On February 18, 2019, Ghannam shared on Facebook a link to a Mondoweiss article titled: “We must thank Ilhan Omar for opening a debate about AIPAC at last.”The article referred to a February 10, 2019 tweet by U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar that read: “It's all about the Benjamins baby 🎶”
Omar’s tweet came in response to another tweet by journalist Glenn Greenwald that read: “GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy threatens punishment for @IlhanMN and @RashidaTlaib over their criticisms of Israel. It's stunning how much time US political leaders spend defending a foreign nation even if it means attacking free speech rights of Americans.”
On October 31, 2018, Ghannam shared a graphic on Facebook implying that Israel was tricking America and the international community into a war against Iran.
A caption on the graphic read: “The illegal occupiers want to con America into fighting all its dirty work by going to war against other countries that disagree with their agenda. The sad part is that the American/UK gov. have their head up where the sun don’t shine. #FreePalestine#Palestine #FreeGaza #BDS #Gaza #WeArePalestine.”
Support for a Terrorist
On July 1, 2016, Ghannam shared a photo on Instagram of himself with SJP UM-Dearborn activists at a rally, holding a sign that read “JUSTICE FOR RASMEA.”On June 13, 2016, Ghannam was featured in Facebook photos at a rally in support of Rasmea Odeh.
Odeh was a key military operative [00:02:08]with the terrorist group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). In 1969, Odeh masterminded a PFLP bombing that killed two college students in a Jerusalem supermarket. Odeh also attempted to bomb the British consulate.
Odeh confessed, in a highly detailed account, the day following her arrest. In a 2004 documentary, one of Odeh’s co-conspirators directly implicated [00:10:53] Odeh as the mastermind.
In 1970, an Israeli court tried and convicted Odeh for her involvement in both bombings and sentenced her to life imprisonment. However, Odeh was released 10 years later, in a prisoner swap and emigrated to the United States.
On November 10, 2014, a Michigan federal jury convicted Odeh for immigration fraud because she failed to disclose her prior conviction and life sentence on her immigration application. On March 12, 2015, she was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
In 2017, after an appeal and a lengthy court battle, Odeh admitted to immigration fraud, was stripped of her U.S. citizenship, deported to Jordan and banned from re-entering the U.S.
“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.
Endorsing the March of Return
On June 10, 2018, during the March of Return, Ghannam shared a photo on Instagram supporting Gazans who sent scores of kites bearing explosive devices across Israel’s border to burn Israeli crops and homes.Ghannam commented: “truth is no matter how high your war planes fly, God ☝🏽is above them! If our KITES scare 🖕🏽you, it’s because the ✨spirit of 🌬💨God is in them! I’m just happy to see we got parts of these #BurningTires airborne ☁️🔥🌤🔥☁️now up in the SkyYyyyYyyy🎼🎶🎶🎵🎶🎶🎧 They hit us with bombs, and we hit them with burning paper because even on the ground we are FREE spirits flying high above the whole world’s ugliness beautifully 🎨🖌.”
The “right of return” is a Palestinian demand discredited as a means to eliminate Israel.
On June 2 and 5, 2018, Ghannam also shared Instagram images glorifying Gazans burning tires.
Spreading Hatred of Israel
On March 4, 2019, Ghannam shared a graphic on Facebook implying that America and Israel were attempting to silence Americans’ criticism of the two governments.On January 2, 2019, Ghannam shared a graphic on Facebook that depicted Israel asking “Mirror mirror on the wall, is not the most perfect country of them all.” The mirror replies: “Well, technically, you’re not a legitimate state.”
On December 10, 2018, Ghannam shared a post on Facebook implying that the Israeli army deliberately targets children and journalists.
On November 29, 2018, Ghannam shared a graphic on Facebook with a caption that read: “Zionism’s biggest lie: ‘Israel is a nation for all Jews’ Fact is: Israel is not for Black Jews! Israel is not for the Jews who support BDS! Israel is not a nation; it’s a settler colonial regime.”
On November 22, 2018, Ghannam shared a link on Facebook to an Instagram video that equated Israel with Apartheid South Africa.
On November 14, 2018, Ghannam shared a graphic on Facebook that depicted America giving Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, rockets to bomb Gaza with.
On November 6, 2018, Ghannam shared a post that included a graphic on Facebook that portrayed Benjamin Netanyahu bulldozing the West Bank with a caption that read “JEWS ONLY.”
Supporting an Anti-Israel Agitator
On December 31, 2017, Ghannam shared a graphic on Instagram calling to “FREE AHED TAMIMI.” Ghannam wrote: “ If God ever blesses me with a daughter as half as Beautiful, Wise, and Courageous as 🌹Ahed Tamimi🌹 or any of the other thousands of young Palestinian 🇵🇸 children illegally incarcerated by Israel 🇮🇱, I would leave this world smiling.”Demonizing Israel on Campus
On October 31, 2016, Ghannam was featured in a Facebook photo tabling at SJP UM-Dearborn’s “Zionism is Scary Bake Sale.”On October 6, 2016, Ghannam was featured in Facebook photos from at SJP UM-Dearborn’s mock Israeli checkpoint campus event, dressed as an Israeli soldier.
During the event, SJP UM-Dearborn activists put up a mock apartheid wall, simulating Israel’s security barrier, and dressed as Israeli soldiers, pointing fake guns at students attempting to cross a checkpoint.
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.
Supporting BDS
On August 8, 2018, Ghannam shared a video on Facebook of a cartoon that promoted BDS. The caption on the post read: “Cartoon: When you go shopping, don't forget to #BDS Israel.”On May 29, 2018, Ghannam shared a Palestinian Campaign for the Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) post on Facebook that read: “We welcome news that Shakira will not be performing in Tel Aviv, dashing Israel’s hopes to use her name to art-wash its latest massacre in Gaza. Artists, especially UN Goodwill Ambassadors, have a moral duty not to be complicit in covering up human rights violations & apartheid.”
USPCN Activism
The Facebook event page said the event was co-organized by USPCN, Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) and New Generation for Palestine (NGP).
The Facebook event page description said: “Israel has killed over 123 Palestinian protesters and injured thousands more, as part of a 70 year strong ethnic cleansing campaign. The Jewish Federation of Metro Detroit has decided to reward these efforts by holding a celebration for Israel--an ethnonationalist state founded on displacement and apartheid.”
On June 21, 2018, Ghannam shared footage he filmed from the June 20th protest on Facebook. Activists chanted [00:01:35]: “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free” and [00:01:59] “1,2,3,4, occupation no more… 5,6,7,8… Down with the apartheid state!”
Protesters also chanted [0:02:56]: “There is only one solution, intifada revolution,” and [0:03:16]: “Netanyahu you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide.”
The protesters went on to chant [00:03:35]: “When people are occupied, resistance is justified.”
Ghannam, referring to the Jewish Federation of Metro Detroit’s Israeli Independence Day celebrations, said [00:04:04]: “Celebrating genocide and murder must be really fun in there.”
The protesters then chanted [00:04:40]: “Genocide since 48 there’s nothing to celebrate.”
On June 8, 2018, Ghannam shared on Facebook a link to an event organized by USCPN titled: “Al-Quds Day.” Ghannam wrote: “See you there!!! 🔥🇵🇸✊🏽🔥.”
The event was scheduled for the following day, June 9, 2018, and was organized by USCPN and PYM.
The Facebook event page description said the event was to “commemorate Al-Quds day,” and was “called for by the people of Palestine to remind us that, despite 70years of illegal occupation, that Jerusalem is forever the capital of Palestine.”
The Iranian government initiated International Quds Day in 1979, as an annual protest against Israel’s existence. The protest has historically been a platform for anti-Semitism.
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.
Social Media and Weblinks
Twitter:https://twitter.com/adham_myg
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adham.myg/
Flickr:https://www.flickr.com/photos/140024912@N02/
