Ahlam Khatib

Overview

Ahlam Khatib has expressed support for terrorists, spread hatred of Israel, co-authored a Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement resolution and was president of Students Justice for Palestine (SJP) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (SJP UIUC) during the 2019-2020 academic year.

In December 2019, Khatib was also listed as “Primary Contact” for SJP UIUC. In April 2020, she was listed as a member of the SJP UIUC executive board.

Khatib attended the 2019 National SJP (NSJP) Conference, held 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.”

In November 2019, Khatib featured on a panel at the American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) annual convention.

As of October 2022, Khatib's LinkedIn page said she was studying for a law degree at Loyola University Chicago School of Law (LUC Law), slated to graduate in 2023. Khatib graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Economics from UIUC in 2020.

As of the same date, Khatib’s LinkedIn said she worked as a Legal Assistant for Owaynat Law Group in Chicago since 2021.

Also as of October 2022, Khatib’s LinkedIn said she was located in Palos Park, IL.

Supporting Terrorists (PIJ)

On November 15, 2019, Khatib spoke [00:00:01] at an SJP UIUC rally where she introduced [00:18:48] an activist to “come up and speak about the different martyrs” who died in Gaza, including [00:18:57] Baha Abu al-Ata, a senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) commander. Abu al-Ata was targeted by Israel in an airstrike and he was reportedly planning terror attacks.

On November 12-14, 2019, Israel launched Operation Black Belt to stop PIJ rocket attacks targeting Israel’s biggest civilian population centers.

The 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.”

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

CIDE” and red handprints signifying blood.

Hatred of Israel

On November 7, 2019, Khatib spoke [00:00:18] at an SJP UIUC event titled: “Balfour 102 Vigil.”

Khatib read [00:00:28] text from the Balfour Declaration and then said [00:01:08]: “In 1917 James Balfour signed onto the ethinic cleansing and genocide of Palestinians. In 1917 James Balfour legitimized the racist political ideology that is Zionism.”

The 1917 Balfour Declaration favored the establishment of a Jewish National home in British Mandate Palestine.

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.

Khatib then said [00:01:17]: “The impacts of the Balfour Declaration can never be exaggerated. It was instrumental in the creation of a modern State of Israel, as it was the first necessary step to the extraction of Palestinians from their land. This in turn is what led to the Palestine Israeli conflict, which has destabilized the Middle East and also the wider world.”

Co-Authoring a BDS Resolution

In February 2020, Khatib co-authored a BDS resolution with SJP UIUC leaders Buthaina Hattab and Dunia Ghanimah. Their resolution was introduced in the Illinois Student Government (ISG) senate and it was titled: “Violations of Human Rights in University Investments.”

On February 12, 2020, a female Jewish student spoke [01:56:58] at an ISG meeting held to discuss the divestment resolution, to discuss an incident where someone held a sign that said [p. 7]: “F**K NAZIS SUPPORT PALESTINIANS.”

The female Jewish student said that she attended an ISG meeting during the fall semester that addressed 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!”

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

Later at the same ISG meeting, Khatib spoke [03:13:18] in favor of the resolution and framed the BDS movement as the successor to the movement to boycott apartheid-era South Africa.

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.”

Also on February 15, 2020, Khatib featured [00:00:08] in a UIUC Divest video posted on Twitter celebrating the passing of the resolution.

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

On February 19, 2020, Josellis said [00:37:31] at an ISG meeting 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.”

At the same meeting Khatib spoke [00:24:26] at the same ISG meeting where she accused [00:25:17] Israel of “basic human rights” violations.

SJP Activism

In January 2020, Khatib 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 November 29, 2019, Khatib joined with other SJP activists at AMP’s 12th Annual Palestine Convention on a panel titled: “Divestment on Campus.” AMP’s description of the panel said: “We will explore the common steps SJPs take to pass divestment. A panel of SJP students from different universities will discuss their journeys in passing, or attempting to pass, divestment.”

On October 25, 2019, SJP Chicago posted [slide 1] a picture featuring Khatib 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 SJP UIUC leader 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.

On October 21, 2019, Khatib was quoted in an article in The Daily Illini as claiming that the presentation was “not anti-Semitic.”

On October 10, 2019, Khatib emceed [00:12:50] an SJP UIUC event titled: “Palestine 101.” The panel featured anti-Israel professor Bruce Rosenstock and AMP activist Tarek Khalil.

Also 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.”

On September 17, 2019, Khatib featured [slide 1]in an SJP Chicago Instagram photo that said: “Thank you to everyone who came out to Palestine at the Park yesterday and was part of re-launching SJP Chicago!” The event was hosted on September 14, 2019.

On April 30, 2019, Khatib 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 February 5, 2018, Khatib featured in an SJP UIUC Facebook photo with other SJP UIUC leaders Ghanimah and Sofia Sinnokrot.

Attending the 2019 National SJP Conference

On November 3, 2019, Khatib featured in an SJP Chicago Instagram photo that was captioned: “Some of our beautiful SJP Chicago members repping their universities at the National Students for Justice in Palestine Conference! Shoutout to the wonderful NSJP team for hosting another great conference

#PalestineinChi Palestine #SJPChicago.”

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.

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 this 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 SJP reportedly 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 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 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.

AMP

American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) was founded by UC Berkeley Professor Hatem Bazian as a vehicle to generate mainstream support in the United States for the Palestinian national cause.

On its website, the organization lists Bazian as the chairman of its national board and describes itself as “a national education and grassroots-based organization, dedicated to educating the American public about Palestine and its rich cultural, historical and religious heritage.”

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has accused AMP of promoting “extreme anti-Israel views and has at times provided a platform for anti-Semitism under the guise of educating Americans” about Palestinians. The ADL further stated that AMP is directly involved in campus-based anti-Israel activity through Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).

Prior to founding the AMP in 2006, Dr. Bazian created SJP together with fellow UC Berkeley Professor Snehal Shingavi in 2001. The close working relationship between AMP and SJP has been documented several times over the years by several organizations, including NGO Monitor and StandWithUs.

In addition to providing financial, public relations and legal assistance to SJP, AMP has also been accused of having connections to Hamas. The AMP national board includes former members of both the Islamic Association of Palestine (IAP) and Holy Land Foundation (HLF), both of which were found liable for aiding and abetting Hamas. The IAP was founded by Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, a senior member of Hamas.