Ahmad Albanna
Overview
Ahmad Albanna co-sponsored a Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement initiative as an activist with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at the University of Illinois, Chicago (UIC) in 2016. Albanna was also an activist with SJP in 2013.As of February 2021, Albanna’s LinkedIn said he was the “Interpersonal Relations Asst. Director” with the UIC Undergraduate Student Government (USG) from January 2014 - 2017, and that he was a General Assembly Member of the USG in 2016.
Albanna’s LinkedIn stated that he was the “Co-Founder, Program Coordinator” of the Arab American Cultural Center (AACC) at UIC from January 2015 - May 2017.
Albanna also indicated on his LinkedIn that he volunteered at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) - Chicago from February 2015 until May 2017.
On his online resume, Albanna listed the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF) under “Volunteer Experience.”
Albanna’s LinkedIn said that he graduated UIC in 2020, with a master’s degree in Public Administration and that he received a bachelor’s degree in “English Language and Literature/ Pre-Law” in 2017 from UIC.
Pushing BDS
In January 2016, SJP UIC launched UIC Divest, a campaign calling for UIC “to divest from companies that support the illegal occupation of Palestine such as G4S, Caterpillar, Hewlett Packard and Boeing.
In February 2016, SJP UIC united with 23 other student groups to co-sponsor a BDS resolution that proposed “divestment from companies profiting from human rights abuses and violations of international law in Palestine.”
On February 10, 2016, Albanna posted about UIC Divest to the SJP chapter at Loyola University Chicago’s Facebook page. Albania titled his post: “UIC Undergraduate Student Government to Vote on Divestment Resolution.”
Albanna’s post stated: “Undergraduate Student Government proposed divestment from companies profiting from human rights abuses and violations of international law in Palestine.” Albanna later uploaded this post to his WordPress blog.
The resolution’s wording was later modified due to efforts to blunt its original anti-Israel focus and called on UIC to divest from “companies actively engaged in human rights violations in Palestine, Syria, China, United States, US-Mexican border, and Chicago.”
On February 15, 2016, the modified resolution passed unanimously.
Later that day, SJP UIC’s press release stated: “While tonight’s divestment vote is an important step in the divestment movement, we recognize that this is just the beginning. We are committed to working towards urging the university to divest wholly from the Israeli occupation....”
In April 2016, SJP UIC celebrated on Facebook the resolution’s passing and suggested it called on “the university to remove all their investments in companies complicit in human rights violations of the Palestinian people and the occupation and colonization of Palestine!”
On April 26, 2016, Albanna published a blog on his website, titled: “The Palestinian people called for a Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions ‘BDS.’”
In his blog post, Albanna said that BDS calls “to divest from companies that benefit from the oppression of the Israeli government against the Palestinian people” and added, “These companies have been globally recognized as companies involved in human rights abuses and violation of international laws.”
Albanna also wrote: “At the University of Illinois at Chicago, the Undergraduate Student Government partnered with over twenty-four student organizations to write a resolution that would call for the university to divest from these companies complicit in human rights violations in Israel.”
Albanna added: “The resolution passed unanimously among over a hundred concerned students on February 18. This was the first of all divest resolutions to pass unanimously at any university.” Albanna concluded: “The BDS movement has shown great results since its conception in 2005.”
SJP Activism
Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) is presented as “an international series of events that seek to raise awareness of…Israel’s settler-colonial project and apartheid system over the Palestinian people” and build support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
On August 21, 2014, during Israel’s Operation Protective Edge (OPE), Albanna indicated on WhereEvent that he attended an SJP Chicago “Mass die-in for Gaza.”
Israel commenced OPE in July 2014 to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.
The SJP event description stated: “Students for Justice in Palestine-Chicago is planning a massive die-in in front of the Rockit Bar & Grill (22 W Hubbard, Chicago) on August 21 at 6 pm. At the same time as our die-in, the Friends of the IDF will be hosting a fundraiser for the IDF inside of the restaurant.”
The event description also stated: “The purpose of a die-in is to simulate being dead, in this case to represent the hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza who were murdered by the latest Israeli assault. Fundraising for occupation and apartheid will not be tolerated on our watch, so it is crucial we mobilize. Invite as many of your friends as possible!”
SJP Chicago describes itself as “a network forged by student activists organizing for Palestine on university campuses throughout Chicago.”
On September 13, 2016, the Palestine Children Relief Fund (PCRF)-Chicago posted a photo of Albanna in their album “TP [Team Palestine] for PCRF's 2nd Annual Run For Peace,” posing with PCRF-Chicago President Khaled Abughzaleh and others. PCRF Chicago added: “Dr. Abughazaleh with some very enthusiastic SJP students.”
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.
