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Aimee Johnston
Aimee Johnston has expressed support for Hamas terrorism as an officer of an anti-Israel campus group. She also participated in a pro-Hamas encampment in April 2024. The encampment was in support of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Johnston’s activism took place during Israel’s war against Hamas terrorists. Israel launched the war, called called “Swords of Iron,” after a series of Hamas terror attacks and war crimes against Israeli civilians, including mass murder, torture, rape, beheadings and kidnappings.
The atrocities were executed on October 7, 2023, and left approximately 1,200 Israelis dead, hundreds kidnapped and thousands wounded.
As of March 2025, Aimee Johnston was listed as the "Primary Contact" for the anti-Israel campus group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter at Claremont College (Claremont SJP) since at least 2024.
As of the same date, Johnston's LinkedIn profile said she was studying for a bachelor's degree in neuroscience at Pitzer College (Pitzer), slated to graduate in 2025.
Pitzer is part of the Claremont Colleges (Claremont), a consortium of five undergraduate colleges and two graduate colleges sharing a campus in Claremont, California. Claremont is also known as “5Cs” or “7Cs.”
Also as of March 2025, Johnston's LinkedIn said she worked as an intern at The Neurorights Foundation in Claremont, California.
On October 7, 2024, during Israel's war against Hamas terrorists, Claremont SJP posted on Instagram an anti-Israel statement titled: "ONE YEAR OF GENOCIDE ONE YEAR OF RESISTANCE."
On October 7, 2023, Hamas murdered approximately 1,200 Israelis, kidnapped hundreds and wounded thousands. War crimes included mass rape and torture. Many Palestinian civilians participated in and supported the attacks, and Gazans working in the targeted Israeli communities gave intelligence to Hamas on where to strike.
For more information, see the Canary Mission page on Hamas.
Anti-Israel activists use the term “resistance” to refer to violence and terror perpetrated against Israeli civilians and their allies. It is used to glorify and encourage anti-Israel and anti-Semitic violence. Anti-Israel activists chant slogans such as: “Resistance by any means necessary!” and “Resistance is justified when people are occupied!” in response to terror attacks.
The statement said [slide 3]: "The past year since Al-Aqsa flood has also been one of resistance, rooted in a strong tradition of Palestinian steadfastness."
The language of “flood” is a reference to Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, the name Hamas used for their terror operation on October 7, 2023. It is a reference to the allegation that Jews “threaten” to destroy Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque. This accusation has been a pretext for Arab attacks on Jews long before Israel was founded in 1948. Such propaganda has led to multiple periods of violence against Israeli civilians.
The statement also said [slide 3]: "Today and every day until the zionist regime [Israel] falls, we grieve the...martyrs..."
As of March 2025, Claremont SJP's Instagram bio said: "Fighting for Palestinian liberation, from the river to the sea."
“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free” is a chant used [00:02:47] to call for the elimination of 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. In April 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning the chant as antisemitic.
On April 29, 2024, Johnston posted on X: "scheduled lesbian discourse at the encampment."
A pro-Hamas encampment was reportedly started by Claremont SJP and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) chapter at Claremont Colleges (Claremont JVP) at Pitzer on April 26, 2024.
The encampment was one of about 140 anti-Israel college encampments set up in North America, and over 20 globally, in the spring of 2024. The first began on April 17, 2024, at Columbia University. Protesters harassed Jewish students, blocked Jews from campus facilities and used anti-Semitic language in their activism. They also promoted BDS and protested Israel’s war against Hamas, launched after Hamas murdered approximately 1,200 Israelis on October 7, 2023.
SJP is the leading 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, who has spread anti-Semitism and defended the Hamas terror group.
SJP organizes anti-Israel campus campaigns, including running annual Israel Apartheid Weeks and pushing the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. SJP activists have reportedly physically assaulted, intimidated and harassed Jewish students, and SJP chapters have often endorsed and campaigned for terrorists.
The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement was founded by pro-terror activist Omar Barghouti in 2005 to turn “Israel into a pariah state, as South Africa once was.” Barghouti has also called for Israel's destruction and the BDS movement demands would result in that same goal.
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 infiltrating university campuses through lobbying for “BDS resolutions.” In these cases, student governments propose resolutions to boycott or divestment from Israel or Israeli-affiliated entities. 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 and pro-terror activism on campus.
