Alawi Masud

Overview

Alawi Masud has mocked the Holocaust and expressed support for a terrorist. Masud promoted the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement at the University of Maryland (UMD), in 2017 and 2019.

Masud has also supported an anti-Israel agitator, demonized Israel with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and spread hatred of Israel on social media.

In 2017, Masud was the public relations chair of the Muslim Association for Social Change (MASC)at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD MASC).

UMD MASC supported a 2019 divestment bill at UMD as part of the Divest UMD campaign, which called on UMD to divest from companies that do business with Israel.

As of August 2019, Masud was an administrator for UMD MASC’s Facebook page.

As of August 2019, Masud’s LinkedIn page said he was studying “Government & Politics” at UMD from “2017 - 2020.”

Masud’s LinkedIn page also said he was a “Program Director; Advocacy and Public Policy Leadership” at the Islamic Leadership Institute of America (ILIA), since July 2019, and that he was a representative of “Off Campus Outlying Legislature, Student Government” and the “President” of the Prison Resistance Project (PRP) at UMD, since August 2018.

Masud’s LinkedIn page also said that he was the “Founder, President” of the Muslim Student Association (MSA) in 2016 at Howard Community College (HCC) where he studied from “2016 - 2017.”

Mocking the Holocaust

On December 18, 2016, while joking about his friend’s resemblance to Adolf Hitler, Masud tweeted: “hitler was a baddy [a bad man] wym [what do you mean?] the only thing hotter than him were his camps.”

Supporting a Terrorist

As of May 23, 2017, Masud posted “#freebarghouti” on his Twitter profile. The hashtag referred to Marwan Barghouti, who is currently serving five consecutive life sentences for his role in suicide bombings and shooting attacks that killed five Israelis during the second intifada.

Barghouti led the the Palestinian Authority (PA) terrorist Tanzim force and founded the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. He also financed the guitar-case bomb used in the Sbarro Cafe massacre, where 15 civilians were killed and 130 injured.

Promoting BDS

On April 24, 2019, Masud featured [00:01:56] in a video posted on Facebook by Divest UMD, speaking before the UMD Student Government Association (SGA), urging the SGA to pass a BDS bill.

In the video, Masud said [00:01:56]: “By denying this bill due to the false flag of anti-Semitism we are denying free speech.”

The clip was taken from a video shared on Facebook by the UMD SGA on November 17, 2017, where Masud was featured [01:57:17] speaking in support of a divestment bill at an SGA meeting.

On November 20, 2017, UMD’s online student magazine Unwind reported that the UMD SGA Student Affairs Committee voted against a BDS bill in a 1-21 vote.

On April 25, 2019, Masud was featured [03:24:09] in a video posted on Facebook by the UMD SGA, urging the SGA to pass a BDS bill.

On April 25, 2019, Divest UMD announced on Facebook that following a UMD student government vote, the BDS bill failed to pass with “a vote of 9 for, 25 against, and 2 abstentions.”

Supporting an Anti-Israel Agitator

On March 7, 2019, SJP UMD shared a group photo on Instagram of Masud with SJP activists and Eran Efrati, holding a Palestinian flag.

SJP UMD commented: “It was eye-opening and intriguing to hear from Eran Efrati about the deadly exchange between US Police forces and the Israeli Defense Forces! #freepalestine.”

Eran Efrati is an executive board member of Researching the Israeli American Alliance (RIAA) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP).

RAIA, in partnership with JVP, produced the Deadly Exchange report, which claimed to reveal “the extent of massive training programs between U.S. law enforcement and Israeli police, military, and the Shin Bet.”

In 2017, JVP launched the “Deadly Exchange (DX)” campaign, which accused American Jewish organizations of promoting human rights abuses. JVP also released a video that blamed [00:04:04] U.S.-based Jewish organizations for violence that occurs against Black and Brown communities, immigrants and activists in the U.S.

Demonizing Israel on Campus

On May 14, 2019, SJP UMD shared a group photo on Instagram that featured Masud alongside SJP UMD activists calling to boycott Israel Fest. The caption on the photo read: “Last week, we boycotted Israel Fest and held a teach-in about Palestinian human rights! #boycottisraelfest #freepalestine.”

“Israel Fest” at UMD is an annual campus event designed “to celebrate and educate students on Israeli culture,” hosted by the Jewish Student Union.

On May 11, 2019, SJP UMD reportedly held a teach-in to “boycott the annual celebration of Israel Fest.” SJP UMD’s teach-in involved activists gathering by a mock “Israeli Apartheid Wall” and chanting: “Displacing lives since ‘48, nothing here to celebrate!”

Spreading Hatred Israel

On December 19, 2016, Masud retweeted a tweet that read: “Israel deliberately targets Palestinians eyes when shooting their 'sponge bullets', blindingthem for life.”

On January 18, 2016, responding to a tweet that read: “During the 900s BCE, the southern part of the western arm of mesopotamia was known as Judea while the north was known as Israel,” Masud tweeted: “Basing a claim on ancient kingdoms and using them to subjugate an entire populace is not only stupid; it is outdated.”

Later on in the thread, Masud tweeted: “And I fail to understand why zionists such as you support the full subjugation of a people just so a political agenda can be received.”

On September 30, 2016, Masud retweeted a tweet which said: “The history of Palestine/Israel is complicated, but occupation and apartheid are not complex subjects to understand.”

The tweet originated with SJP activist Samer Alhato who, on June 27, 2016, tweeted an animation of someone slamming a woman forcefully into a wall, with the comment: “Me having a professional discussion with Zionists about Israel-Palestine.”

SJP UMD - Supporting Terrorists

On April 8, 2018, SJP UMD shared a photo on Instagram of Ghassan Kanafani and wrote: “Today is the birthday of legendary Palestinian author and PFLP member Ghassan Kanafani (1936-72).”

Kanafani was a leading member and spokesperson for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) during the terrorist organization’s early years. Kanafani announced the PFLP’s responsibility for the Lod Airport Massacre of May 1972 and was linked to the airport attackers. The attack killed 26 people and wounded 80 others.

On March 9, 2018, SJP UMD shared a poster on Instagram produced by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and wrote: “Poster of the First Martyr of the Intifada #sjp #intifada.”

The caption on the poster read: “Hatem Al Sesi First Martyr of the Intifada for Freedom and Independence.”

Hatem al-Sisi was killed after he reportedly attemptedto drop a homemade bomb on an Israeli military vehicle during the first intifada.

On the same day, SJP UMD shared another PFLP poster on Instagram and wrote: “Today is Martyr’s day A day to remember all who sacrificed themselves for their people and for human rights #sjp.”

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.

MSA

The MSA was established by members of the Muslim Brotherhood in January 1963 at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, with the goal of "spreading Islam as students in North America." A 2004 FBI investigation uncovered an internal Muslim Brotherhood document in which a brotherhood leader identified the MSA as "one of our organizations."

The MSA reportedly has “nearly 600 chapters” located in the United States and Canada, and is “the most visible and influential Islamic student organization in North America,” boasting conferences, special events, publications, websites and other activities.

The organization includes a number of previous chapter presidents with explicit links to terrorist groups. Included are al-Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki (Colorado State University), Somali al-Shabaab militant leader Omar Shafik Hammami (University of South Alabama) and Pakistani Taliban recruiter Ramy Zamzam of the MSA's Washington, D.C. council.