Albert Kishek

Overview

Albert Kishek has expressed support for the “intifada,” glorified Hezbollah and demonized Israel.

He was the 2017 secretary and treasurer of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Florida State University (FSU) and FSU SJP co-president in November 2015.

Kishek is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and attended the 2017 National SJP Conference (NSJP 2017), as well as NSJP 2016.

NSJP 2017 was held October 27-29, 2017 at the University of Houston (UH). The conference was themed “A Reimagined World: Dismantling Walls from Palestine to the Rio Grande.” Per the 2017 National SJP Conference website, the conference aimed to strengthen “collaborative efforts within all regions to pass BDS” and envision “pathways to achieving sanctions in the future.”

Kishek was affiliated with the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) in 2015.

As of October 24, 2017, Kishek’s LinkedIn page said he was studying Biophysics at FSU, attending from 2013-2017.

As of February 2, 2018, Kishek’s Facebook listed him as working at United Parcel Service (UPS) in Jacksonville, Florida, since December 2017.

Following NSJP 2017, Kishek changed his Facebook name to “Albere George.”

Supporting the “Intifada”

On May 1, 2017, Kishek tweeted: “Long live the proletariat! Long live the fellahin resistance against zionism! Long live the intifada! #MayDay2017 #FreePalestine.”

On October 2, 2017, Kishek tweeted: “intifada emerging.”

Since the early 2000’s the term “Intifada” has carried the connotation of violence.
Glorifying Terrorists

On November 7, 2017, Kishek tweeted support for the terror group Hezbollah, stating: “long live lebanon. long live hzballah. down with saudi. down with zion. down with american imperialism.”

On July 13, 2017, Kishek shared a Facebook post supportive of Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) leader Khalida Jarrar after her arrest for “involvement with terrorist activities and violent public disturbances.”

Khalida Jarrar is a leader of the PFLP, a designated terrorist organization by the United States, European Union, Canada and Israel.

Jarrar was also arrested in April 2015 on charges including PFLP membership, inciting violence and calling for terrorists to abduct Israeli soldiers.

On June 11, 2017, Kishek glorified a series of terrorists, tweeting: “Long live Jabhat al-Sha3biya [Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine].. Kanafani.. Khaled.. Habash.. Sadat.. Haddad.. Kayed.. Forever.”

George Habash was the founder of the terrorist group the PFLP and Ghassan Kanafani was a PFLP leader during its early years.

PFLP Secretary General Ahmad Sadat was convicted for his role in the assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze’evi.

Wadie Haddad, a leader of PFLP’s military wing, coordinated the 1972 Lod Airport massacre and multiple hijackings of civilian aircraft. PFLP terrorist Leila Khaled participated in the hijacking of TWA Flight 840 in 1969 and El Al Flight 219 in 1970.

Terrorist Bilal Kayed was also a PFLP operative, who committed attacks against civilians during the second intifada.

On May 1, 2017, Kishek shared an FSU SJP post that featured a 1987 PFLP poster. FSU SJP praised the 1936-39 Arab Revolt and painted BDS as the revolt’s heir. The post also accused Israel of having a “racist apartheid system” and of “settler-colonialism and imperialism.”

On April 24, 2017, Kishek shared a Facebook post in support of the above-mentioned hunger strike, featuring a video of dancers at a PFLP rally.

On August 10, 2016, Kishek posed with FSU SJP membersin a photo posted on Instagram. Kishek was wearing a shirt featuring Leila Khaled holding a an AK-47 and the quote “Resistance is not terrorism.”

Celebrating the “Hunger Strike”

On May 27, 2017, Kishek tweeted: “The greatest birthday present Ive received by far is the #DignityStrike successfully striking Zionism where it hurts.”

On the same day, Kishek tweeted: “Victory to the #DignityStrike! Long Live Palestine.:

The phrase “Dignity Strike” referred to a hunger strike initiated on April 16, 2017, by Marwan al-Barghouti — who financed the guitar-case bomb used in the Sbarro Cafe bombing.

Barghouti also headed the Palestinian Authority (PA) terrorist Tanzim force and founded the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. Barghouti’s organizations carried out a large number of deadly attacks, killing scores of Israelis and wounding hundreds.

Barghouti was sentenced to five consecutive life terms by an Israeli civilian court for some of his his crimes. While in Israeli prison, Barghouti completed his doctorate in Political Science.

More than 1,000 other Palestinian prisoners participated in the hunger strike — most of whom were also convicted for acts of terrorism.

On May 23, 2017, Kishek posted to Facebook a photo of himself with the caption “I support the #DignityStrike.” Kishek added “Long Live our Freedom Fighters. #DignityStrike Until Victory! #DignityStrike36.”

On April 29, 2017, Kishek shared a FSU SJP Facebook post in support of Palestinian terrorists in Israeli jail on hunger strike, which Kishek headlined: “Solidarity with our heroes and martyrs.” The SJP post claimed: “ Every prisoner is political and every Palestinian on their land is a prisoner.”

On April 17, 2017, Kishek shared on Facebook a post announcing the hunger strike.
Honoring Rasmea Odeh

On August 13, 2017, Kishek tweeted a quote from Rasmea Odeh that read: “They can't prevent us or intimidate us from doing work for Palestine,” adding: “Thank you my Hero.”

Odeh was a key military operative with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization. In 1969, she masterminded a PFLP supermarket bombing that killed two college students. She also attempted to bomb the British consulate in Jerusalem. Odeh later moved to the United States but was deported to Jordan in 2017 for immigration fraud.

On August 2, 2017, Kishek tweeted: “#HonorRasmea & all Freedom Fighters for their endless sacrifices against oppression within the US and across borders.”

On March 23, 2017, Kishek posted an update of Odeh’s United States legal proceedings to Facebook, adding: “This system can't handle someone as inspirational as her.”

Demonizing Israel

On January 16, 2018, Kishek tweeted: “The zionists, they didn’t come out of the holy land. They came out from the caves of Europe.”

On June 28, 2017, Kishek tweeted a video of himself demonizing Israel on campus, introducing [00:00:24] FSU SJP as “anti-Imperialist and Anti-Zionist.”

Kishek, elaborated [00:02:05] that FSU SJP opposed the “perversion of the the land of Palestine that is happening right now... coupled with ethnic cleansing.” Kishek also claimed that [00:01:32] what is happening in Palestine “right now” is “mass genocide and ethnic cleansing.”

Kishek then declared FSU SJP’s intention to pass BDS at FSU, saying [00:05:52]: “This semester we intend on getting this University to divest completely from apartheid Israel.

Kishek also whitewashed Hamas actions, claiming: [00:07:20] “Hamas is a result of 69 years of confining Palestinians and isolating them, the point where they’re trying to push them into the sea — literally."

He then condemned [00:07:35] the United Nations-approved weapons blockade against Gaza and claimed[00:07:40] “people are, literally put on a calorie count, by the IDF [Israel Defense Forces]."

He concluded [00:09:10] that Hamas is the result of people having "nothing to fear but God" resorting "to their faith to resist the U.S.-Israel Empire that is trying to continue to exploit them by the day and to erase Palestine off the map.”

On June 3, 2017, Kishek demonized Israeli superstar Gal Gadot’s service in the Israel Defence Forces, where she taught gymnastics and calisthenics as a combat instructor, claiming: “She was not a damn gym instructor at your local YMCA. She was training soldiers to mutilate Palestinian children, women, and men.”

On March 31, 2017, Kishek demonized [00:23:46] Israel during an interview he gave with fellow FSU SJP board members on the "411 Teen" talk radio at WFSU.

Kishek rationalized [00:37:40] suicide bombing and condemned [00:37:14] Israel’s imprisonment of the “Popular Fronts that were organizing” following the second intifada.

He also criticized [00:37:20] the imprisonment of Marwan Barghouti, whom he referred to [00:37:28] as “a crucial asset to a lot of the organizing that was being done.”

Kishek also claimed [00:23:46] that the “Imperialist” powers of U.S. and Britain were "beholden" to “the settler colonization of Palestine by a movement called Zionism.”

He added that Israel is [00:25:06] getting away with “crimes of apartheid, crimes of war and genocide.”

In October 2015, Kishek attended the annual convention of the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) (formerly the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation (ETO) held in Atlanta, Georgia.

The U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation (ETO), now called the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR), is a coalition of American-based anti-Israel organizations. ETO’s activities include lobbying Congress to end aid to Israel, promoting BDS, organizing Israeli Apartheid Week on college campuses and initiating publicity-generating campaigns to demonize Israel.

Supporting BDS

On February 4, 2016, Kishek disrupted the Florida House State Affairs Committee alongside other members of SJP and SDS. Draken was protesting Florida House Bill 527, which proposed to limit state government investment in companies that boycott Israel.

Demonstrators disrupted the vote, chanting, “Not another nickel, not another dime, no more money for Israel’s crimes!” and attempted to raise a banner saying “Stop funding Israeli apartheid.”

The protesters were finally removed from the committee room by security guards.

On June 3, 2017, Kishek tweeted: “There has been a boycott against Israel for awhile now.

BDS is not just political, or economic, it is also cultural and academic. #GalGadot.”

On March 8, 2016, Kishek called to boycott DJ Khaled for supporting Sabra Hummus, tweeting: “.@djkhaled where is your response for the major diss @PeaceHouseUS served you? #boycottsabra.”

FSU SJP Incitement to Terror

On October 27, 2015, FSU SJP shared to Facebook a “PALESTINIAN YOUTH INTERNATIONAL CALL TO SUPPORT THE INTIFADA.”

The declaration called for an “international mobilization” of Palestinian youth in exile and their allies to “support the resistance,” and glorified the Knife Intifada terrorists as “heroic.”

October 2015 saw an upsurge in violence across Israel incited by Palestinian political and religious leaders. The wave of stabbings — known as the “Knife Intifada” — saw young Palestinians throughout the country stabbing and attempting to stab Israeli civilians.

The attacks were sparked and fueled by Palestinian leaders propagating the libel that Israel intended to desecrate the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

FSU SJP Defending the Knife Intifada

On October 5, 2015 — at the beginning of the Knife Intifada — FSU SJP shared an article to Facebook claiming a “Palestinian teen” was “executed” as a “death-chanting” mob rejoiced. The teen was Fadi Aloon.

Fadi Aloon was shot by Israeli security forces after he stabbed a 15-year-old Israeli boy. Several hours before the attack, Aloon posted “Either martyrdom or victory” on his Facebook page.

On November 5, 2015 — following the first month of the Knife Intifada — FSU SJP posted to Facebook: “October. Was. Scary. For. Palestinians. How are things looking for November? How about 2016? ... Something's gotta give!! #BDS.”

On November 7, 2015, FSU SJP shared a photo to Facebook of Dania Irsheid after she was shot, commenting: “Lost for words…”

Dania Irsheid was shot by an Israeli police officer after she attempted to stab him.

On November 24, 2015, FSU SJP shared a video misrepresenting terrorists Hadeel and Nurhan Awad, as having been “executed” by Israel. The video was titled “execution of civilians - what Israeli settlers do best.”|

Hadeel Awad and her cousin Nurhan Awad were shot after they stabbed two people — including a 70-year-old Palestinian resident of Bethlehem — near Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda market. Hadeel was shot by police as she was slashing at other Israeli civilians with scissors.

On November 22, 2015, during Israel’s “Knife Intifada,” Ashraqat Taha Qatanani was run over and shot during her attempt to stab ‎an Israeli woman. According to the Donia Al-Watan Palestinian newspaper, Qatanani died as “a Martyr as ‎she wished.”

On November 26, 2015, FSU SJP posted to Facebook: “Brutal military occupation uses violence to quell peaceful resistance. And we wonder why resitance [sic] turns to armed struggle? To knives?"

On April 25, 2016, FSU SJP shared to Facebook a post defending Dima Al-Wawi, adding “Her face says it all.”

On April 24, 2016, FSU SJP shared to Facebook a post in defence of Al-Wawi, presenting her arrest as “discrimination against Palestinians.”

On April 13, 2016, FSU SJP defended Al-Wawi on Facebook, claiming: “This is how the Israeli government and illegal settler forces demonize Palestinians and their children.”

12-year-old Al-Wawi was imprisoned for attempting to stab a security guard at the Israeli community Karmei Tzur. Al-Wawi later claimed she intended to kill the guard and hoped she would be killed in the process. “I was dreaming that I was going to be martyred,” she said.

On February 15, 2016, FSU SJP posted to Facebook a video of Yasmeen Rashad al Zaro after she was shot, adding: “Who's the terrorist now?”

Jasmine Rashad al-Zaru [Yasmeen Rashad al Zaro] attempted to stab an Israeli Border Policeman before she was shot.

FSU SJP Honoring Terrorist Rasmea Odeh

On April 13, 2017, FSU SJP posted to Facebook several photos of convicted terrorist Rasmea Odeh after a court ordered her deportation from the United States. FSU SJP referred to Odeh as a “Palestinian freedom fighter” and added the hashtag #HonorRasmea.

On February 13, 2015, FSU SJP hosted an event honoring Odeh. In the event description, FSU SJP called Odeh “the Rosa Parks of the liberation of Palestine.”

Odeh was a key military operative [00:02:08]with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization. In 1969, she masterminded a PFLP supermarket bombing that killed two college students. She also attempted to bomb the British consulate in Jerusalem. Odeh later moved to the United States but was deported to Jordan in 2017 for immigration fraud.

FSU SJP Defending Terrorists

On December 12, 2015, FSU SJP commemorated the founding of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization, tweeting: “PFLP marks 48th establishment anniversary in Gaza.”

On December 13, 2015, FSU SJP shared to Facebook an article reporting the PFLP’s celebration in Gaza. the article added that during the festivities, the PFLP “re-asserted its commitment to the new Palestinian Intifada.”

On March 9, 2017, FSU SJP posted a photo of Leila Khaled to Facebook in honor of International Women’s Day.

Leila Khaled is a leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and participated in the hijacking of TWA Flight 840 in 1969 and El Al Flight 219 in 1970. As of 2017, Khaled was a member of PFLP's Political Bureau. Khaled has said that the second intifada failed because it was not violent enough, advocated [00:36:07] for the use of children in terror activities and compared Zionists to Nazis.

On March 14, 2017, FSU SJP posted an illustration of Basel Al Araj to Facebook with the caption “Long Live Basil Al-Araj! Long Live the Resistance! Until Victory.”

Basel Al Araj was killed in a shoot-out with Israeli troops during an arrest raid. He had been suspected of belonging to a terror cell planning to carry out attacks on Israeli targets. Two M-16 assault rifles and an improvised Carlo-style submachine gun were found inside his home.

On April 29, 2017, FSU SJP promoted on Facebook a hunger strike by Palestinian convicts. FSU SJP posted a photo of Marwan Barghouti with the comment: “Every prisoner is political” and referred to another “1500 fellow imprisoned freedom fighters.”

Terrorist Marwan Barghouti was sentenced to five consecutive life terms for some of his crimes, including his role in the Sbarro Cafe bombing. In 2017, he initiated the hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners known as the “Dignity Strike.” He headed the Palestinian Authority (PA) terrorist Tanzim force and founded the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which carried out many terror attacks against Israeli civilians.

On May 27, 2017, FSU SJP celebrated the end of the hunger strike on Facebook, commenting: “Victory to the #DignityStrike!”

FSU SJP Defending the 2017 Shooting Attack at al-Aqsa Mosque

On July 21 2017, FSU SJP claimed on Facebook that the al-Aqsa Mosque was “taken hostage by Israel” and that Israel was “murdering innocent devotees who dared question the seizure.”

FSU SJP also wrote “Palestinians and their supporters everywhere are expressing justified rage” and added “Muslims worldwide are being asked to stand together in a day of anger for al-Aqsa.”

On July 14, 2017, Arab terrorists murdered two Israeli police officers outside the entrance to the Al Aqsa mosque on Temple mount in Jerusalem. The perpetrators were Israeli Arab citizens from Umm el-Fahm, who reportedly feared that “Al Aqsa in danger” — the slogan of the banned northern branch of the Islamic Movement that ran the UMM el-Fahm municipality.

The allegation that Jews “threaten” to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque has been a traditional pretext for Arab attacks on Jews long before the existence of the modern Jewish state.

Israel responded by placing metal detectors and security checks before allowing worshippers to the holy site, similar to other holy sites in Jerusalem.

Palestinian factions reacted by spreading incitement that resulted in further violence. Fatah threatened “Rage for the Al-Aqsa Mosque!” On July 21, 2017, Omar al-Abed, 19, broke into a Jewish family's home in Halamish and stabbed three family members to death while they were having a Sabbath meal. Before embarking, al-Abed wrote on Facebook: “Take up your weapon and resist, declare war for Allah...I have only a knife, and it will respond to Al-Aqsa's cry...The sons of monkeys and pigs do not open the gates of Al-Aqsa. I hope that men will come after me to strike me with an iron hand...We are all one, we have one blood, one enemy and one Al-Aqsa.”

The Israeli government removed the detectors on July 25, 2017.

Terrorists murdered two Israeli police officers on July 14, 2017, outside the entrance to the Al Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Israel responded by installing metal detectors and security checks at the entrance to the holy site.

The terrorists reportedly feared that “Al Aqsa is in danger,” which has long been a pretext for Arab attacks on Jews long before the State of Israel’s existence. Following rioting and further violence, the Israeli government removed the metal detectors on July 25, 2017.

FSU SJP Hosting Hate Speech

In November 2017, FSU’s Student General Assembly (SGA) considered suspending funding for an FSU SJP panel event featuring Nerdeen Kiswani, Noura Farouq and Dan Cione of New York City (NYC) SJP.

On November 9, 2017, FSU SJP members sat in at an FSU SGA meeting to protest the proposed defunding.

During the hearing, which FSU SJP posted on its Facebook page, the group’s secretary and treasurer Albert Kishek acknowledged FSU SJP was accused [00:42:45] of hate speech and anti-Semitism.

But Kishek claimed [00:46:00] that Kiswani and Farouk were “feminist organizers” of Palestinian background “who are playing a useful part to the building of the anti-war movement.”

FSU SJP’s post stated the group would “not tolerate infringement upon rights to school funding for our events and ended with the hashtags #RightToResist and #AIPACOutOfFSU.”

SGA voted 24-10 with 4 abstentions to provide funding to FSU SJP for the panel.

On November 16, 2017, during the panel, Kiswani accused Israel of committing [00:08:29] “mass rapes” and claimed that [00:9:08] “to this day there is daily assault and sexual harassment of Palestinian women by Zionists.”

Kiswani’s also stated that [01:45:52] “...we see in Israel, when Ethiopian Jews are trying to integrate themselves into the white settler colonial project of Israel, they put on the uniform and kill Palestinians and then their babies still get stabbed by Israelis and they still don’t see a day of justice in the court.”

Cione noted [00:26:14] that, after the Oslo accords, the U.S. gave the Palestinian Authority “over 32 billion dollars… for state building institutions.” Cione then condemned [00:25:36] the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for not funding radicals.

Cione said that [00:24:42] “when they were dumping all this money into Palestine” USAID included a “terror clause, which said that none of this money can go to “anyone that… is a terrorist organization as defined by Israel or who does not recognize the right of Israel to exist.”

At the end of the panel, the attendees and panelists chanted [01:48:48] “There is only one solution, Intifada revolution!”

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.