Alex Thornhill
Overview
Alex Thornhill has shown support for terrorists and promoted an anti-Israel agitator as an affiliate of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Kent State University (KSU).He has also demonized Israel and promoted the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement on Twitter.
As of March 2018, Thornhill’s Facebook page “Intro” said he was an “Integrated Social Studies Major” and slated to graduate from KSU in 2019.
Thornill’s Facebook page also said that he was a Undergraduate Student Government (USG) candidate for the Director of Student Involvement. According to a March 9, 2018 Facebook post, Thornhill was endorsed by SJP KSU.
Supporting Terrorists
Thornhill retweeted a February 10, 2018 tweet that honored a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist. The tweet said: “This is Shadia Abu Ghazaleh, a PFLP fighter that died defending Nablus from the Israelis. She was the first female martyr of the PFLP.”The photos in the tweet showed protesters supporting multiple terrorists, including PFLP Secretary General Ahmed Sa’adat and senior PFLP member Khalida Jarrar. One protester held a sign with a Nazi swastika inside the Star of David on the Israeli flag.
Khalida Jarrar is a senior member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror organization. She has reportedly been the head of the PFLP in the West Bank since 2016. In 2015, an Israeli military court sentenced Jarrar to 15 months in prison for calling to kidnap Israeli soldiers. Israel arrested Jarrar again in 2017 “on suspicion of involvement with terrorist activities and violent public disturbances.” In 2019, she was arrested by Israel with 50 other PFLP operatives following a deadly 2018 bombing attack.
Thornhill retweeted a January 31, 2018 tweet from SJP KSU that said “#FreeAhed,” supporting anti-Israel agitator Ahed Tamimi. He has also retweeted multiple other tweets in support of Tamimi.
Promoting SJP
The same day, Thornhill reposted an SJP KSU Facebook post promoting an event from the group’s “Israeli Apartheid Week.”
On March 5, 2018, Thornhill tweeted in support of SJP KSU and its “#ksuaparthidwall,” a mock version of Israel’s security barrier. Thornhill’s tweet included a photo of the wall, which featured debunked anti-Israel propaganda maps and support for Ahed Tamimi and BDS.
Thornhill retweeted a tweet the same day from an SJP KSU activist promoting the “mock Israeli apartheid wall.”
Demonizing Israel
Thornhill retweeted a December 6, 2017 tweet that said: “F**k Trump and F**k Israel.” The tweet protested U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and to relocate the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.Promoting BDS
Thornhill retweeted a February 20, 2018 tweet that featured a video celebrating the first intifada and promoting [00:01:25] BDS.Thornhill retweeted a February 17, 2018 tweet that said: “Full house for the #BDS workshop at #YDSACon18.”
Thornhill retweeted a February 7, 2018 tweet that accused Israel of practicing “APARTHEID” and promoted BDS.
Thornhill retweeted a January 21, 2018 tweet that listed “Drugstore Cosmetics” that were reportedly compliant with BDS and others reportedly not compliant.
SJP KSU - Supporting Terrorists
The “Saltwater Challenge” was held in solidarity with over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners hunger-striking in Israeli prisons — most of whom were convicted for acts of terrorism.
The strike was initiated by Marwan Barghouti, who was serving five consecutive life sentences for his role in suicide bombings and shooting attacks during the second intifada. Barghouti led the Palestinian Authority (PA) terrorist Tanzim force and founded the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
Barghouti also financed the guitar-case bomb used in the Sbarro Cafe massacre, where 15 civilians were killed and 130 injured.
SJP KSU retweeted a May 11, 2017 tweet that said: “Join us at 8527 S. Harlem from 10am to 7pm for #DignityStrikeChi in support of #Palhunger @Addameer @SamidounPP … ”
Addameer’s logo and images of Barghouti and terrorist Ahmad Sa’adat, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), appeared in the tweet’s photos.
Addameer organizes and promotes campaigns on behalf of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and has advocated for theBoycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Addammer is reportedly an “affiliate” of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a terror organization. In September 2019, Israeli forces raided the officers of Addammeer, seizing laptops and memory cards.
SJP KSU also retweeted a May 11, 2017 tweet supporting the “#DignityStrike.”
SJP KSU - Promoting Violence and Spreading Hatred
On January 6, 2018, Subhi Husien — a 2017-2018 SJP KSU activist — tweeted: “BDS is important for weakening the Zionist entity but violent revolution will be the only solution to gain liberation.”
As of January 2018, Lama Abu Amara — an SJP KSU activist in 2017-2018 — wrote in her Twitter profile: “Globalize the Intifada
The term “intifada” has carried the connotation of violence, since the early 2000’s.
On August 2, 2014, Abu Amara tweeted: “‘Never again.’-The Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto. Never again for them, but their descendants think otherwise. #BoycottIsrael #SupportGaza #Gaza.”
On July 12, 2017, Yousef Mousa — a former SJP KSU president — posted a Facebook graphic paraphrasing a quote [00:00:23] by PFLP spokesman Ghassan Kanafani rejecting negotiations as a path to peace.
On December 23, 2017, SJP KSU activist Chance Zurub — the 2018 SJP KSU president — tweeted: “The only Israeli food that they [Israelis] eat is the blood of the Palestinian people.”
SJP KSU - Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theory
On October 24, 2016, SJP KSU tweeted an image of a hand controlling a brain via puppet strings, captioned: “ISRAEL PUBLIC RELATION’S WAR IN THE UNITED STATES.”The tweet promoted SJP KSU’s October 27, 2016 screening of the anti-Israel film “The Occupation of the American Mind.”
SJP KSU - Demonizing Israel
On May 10, 2017, SJP KSU tweeted: “Reality: Israel is an illegitimate state that uses systematic war and apartheid to ethnically cleanse an entire population.”
On May 28, 2017, SJP KSU tweeted: “Israel continues ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian pop. as American college students take ‘birthright’ trips, complicit in Israel's crimes.”
Birthright Israel is a free trip to Israel for Jewish young adults from all over the world.
On March 5, 2018, SJP KSU displayed its “mock Israeli apartheid wall” on campus, representing Israel’s security barrier. The wall included a version of debunked anti-Israel propaganda maps. SJP KSU also displayed the “mock Apartheid Wall” in 2017, where it promoted BDS on campus.
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.
