Alina Atiq

Overview

Alina Atiq joined in a Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement hunger strike and expressed hatred of Israel, in late 2023 and early 2024, during Israel’s war against the Hamas terror group.

As of October 2023, Atiq was studying at the Tampa, Florida, campus of the University of South Florida (USF). As of March 2024, Atiq was listed in a local publication as “a senior majoring in philosophy” at USF. However, also as of March 2024, USF’s National Public Radio (NPR) affiliate said she was a junior.

Atiq’s anti-Israel activism took place in the wake of Hamas terror atrocities and war crimes against Israeli civilians, including mass murder, torture, rape, beheadings and kidnappings, which were executed on October 7, 2023.

The Hamas terror attacks left over 1,200 Israelis dead, hundreds kidnapped and thousands wounded. Israel retaliated with a war called “Swords of Iron.”

BDS Anti-Israel Hunger Strike during a Hamas War

On March 18, 2024, Atiq and 17 other anti-Israel activists at USF reportedly began a BDS hunger strike of “indefinite” length during Israel’s war against Hamas.

Activists demanded that USF divest from companies doing business in Israel to stop what they claimed was a “GENOCIDE” happening in Gaza. USF officials have said that the school invests with fund managers and not with specific companies.
 
The entire hunger strike overlapped with two and a half weeks of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, during which Muslims fast daily from sunrise to sunset.

Also on March 18, 2024, Atiq spoke [00:56:43] at a USF Board of Trustees meeting where she said [00:58:16]: “It is pathetic on your part that we have to resort to…a hunger strike to get our demands finally met. But if that's what it takes for you to listen to your students once and for all, and stop profiting from the genocide, then so be it. I and 17 others will go without food starting today until you divest.”

Atiq also said [00:57:42] at the board meeting: “This is a matter of human lives…You are complicit through your investments…[the companies] have been raking in billions of dollars by selling these weapons, which means you are profiting from these atrocities."

On March 18, 2024, a news article about the Board of Trustees meeting stated: “[The hunger strikers] have demanded that USF no longer invest in companies including Northrup Grumman Corp., Boeing and others they say are supplying Israel’s war effort.”

On March 22, 2024, Atiq was featured in a Twitter video speaking about the hunger strike. She said [00:00:04]: “...I am hunger striking because the University of South Florida has been neglecting the demands of its student body for the past over 10 years and this is our last resort…and it is also the only thing right now that can emphasize the urgency of divestment…”

On April 3, 2024, USF Hunger Strike for Palestine, the group Atiq was engaged in activism with, changed [slide 5] its name to USF Divest Coalition.

On the same day, USF Divest Coalition called off [slide 1] the hunger strike. They wrote on Instagram: “While our demands were not met, we are merely beginning our fight for divestment at USF…We will ensure our community is not complicit in genocide, and divestment is inevitable. Solidarity forever, and to a free Palestine .”

On the same Instagram post, the USF Divest Coalition also wrote [slides 2-3]: “...Due to multiple hospitalizations [and] fatal health warnings…we are encouraging all hunger strikers to finally break their strike…Within the next month alone we will be…Helping organize 4 more hunger strikes on campuses both nationally and overseas…”

Hatred of Israel during a Hamas War

On March 15, 2024, a local newspaper published an article about the hunger strike to take place the following week.

The article said: “Alina Atiq…said she doesn’t plan to stop until the group has their demands met.” She was also quoted as saying: “‘It’s incredibly frustrating…knowing that your institutions, your government are complicit. So I feel like this is one thing that I can do.’”

On March 5, 2024, USF published an article about a March 1, 2024, USF rally supporting the upcoming hunger strike, demanding the university call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

The article reported: “Alina Atiq said the university hasn’t done enough to support its Palestinian students during the conflict in the Middle East.” It then quoted her as saying to rally participants: “This hunger strike is a necessary escalation. It's not coming out of nowhere. And we don't want to do it. We just have to…”

Also on March 5, 2024, USF Divest Coalition posted a video on Instagram featuring Atiq speaking at the March 1, 2024 protest. She said [00:00:01]: “I condemn you, USF…for profiting from this bloody occupation for years…for hiding your investment portfolio…for neglecting your students’ needs to the point that we have to starve ourselves to have our voices heard! I condemn you for…not even addressing the trauma of the Palestinian students on campus.”

On February 27, 2024, Atiq was featured [slide 1] on the Instagram account of USF Hunger Strike for Palestine. She wrote: “I AM HUNGER STRIKING BECAUSE MY UNIVERSITY INVESTS IN CORPORATIONS PROFITING FROM THIS SAVAGERY.”

On Saturday, October 7, 2023, approximately 2,900 heavily armed Hamas terrorists breached Israel’s border with Gaza. They executed numerous war crimes on civilians, including mass murder, beheadings of children, rape of men and women, torture, kidnappings and mutilation. Hamas broadcast videos of their butchery on social media, often to victims’ accounts for families to see. Israel retaliated with a war called “Swords of Iron.” As of November 10, 2023, over 1,200 Israelis, the vast majority of them civilians, were murdered during the attacks. Hamas kidnapped 242 Israelis, including at least 30 children. At least 3,500 people were wounded, many severely.

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.

Social Media and Weblinks

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alina.bickle/