Alyssa Ruebensaal-Novak

OSU SJP

SJP at OSU (OSU SJP) was formerly known as Committee for Justice in Palestine (CJP).

OSU SJP - Threatening Student Senators

On December 1, 2016, SJP OSU hosted an event objecting to a David Project-sponsored trip to Israel geared towards student government leaders. Yousef Yacoub, SJP OSU’s then-treasurer, threatened on Facebook to track student “senators, directors, and members of senior staff” who indicated interest in the trip. 

Yacoub wrote: “I see you, and I promise you that if you go on this trip without hearing our voices, I will take action. At the first General Assembly of next semester, I will bring forth a resolution for all of your impeachments.”  

OSU SJP -Spreading Hatred of Israel  

On November 6, 2015, OSU SJP posted an article on Facebook that accused Israel of harvesting organs of Palestinians. 

On October 2, 2014, OSU SJP posted a graphic on Facebook that read” “#JSIL.” The post linked to an Al Jazeera social media stream post that spread an effort by Twitter users “to rebrand Israel as [Islamic State and the Levant] ISIL, renaming it “The Jewish State of Israel in the Levant.”

On September 26, 2014, SJP OSU posted on Facebook a graphic featuring a series of maps that presented lands once controlled by Britain, Egypt and Jordan as autonomous “Palestinian land,” purportedly stolen by Israel. SJP OSU also featured these maps as part of their mock “apartheid wall” during Israeli Apartheid Week.

In February of 2016, publisher McGraw-Hill Education recalled and destroyed copies of a college level textbook that contained copies of the fraudulent maps. In October 2015, the United States cable news network MSNBC apologized for airing a similar series of maps and retracted them.

On April 6, 2014, SJP OSU promoted on Facebook their hosting of Birzeit University’s Right to Education tour.

The Right to Education Tour brings Birzeit University students to U.S. campuses, where they claim that Israel is obstructing the rights of Palestinians to higher education. This claim mischaracterizes the sweeps Israeli security forces have made to shut down terror cells operating on the Birzeit campus, including cells linked to Hamas. 

OSU SJP - Demonizing Free Trips to Israel

On April 4, 2016, SJP OSU shared a quote on Facebook from an article demonizing the Birthright Jewish heritage tour. The article claimed that Birthright was “violent” on that “To make Birthright fun and safe means eradicating an Arab populace.”  

The article also said that “Birthright is the erasure of our right to our homeland, and it promises our homeland to one in four students at this university.”

On February 22, 2016, SJP OSU promoted a poster on Facebook that condemned a free trip to Israel awarded to Oscar nominees. The poster declared: “Free Trip To Israel At The Expense of Palestinians” and “#SkiptheTrip, Don’t endorse Israel Apartheid.”

OSU SJP - Pushing BDS

OSU SJP supported a divestment resolution presented by OSU Divest to the University Student Government on March 23, 2016. The resolution, which targeted companies the group claimed were "complicit in human rights violations," failed in a secret ballot by 21-9 votes with 15 abstentions. During the pre-vote discussion of the bill, OSU divest members accused Israel of “apartheid” and claimed that presidential election candidates were “paraded to AIPAC to pledge allegiance to a foreign government.”

The OSU Divest campaign was launched in late January, 2015. In March of 2015, the group attempted, unsuccessfully, to put a last-minute divestment referendum on the USG election ballot.

On April 6, 2016, OSU SJP joined other groups staging a "sit-in" in front of OSU President Michael Drake’s office, as part of a “#ReclaimOSU” campaign. The campaign accused the university of placing profits over people” and demanded “complete, comprehensive and detailed access to the Ohio State budget and investments immediately, as well as personnel to aid students in understanding this information.”

Following repeated discussions and warnings, the university released a statement declaring the groups’ occupation of the premises after business hours illegal. Police were called in to prevent access to the building past closing time.

OSU SJP - Spreading Incitement

On September 23, 2015, SJP OSU promoted an event on Facebook titled “#AlAqsaUnderAttack: The Treatment of Sacred Palestinian Places of Worship Under the Occupation.” The event description claimed that there have been “attacks of Masjid Al-Aqsa, the third-holiest site in the Islamic faith, by the Israeli Defense Forces.”

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 scores of Israeli civilians.

The attacks were fueled by Palestinian leaders propagating the libel that Israel intended to desecrate the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. The allegation that Jews “threaten” to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque has been a traditional pretext for Arab attacks against Jews long before the existence of the modern Jewish state.

On November 3, 2014, SJP OSU promoted on Facebook and co-sponsored a “Hands Off Al Aqsa!” event. The event description said: “When will we stop rallying? When Palestine is FREE! Religious freedom is under attack! As humans, we cannot stand around and watch as Palestinians are robbed of their religious freedom.” 

On October 30, 2013, SJP OSU posted an Al-Jazeera article on Facebook titled “Shutdown of Al-Aqsa mosque a ‘declaration of war’ say Palestinian leaders.”  

OSU SJP - Spreading Misinformation

On September 26, 2014, OSU SJP posted on Facebook a graphic featuring a series of maps that presented lands once controlled by Britain, Egypt and Jordan as autonomous “Palestinian land,” purportedly stolen by Israel. OSU SJP also featured these maps as part of their mock “apartheid wall” during Israeli Apartheid Week.

In February of 2016, publisher McGraw-Hill Education recalled and destroyed copies of a college level textbook that contained copies of the fraudulent maps. In October 2015, the United States cable news network MSNBC apologized for airing a similar series of maps and retracted them.

OSU SJP - Supporting PFLP Militant Rasmea Odeh

In November of 2014, the group OSU SJP promoted a solidarity rally for Rasmea Odeh.

Odeh was a key military operative [00:02:08]with the terrorist group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). In 1969, Odeh masterminded a PFLP bombing that killed two college students in a Jerusalem supermarket. Odeh also attempted to bomb the British consulate. 

Odeh confessed, in a highly detailed account, the day following her arrest. In a 2004 documentary, one of Odeh’s co-conspirators directly implicated [00:10:53] Odeh as the mastermind. 

In 1970, an Israeli court tried and convicted Odeh for her involvement in both bombings and sentenced her to life imprisonment. However, Odeh was released 10 years later, in a prisoner swap and emigrated to the United States.

On November 10, 2014, a Michigan federal jury convicted Odeh for immigration fraud because she failed to disclose her prior conviction and life sentence on her immigration application. On March 12, 2015, she was sentenced to 18 months in prison. 

In 2017, after an appeal and a lengthy court battle, Odeh admitted to immigration fraud, was stripped of her U.S. citizenship, deported to Jordan and banned from re-entering the U.S.

OSU SJP - Promoting a Hamas Propagandist

On July 27, 2014, OSU SJP posted an article about Dr. Mads Gilbert having been banned indefinitely from entering Gaza via Israel due to his connections to the Hamas leadership. The article was misleadingly headlined "Israel Shuts Dr. Mads Gilbert from Gaza for Life" and called Gilbert “Norway’s doctor of peace for Gaza.”

In 2008, 2009 and 2012 Gilbert — whose anti-Israel allegations are popular with white supremacists— was stationed at a hospital that doubled as a Hamas rocket launching site. During that time, Gilbert acted as a propagandist for the Hamas government in Gaza.

In December of 2009, Gilbert was accused of faking resuscitation on a dead child in Gaza for dramatic effect on a CNN video.

OSU SJP - Promoting The "Right To Education" Tour

On April 6, 2014, OSU SJP promoted on Facebook their hosting of Ramallah-based Birzeit University’s Right to Education tour. The tour claims that Israel is obstructing the rights of Palestinians to higher education. Their claims are based largely on sweeps Israeli security forces have taken to shut down terror cells operating from Birzeit’s campus.

In September of 2014, pro-Palestinian Haaretz reporter Amira Hass was thrown off of Birzeit’s campus — for being Jewish.

OSU Divest 2017 

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.

JVP

JVP was founded in Berkeley, California in 1996, as an activist group with an emphasis on the “Jewish tradition” of peace, social justice and human rights. The organization is currently led by Rebecca Vilkomerson and its board members include Israel critics Naomi Klein, Judith Butler, Noam Chomsky and Tony Kushner.

JVP, which generally employs civil disobedience tactics to disrupt pro-Israel speakers and events, consists of American Jews and non-Jewish “allies” highly critical of Israeli policies. A staunch supporter of the BDS movement, JVP claims to aim its campaigns at companies that either support the Israeli military (Hewlett-Packard) or are active in the West Bank (SodaStream).

Although several Jewish groups critical of Israeli policies, like J Street and Partners for a Progressive Israel, make efforts to operate within the mainstream American Jewish community, JVP functions outside. The group is often criticized for serving as a tokenized Jewish voice for the pro-Palestinian camp and is widely regarded as the BDS movement’s “Jewish wing.” 

JVP denies the notion of “Jewish peoplehood” and has even gone so far as to refer to its own Ashkenazi (Jews who spent the Diaspora in European countries) leadership as “white supremacy inside of JVP.”

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has accused JVP of being “the largest and most influential Jewish anti-Zionist group in the United States,” and said the group “exploits Jewish culture and rituals to reassure its own supporters that opposition to Israel not only does not contradict, but is actually consistent with, Jewish values.”

The ADL also claimed that “JVP consistently co-sponsors rallies to oppose Israeli military policy that are marked by signs and slogans  comparing Israel to Nazi Germany, demonizing Jews and voicing support for groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.”

According to the ADL website, JVP “uses its Jewish identity to shield the anti-Israel movement from allegations of anti-Semitism and provide it with a greater degree of legitimacy and credibility.”