Amani Al-Khatahtbeh
Overview
Amani Al-Khatahtbeh [Amani Alkhat] has whitewashed terrorism, promoted a terrorist, spread anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and promoted anti-Semitism. Al-Khatahtbeh also demonized Israel, endorsed anti-Israel agitators and is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.In April 2020, Al-Khatahtbeh announced on Instagram that she was running for election to the U.S. House of Representatives for New Jersey's 6th Congressional District. She unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Rep. Frank Pallone, as well as attorney Russ Cirincione, in the Democratic primary election on July 7, 2020.
As of June 2020, Al-Khatahtbeh’s LinkedIn page said she was the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of on-line magazine MuslimGirl.com (MG), since August 2009 and a Host on the American cable channel MTV in New York City, since January 2016.
Al-Khatahtbeh’s LinkedIn page also said she was a Columnist for Forbes, since September 2015 and a Blogger for the Huffington Post (Huff Post), since February 2014.
Also as of June 2020, Al-Khatahtbeh’s LinkedIn page said she received a bachelor’s degree in Political Science, Middle Eastern Studies, International Relations and Women's and Gender Studies from Rutgers University, New Brunswick (Rutgers NB), in 2014.
As of June 2020, as well, Al-Khatahtbeh’s LinkedIn page said she was the Opinions Editor of the Rutgers student school newspaper, The Daily Targum, from February 2013 to February 2014. She was a Columnist for the Daily Targum from October 2011 to February 2013.
While at Rutgers, Al-Khatahtbeh founded a collegiate chapter of MuslimGirl (MuslimGirl Rutgers) and in 2018 established a Muslim Girl Foundation: a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, Employer Identification Number 83-1504085 in Brooklyn, NY “to empower marginalized Muslim women on college campuses with monetary scholarships.”
Al-Khatahtbeh was a student activist affiliated with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Rutgers, New Brunswick (Rutgers NB Students for Justine Palestine) in 2014 and 2015. She also attended the 2012 National SJP Conference, held in Ann Arbor, MI, from November 2 to 4, 2012.
Al-Khatahtbeh was affiliated with the Muslim Students Association (MSA) at Rutgers in 2015 and 2016 (RU-MSA) and a member of the MSA at Rutgers Facebook group.
In 2015, Al-Khatahtbeh was affiliated with American Muslims for Palestine (AMP)’s Chicago chapter and was a speaker at the 2015 AMP Conference in Chicago, IL. Al-Khatahtbeh also indicated on Twitter that she was affiliated with the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), an offshoot of AMP, in 2016.
Al-Khatahtbeh was affiliated with the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) in 2015 and 2016.
In May 2015, Al-Khatahtbeh indicated on Facebook that she accepted a job offer as “the new program coordinator of broadcast” at Al Jazeera America.
Whitewashing Terrorism
On July 9, 2014, during Operation Protective Edge and while serving as editor-in-chief of MG, Al-Khatahtbeh published an article on the site titled: “An Open Letter to Wall Street Journal from a Palestinian Woman.”Israel commenced Operation Protective Edge (OPE) in July 2014, to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.
Hamas was responsible for the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers from a bus stop on June 12, 2014. The abducted boys were murdered by their captors, and their bodies were found buried in Palestinian-controlled territory on June 30, 2014.
In the article, Al-Khatahtbeh wrote: “One of the three kidnapped Israelis was old enough to have already served in the IDF, and all three of them were on an illegal settlement on Palestinian territory... the situation must be placed in the context of the conflict as a whole.”
Al-Khatahtbeh continued: “Israel treats Palestinians as nothing more than animals. In this case, Israel has placed its ‘animal’ in a cage and keeps prodding it with a stick — or, more accurately, with rubber bullets, tear gas, and even white phosphorus. Then, when the animal bites back, Israel feigns selective memory and moral outrage and punishes it in ways that are unprecedented in our modern history.”
On November 14, 2012, during Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense (OPD), Al-Khatahtbeh published an article in the Rutgers student school newspaper titled: “Israel must act responsibly.”
In the article Al-Khatahtbeh wrote: “But, this is not about Hamas — this is about the larger framework of Israel’s domination and cruelty that caused a government like Hamas to emerge in the first place. If the Israeli government is truly committed to stopping terrorism, it should take the advice of Noam Chomsky and start by not participating in it.”
Israel launched OPD to stop Hamas rocket attacks on Israeli civilians from Gaza. Over the course of eight days in November 2012, Palestinian terrorist groups fired more than 1,500 rockets at Israel. The majority struck Israel, damaging homes, schools and other civilian areas. Human Rights Watch noted: “Palestinian armed groups made clear in their statements that harming civilians was their aim.”
Promoting A Terrorist
On November 10, 2014, Al-Khatahtbeh tweeted: “BREAKING: Rasmea Odeh found guilty. Horrid injustice. The American legal system's sponsorship of rape torture.”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.
”On May 1, 2015, Al-Khatahtbeh tweeted: “The @ACRLMICH [Arab Civil Rights League Michigan] hypocritically and super offensively decides to honor Rasmea Odeh's prosecutor!? TF [the f**k]?”
Al-Khatahtbeh’s tweet included a link to a MuslimGirl article, titled: “Why Is an Arab Group Awarding Rasmea Odeh’s Prosecutor?” The article claimed: “Rasmea Odeh’s conviction in the United States is an act of political prosecution.”
On November 28, 2015, Al-Khatahtbeh posed in a photo at a Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF)-organized event with Rasmea Odeh.
Spreading Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theories
On February 2, 2016, while serving as editor-in-chief of MG, Al-Khatahtbeh published a piece on her site written by MG author “Yelenalel,” titled: “Israel’s Organ Harvesting and the UK’s BDS Movement.”The article accused Israel of “...medical torture and illegal organ harvesting of Palestinians” and quoted the Palestinian Authority (PA) ambassador to the United Nations who claimed that “following medical examinations, it has been reported that the bodies [of Palestinians] were returned with missing corneas and other organs.”
The article also quoted anti-semitic conspirary theorist and white supremacist Dr. Kevin MacDonald, a retired professor at California State University - Long Beach (CSULB), as saying: “In the contemporary world, organized American Jewish lobbying groups and deeply committed Jews in the media are behind the pro-Israel U.S. foreign policy that is leading to war against virtually the entire Arab world.”
Al-Khatahtbeh said [00:00:25]: “America right now is in a choke hold. One of the strongest lobbies in the country is AIPAC, which solely exists to trump your votes and make sure that the U.S. government continues to support Israel regardless of their actions or your lack of support.”
Promoting Anti-Semitism
In the article, Jolly claimed that “pro-Israel parties are good at getting money into funds...” and questioned plans for a new Rutgers Hillel. Jolly asked why the campus needed a “second Jewish building on a historically reformed Dutch college” and remarked “...As a non-Jewish person, does the Jewish nature make you feel welcome?”
Upon learning of the article’s publication, the Daily Targum Board of Trustees reportedly ordered its student editors to remove Jolly’s commentary from the paper’s website.
On January 27, 2014, Daily Targum Editor-in-Chief Enrico C. Cabredo wrote a column in the newspaper apologizing for publishing Jolly’s article and commented that “elements in this piece relay discriminatory undertones that do not reflect the values and goals of our organization...The commentary should not have been published, and I apologize to everyone it offended.”
A February 6, 2014 New Jersey Jewish News article reported that the Daily Targum Board of Trustees also sent a letter to Rutgers Hillel executive director Andrew Getraer and student president Ariel Lubow in which the Board apologized for publishing a student commentary they acknowledged was ‘anti-Semitic and inaccurate...It never should have run.’”
The Board’s letter, later publicized by Rutgers Hillel in a press release to their website, stated that the Board “has taken the unusual step of requiring the editor-in-chief to submit all letters and commentary on this topic [Israel-Palestinian conflict] to the board for approval before they can be published.”
In a November 2, 2014, Huffington Post piece, Al-Khatahtbeh wrote that she allowed publication of the ant-Semitic piece “because I refuse to censor any opinions, even ones that I may personally disagree with, and secondly because I knew the same type of poor reasoning expressed in the commentary was also applied to the treatment of other minority communities. I hoped that publishing it would result in a positive dialogue about tolerance of all religious and cultural groups on campus.”
Al-Khatahtbeh also went on to attack Hillel, accusing them of “overbearing influence” and claiming members of Hillel exploited the opportunity not only to attack her personally, but also to establish an even larger control over the student newspaper, to collude with Targum’s Board of Trustees regarding all Israel-related content and to demand what amounts to ”control over the Targum and its staff members.”
Demonizing Israel
On July 9, 2015, while serving as editor-in-chief of MuslimGirl, Al-Khatahtbeh published an article on her site titled: “Snapchat is Featuring a Live Story on the West Bank Today.”In the article, Al-Khatahtbeh wrote “...the West Bank story still offers a glimpse into life under occupation. We see the overwhelming lines at the Bethlehem military checkpoint...the atrocious apartheid wall driving a separation barrier through the land to contain the Palestinians...”
Israeli checkpoints were built to prevent terror attacks, such as suicide bombings, against Israel's civilian population.
On July 18, 2014, during OPE, Al-Khatahtbeh tweeted: “#Israel unleashing chemical warfare on the unarmed civilian population of #Gaza -- poisonous gas to suffocate them: http://fb.me/32ZEcgnyq .”
The charge against Israel of using chemical weapons has been debunked on multiple occasions.
On November 15, 2012, Al-Khatahtbeh tweeted: “If I get high blood pressure issues I blame Israel. #Gaza.”
On November 14, 2012, the day Israel launched OPD,Al-Khatahtbeh tweeted:“I know we've been brainwashed that it's ‘politically incorrect’ to say the war on Palestinians is genocide. But it is. It's genocide. #Gaza.”
On November 3, 2012, Al-Khatahtbeh tweeted: “‘Israel sprayed toxic chemicals on the fields of Palestinian bedouins. Now, they just demolish their homes.’ - @4noura #SJPConf.”
Endorsing Anti-Israel Agitators
On November 3, 2012, Al-Khatahtbeh tweeted: “Hatem Bazian of @AMPalestine is now speaking at @SJPNational - his work, experience, and knowledge is so inspiring. #SJPConf”Hatem Bazian is the founder of the anti-Israel organizations Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and American Muslims for Palestine (AMP). Bazian has a decades-long history of incitement and of using classic anti-Semitic tropes to demonize Israel.
Al-Khatahtbeh commented on Facebook that Gadot supports “the oppression of women and girls in other parts of the world.”
In her Facebook statement, Al-Khatahtbeh also wrote: “I cannot accept this award from Revlon with Gal Gadot as the ambassador...Her vocal support of the Israel Defense Forces’ actions in Palestine goes against MuslimGirl’s morals and values.”
Al-Khatahtbeh continued: “I can’t, in good conscience, accept this award from the brand and celebrate Gal’s ambassadorship after the IDF imprisoned a 16-year-old girl named Ahed Tamimi last month, an activist who is currently still incarcerated...”
However, on May 30, 2018, Al-Khatahtbeh appeared [00:01:55] in American band Maroon 5’s music video for the song Girls Like You that also featured [00:01:36] Gal Gadot.
On August 8, 2018, Al-Khatahtbeh posted to Facebook endorsing Rashida Tlaib who had just won the Democratic primary and would run unopposed in the November 6, 2018, election to replace John Conyers Jr. for the 2019-2020 term in Congress. No Republican filed to run in the general election.
Al-Khatahtbeh wrote: “congratulations to Rashida Tlaib, one of the first muslim women role models i ever had, on becoming THE FIRST MUSLIM (AND PALESTINIAN!) CONGRESSWOMAN IN U.S. HISTORY!
this moment is a profound one for our country and i'm so damn proud that little muslim girls won't have to search so hard anymore. 
”On August 17, 2019, Al-Khatahtbeh posted a photo of herself with Tlaib on Instagram and commented: “blessed to have grown up to be able to call my heroes as my friends & my congresswomen
today’s fight is carving a new world for our future daughters and i couldn’t be prouder to live in the age where i get to stand in support of superwomen like these. @rashidatlaib we love you and have your back. 
.”In July 2019, Tlaib was an original co-sponsor of H.Res. 496, which the primary sponsor, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, described as “an opportunity for us to explain why it is we support...the BDS movement.”
On July 18, 2019, Al-Khatahtbeh posted a photo of herself and U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar on Instagram and wrote: “what they really mean when they chant ‘send her back’ is to take away the triumph of what was once only a dream for muslim and immigrant girls in america. #istandwithilhan
@ilhanmn”Ilhan Omar was elected to the U.S. Congress in 2018. In February 2019, top Congressional leaders denounced Omar for tweeting anti-Semitic remarks.
On March 3, 2020, Al-Khatahtbeh posted to Instagram a photo of herself with prominent anti-Israel activist Linda Sarsour, whom she referred to as “my sis.”
Supporting BDS
On August 16, 2014, Al-Khatahtbeh tweeted her support for a BDS campaign organized by the Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC) called: “Block the Boat,” designed to stop the unloading of an Israeli-owned Zim Integrated Shipping Services vessel in the Port of Oakland.On August 5, 2014, Al-Khatahtbeh uploaded to Youtube a video in which she called [00:03:12] upon viewers to download the BUYCOTT APP in order to [00:03:18] “find out which brands support Israel and stop buying them. Your sale is your vote.”
Anti-Israel Activism at Rutgers
On October 30, 2014, Al-Khatahtbeh attended a presentation on Rutgers’s campus given by Norwegian doctor and anti-Israel activist Dr. Mads Gilbert, titled: “Eyes in Gaza.”Gilbert has been banned indefinitely from entering Gaza through Israel because of his connections to the Hamas leadership.
In 2008, 2009, 2012 and 2014 Gilbert was stationed at a hospital that served as a Hamas command center and rocket launching site. During that time he acted as a propagandist for the Hamas government in Gaza.
In 2001, following al Qaeda's September 11 terrorist attacks, Gilbert expressed support for the terror acts as a “legitimate response.” In December of 2009, Gilbert was accused of faking resuscitation on a dead child in Gaza for dramatic effect for a CNN video.
On October 30, 2014, during Gilbert’s presentation at Rutgers, Al-Khatahtbeh tweeted a series of statements attributed to him.
One tweet read: “‘In a way, the #Palestinians are fighting for the freedom of all of us.’ -Dr. Mads Gilbert @ Rutgers U.”
A second tweet read: “The pen and the camera are that terrifying, that Israel will ban us from entering.” Dr. Mads Gilbert @ Rutgers U”
SJP Rutgers NB
Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Rutgers University - New Brunswick (SJP Rutgers NB) was created in September 2011, with the stated mission to “shed light on injustices currently taking place [sic] Palestine, as well as empower students to elucidate truths and eradicate such injustices.” It was created as “a proud affiliate of Students for Justice in Palestine.”SJP Rutgers NB - Supporting Terrorists (2015-2017)
On April 19, 2017, SJP Rutgers NB co-hosted an “emergency rally” in Solidarity with Palestinian Prisoners to “Support Palestinian Prisoners Hunger Strike.”On November 9, 2016, SJP Rutgers NB shared an article to Facebook that expressed support for Ahmed Manasra.
On October 12, 2015, Ahmed Manasra (sometimes spelled Mansara) and his 15-year-old cousin, Hassan, engaged in a stabbing spree in Jerusalem. The pair critically wounded a 13-year-old Israeli boy and moderately wounded a 25-year-old man. Manasra was wounded.
On April 24, 2016, SJP Rutgers NB expressed support for Dima Al-Wawi on Facebook, posting: “Shame on Israel for wrongfully imprisoning this child to begin with! Palestine can't be free until all the prisoners are released!”
12-year-old Al-Wawi said that she hoped she would be killed in the process of killing an Israeli security guard. She said: “I was dreaming that I was going to be martyred.” Al-Wawi was imprisoned for attempting to stab a security guard at the Israeli community Karmei Tzur.
On February 26, 2016, SJP Rutgers NB posted to Facebook in support of Muhammad al-Qiq: “Al Qiq is free!! Once again, Israel cannot defeat Palestinian courage and resilience!
Muhammad al-Qiq, was detained by Israel for Hamas terror-related activities and was released after his hunger-striking posed a danger to his own life.
On February 25, 2016, SJP Rutgers NB shared to Facebook an article from the anti-Israel website Electronic Intifada (EI), in support of Rasmea Odeh.
Odeh was a military operative with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), an internationally designated terrorist organization. In 1969, she masterminded a bombing that killed two university students in a Jerusalem supermarket. Odeh also attempted to bomb the British consulate.
On April 3, 2015, SJP Rutgers NB urged readers on Facebook to “‘TAKE ACTION to free Palestinian feminist lawmaker Khalida Jarrar!’PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE SIGN!”
SJP Rutgers NB’s Facebook post included a link to a Samidoun petition demanding the release of Khalida Jarrar from detention in Israeli jail.
SJP Rutgers NB - Mock Eviction Notices Controversy (2013-2014)
On October 6, 2013, SJP Rutgers NB members slid hundreds of mock eviction notices under Rutgers dorm and apartment doors. The notices stated that students’ suites were “scheduled for demolition in the next three days” and if the residents did not vacate the premises in that time, the organization “reserved the right to destroy all remaining belongings.”Students reportedly filed a complaint against SJP Rutgers NB with the Bias Prevention Education Committee at Rutgers. SJP Rutgers NB was reportedly found in violation of Rutgers posting policy in dorms, which requires all posters of student organizations to be stamped for approval by Student Life.
On October 14, 2013, John Lisowski, then-events coordinator of SJP Rutgers NB, wrote a letter to the editor in the Daily Targum, the Rutgers student newspaper, titled: “Students do not need to be sheltered from reality.”
In the article, Lisowski wrote: “One is left to wonder what is so hateful about SJP’s fliers..the Israel/Palestine conflict is a subject of furious polarizing debate. The critics of the fliers only seem to be speaking out against them because they are on the opposite side of this debate from SJP.”
On February 18, 2014, Lisowski published an article attacking the Daily Targum’s Board of Trustees, claiming the board “elected to censor” the “Israel-Palestine conflict,” after they reportedly ordered student editors to remove what the Board reported to be an “anti-Semitic and inaccurate” commentary from the paper’s website.
On January 23, 2014, SJP Rutgers NB activist and the opinions editor of the Daily Targum, Amani Al-Khatahtbeh, published a student commentary in the Daily Targum that questioned plans for a new Rutgers Hillel building.
The commentary was written by then-Rutgers student Colleen Jolly and titled: “Can Hillel’s funding be put to better use elsewhere?”
In her commentary, Jolly asked why the campus needed a “second Jewish building on a historically reformed Dutch college” and claimed that “pro-Israel parties are good at getting money into funds...”
She also asked: “...As a non-Jewish person, does the Jewish nature make you feel welcome?”
The Daily Targum’s board of trustees reportedly issued an apology to then-Hillel executive director, Andrew Getraer and student president, Ariel Lubow, for publishing Jolly’s commentary.
In his February 18, 2014 article, Lisowski wrote that the Board of Trustees took an “authoritative stance after a problematic student commentary with anti-Semitic undertones was published... It was just a false accusation against Hillel that questioned the organization’s funding. The Board of Trustees now demands that any articles that pertain to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must pass through them for approval in order to be published.”
SJP Rutgers NB - Anti-Israel Events (2015-2017)
On March 6, 2017, SJP Rutgers NB co-hosted an event with the anti-Israel organization American Muslims for Palestine (AMP). The event featured a panel that included Josh Ruebner, Osama Abuirshaid and Riham Barghouti, co-founder of The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI).Josh Ruebner is the Policy Director for the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR), formerly the U.S. Campaign to End the Occupation (ETO).
Ruebner is also the co-founder and former Executive Director of Jews for Peace in Palestine and Israel (JPPI), an organization which merged into the anti-Israel Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP).
Ruebner has accused Israeli military officers of studying Nazi tactics to use against Palestinians in Gaza and has accused the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) of placing Israeli interests ahead of American interests.
Osama Abuirshaid, who also spoke at the SJP Rutgers NB event, was listed as the National Policy Director and board member of AMP on that group’s website. Abuirshaid reportedly worked for two Hamas-linked organizations in America that are now defunct: the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP) and the United Association for Studies and Research (UASR).
Abdulhaq has defended the terror group Hamas, glorified terrorists, whitewashed the 9/11 terror attacks and compared Israel to Nazi Germany.
The SJP Rutgers NB Facebook event description read: “Come out to learn about how ZIONISM embodied the 19th century ethos of the European Mission Civilisatrice, racism, supremacy, and utilitarian principles, to justify the creation of a settler colonialism project on the land of Palestine.”
On March 28 - March 31, 2016, SJP Rutgers NB hosted Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW).
Israel Apartheid Week (IAW), which has been re-named Palestine Awareness Week, is an annual event to build support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and “to raise awareness of Israel’s settler-colonial project and apartheid system over the Palestinian people.”
On April 29, 2015, SJP Rutgers NB hosted an event featuring Haneen Zoabi. The Facebook event description read: “SJP invites you to a discussion with Haneen Zoabi on Israeli Apartheid, Zionism and more from a viewpoint of a Palestinian living in Israel.”
Haneen Zoabi, a former member of the Israeli Knesset, has a long history of inciting violence. In 2014, she was suspended from the legislature after defending the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers by the terror group Hamas, and who were later found executed in a field. In 2015, a criminal investigation was opened against Zoabi after she reportedly condoned anti-Israel violence and called for a new intifada.
SJP Rutgers NB - Hosting Anti-Israel Agitators (2014-2016)
On September 19, 2016, SJP Rutgers NB hosted anti-Israel agitator Miko Peled at an event titled: “Keys to Peace.”Anti-Israel activist Miko Peled has said [00:00:06] the Israeli army is “one of the best trained, best equipped, best fed, terrorist organizations in the world” and claimed [00:00:16] that “their entire purpose is terrorism.” He also tweeted in September 2016 that U.S. aid to Israel causes people to think that “Jews have a reputation 4being sleazy thieves.”
On April 5, 2016, SJP Rutgers NB hosted an event titled: “RISE UP: SJP Annual Banquet,” that featured Ehab Zahriyeh, a former Digital News Producer at Al Jazeera America and Iyad Burnat.
Burnat is the head of the Bil’in popular resistance committee and has, since 2005, organized weekly demonstrations against the Israeli West Bank security barrier. These demonstrations have often turned violent.
Burnat has repeatedly equated Israel with Hitler and ISIS. He has also accused “Zionists” of controlling American politics.
Also on April 5, 2016, SJP Rutgers NB posted to Facebook: “Our friends at Neturei Karta were able to join us at the banquet!” The post featured pictures of Neturei Karta members attending and addressing the event.
Neturei Karta is a fringe Jewish anti-Israel group that opposes Zionism on religious grounds and supports the dismantlement of Israel. Their leader, Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss, was excommunicated from many Ultra-Orthodox Jewish groups for participating in a 2006 Holocaust denial conference.
On November 23, 2015, SJP Rutgers NB hosted prominent anti-Israel activist Linda Sarsour at an event titled: “Solidarity: Unifying Communities of Color to Break Cycles of Oppression.”
Sarsour has tweeted that “nothing is creepier than Zionism” and frequently uses the word “Zionist” as a pejorative.
On November 17, 2014, SJP Rutgers NB co-sponsored an event titled: “Silencing Dissent: The University vs. Academic Freedom Featuring Professor Steven Salaita.”
A day earlier, SJP Rutgers NB promoted the event on Facebook and wrote that Salaita was “the professor who was denied a job at The University of Illinois after posting on social media about the atrocities committed in Palestine this past summer.”
The University of Illinois (U of I) rescinded a job offer made to Steven Salaita in 2014, after becoming aware of anti-Semitic tweets he made. Not long after three Israeli high school students were kidnapped by Hamas, Salaita tweeted: “You may be too refined to say it, but I’m not: I wish all the f**king West Bank settlers would go missing.”
During Israel’s Operation Protective Edge (OPE) in 2014, Salaita tweeted: “There's something profoundly sexual to the Zionist pleasure w/#Israel's aggression. Sublimation through bloodletting, a common perversion.”
Salaita was ultimately unable to find a teaching position and claimed that he took a job as a school bus driver in the Washington, D.C. area.
On September 10, 2014, during Operation Protective Edge (OPE), SJP Rutgers NB hosted radical cleric Zaid Shakir, who established the Zaytuna College in Berkeley, California, with SJP founder Hatem Bazian and others.
OPE was commenced by Israel in July 2014, to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.
According to an Investigative Project report, Shakir “defends terrorist groups such as Hizballah and hopes for a day in which America is a Muslim country ruled by Islamic law... He suggests that ‘Zionist’ forces and the FBI were behind the February 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.”
The event’s Facebook description read: “SJP's first event of the Fall 2014 semester is our official BDS kick-off!”
The Facebook description also claimed: “Over 2,000 people were killed this summer and while a cease-fire may have been achieved, Israel has proven no law or treaty will stop its slow-motion genocide. Join Students for Justice in Palestine and start off the year by helping us put an end to Israel's war crimes through BDS-- boycott, divestment, and sanctions.”
SJP Rutgers NB - Supporting BDS (2015-2017)
On October 9, 2017, SJP Rutgers NB hosted an event titled: “BDS: SHOW me how to RISE,” that featured guest speakers Lamis Deek and Taher Herzallah, Associate Director of Outreach & Grassroots Organizing for AMP.Deek was a board member of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in New York and has supported [00:01:15] Hamas terrorists.
Taher Herzallah, the Associate Director of Outreach & Grassroots Organizing of American Muslims for Palestine (AMP). Herzallah has expressed support for violence against Israeli Jews, spread an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory and posted pro-terrorist imagery to social media.
At the event, Deek said [00:00:15] BDS was “the least we could do.”
Deek continued [00:00:17]: “What is BDS? BDS simply means that I just refuse to participate in this. I refuse to support the Zionist entity, to support Israel as they engage in these acts of violence not just against the Palestinians but against our own people here and against people in the African continent and in South America or wherever Israel is engaging and fomenting acts of violence.”
On March 4, 2015, SJP Rutgers NB hosted a lecture titled: “BDS and the Work of Anti-Normalization in Solidarity Activism with Palestine,” as part of Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) 2015.
The policy of “anti-normalization” aims to ensure that all interactions between Israelis and Palestinians align only with the Arab agenda, including ending the occupation and a full right of return for Palestinians, which is a Palestinian demand discredited as a means to eliminate Israel. The policies are shared with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
The event featured national BDS leader J. Kehualani Kauanui and was moderated by Jasbir Puar, Professor and Graduate Director of Women’s and Gender Studies at Rutgers, where she has been a faculty member since 2000.
Puar has penned dozens of anti-Israel articles and spoken against Israel across numerous forums. She features regularly in BDS events and is listed as an Advisory Board member of the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI).
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.
AMP
American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) was founded by UC Berkeley Professor Hatem Bazian as a vehicle to generate mainstream support in the United States for the Palestinian national cause.
On its website, the organization lists Bazian as the chairman of its national board and describes itself as “a national education and grassroots-based organization, dedicated to educating the American public about Palestine and its rich cultural, historical and religious heritage.”
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has accused AMP of promoting “extreme anti-Israel views and has at times provided a platform for anti-Semitism under the guise of educating Americans” about Palestinians. The ADL further stated that AMP is directly involved in campus-based anti-Israel activity through Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).
Prior to founding the AMP in 2006, Dr. Bazian created SJP together with fellow UC Berkeley Professor Snehal Shingavi in 2001. The close working relationship between AMP and SJP has been documented several times over the years by several organizations, including NGO Monitor and StandWithUs.
In addition to providing financial, public relations and legal assistance to SJP, AMP has also been accused of having connections to Hamas. The AMP national board includes former members of both the Islamic Association of Palestine (IAP) and Holy Land Foundation (HLF), both of which were found liable for aiding and abetting Hamas. The IAP was founded by Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, a senior member of Hamas.
CAIR
CAIR describes itself as a “grassroots civil rights and advocacy group” and “America's largest Muslim civil liberties organization, with regional offices nationwide.” Its official mission is “enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.”
CAIR reportedly has “significant ties” to the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as Hamas. A number of former CAIR employees have been convicted on fraud and terrorism-related charges that resulted monetary fines, jail terms and, sometimes, deportation.
CAIR was founded in 1994 and opened its first office in Washington, DC, with the help of a $5,000 donation from the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF), a charity founded by Mousa Abu Marzook.
Marzook, who was listed as a "Specially Designated Terrorist" by the U.S. Treasury Department in 1995, is reportedly a senior member of Hamas.
In May 2007, CAIR was listed as an “unindicted co-conspirator” in a U.S.-filed action against the HLF for providing funds to Hamas.
CAIR was also listed as a terrorist entity by the United Arab Emirates, in 2014.
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.
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.
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- Status:
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- University:
- Rutgers
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- Related Profiles:
- Diala Ghneim,
- Last Modified:
- 05/04/2026
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