Amira Sakalla
Overview
Sakalla is also a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Sakalla was a pro-Palestinian blogger, with a blog on tumblr.com called “Coffeeandslinghots,” which has been deleted.
From May 2015 to 2016 Sakallah was a staff intern at the anti-Israel organization Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA).
Calling For Intifada
On December 8, 2013, Sakalla tweeted — “@PalAnonymous: Today marks the 26th anniversary of the First #Intifada #Palestine ” About time for another one..”Demonizing Israel
On April 28, 2017, Sakalla published a blog on alaraby.co.uk defending a SOAS student demonstration protesting a talk by the Israeli ambassador to the UK Mark Regev. The protest accused Israel of “enforcing a brutal military occupation, and engaged in forcible population transfer, colonialism and apartheid.”The hunger strike was initiated by Marwan Barghouti, who was serving five consecutive life sentences for his role in suicide bombings — and shooting attacks against Israelis that killed five people during the Second Intifada.
On November 2, 2015, in reaction to a classmate who wore an IDF shirt, Sakalla tweeted — “You support (and possibly carry out?) the genocide of my people. Message well received, pal.”
Spreading Israel-Hatred
Sakalla retweeted March 21, 2016 tweet by anti-Semitic professor Steven Salaita, claiming that support for Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid is equivalent to support for “ethnic cleansing.”Bassem Tamimi has exploited young children as political props in staged confrontations with Israeli soldiers. In 2011, he was jailed for organizing violent rallies and inciting minors to commit violent crimes such as rock-throwing.
Tamimi’s United States visa was revoked in 2015, for his failure to disclose his prior arrest and conviction. Prior to the revocation of his U.S. visa, Tamimi delivered a controversial presentation to third-graders in Ithaca, New York. The presentation was geared to foster hatred of Israel and Tamimi concluded by encouraging [00:11:29] the children to become “freedom fighters for Palestine.”
Promoting the “Right to Education” tour
On April 9, 2016, Sakalla participated in the 2016 Right to Education delegation in Chicago Illinois, appearing in a photo with delegates and SJP chapter organizers including Osama Mor, the president of Athens for Justice in Palestine (AJP), a branch of SJP.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.
“Knife Intifada” Rally with SJP UTK
On October 14, 2015, Sakalla attended an anti-Israel demonstration that invited students to rally “in solidarity with Palestine as violence against Palestinian youth, civilians, and holy places is increasing in the West Bank.”The event was part of an “International Day of Action on College Campuses” called forth by American Muslims for Palestine (AMP).
In October 2015, there was an upsurge in violence across Israel incited by Palestinian political and religious leaders. The wave of stabbings, known as the “Knife Intifada,” was characterized by young Palestinians throughout the country stabbing and attempting to stab Israeli civilians.
One sign held at the rally read “US Tax $Dollars$ Fund Israel’s Genocide…” another read “11 million of YOUR Tax $ is sent every day to fund Israeli war crimes.” Another sign had a drawing of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s face with “Murderer” written in red across his forehead.
One protester held a sign that read “Palestinian child shot dead by Israel’s illegal occupation clutching onto his last breath. Israelis stand by and chant “die, die you son of a b****, die”!”
The sign referred to Ahmed Manasra
Ahmed Manasra (sometimes spelled Mansara) and his 15-year-old cousin Hassan went on a stabbing spree in Jerusalem on October 12, 2015, during the Knife Intifada. They critically wounded a 13-year-old boy and moderately wounded a 25-year-old man. The spree ended when police shot Hassan and a passing motorist hit Ahmed. Ahmed was taken to an Israeli hospital. He admitted to investigators: “I went there to stab Jews.” He was later tried and convicted on two counts of attempted murder.
Anti-Israel Activism
On March 2, 2016, as part of Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW), Sakalla tabelled and manned a SJP UTK mock “apartheid wall” event along with other activists.
Text on the wall claimed that “1661 KM of roads were only accessible by Israeli settlers” and accused Israel of practicing apartheid.
The maps claim that lands once controlled by Britain, Egypt and Jordan as autonomous “Palestinian land” were purportedly stolen by Israel. In February 2016, publisher McGraw-Hill Education recalled copies of a college textbook containing the fraudulent maps. In October 2015, American cable news network MSNBC apologized for airing a similar series of maps and retracted them.
Israel commenced Operation Protective Edge (OPE) in July 2014, to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.
During the demonstration, a protester held a sign that said “The USA funds Israel to Bomb Gaza’s hospitals.”
On July 10, 2014, Sakalla is listed as having attended another protest against OPE. One protester held a sign that read ‘This is Genocide.” SJP UTK member Jordan Welsh held a sign that read “End all aid to the racist state of Israel.”
SJP UTK
The leadership and general membership of SJP UTK is fraught with virulent anti-Semites, Hitler and Nazi sympathizers, promoters of terrorist incitement, homophobes and bigots. These individuals spread Jew-hatred, often — but not always — under the guise of attacking “Israelis” and “Zionists.”SJP UTK Members - Spreading Homophobia and Transphobia
On June 12, 2013, SJP UTK member Mohamed Ali — who also ran for the position of UTK MSA Public Relations Head — tweeted: “you feggity feg feg. I have so much sweg on my dik biches melt for me.... — Briana why u such a salty fag lol http://ask.fm/a/4iballkc.”In April 19, 2016, Ameen Abdel-Khalek a member of SJP UTK tweeted “If only people here cared as much for children dying in Syria Palestine Iraq instead of f**king faggot rights maybe wed get somwhere in life.”
On December 18, 2015, Abdel-Khalek tweeted “Transphobic?Are we making up words now.Come on niggas you got me f**ked up if Im gonna acknowledge a transgender. Seriously shoot me if I do.”
On June 23, 2016 Abdel-Khalek tweeted a drawing of a baby locked in a cage, being spoken to by an adult standing outside the cage: “You can come out when you’re done being a little faggot.”
On October 19, 2014, Abdel-Khalek tweeted a picture of Spiderman, with the caption “This is exactly the kind of s**t that makes people think you’re a faggot.”
SJP UTK Members - Praising Hitler and Promoting Jew-Hatred
On August 29, 2012, SJP UTK member Mohamed Ali — who also ran for the position of UTK MSA Public Relations Head — tweeted: “Had to write about a leader for DCL class. Wrote about Hitler. Cuz he's a boss.”On March 15, 2014, Ali tweeted: “Im gonna put #PeaceInTheMiddleEast, #ThotNation, &#FreePalestine at the end of my senior quote. The last 1 as a f**k u 2 the Jewish teachers.”
On July 31, 2013, Ali tweeted — “Make like a Jew and take control.”
On August 15, 2015, SJP UTK member Jenine Omari liked a tweet by UTK MSA member and virulent anti-Semite, Eyad Hijer, who tweeted — “F**k Jews.”
Stori Nuri — a co-president of UTK MSA and president of SJP UTK on January 22, 2015, tweeted — “‘Jew test: throw a pen and if they pick it up they're a Jew’
SJP UTK Member - Propagating Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theories
On July 27, 2012, SJP UTK member Mohamed Ali — who also ran for the position of UTK MSA Public Relations Head — tweeted: — “Zion or Zionism, is the belief that Jews are the rightful inhabitants or Israel/Palestine. Lol Illuminati.”On July 5, 2014, Ali tweeted — “When it comes down to it, Israel is the world's super power, not the USA. They control everything behind the curtains...they control so much from the film industry to franchises to pentagon communications to Wall Street to White House lobbies.”
On the same day, Ali tweeted — “I'm not surprised. America d**krides Israel so hard. They're scared. Israel controls them.”
On June 17, 2013, Ali tweeted — “I feel like all the current problems in the world are linked to the U.S, Israel, & all their d**kriding countries- most of Europe.”
SJP UTK Leaders - Spreading Hatred of Israel and Zionists
Stori Nuri — president of SJP UTK and a co-president of UTK MSA — tweeted on April 6, 2016: “Your daily reminder that Israel is a piece of s**t.”On April 7, 2015, SJP UTK member Mohamed Ali — who also ran for the position of UTK MSA Public Relations Head — tweeted — “I feel so incredibly irritable right now. No idea why...Just feel like kicking a Zionist tbh.”
SJP UTK Leader - Glorifying Anti-Semitic Terrorist Incitement
On October 16, 2015, Fatima Itmaizah, the vice president of SJP UTK, updated her Facebook profile picture to a graphic promoting violence against Jews. It suggested that Jewish presence on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is akin to a peel that needs to be cut way with a knife. The image depicted the Dome of the Rock, appearing as a fruit covered in blue skin, emblazoned with a star of David, a Jewish symbol. The picture showed the blue skin being cut and peeled away with a knife — blood dripping down the hand of the peeler as the blade stripped away the peel.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.
SJP UTK Members - Drawing Inspiration From Advocates of Genocide
On April, 21, 2016, SJP UTK member Ameen Abdel-Khalek retweeted a tweet by the anti-Semitic Islamist leader Yusuf al-Qaradawi.Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi is the president of the European Council for Fatwa and Research. The Wall Street Journal reported that the council has used the anti-Semitic Protocols of the Elders of Zion as a basis for some of its legal-theological deliberations.
In a January 9, 2009 sermon shown on Al-Jazeera, Qaradawi prayed: "O Allah, take this oppressive, tyrannical band of people. O Allah, take this oppressive, Jewish Zionist band of people. O Allah, do not spare a single one of them. O Allah, count their numbers, and kill them, down to the very last one."
On March 22, 2016, Abdel-Khalek retweeted a tweet from the Hamas info Twitter account — the official Twitter account of the terrorist organization that read — “When will Hamas give up its armed struggle? Watch this debate b/w Sheikh Yasin and a foreign reporter…”
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin has been described as the “mastermind of Palestinian terror” behind many suicide bombings against Israeli civilians on buses and in cafes during the second intifada. In January 2003, Yassin said in an interview: “Suicide attacks and jihad reinforce national unity in the ranks…Our voice is one of struggle, of jihad and of suicide…”
On September 10, 2015, Abdalla Husain — the Tayseer Seminary’s liaison to UTK MSA, and member of SJP UTK, tweeted — “I HAVE THE SAME BIRTHDAY AS YASSER ARAFAT!!!!!!!!!!! #PALESTINE #AAAYYWAAAAAAA I am very happy right now
Yasser Arafat was the former leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and is known by some as the “father of modern terrorism.” Arafat reportedly told Arab diplomats in a secret meeting in 1996: "We will make life unbearable for Jews by psychological warfare and population explosion. Jews will not want to live among Arabs. I have no use for Jews. They are and remain Jews."
SJP UTK Member- Comparing Israel to Nazis
On July 21, 2014, Abdalla Husain — the Tayseer Seminary’s liaison to UTK MSA, and member of SJP UTK, — who serves to link MSA with other community efforts in Knoxville — compared Israel to Nazis, tweeting — “Like father like son. Germany in the 30s and 40s is Israel now.”SJP UTK - Comparing Israel to Nazi Germany
On January 16, 2015, SJP UTK retweeted an anti-Semitic tweet that read “Zionism is Terrorism.” The tweet features a photo of a Jewish child held at gunpoint by a Nazi soldier during the Holocaust, next to a photo of a Palestinian child being arrested by the IDF. The caption on the photo read: “They Act Like NaZis, Because They WERE The NaZis.”“Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” is considered a contemporary manifestation of anti-Semitism as defined by the U.S. State Department.
SJP UTK - Hosting Anti-Israel Haters
On March 23, 2015, Sakalla promoted on Twitter an SJP UTK hosted talk by Reverend Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou, who falsely equated racial tensions in the United States with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.At the 2014 SJP National Conference at Tufts University, Reverend Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou invoked language of racial hatred, claiming that Palestinian Arabs and African Americans are part of a “global community of n**gers.” Sekou has also exploited the loaded racial term in the past to describe the LGBT community. At the conference, Sekou commanded Arab-Americans that “you must fundamentally reject any forms of white privilege that are given to you vis-a-vis the American empire.”
On October 25, 2015, SJP UTK hosted New York-based poet, Remi Kanazi. Kanazi tours widely presenting presenting aggressively anti-Israel poetry and spoken-word performances.
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.
As the North American branch of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center (Sabeel), FOSNA works to convince Christian churches of their spiritual duty to divest from Israel by teaching “Liberation theology,” which fuses Christian religious teachings with Palestinian national ideology.
The group has numerous branches and offers “witness trips” to the West Bank, as well as advocacy training.
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.
Twitter:https://twitter.com/ghazawiea [Deleted]
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/amira-sakalla-9146856a [Deleted]
_203x172_4YWdjo.jpg "Amira Sakalla")
- Status:
- Professional
- University:
- Tennessee-Knoxville
- Organizations:
- BDS,
- FOSNA,
- more...
- IAK,
- SJP
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- Ebad Hussain,
- Olivia Jones,
- Ahmad Ziadeh,
- Hesham Annamer,
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- Abdullah Bahour
- Last Modified:
- 06/23/2025
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