Aneesa Johnson

Overview

Aneesa Johnson has spread anti-Semitism and promoted hatred of Israel and America. Johnson was the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) events coordinator in 2016 for Northwestern University’s chapter of SJP, known as SJP Northwestern. She was also a member of the group in 2015.

Johnson participated in a Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign at Northwestern in 2015, run by SJP Northwestern activists.

As of August 2023, Johnson’s LinkedIn profile photo featured a banner that read: “#OPENTOWORK.” Her LinkedIn About section said: “Dedicated former school counselor…Seeking to leverage counseling expertise…”

Also as of August 2023, Johnson’s LinkedIn said she worked as a school counselor for the Fairfax County [VA] Public Schools (FCPS) from January 2022 to June 2023. In June 2023, Johnson had been listed as a school counselor at Bryant High School in Alexandria, Virginia.

In June 2023, Johnson had been listed by the Virginia Department of Education as holding a “Provisional License” to be a “School Counselor PreK-12,” valid until June 30, 2024. She went by the name “Aneesa Jamila Abdul-Fattaah Johnson.”

As of August 2023, Johnson’s LinkedIn said she graduated from Johns Hopkins University (JHU) with a master’s degree in counseling in December 2021. Her LinkedIn also said she graduated from Northwestern with a bachelor’s degree in communication and media studies in 2018. Johnson wrote on LinkedIn that she “Double majored in Radio/Television/Film and Middle East North Africa Studies.”

In September 2016, Northwestern University in Qatar (NU-Q) reported that Johnson spent a semester at NU-Q's campus in Doha, Qatar. In the NU-Q report, she went by “Aneesa Abdul-Fattaah Johnson.”

As of June 2023, Johnson was an author for the news and media website “PW Perspective,” promoted as “Virginia's Anti-Racist Voice.” PW is a reference to Prince William County, Virginia. She also co-hosted a weekly podcast called “PW Pulse” which premiered on March 9, 2021.

As of August 2023, Johnson’s LinkedIn said she was located in Woodbridge, Virginia.

Anti-Semitism

Johnson retweeted a July 14, 2015 tweet that included a picture of a scowling Orthodox Jewish boy wearing dental braces and eyeglasses, captioned: “When the world hates you bc you a thief and grew up looking like a shaytan [the devil] #GrowingUpIsraeli.”

On July 7, 2015, Johnson tweeted: “Ever since going to NU I have a deep seeded hate for Zio b**ches. They bring out the worst in me.”

The term "Zio" is a common derogatory reference to Zionists, as well as an often-used anti-Semitic slur among white supremacists.

Johnson also tweeted: “You know why I call them Zio b**ches, because they’re dogs.”

Hatred of Israel and America

On May 23, 2021, during Israel’s Operation Guardian of the Walls (OGW) against terrorists in Gaza, Johnson co-hosted an episode of PW Pulse titled: “What We’ve Learned about the Israeli-Palestine Conflict.”

Johnson said [00:06:51]: “The U.S. has been a staunch supporter of the State of Israel…and so, there is a sense of guilt, I think, that every American should carry when violence like this breaks out…”

In May 2021, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists fired over 4,300 rockets from Gaza at major population centers in Israel. Israel responded by launching OGW, carrying out targeted military strikes in Gaza.

In the same podcast, Johnson also accused Israel of [00:15:31] “indiscriminate bombing of civilian homes, of offices, of journalist offices” and alleged: “saying that we need to stand with Israel as a moral obligation really sounds contradictory to the situation because when the actions do not reflect morality, insisting that there is a moral obligation to stand with those actions creates a lot of tension for people.”

Johnson’s comment referred to a statement during OGW by one of Virginia’s U.S. Senators, Mark Warner, that read: “The U.S. has a moral obligation to stand with our ally Israel, and Israel has an unequivocal right to defend itself against rocket attacks.”

During Operation Guardian of the Walls (OGW), Israel employed targeted strikes on terrorist installations in Gaza, warning civilians in advance. Hamas is known to have placed military assets and an extensive attack tunnel network deliberately underneath and within civilian structures, such as schools, sinceat least 2014.

Johnson later said [00:19:42]: “Historically… the United States has not accepted criticism of the State of Israel… because of the really powerful Zionist lobby that advocates for policies, statements, voting patterns that benefit the State of Israel.”

The “Israel Lobby” is a conspiracy theory alleging Israeli and Jewish control over the U.S. government. Proponents of the theory decry the negative effects on American interests, particularly in foreign policy.

On June 6, 2021, Johnson co-hosted a PW Pulse podcast titled: “Discussing the Israeli-Palestine Fallout and Campaign Finance Reform.” In the podcast, she said [00:17:29]: “I think the next step… the U.S. will have to reduce its military contributions to Israel.” Johnson also accused [00:18:23] Israel of “war crimes” and promoted [00:19:05] anti-Israel U.S. Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar.

Representative Rashida Tlaib is connected to six Hamas-linked activists, all of whom served as fundraiser co-hosts for her successful 2018 congressional campaign. She has advocated for a one-state solution, endorsed the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and called for reduced foreign aid to Israel. In July 2019, Tlaib co-sponsored a pro-BDS bill in the U.S. Congress introduced by Representative Ilhan Omar.

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 July 23, 2021, Johnson co-hosted a PW Pulse podcast titled: “Except for Palestine,” during which she claimed [00:02:55]: “There are a couple of important points that people usually make about U.S. foreign policy as it relates to the State of Israel. The first is that, the U.S. implicitly has to support the State of Israel because both countries are settler-colonial nation-states… Europeans settled in what we call the United States today on the land of natives, displacing them, ethnically cleansing them, committing genocide against them and continually oppressing them…”

Johnson continued [00:03:50]: “…and in a near exact parallel… Jewish people from Europe primarily… settled in what is historic Palestine and displaced violently Palestinians in what we call ‘the Nakba’ in 1947…”

One way that anti-Israel activists spread anti-Semitism is by claiming that Israeli Jews have no connection to the Land of Israel.

The term “Nakba” is generally translated as “catastrophe” in Arabic, referring to the outcome of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It is a term often used to delegitimize the creation of the State of Israel by defining it as a catastrophe.

Johnson claimed [00:07:43] that political commentator Marc Lamont Hill lost his job for speaking about Israel and specifically for "calling for 'Free Palestine, from the River to the Sea.'" Johnson suggested [00:07:51] the phrase “free Palestine from the river to the sea” was merely “a saying said by Palestinians and supporters of Palestinians at protests, at celebrations, frequently...”

In November 2018, Hill was fired from his contributor position at CNN (Cable News Network) after he gave an anti-Israel speech at the United Nations. He called [00:20:47] for a “free Palestine from the river to the sea,” a phrase associated with demands to dismantle the State of Israel. Hill also accused [00:16:19] Israel of “ethnic cleansing,” as well as [00:17:49] “white supremacy” and [00:17:56] “settler colonialism.”

“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free” is a chant used [00:02:47] to call for the elimination of the State of Israel. It has also been employed by Hamas leader Khaled Mashal to call for the replacement of Israel with an Islamic state. In April 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning the chant as antisemitic.

On January 23, 2015, Johnson changed her Facebook profile picture to an image of a masked man wearing a keffiyeh and drawing back a slingshot, captioned: “Free the Land by Any Means Necessary.”

Anti-Israel Activism (BDS, SJP)

On February 18, 2015, Johnson spoke [03:40:30] at a meeting held by the Associated Student Government (ASG) at Northwestern to debate a BDS resolution sponsored by Northwestern Divest (NU Divest).

The resolution called on Northwestern to divest from six corporations that the sponsors claimed were “profiting off of the illegal occupation of Palestinian lands.”

NUDivest launched the campaign in January 2015 and it was run by SJP Northwestern activists.

On February 19, 2015, the Northwestern ASG passed NUDivest’s BDS resolution via secret ballot, with 24 in favor, 22 against and three abstentions.

BDS activists have used [00:11:05] secret ballots to eliminate [02:51:15] transparency from the voting process and avoid any accountability and public scrutiny for their anti-Israel initiatives on university campuses.

The same day, Johnson posted on Facebook a photo of herself at the hearing, celebrating the resolution's passage with fellow activists. She wrote in the post: NU Divest has passed. Alhamdulilah [Praise be to God]

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On February 22, 2015, Johnson posted on Facebook a YouTube video of the divestment hearing at which she spoke in favor of the BDS resolution. She wrote in the post: “I’m so proud of the amazing people that ran the #NUDivest campaign…”

On February 23, 2015, Johnson was listed as one of ten Northwestern Palestinian undergraduate students who co-authored a letter celebrating the ASG Senate’s passage of the BDS resolution.

In the letter, the authors called the passage of the BDS resolution “a victory” and wrote: “We aim to support our less privileged brethren in the greater struggle for liberation and uplift the suppressed Palestinian narrative wherever we may go...”

On May 9, 2015, Johnson promoted on Facebook “Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW)” at Northwestern, hosted by SJP Northwestern on campus from May 11-15, 2015.

Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) is presented as “an international series of events that seek to raise awareness of…Israel’s settler-colonial project and apartheid system over the Palestinian people” and build support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

On July 23, 2021, Johnson co-hosted a PW Pulse podcast in which she promoted [00:23:00] the BDS movement and the passage of a BDS resolution at Northwestern inMay 2021. The 2021 resolution was reportedly titled “Resolution Concerning the Response to the Israeli Occupation of Palestine,” and it called on Northwestern to divest from six companies that “aided Israel’s aggression toward Palestinians” during OGW, which was referred to as a “genocide” in an amendment.

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.

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.