Ani Der Grigorian

Overview

Ani Der Grigorian has promoted the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where she was the outreach co-director of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) from 2015-2016, and a member since 2014.

In September 2018, Der Grigorian’s Facebook said she “studies” at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and that she “studied” at UCLA. A June 2016 Facebook post indicated that Der Grigorian graduated from UCLA in 2016.

As of October 2018, Der Grigorian’s Facebook said that she "studied at SOAS University of London."

In October 2015, Der Grigorian was reportedly a “fourth-year anthropology and international development studies student” at UCLA.

BDS Activism

In 2014, Der Grigorian promoted SJP at UCLA’s divestment resolution titled: “A Resolution to Divest from Companies Engaged in Violence against Palestinians.”

The resolution called on UCLA and the University of California Board of Regents to divest from a list of companies allegedly tied to violence against Palestinians.

On February 26, 2014, prior to UCLA Undergraduate Students Association Council (USAC)’s vote on the Divestment initiative, Der Grigorian tweeted: “‘Any student calling for ‘humanity’ without urging for divestment from ruthless companies is unaware of the word ‘irony’’ #UCLADivest.”

On February 26, 2014, during the vote, Der Grigorian tweeted: “Why am I still awake? Oh right #uclaDivest.”

After the divestment vote failed to pass, Der Grigorian tweeted: “Congrats USAC, you f**k up. So disappointed. #UCLAdivest.”

In November 2014, UCLA SJP launched another divestment resolution at UCLA, which passed.

On November 9, 2014, Der Grigorian changed her Facebook profile picture to a UCLA Divest poster, commenting: “I'm #DTD -Down to Divest.”

On November 18, 2014, Der Grigorian tweeted: “On Tuesdays we divest. #UCLADivest.”

On November 20, 2014, Der Grigorian was tagged in a Facebook photo as a Divest organizer by SJP at UCLA activist Aaliyah Kahn. In her post, Kahn thanked “everyone who helped work on this resolution to divest from companies that profit off the violations of Palestinian human rights.”

SJP Activism

On May 2, 2016, Der Grigorian featured in a SJP at UCLA recruitment photo along with other outgoing board members, posted on Facebook. SJP at UCLA’s post encouraged students to apply for SJP at UCLA board membership positions for the 2016-2017 academic year.

On October 14, 2015, during the “Knife Intifada,” SJP at UCLA held a demonstration and “die-in,” one day after Palestinian terrorists, in multiple attacks, killed three Israelis and wounded more than 20.

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.

On October 15, 2015, Der Grigorian defended the SJP at UCLA demonstration in UCLA’s student newspaper the Daily Bruin, claiming “There are children dying because they’re living under occupation (by Israeli military forces)” and that “the event humanizes what’s going on (in Palestine).”

On October 29, 2015, SJP at UCLA shared on their website an October 23, 2015 submission published six days prior in the Daily Bruin, titled “Palestinians are dying too.”

The submission, written by Shawndeez Davari Jadalizadeh, accused another article in the Daily Bruin of taking part in an attempt “to erase Palestinian life” by failing to mention the names of Palestinians killed during the Knife Intifada.

The submission then listed a number of terrorists, characterized as“Palestinians killed by Israelis... since Oct. 1, the beginning of the third intifada.” The list included: Mohannad Halabi, Fadi Alloun, Amjad Hatem al-Jundi, Bassem Bassam Sidr, Hassan Khalid Manasra, Fadel al-Qawasmi and Mohamed Nathmie Shamassnah.

In October 2015, Halabi murdered two Israelis and injured two others, including a 2-year-old, during a stabbing spree. One day earlier, Halabi posted on his Facebook page that "the [t]he third Intifada is here" and wrote "[w]ake up from your slumber and save al-Aqsa. Let the revolution erupt."

Fadi Aloon was shot by Israeli security forces after he stabbed a 15-year-old Israeli boy. Several hours before the attack, Aloon posted “Either martyrdom or victory” on his Facebook page.

Amjad Al-Jundi stabbed an Israeli soldier on October 7, 2015. He then took the soldier’s rifle and ran to a nearby apartment building where he tried to shoot and stab a local woman in her home. Police responded and killed Al-Jundi during a shootout that transpired.

Basel Bessam Sidr was shot while attempting to stab Israeli police officers in Jerusalem. Fadil Qawasmi was shot after attempting to staban Israeli policeman and a civilian in Hebron.

Hassan Manasra was shot on October 12, 2015, while he and his 13-year-old cousin Ahmed were engaged in a stabbing spree in Jerusalem, critically wounding a 13-year-old Israeli boy and moderately wounding a 25-year-old man.

Fadil Qawasmi was shot after attempting to staban Israeli policeman and a civilian in Hebron.

Mohammad Nathmie Shamasna was shot after he stabbed a 19-year-old Israeli soldier and unsuccessfully tried to grab his gun.

During an interview with the Lebanese Al-Quds TV channel following the attack, Shamasna’s mother said the family was proud of her son, who was “martyred for the sake of Al-Aqsa,” and then pulled out a knife concealed beneath her clothes and said, while making stabbing motions: “Watch out, Israel! Watch out!”

SJP at UCLA - Anti-Semitism

In February 2015, four SJP at UCLA activists and council senators with the Undergraduate Students Association (USA) were involved in a widely publicized anti-Semitic incident.

Sofia Moreno Haq, Negeen Sadeghi-Movahed, Manjot Singh and Fabienne Roth were responsible for preventing Rachel Beyda from joining the Undergraduate Students Association Council (USAC) judicial board, because she belonged to Jewish organizations.

Beyda’s position on the Judicial Board was later confirmed at a re-vote and the four objecting counselors submitted a formal apology to Beyda and the Jewish community.

SJP at UCLA - Intimidation

n 2016, SJP at UCLA reportedly harassed and intimidated Milan Chaterjee, the former president of UCLA’s Graduate Student Association (GSA), to such an extent that he stepped down from his student government position and left UCLA.

In November 2015, Chaterjee attempted to block an effort by SJP at UCLA to use school funds to promote the BDS movement during a diversity caucus Town hall event, in accordance with a policy requiring viewpoint neutrality.

Chaterjee said that, as a result, he was "relentlessly attacked, bullied, and harassed by BDS-affiliated organizations and students" for months.

In April 2014, SJP at UCLA members submitted a petition to USAC’s judicial board against two former undergraduate student government council members who participated in trips to Israel that were sponsored by pro-Israel Jewish organizations.

SJP at UCLA alleged that the council members committed “conflict of interest violations” by participating in the sponsored trips and should have abstained from voting on a February 2014 BDS resolution. SJP at UCLA also argued the council members’ votes on the divestment resolution should have been disqualified.

Although the ballot on the divestment resolution was secret, it was assumed that the two council members voted against the resolution because they both spoke against the resolution during discussions prior to the vote.

The student judicial board later ruled that the trips taken by the council members did not constitute a conflict of interest.

SJP UCLA - BDS Activism

In December 2013, SJP at UCLA launched its first divestment campaign, drafting a resolution calling on the UC Regents to pull funding from five companies doing business with Israel, including Caterpillar, Cemex, Cement Roadstone Holdings (CRH), General Electric (GE), and Hewlett-Packard (HP).

The February 2014 debate lasted over ten hours and went until six in the morning the following day. The resolution was ultimately voted down.

In November 2014, SJP UCLA again pushed a divestment resolution “calling on the Regents to divest from companies that enable and profit from violations of Palestinian rights.”

The resolution claimed that the same five companies “provided weapons used” by Israel “in attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip,” and that investment in these companies “shows implicit support” for “the killings of civilians.”

On November 18, 2014, the undergraduate student government adopted the divestment resolution with a vote of 8-2-2.

In February 2015, SJP UCLA pushed BDS beyond the UCLA campus by promoting a divestment resolution to the UC Student Association (UCSA). The resolution also called on the UC Regents to divest from American-based corporations that “violate Palestinian human rights.”

The UCSA Board of Directors passed the resolution by a 9-1-5 vote.

SJP UCLA also used their 2014 Palestine Awareness Week (PAW) to promote divestment, erecting a “mock apartheid wall” and hosting a screening and discussion of the film “Roadmap to Apartheid,” a film that compared Israel to apartheid in South Africa.

Palestine Awareness Week (PAW) is a re-branding for American audiences of Israel Apartheid Week (IAW), originally 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.

SJP at UCLA - Hosting Israel Haters

On January 28, 2016, SJP at UCLA hosted anti-Israel Professors Ahlam Muthaseb and Sa'ed Atshan.

Muhtaseb regularly uses her Facebook and Twitter to demonize Israel, whitewash Palestinian terrorism and collaborate with fellow anti-Israel activists. Atshan has praised inciters of violence as well as Sheikh Omar Suleiman who, in 2014, called on Twitter for a “Third Intifada” to destroy Israel.

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.