Asha Binbek

Overview

Asha Binbek [Asha Johaan Binbek] co-sponsored a 2016 Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement initiative at the University of Illinois (UIC) in cooperation with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at UIC.

As of March 2021, Binbek’s LinkedIn page said that she was the “Deputy Press Secretary” at the Office of Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot in Chicago, Illinois since February 2021.

As of March 2021, Binbek’s resume on her website said she was a member of the Muslim Students Association (MSA).

Binbek’s LinkedIn indicated that she was the “Communications Coordinator, Associate Editor” at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) - Chicago from November 2017 – July 2019.

Binbek’s LinkedIn also said she was the “Director of Interpersonal Relations” at UIC’s Undergraduate Student Government (USG) from August 2015 - May 2017. Her resume indicated that she was a co-founder and a Student Advisory Board Member of UIC’s Arab American Cultural Center (AACC).

Binbek’s LinkedIn noted that she was a “Civic Engagement Fellow” at the UIC Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement from May 2016 – May 2017, and the Lead Student Ambassador at UIC from December 2013 - January 2016.

Binbek’s LinkedIn said that she received a master’s degree in Public Policy at the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago (UChicago) in 2020, and a bachelor’s degree in Communication and English from UIC in 2017.

Pushing BDS

In 2016, Binbek co-sponsored a divestment resolution at UIC and helped organize specifically anti-Israel divestment efforts.

In January 2016, SJP UIC launched UIC Divest, a campaign calling for UIC “to divest from companies that support the illegal occupation of Palestine such as G4S, Caterpillar, Hewlett Packard and Boeing.

In February 2016, SJP UIC united with 23 other student groups to co-sponsor a BDS resolution that proposed “divestment from companies profiting from human rights abuses and violations of international law in Palestine.”

On February 9, 2016, Binbeck co-hosted UIC Divest’s “Proposal for Divestment at USG Meeting,” along with fellow SJP UIC activist and fellow divestment co-sponsor Ahmad Albanna. The event invited students to join UIC Divest in proposing the resolution to the USG.

The event description stated: “In the coming two weeks (Feb 15th), UIC’s undergraduate student government assembly will vote on a resolution that urges the university to remove its investments from corporations involved in human rights violations. Specifically, these corporations profit from and directly contribute to human rights abuses perpetrated against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.”

The resolution’s exclusively anti-Israel wording was later modified due to efforts to blunt its original anti-Israel focus and called on UIC to divest from “companies actively engaged in human rights violations in Palestine, Syria, China, United States, US-Mexican border, and Chicago.”

On February 15, 2016, the modified resolution passed unanimously.

Later that day, SJP UIC’s press release stated: “While tonight’s divestment vote is an important step in the divestment movement, we recognize that this is just the beginning. We are committed to working towards urging the university to divest wholly from the Israeli occupation....”

In April 2016, SJP UIC celebrated on Facebook the resolution’s passing and suggested it called on “the university to remove all their investments in companies complicit in human rights violations of the Palestinian people and the occupation and colonization of Palestine!”

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.

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.