Bassil Kublaoui

Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S., Canada, European Union, Israel and other countries. Founded in 1987, it has killed thousands of Israeli civilians through mass shootings and suicide bombings. Hamas has also kidnapped children, families and the elderly and held them hostage in Gaza. It has desecrated [slide 7] dead bodies and launched numerous rocket attacks against Israeli civilians. 

Kublaoui also spread hatred of Israel as a spokesperson for Penn Faculty for Justice in Palestine (PFJP).PFJP is one of eighty chapters of the national Faculty for Justice in Palestine, formed after the October 7, 2023 terror attacks where Hamas murdered approximately 1,200 Israelis, kidnapped hundreds and injured thousands.

On January 18, 2024, PFJP announced in a statement its formation as “a collective” of UPenn “faculty, lecturers, staff, and graduate employees” who “have constituted ourselves in solidarity with the ongoing and ever-urgent struggles of Palestinians resisting occupation, warfare, and displacement.”

October 16, 2023 - Speaking at Pro-Hamas Rally

On October 16, 2023, Kublaoui spoke at a rally in support of Hamas terror atrocities. The rally was held at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) and titled: “Collective Walkout for Palestine.”

On October 16, 2023, Penn professors and students staged a “walkout” in support of a Hamas invasion of Israel earlier that month, where Hamas murdered approximately 1,200 people and executed war crimes against civilians. One professor led [00:00:03] the chant: “When people are occupied, resistance is justified!” Palestinians and anti-Israel activists often use the term “resistance” as a euphemism for nationalistic terror and to glorify anti-Semitic violence.

Another professor claimed [00:00:07] Israel “desecrates the memory of the Nazi Holocaust” and “humiliates every Jewish person.” At least one speaker accused [00:00:48] Israel of “genocide.” Penn Against the Occupation (PAO) organized the protest, titled: “Collective Walkout for Palestine,” where participants walked out of classes to the rally on campus. The protest aimed to “protest the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza and stand in solidarity with Palestine.”

January 29, 2024 - Participating at Anti-Israel “Die-In” and Vigil at Penn

On January 29, 2024, Kublaoui reportedly participated in a “die-in” and vigil on the steps of Penn’s main administration building, blocking the entrance. PFJP organized the disruption.

In an article published in the Philadelphia Inquirer on the day of the “die-in”, Kublaoui told the Philadelphia Inquirer that “critics have conflated anti-Zionism with antisemitism” and that “Criticism of a foreign state that is committing genocide is not antisemitism.”

Some participants held a banner that read: “Gazans murdered by Israel since 10/7/23” and others held signs that said: “Penn faculty against genocide.”

Biographical Information

As of February 2024, Kublaoui, who also goes by Bassil Mazen Kublaoui, was listed as an Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics specializing in Endocrinology and Diabetes at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn). Penn is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

As of February 2024, Kublaoui waslisted online as an endocrinologist, Director of the Diabetes Consultation Service, and Director of the Pediatric Endocrinology Fellowship Program at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). 

Kublaoui received a PhD in biochemistry and a Doctor of Medicine degree at the Boston University School of Medicine (BU Medical) in 1997.

Also as of February 2024, Kublaoui was listed as a board member of KinderUSA since 2008.

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.

Social Media and Weblinks

University Website:https://www.med.upenn.edu/apps/faculty/index.php/g275/p8383604

Childrens’ Hospital of Philadelphia:https://www.chop.edu/doctors/kublaoui-bassil-m

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/bassil-kublaoui-1795617/

YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@bassilkublaoui2276