Bayan Abubakr

Overview

Bayan Abubakr co-authored and presented a Boycott, Divestment Sanctions (BDS) resolution to the Student Government Assembly (SGA) at New York University (NYU), in 2018.

In December 2018, Abubakr was reportedly a member of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at NYU (NYU SJP) and a student Senator-at Large for Muslim Students at NYU. She was also affiliated with Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) at NYU (NYU JVP).

As of July 2019, Abubakr’s LinkedIn page said she was a Ph.D. Candidate in History at Yale University. She is slated to graduate in 2025.

As of the same date, Abubakr’s LinkedIn page said she received her bachelor’s degree in History from NYU in 2019 and was involved with SJP and Muslim Students Association (MSA).

Abubakr was listed onNYU’s website as a College Leader for the 2018-2019 school year as well as a 2018 Gallatin Global Fellow at NYU.

Promoting BDS

On November 1, 2018, along with former NYU SJP co-activists Rose Asaf and Leen Dweik, Abubakr presented a BDS resolution they co-authored to the NYU SGA.

During her presentation of the BDS resolution to the SGA, Abubakr said [00:06:13]: “It is undeniable that NYU is actively invested in the perpetuation of violence against Palestinians.NYU’s investment in Caterpillar Incorporated, Lockheed Martin, and General Electric fund Israel’s illegal Occupation and its violation of human rights.NYU is complicit in these crimes…”

The following day, Abubakr was quoted in Mondoweiss saying: “‘I co-authored this resolution because...I want NYU to reckon with the fact that it profits off of the destruction of Palestinian livelihoods, communities, and homes.’”

The resolution, titled: “Resolution on the Human Rights of Palestinians,” demonized Israel as practicing apartheid and invoked the “three-fold” goals of the BDS movement, including “ending Israel’s occupation and colonization of all Arab lands.”

The resolution also listed claims of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the allegation that “Israeli air strikes also carried out ‘deliberate and premeditated’ attacks on civilian infrastructure... according to a UN report.”

Judge Richard Goldstone, who authored the referenced report in 2009 had expressed regrets about his report and publicly retracted its central thesis in 2011, writing: “If I had known then what I know now, the Goldstone Report would have been a different document.”

Prior to presenting the BDS resolution to the NYU SGA, Abubakr said of the BDS resolution in an October 12, 2018 interview with NYU’s student newspaper, Washington Square News: “We know this is a contentious issue and we know this is a polarizing issue, but we want it to be polarizing.”

The BDS measure was reportedly passed by the SGA on December 6, 2018, via a secret ballot.

On April 23, 2018, NYU JVP posted to Facebook a video Abubakr, interviewing on Al-Jazeera “speaking about our BDS campaign!”

Abubakr’s interview [00:06:49] on Al-Jazeera was about 50 student groups who worked together on BDS at NYU. In the video Abubakr, speaking in Arabic, said that the student groups were fighting normalization between NYU and Israel.

Abubakr also said in the video that Zionism was still perceived as legitimate at NYU and lamented the Israeli narrative connecting Palestinians to terror.

Anti-Israel Activism

In an October 12, 2018 interview with the NYU student newspaper, Washington Square News, Abubakar expressed support for an anti-Israel resolution passed by NYU’s SGA on March 30, 2018.

The anti-Israel resolution called on NYU to be more transparent in its protection of students traveling to the Tel Aviv campus. The measure was reportedly criticized from student groups on campus for singling out Israel and heightening the potential for the creation of a hostile environment for Jewish students on campus.

In the article, Abubakar was quoted as saying the resolution was focused on “making the university acknowledge that Tel-Aviv is an inherently discriminatory campus” toward Muslim and Palestinian students.

Abubakr indicated on Facebook that she “went” to a February 5, 2018 event hosted by NYU JVP and NYU SJP, titled: “SJP JVP Semester Kickoff:Free Palestinian Prisoners.”

The Facebook event description said: “Come learn about Palestine solidarity work at NYU with Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace...We'll be discussing the conflict and write letters to Ahed Tamimi and other unjustly incarcerated Palestinian children.”

Ahed Tamimi has a long history of physically attacking Israeli soldiers. Tamimi is the daughter of Bassem Tamimi, who is known for exploiting young children as political props in staged confrontations with Israeli soldiers.

NYU SJP Support for Anti-Israel Agitators

On March 13, 2019, NYU SJP posted to Facebook an image from a petition calling to “Disinvite Linda Sarsour” and wrote: “This is just a list of Islamophobes. As always, solidarity with Linda Sarsour!”

Anti-Israel agitator Linda Sarsour frequently uses the word “Zionist” as a pejorative and has tweeted that “nothing is creepier than Zionism.” She has aligned with noted anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan, dismissed [00:07:45] those who see her alignment with Farrakhan as problematic and slammed the “Jewish Media” for calling attention to it.

On July 26, 2018, NYU SJP posted to Facebook a statement supporting Ahed Tamimi’s release from Israeli prison.

NYU SJP 2018 Divestment Campaign

On November 1, 2018, members of NYU SJP presented a divestment bill to the NYU Student Government Association (SGA), to further the agenda of the Boycott, Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement.

The resolution was co-authored by then-student senators and members of SJP, Rose Asaf, Leen Dweik and then-student senator Bayan Abubakr, who was reportedly a member ofNYU SJP.

The resolution demonized Israel, invoked the “threefold” goals of the BDS movement and was passed by the SGA on December 6, 2018, using a secret ballot. NYU’s administration opposed the BDS resolution.

NYU’s then-President Andrew Hamilton said: “‘A boycott of Israeli academics and institutions is contrary to our core principles of academic freedom, antithetical to the free exchange of ideas, and at odds with the University's position on this matter...and divestment from Israeli-related investments is not under consideration.’”

NYU SJP Promoting BDS

On April 15, 2019, NYU SJP hosted an event featuring a panel that included Omar Barghouti. The panel was moderated by Leen Dweik, then-President of NYU SJP.

Barghouti, the founder of the BDS movement, has claimed [00:04:28] that international law grants everyone with Palestinian ancestry the unqualified right to settle in Israel. Barghouti has also insisted [01:18:21]that the demands of BDS are “inflexible” and “non-negotiable,” and if people object, then “tough.”

A day later, NYU SJP posted the video from the event on Facebook and wrote: “Omar Barghouti just called NYU student capitol of the BDS movement of the world!!! We are WINNING!”

On November 19, 2018, NYU SJP wrote on Facebook: “When we fight, we win.BDS works” and attached an article in the post reporting the decision by Airbnb Inc. to remove listings in Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

On October 24. 2018, NYU SJP hosted a panel about BDS where anti-Israel Professor Jasbir Puar was listed among the panel of speakers. Puar is on the Advisory Board of the U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI) and applauded the American Studies Association (ASA)’s move for an Academic Boycott of Israeli universities.

NYU SJP hosted NYU Israel Apartheid Week (IAW) 2018, from April 15-21, 2018. The Facebook event description said: “IAW will be an opportunity to reflect on this history of resistance and further advance BDS campaigns for the continued growth and impact of the movement.”

On April 9, 2018, NYU SJP posted to Facebook: “We are proud to announce a coalition of 50 NYU student groups who have pledged to support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement for Palestinian human rights by pledging not to spend NYU club funds on Israeli goods, to boycott pro-Israel groups at NYU and off campus, and to call on NYU to divest from companies that profit off the violation of Palestinian human rights.

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.

JVP

JVP was founded in Berkeley, California in 1996, as an activist group with an emphasis on the “Jewish tradition” of peace, social justice and human rights. The organization is currently led by Rebecca Vilkomerson and its board members include Israel critics Naomi Klein, Judith Butler, Noam Chomsky and Tony Kushner.

JVP, which generally employs civil disobedience tactics to disrupt pro-Israel speakers and events, consists of American Jews and non-Jewish “allies” highly critical of Israeli policies. A staunch supporter of the BDS movement, JVP claims to aim its campaigns at companies that either support the Israeli military (Hewlett-Packard) or are active in the West Bank (SodaStream).

Although several Jewish groups critical of Israeli policies, like J Street and Partners for a Progressive Israel, make efforts to operate within the mainstream American Jewish community, JVP functions outside. The group is often criticized for serving as a tokenized Jewish voice for the pro-Palestinian camp and is widely regarded as the BDS movement’s “Jewish wing.”

JVP denies the notion of “Jewish peoplehood” and has even gone so far as to refer to its own Ashkenazi (Jews who spent the Diaspora in European countries) leadership as “white supremacy inside of JVP.”

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has accused JVP of being “the largest and most influential Jewish anti-Zionist group in the United States,” and said the group “exploits Jewish culture and rituals to reassure its own supporters that opposition to Israel not only does not contradict, but is actually consistent with, Jewish value.”

The ADL also claimed that “JVP consistently co-sponsors rallies to oppose Israeli military policy that are marked by signs and slogans comparing Israel to Nazi Germany, demonizing Jews and voicing support for groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.”

According to the ADL website, JVP “uses its Jewish identity to shield the anti-Israel movement from allegations of anti-Semitism and provide it with a greater degree of legitimacy and credibility.”

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.