Benjamin Ladraa
Overview
Benjamin Ladraa has defended terrorists, promoted the violent March of Return, demonized Israel and advocated for anti-Israel agitators.In 2017-2018, Ladraa undertook a solo “walk for Palestine” to spread the demonization of Israel. On January 18, 2019 Ladraa indicated on Facebook that he would be leading a mass walk to Palestine later that summer.
Ladraa also conducted an international anti-Israel speaking tour.
Ladraa attended the 2018 National Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) Conference.
Ladraa is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign and an affiliate of American Muslims for Palestine (AMP).
Ladraa reportedly began undergraduate studies in music, then shifted to a Global Studies, but did not graduate.
As of February 2019, Ladraa said he is a “Human Rights Activist,” based in Sweden.
Defending Terrorists
On May 26, 2017, Ladraa was the spokesperson and co-organizer for the event: “Hunger strike in solidarity with Palestine.”
On May, 29, 2017, Ladraa was featured in a photo with other protestors, along with posters of hunger-striking terrorists Marwan Barghouti and Ahmad Saadat.
Ahmad Sa’adat is the Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). He is currently sentenced for terror activities, including his role in the 2001 assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze’evi and is in an Israeli prison. Under Sa’adat’s leadership, the PFLP perpetrated many suicide bombings against Israeli civilians during the second intifada.
Promoting the Violent March of Return
On April 18, 2018, Ladraa posted to Facebook: “Israel is shooting children with snipers at the border. They are deliberately targeting demonstrators that are posing no threat to anyone. The soliders have received orders to shoot and they are shooting innocent people including children.”
Ladraa said: “We need to demand of our countries to implement millitary embargos, economic sanctions, diplomatic sanctions.”
On April 21, 2018, Ladraa posted on Facebook: “That Israel continues to shoot and kill children shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.”
On May 11, 2018, Ladraa posted a video calling on his Facebook followers to “show solidarity with the Palestinian people.” Ladraa wrote that that the demonstrators “will risk their lives and some of them will be shot and killed by Israeli snipers when they try and brake[sic.] out of their prison.”
On May 14, 2018, Ladraa posted on Instagram: “We are witnessing a massacre and our leaders are silent.”
On May 16, 2018, a Hamas senior official stated that 50 out of 62 protesters killed during a May 14 protest were Hamas operatives. Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) also claimed that three of its members were killed at the same protest.
On May 15, 2018, Ladraa posted to Facebook: “When Israel commits yet another act of terror against innocent civilians including women and children it is time we demand of our governments to take action.” Ladraa’s post included a list of “concrete things we can demand that our governments do.”
On August 14, 2018, Ladraa posted to Facebook “The people have been protesting the occupation since the 30th of march and Israel has shot and killed over 150 people and wounded over 15.000. The killing of unarmed protestors, medics, journalists and children has to end now and the people that commited these crimes held accountable.”
On October 6, 2018, Ladraa posted to Facebook: “Israel has deployed snipers...it is deliberately targeting children.”
On October 27, 2018, Ladraa posted to Facebook: “...the Israeli snipers keeping the population of Gaza locked up in the worlds biggest open air prison”
Demonizing Israel
On October 1, 2018, Ladraa posted to Facebook a photo of himself with Eran Efrati, former researcher with Breaking the Silence (BtS) and board member of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). In the photo Efrati can be seen holding a booklet about JVP’s “Deadly Exchange” campaign.
In July 2016, Breaking the Silence (BTS) was discredited by Israel’s investigative Channel 10 TV show, HaMakor (The Source). HaMakor presented a report revealing that a substantial number of BTS testimonies are untrue or distorted.
In 2017, JVP launched the “Deadly Exchange (DX)” campaign, which accused American Jewish organizations of promoting human rights abuses. JVP also released a video that blamed [00:04:04] U.S.-based Jewish organizations for violence that occurs against Black and Brown communities, immigrants and activists in the U.S.
On July 23, 2018, Ladraa wrote on Facebook that “my friend who was on the Mavi Marmara...witnessed first hand...Israel prevented 10.000tons of humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza and shot and killed 10 international activists.”
The Mavi Marmara was the lead ship in the “Freedom Flotilla” that attempted to sail to Gaza in May 2010. Activists aboard the ship agitated for violent confrontation and chanted a slogan glorifying the killing of Jews. When Israeli security forces boarded the Marmara, protesters attacked them with iron bars, metal chairs, knives, stun grenades and firearms, rocks and bottles. A United Nations report found that the flotilla agitators initiated an organized, violent confrontation with Israeli forces, and that the Marmara was carrying no humanitarian aid, only weaponry.
On June 27, 2018, Lebanese newspaper An Nahar published an interview with Ladraa where he reportedly said: “They [Israelis] can just execute Palestinians because they dislike them.”
On May 1 2018, Ladraa gave a short video interview to Turkey-based news site TRT World, where he claimed [00:00:27] “In Palestine, you have segregated streets with one half for Jewish people and one half for Palestinian people.”
Ladraa also labelled [00:01:53] Israel an “apartheid” state, and [00:01:03] “where close to a million Palestinians were ethnically cleansed from Palestine... That’s why people went to Gaza and now Gaza is the world’s biggest open-air prison.”
On October 17, 2017, Ladraa wrote on Facebook: “The Israeli occupation is the monster that likes to live in the dark and shuns the light of transparency.”
On October 14, 2017, Ladraa posted to Instagram: “The czech republic is proud of having delivered weapons that were used to ethnically cleanse Palestinians in 1948. Despicable.
#walktopalestine.”
On August 13, 2017, Ladraa posted [00:00:17] on Facebook a short video of a photo exhibition he organized. Ladraa said [00:00:00]: “this is from the invasion of Gaza,the Gaza massacre 2014.”
Israel commenced Operation Protective Edge (OPE) in July 2014, to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.
On July 19, 2017, Ladraa promoted on Facebook the anti-Israel event: “Protest against the closing of the Al-Aqsa Mosque” to Facebook. The event’s Facebook description said: “Israel has stolen land and occupied Palestine since 1948 and violates international law, UN resolutions and human rights daily.”
Ladraa said: “Israel kränker religionsfriheten i Jersualem Jalla alla, kom till gustad adolfs torg på lördag kl 13 och visa ert stöd! [Israel violates religious freedom in Jerusalem...come to Gustad Adolf Square on Saturday at 13 pm and show your support!].”
On January 10, 2018, Ladraa posted to Instagram a photo of himself “Talking about Palestine.” Projected behind him were series of misleading maps of Israel, titled “Palestinian Loss of Land 1946-2010,” also known as the “Map that Lies.”
The maps claim that lands once controlled by Britain, Egypt and Jordan as autonomous “Palestinian land” were purportedly stolen by Israel. In February 2016, publisher McGraw-Hill Education recalled copies of a college textbook containing the fraudulent maps. In October 2015, American cable news network MSNBC apologized for airing a similar series of maps and retracted them.
On March 29, 2018, Ladraa posted to Instagram a photo of himself giving a “Lecture at a university in İstanbul!” with the series of misleading maps known as the “Map that Lies” projected behind him.
Advocating for Anti-Israel Agitators
On November 30, 2018, Ladraa posted on Facebook: “Marc Lamont Hill just got fired from CNN for speaking for human rights in Palestine. CNN fired him because of the pressure from Israeli advocacy groups who incite, smear and spread lies about anyone daring to stand up for human rights and demanding justice in Palestine.”
Ladraa continued: “Sign this Petition demanding that CNN reinstate him.”
During the meeting, Hill reportedly whitewashed Palestinian violence and accused Israel of “state violence and ethnic cleansing.” He also called for a “free Palestine from the river to the sea.”
In September 2018, during a U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) conference, Hill insinuated [00:31:01] that Israel poisons Palestinian water and seemingly approved [00:30:34] of violence against Israelis.
On November 24, 2018, Ladraa posted to Facebook a photo of himself with anti-Israel professor and BDS leader Ilan Pappé and wrote: “Had the absolut pleasure of meeting the incredible Ilan Pape at the AMP conference In Chicago...He...wrote what is now an essential book on Palestine called ‘the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.’”
On July 10, 2018, CODEPINK published on its Facebook page an interview Ladraa gave to Ariel Gold of CODEPINK where he said [00:05:31] “of course I want to meet them [the Tamimi family], they are so brave, they are true heroes and Jana Jihad [Ayyad] also, I really want to meet her.”
The village of Nabi Saleh is a Tamimi family stronghold. It is notorious as a place where photographers gather nearly every Friday to document scenes of Palestinian residents and international activists clashing with Israeli soldiers. Much of this is instigated by the Nabi Saleh Tamimi clan.
Janna Jihad Ayyad Al-Tamimi, also known as Janna Jihad, is an anti-Israel youth activist. She is a relative of Palestinian propagandist Bassem Tamimi, who is notorious for exploiting young children as political props by manufacturing confrontations with Israeli soldiers who respond to the riots that Tamimi organizes.
On May 21, 2018, Ladraa wrote on Instagram: “If you haven't heard of David Sheen yet I really recommend you to look him up. He is an Israeli/Canadian journalist that talks about topics that I haven't heard anyone else talk about.”
David Sheen is an anti-Israel activist and filmmaker who works to portray Israel as an extremist racist state. To this end, Sheen has been accused of purposefully mistranslating Hebrew articles and other media to make Israelis appear racist.
On March 8, 2018, Ladraa wrote on Facebook: “In Palestine the occupation is preventing the realization of womens rights due to its inherently violent and discriminatory nature” and shared a photo of Ahed Tamimi that said: “The revolution is female, Free Ahed Tamimi and all Palestinian political prisoners.”
On March 11, 2018, Ladraa shared a photo on Facebook that said: “Free Ahed Tamimi…” Ladraa wrote: “#walktopalestine #freeahedtamimi.”
On January 30, 2018, Ladraa led a demonstration in support of Ahed Tamimi.
On January 12, 2018, Ladraa posted to Instagram: “#freeahedtamimi #endchildimprisonment #walktopalestine” and shared a photo of himself holding a sign that said: “#freeAhedTamimi, Benjamin Ladraa, Sweden, Gothenburg.”
On November 8, 2017, Ladraa shared a lecture by David Sheen on his Facebook page and said: “This lecture reveals how deep racism, white supremacy and sexism is rooted in Israeli society. If you don't know about the lynchings of black people, the religious authorities that are talking about killing babies and the concentration camps in Israel I recommend this lecture.”
“Walk to Palestine”
From August 2017 to July 2018, Ladraa walked “from Sweden across Europe all the way to Palestine to raise awareness of the Israeli occupation of Palestine.””
On February 1, 2018, Ladraa wrote on Facebook: “Today I spoke to the Serbian national TV and a big radio station about Israels human rights abuses and crimes against the Palestinian people. Tonight I'll do a lecture about the same topic before walking to the capital. “
On March 17, 2018, Ladraa was interviewed by anti-Israel activist Robert Martin about his walk to raise awareness [00:19:28] about Israeli “human rights abuses and the crimes against humanity.”
Ladraa said [00:08:01] “when you meet someone in the street, you say like, There are Palestinian children in prison, they are being tortured, their houses are being destroyed, they are being ethnically cleansed.”
In a June 27, 2018 article about his walk to Palestine, Ladraa reportedly discussed taking part in a walking tour with Youth Against Settlements (YAS), an anti-Israel NGO based in Hebron, in 2016.
On July 6, 2018, Ladraa was reportedly refused entry into Israel for lying to Israeli officials at the Allenby crossing on Israel’s border with Jordan.
That same day, Ladraa wrote on Instagram: “They only gave two reasons for denying me entry, one was that they thought I was lying during the interrogation and the other was that they thought I would go to Nabi Saleh and make a demonstration”
On July 7, 2018, Ladraa reportedly said in a press conference at the Jordanian Professional Association in Amman: “that he would continue to reveal the human rights violations committed by the Zionist occupation against the Palestinian people and the apartheid regime.”
On January 18, 2019, Ladraa said [00:02:49] in a video on Facebook: “there’s another walk for Palestine coming up, this time with a lot of people, and the project is called ‘humanity for Palestine.’”
Ladraa also created a website “Humanity For Palestine” which said: “We start walking Summer 2019, Sign up as a volunteer” and “Join the biggest solidarity March for Palestine -walk with us, organise marches in your country or help with logistics, events and more.”
As of April 2019, Ladraa’s Instagram account was named “walktopalestine” and documented the walk and his speaking engagements.
Anti-Israel Activism
September 2018 - April 2019, Ladraa conducted an anti-Israel speaking tour in the US, Canada and the UK, that spread hatred and demonization of Israel.On December 8, 2018, Ladraa promoted on his Facebook page the AMP event: “Palestine Advocacy Day Training 2019.”
The event’s Facebook description said: “The event is open to all who seek justice in Palestine and agree to the following principles: 1) Israel's occupation must end 2) The right of return for Palestinian refugees 3) Equal Rights for all Palestinians 4) Supporting the Call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions.”
On November 5, 2018, Ladraa said on Facebook: “Today I did three talks at the AMP conference in chigaco [sic].”
On October 13, 2018, Ladraa spoke at an Al-Awda event about his walk to Palestine.
On October 1, 2018, Ladraa wrote on Facebook: “Today is the last day of the US campaign for Palestinian Rights. It's been three overwhelming days with lots of great lectures, panels and meetings.”
On September 8, 2018, Ladraa posted a photo of himself with Gold to Facebook and wrote: “Today me and Ariel Gold...went to the senate to ask the senator Jeanne Shaheen to stop taking money from the Israeli war company Elbeit systems...that money is complicit in war crimes…#walktopalestine.”
On September 7 2018, Ladraa wrote on Facebook: “Me and Ariel Gold from CODEPINK: Women For Peace just visited senators Jeanne Shaheen to ask her to stop taking money from elbeit systems, an Israeli weapons company” and shared a live video of him and Gold outside Shaheen’s office.
On October 11, 2018, Ladraa spoke at the University of South Florida (USF)’s SJP chapter, as part of the US leg of his speaking tour.
During his talk, Ladraa claimed [00:47:20] that during OPE in 2014, Israel dropped white phosphorus on Palestinian schools in Gaza and accused [00:04:05] Israel of ethnically cleansing 75% of the Palestinian population in 1948.
Attending the 2018 National SJP Conference
On November 18, 2018, Ladraa posted to Facebook that he attended the 2018 National SJP conference, adding “it's truly inspiring being around so many activists” who are “working towards ending the illegal occupation of Palestine.”
2018 National SJP - Celebrating Violence
Since the early 2000’s, the term “intifada” has carried the connotation of violence. The second intifada was characterized by more than 120 suicide bombings targeting Israeli civilians on buses and in cafes.
Anti-Israel activist Omar Zahzah also reportedly [00:00:07] led National SJP attendees in chanting, in Arabic, “With our bodies and our blood, we will free Palestine.”
As of November 2018, the 2018 National SJP website glorified “radical hope and upfront defiance of Zionism,” citing as examples the “early revolts through the Intifadas to the Great Return March.”
The Great Return March of 2018 was organized and funded by the terror group Hamas as a campaign of violent protests along Israel’s border to spotlight the demand of Palestinians to “return” to Israel.
Tens of thousands of rioters gathered on Israel’s Gaza border, attempting numerous breaches of Israel’s border fence, with leaders andparticipants declaring their intention to harm Jews.
National SJP originally promoted a conference logo featuring a keffiyeh-wearing bear, looking toward a kite bearing the colors of the Palestinian flag.
On October 27, 2018, National SJP said the kite signified “the power in the Gaza March of Return.”
Since March 2018, March of Return participants and Hamas’s “Kite Unit” have sent hundreds of kites bearing incendiary devices and IEDs (improvised explosive devices) across the border into Israel to terrorize Israelis. The kites are often marked with swastikas.
By the time National SJP produced its 2018 conference logo highlighting the kites in October 2018, Gazan terror kites and balloons had ignited more than 1,300 fires in Israel, over seven months.
2018 National SJP - Undermining U.S. Support for Israel
On November 18, 2018, the US Palestine Community Network (USPCN) posted on Facebook the 2018 National SJP keynote speech by Hatem Abudayyeh, USPCN’s co-founder.Abudayyeh has supported [00:08:45] convicted terrorists, praised terror organizations, called for Israel’s destruction and is an activist in theBoycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
In his 2018 National SJP Keynote, Abudayyeh said [00:53:01] that the “specific role” of Palestinian and Arab students was to organize [00:53:42] in order to weaken “Zionist Israel” and force [00:54:23] the U.S. to “no longer provide it with diplomatic, political, financial and military cover and support.”
Abudayyeh predicted [00:55:37] that once U.S. support to Israel ends, National SJP attendees would return to Palestine as “conquering heroes,” end [00:54:38] the “occupation and colonization of all Arab lands including the Golan Heights” and replace “Zionist Israel” with a Palestinian state.
2018 National SJP - Whitewashing Terror Organizations
During his keynote speech, Abudayyeh also painted [00:14:01] terrorist organizations as “liberation movements” and “resistance organizations,” stating [00:14:21] “what we also know is that the majority of the resistance organizations in Palestine are on the U.S. state department list of foreign terrorist organizations.”Abudayyeh also celebrated [00:52:00] that all of the “armed resistance” organizations in Gaza are part [00:52:14] of a “unified resistance in Gaza, that includes all of the resistance organizations, working together under a unified military command.”
2018 National SJP - Defending Terrorist Rasmea Odeh
During his keynote speech, Abudayyeh claimed [00:08:28] that pro-Israel organizations “go after students like you,” adding [00:08:20] “just like they went after my friend and colleague, Rasmea Odeh.”2018 National SJP - Demonizing Israel and Jews
During his keynote speech, Abudayyeh defended [00:27:25] the “Irvine 11” — eleven Muslim Student Union (MSA) members who were arrested in 2010 for repeatedly shouting down former Israeli ambassador Michael Oren during an address at the University of California at Irvine (UC Irvine).Abudayyeh referred [00:27:37] to Oren as a “racist fascist speaker, representative of a racist, fascist country.”
Abudayyeh went on to claim [00:29:48] that “today, even in the United States, Israel is finally being seen as the criminal, apartheid, racist state that it is.”
Abudayyeh also called for increased action in the face of President U.S. Donald Trump, and referred [00:48:41] to Jared Kushner, Trump’s Jewish son-in-law and senior advisor, as “that pig son-in-law of his.”
2018 National SJP - Excluding Students
The 2018 National SJP Conference welcomed only students who were verified and vouched for by an SJP (or otherwise named campus Palestine solidarity group). Media requests needed to be “approved by the NSJP press team” prior to the conference.A November 7, 2018 Columbus Jewish News article reported that the Los Angeles City Council unanimously passed a resolution calling on UCLA to cancel the 2018 NSJP conference, stating that a “public university should not allow any group to implement a litmus test for event participation on their campus.”
On November 12, 2018, UCLA Chancellor Gene Block published an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times that criticized National SJP’s exclusion of members of pro-Israel student groups.
Social Media and Weblinks
Facebook:www.facebook.com/663949023Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/475366119488993
Twitter:https://twitter.com/BenjaminLadraa
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/walktopalestine/
Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBaeLBb6qfhRsQb993oxC7g
GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/walktopalestine
Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/BenjaminLadraa
Website:http://humanityforpalestine.org/
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