Cadence Ortiz

Cadence Ortiz participated in an anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement hunger strike in early 2024, during Israel’s war against Hamas terrorists.

As of April 16, 2024, Ortiz’s LinkedIn profile said Ortiz was studying for a bachelor’s degree in Japanese language and literature at the University of Southern Florida (USF), slated to graduate in 2024. The main USF campus is located in Tampa, Florida. As of the same date, Ortiz’s LinkedIn said Ortiz was located in Auburndale, Florida.

Also as of April 16, 2024, Ortiz’s LinkedIn said Ortiz had been a “Customer Service Representative” at Publix since April 2023, and a cashier at Busch Gardens since August 2022.

Oritz’s anti-Israel activism took place in the wake of Hamas terror atrocities and war crimes against Israeli civilians, including mass murder, torture, rape, beheadings and kidnappings, which were executed on October 7, 2023.

The Hamas attacks left over 1,200 Israelis dead, hundreds kidnapped and thousands wounded. Israel retaliated with a war called “Swords of Iron.” For more information on the October 7, 2023 terror attacks, see the Canary Mission page on Hamas.

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.

On March 18, 2024, Ortiz and 17 other anti-Israel student activists at the University of South Florida (USF) reportedly began a BDS hunger strike of “indefinite” length during Israel’s war against Hamas.

Activists demanded that USF divest from companies doing business in Israel to stop what they claimed was a “GENOCIDE” happening in Gaza. USF officials have said that the school invests with fund managers and not with specific companies.

The entire hunger strike overlapped with two and a half weeks of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, during which Muslims fast daily from sunrise to sunset.

A March 19, 2024 article about the hunger strike quoted Ortiz as saying that she wanted the USF board of trustees to “call for a ceasefire, publicize the investment portfolio and establish a student oversight committee…That’s why we’ve continued to escalate. And now our escalation is the hunger strike.”

Anti-Israel activists planned additional protests during their hunger strike, including a “March for Gaza” and several “sit-in” and “die-in” events on campus.

On April 3, 2024, USF Hunger Strike for Palestine, the group Ortiz was engaged in activism with, changed [slide 5] its name to USF Divest Coalition.

On the same day, the USF Divest Coalition called off [slide 1] the hunger strike. They wrote on Instagram: “While our demands were not met, we are merely beginning our fight for divestment at USF…We will ensure our community is not complicit in genocide, and divestment is inevitable. Solidarity forever, and to a free Palestine .”

On the same Instagram post, the USF Divest Coalition also wrote [slides 2-3]: “...Due to multiple hospitalizations [and] fatal health warnings…we are encouraging all hunger strikers to finally break their strike…Within the next month alone we will be…Helping organize 4 more hunger strikes on campuses both nationally and overseas…”

On Saturday, October 7, 2023, approximately 2,900 heavily armed Hamas terrorists breached Israel’s border with Gaza. They executed numerous war crimes on civilians, including mass murder, beheadings of children, rape of men and women, torture, kidnappings and mutilation.

Hamas broadcast videos of their butchery on social media, often to victims’ accounts for families to see. Israel retaliated with a war called “Swords of Iron.” As of November 10, 2023, approximately 1,200 Israelis, the vast majority of them civilians, were murdered during the attacks. Hamas kidnapped 242 Israelis, including at least 30 children. At least 3,500 people were wounded, many severely.

A terrorist detained by Israel admitted he raped an Israeli woman when he broke into a kibbutz house during the October 7, 2023 attack. In March 2024, a former hostage of Hamas publicly stated she was sexually abused and tortured while in captivity.

For more information on the October 7, 2023 terror attacks, see the Canary Mission page on Hamas.

March-April 2024 - BDS Hunger Strike during a Hamas War

BDS

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