Chafik Ziadeh

Overview

Chafik Ziadeh has spread hatred of Israel and participated in anti-Israel activism. Ziadeh is also a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

In 2015, Ziadeh was affiliated with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at San Jose State University (SJSU). In 2012, Ziadeh was also the multimedia director for the Muslim Students Association (MSA) at SJSU.

In 2016, Ziadeh was affiliated with the Council On American Islamic Relations (CAIR) San Francisco Bay Area (SFBA) chapter. In 2017, 2013 and 2012, he was affiliated with the Islamic Relief USA (IR USA), a "partner" of Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW), which was declared illegal by Israel for funneling donations to Hamas.

As of April 2021, Ziadeh’s LinkedIn page said he was the Chief Marketing Officer at Bamrec [Bay Area Muslim Recreation], Los Gatos, California (CA) and the Director Of Business Development at the Granada Islamic School in Santa Clara, CA, since January 2020. His LinkedIn page also indicated that he was an Executive Board Member of the Muslim Community Association (MCA) since October 2020.

Ziadeh’s LinkedIn page also said he graduated from SJSU in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and International Business.

Also as of April 2021, Ziadeh indicated on Facebook that he founded Chief Culture Clothing in January 2019.

Promoting Hatred of Israel

On July 28, 2014, during Israel’s Operation Protective Edge (OPE), Ziadeh shared a Youtube video to Facebook titled: “Random People Speaking Up For Palestine.” Ziadeh also commented: “Excellent video. Speak up. People actually know what's going on, let's act upon it. #FreePalestine.”

Israel commenced OPEin July 2014, to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.

In the video, a man complained [00:01:24] about Jews buying land in Israel and trivialized [00:01:38] Hamas rocket attacks on Israeli cities, saying: “Hamas they wanna [sic] make a point, so they throw a couple of missiles.”

Israel commenced OPE in July 2014 to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.

Another speaker in the video said [00:01:46]: “We know who controls the media; we know how they bend the story… it’s time for people to speak out…”

In 2005, the U.S. Department of State reported that a source of “Global Anti-Semitism” was the belief that the “Jewish community controls governments, the media, international business, and the financial world.”

Another speaker in the video claimed [00:02:33] that “there is no bigger enemy to the Jewish people than Zionism as a political movement.”

Zionism is the belief that Jews have the right to self-determination in their own national home, and the right to develop their national culture.

On July 23, 2014, Ziadeh shared a video to Facebook of anti-Israel professor Hatem Bazian speaking at a protest that took place on July 20, 2014 against OPE in San Francisco.Ziadeh commented: “Wow. Excellently shot and produced.”

Hatem Bazian is the founder of the anti-Israel organizations Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and American Muslims for Palestine (AMP). Bazian has a decades-long history of incitement and of using classic anti-Semitic tropes to demonize Israel.

At the rally, Bazian accused [00:06:45] Israel of committing “genocide” and stated [00:08:10] that “we need to give them [the U.S. political leadership] [a] genetic mutation and constitute a Palestinian spine for them… we need to harass them.”

Anti-Israel Activity

On July 26, 2014, Ziadeh promoted and attended an anti-Israel protest in San Francisco titled “End the Israeli War on the Palestinian People.” The Facebook event page featured a photo of Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist Leila Khaled with text that read: “STOP US AID TO THE APARTHEID STATE OF ISRAEL.”

Leila Khaled is a leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and participated in the hijacking of TWA Flight 840 in 1969 and El Al Flight 219 in 1970. As of 2017, Khaled was a member of PFLP's Political Bureau. Khaled has said that the second intifada failed because it was not violent enough, advocated [00:36:07] for the use of children in terror activities and compared Zionists to Nazis.

On July 26, 2014, Ziadeh posted to Facebook: “60 seconds of what's going on in San Francisco right now. #FreePalestine.” Chafik’s Facebook post included a video of protesters chanting [00:00:38] “be-ruh, be-dam, nifdik ya Falasteen. [“With spirit, with blood, we will redeem you Palestine!]”

Ziadeh also attended a July 12, 2014 protest called “SF Bay Area Protest For Palestine #Youth4Palestine” organized by the Arab Youth Organization (AYO). The event page read “THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA SAYS NO TO ZIONISM! STOP US AID TO THE APARTHEID STATE OF ISRAEL.”

That same day, Ziadeh posted a video from a protest to Facebook and wrote: “Massive amounts of support in a SF protest for Gaza. Stop the killing, stop the nonsense.”

The video footage showed [00:00:15] protesters chanting “Nasrallah, ya habib: udrub, udrub Tel Abib ...” [“Nasrallah, oh my dear: strike, strike Tel Aviv.”]

In 2013, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah referred [00:00:19] to Israel as a cancerous tumor and in 2002, Nasrallah said: “If they (Jews) all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide.”

Protesters also chanted [00:00:58] “Israel is a terrorist state” and “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free.”

“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free” is a chant calling to dismantle the State of Israel. It has also been employed by Hamas leader Khaled Mashal to call for the replacement of Israel with an Islamic state.

On April 2, 2014, Ziadeh recorded and uploaded a video to Facebook that featured SJSU students disrupting [00:00:47] a lecture on campus. The lecture was organized by StandWithUs, an Israeli advocacy group and given by former Israeli officers, including Lital Shemesh.

The students walked out of the lecture as soon as Shemesh mentioned [00:00:08]“serving in the IDF [Israeli Defense Forces].”

On April 6, 2014, Ziadeh posted the recording to Facebook and wrote: “SJSU students protest Israeli Defense Force soldiers. Tag anyone who was there, and anyone who needs to watch this.”

Ziadeh’s recording also included students recapping the walk-out, with SJP at SJSU co-founder Abdelhamid Ibrahim saying to the group [00:01:12]: “I appreciate all you guys coming out here. I appreciate your dedication… There were some moments where I felt my blood was boiling…”

Supporting BDS

In November 2015, Ziadeh promoted SJP at SJSU’s BDS campaign on social media.
The BDS campaign called on the Board of Directors of the Tower Foundation (responsible for the SJSU’s endowment fund) to divest from SJSU’s holdings in a number of companies doing business with Israel.

The campaign was promoted using the hashtag “#SJSUDivest.”

The BDS resolution, titled “15/16-01 In Support of Divestment from Companies That Profit from the Israeli Occupation of the Palestinian Territories,” claimed that the listed companies violated international humanitarian law by “Facilitating Israel’s collective punishment of Palestinian civilians…” and by “Facilitating state repression against Palestinians by Israeli security forces.”

Abid El-Miaari, a co-founder of SJP at SJSU, submitted the resolution to the Associated Students (A.S.). On November 4, 2015, the resolution was approved with a vote of5-2-0 and put forward to A.S.’ Board of Directors and endorsed by 27 SJSU student groups.

On November 16, 2015, Ziadeh promoted SJP at SJSU’s “Divestment Hearing and Vote” event to Facebook.

On November 17, 2021, Ziadeh wrote in a Facebook post that “It’s imperative to sign this petition in support of Divestment. There's a public hearing tomorrow at SJSU at 3pm. If you can't make that, the least you can do is sign this petition and share it.”

Ziadeh’s Facebook post linked to SJP at SJSU’s divestment petition. The petition was titled “PASS SJSU Divestment!” and read: “It’s time to take a stance against unethical investments!”

On November 17, 2015, Ziadeh promoted the divestment hearing and vote, telling Facebook followers to “Slide through and bring your homies.”

On November 18, 2015, Ziadeh attended the divestment hearing and vote held by the A.S. Board of Directors. The resolution passed with a 10-5-0 vote making SJSU reportedly the first campus in the Californian State University system to pass a divestment measure.

On November 18, 2015, Ziadeh posted to Facebook: “Divestment passed at SJSU. Alhamdulilah [Praise God].”

On December 15, 2015, Board Members of SJSU’s Tower Foundation unanimously rejected the divestment resolution.

On July 27, 2014, Ziadeh promoted a "Block the Boat for Palestine” protest on Facebook and wrote: “I’ll see yall there.” The Facebook event page description said: “Zionism isn't welcome on our coast! Join the BDS movement to end Israeli apartheid!”

At the protest, BDS supporters reportedly stopped a shipment from ZIM, an Israeli shipping company, from unloading its cargo in Oakland, CA.

On March 7, 2013, Ziadeh shared a link to a petition on Facebook that urged American Artist Alicia Keys to “Cancel Apartheid Israel Show.” The petition claimed that Keys was “scheduled to play to a segregated audience in Israel” and that “This boycott is ‘inspired by the struggle of South Africans against apartheid.’”

On February 27, 2013, Ziadeh shared a YouTube video to Facebook of Portland BDS activists performing a flash mob. In the video, activists highlighted [00:00:02] products carried in the kosher section of a New Season’s Market in Portland, Oregon, and demanded “a total Boycott of Israeli products.”

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.

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.

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.