Dana Amar

Overview

Dana Amar [Dana Hilmi Amar] has defended the Hamas terror organization and spread anti-Semitism and incitement on Twitter. She has also whitewashed a terrorist and promoted hatred of Israel.

In October 2016, Amar was the vice president of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at the University of Texas Arlington (UT Arlington) and served as the treasurer for SJP UT Arlington in 2015-2016.

Amar indicated on Twitter that she attended the 2016 National SJP Annual Conference.

Amar is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

As of January 2021, Amar was a member of the Muslim Students Association (MSA) at UT Arlington Facebook group and had been a member for five years.

In June 2020, Amar wrote on Facebook that she started a Master’s program at UT Arlington in January 2020.

As of January 2021, Amar’s Facebook page said she “studied” at UT Arlington and lived in Arlington, Texas.

In December 2018, Amar shared photos on Facebook of herself wearing her graduation hat and gown.

On January 11, 2021, Amar promoted on Facebook her “new family furniture store.”

The post linked to the Furniture Lobby Facebook page, located in Irving, TX

In December 2019, Amar shared photos on Facebook indicating that she had married Ahmad Hajmahmoud, who left SJP UT Arlington after Canary Mission exposed his anti-Semitic tweets in February 2017.

Defending Hamas

On July 31, 2014, during Israel’s Operation Protective Edge (OPE),Amar tweeted: “Hamas are freedom fighters. Not terrorists.”

Hamas is a designated terrorist organization by the European Union, Canada, Australia, the United States and Israel.

Hamas's founding charter calls for the murder of Jews, while the terror group’s “summer camps” have taught children how to wage war.

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

Anti-Semitism

Amar retweeted an August 4, 2014 tweet that featured a poster calling for the deportation of Israeli Jews to the United States.

The text in the poster read “Solution for the Israel-Palestine conflict - Relocate Israel into the United States.” The poster claimed that the “Middle East will again be peaceful without foreign interference” and that the “whole world will be happy.”

The same post was shared by British Labour party politician Naz Shah, who was then suspended from the party for spreading anti-Semitism.

Spreading Incitement

Amar retweeted an October 30, 2014 tweet by British politician George Galloway, who wrote: “If we will not defend Al Aqsa what else will we defend?”

In the fall of 2014, Palestinian leaders and media incited a wave of violence against Israelis with the lie that Israel intended to desecrate the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. This resulted in the November 18, 2014 Har Nof massacre, in which terrorists murdered six people in a Jerusalem synagogue during morning prayers.

Whitewashing a Terrorist

Amar retweeted an October 14, 2015 tweet that read: “Viral video of shot teen sums up Israel-Palestinian conflict.”

The tweet featured a photo of Ahmed Manasra (sometimes spelled Mansara).

Ahmed Manasra (sometimes spelled Mansara) and his 15-year-old cousin Hassan went on a stabbing spree in Jerusalem on October 12, 2015, during the Knife Intifada. They critically wounded a 13-year-old boy and moderately wounded a 25-year-old man. The spree ended when police shot Hassan and a passing motorist hit Ahmed. Ahmed was taken to an Israeli hospital. He admitted to investigators: “I went there to stab Jews.” He was later tried and convicted on two counts of attempted murder.

Spreading Hatred of Israel

Amar retweeted a February 6, 2015 tweet that read: “A new storm is on its way to hit Gaza tomorrow, thousands still homeless including +5,000 children due to Israeli's genocide. Pray for #Gaza.”

Amar retweeted a July 14, 2014 tweet, that read: “A girl once told me ‘not siding with Israel is political suicide.’ She overlooked the fact that siding with Israel is Palestinian genocide.”

Anti-Semitism at UT Arlington

In February 2017, Canary Mission first investigated UT Arlington students and discovered social media postings replete with hatred of Jews, praise for Hitler, threats of violence against Jews and calls for another Holocaust.

Anti-Semitic postings came from members of student activist groups, such as UT Arlington’s SJP and MSA chapters, and from UT Arlington students who had no official group affiliation. Examples of such social media posts are set forth below.

SJP and MSA UT Arlington - Anti-Jewish Social Media Posts

On July 2, 2014, Heba Asi, an SJP and MSA UT Arlington activist, tweeted: “It's not the Israeli soldier that are doing all the kidnapping it's the rabis [sic] and the Jews in pig tails lol.”

Asi then added: “@heyitstam_ yeah. Lol but I call them Abraham Lincoln with pigs tails on their heads lol.”

Asi continued: “@heyitstam_ haha I can't deal with how ugly they are

”

Asi concluded with: “@heyitstam_ I hope they all burn in hell.”

On July 26, 2014, Ismail Said Aboukar, an SJP and MSA UT Arlington activist, tweeted: “@CullenCody all the major corporations that run the US are owned by Jewish people. How do you not know this?”

On January 2, 2014, Aboukartweeted: “Jewish people are a**.”

On January 1, 2014, Aboukar tweeted: “im pretty sure jews have always been hated by everyone ever.

On February 26, 2013, Aboukar tweeted: “#LiesToldInSchool the holocaust.”

SJP and MSA UT Arlington - Supporting Terror Organizations

On July 31, 2014, Dana Amar, the 2016 SJP UT Arlington vice president, tweeted: “Hamas are freedom fighters. Not terrorists.”

On July 30, 2014, Heba Asi tweeted: “I'm all for the destruction of the Zionist state Israel and 100% pro hamas.”

On July 31, 2014, Asi tweeted: “Any one who isn't pro hamas has either never been to Palestine, uneducated, or a Zionist.”

SJP and MSA UT Arlington - Equating Israel with Nazi Germany

On July 31, 2014, Elhaum Langroodi, an SJP UT Arlington 2015 Officer tweeted: “@BatulAboukar guess she's never heard of Hitler or Netanyahu or any other terrorist.”

On July 2, 2014, SJP UT Arlington activist Heba Asi tweeted: “Natenyahu = Hitler @BarackObama @netanyahu @cnn@FOXTV.”

On the same day, Asi tweeted: “Saying you like Hitler is like saying you like Israeli. They're not any different.”

On March 19, 2015, Asi tweeted: “‘@netanyahu: Every family, soldier, citizen, Jewish or not are important to me!We will form a strong government to work for them.’ #OkHitler.”

SJP and MSA UT Arlington - Spreading Hatred of Israel

On July 23, 2015, SJP UT Arlington activist Heba Asi tweeted: “Israel is mad they haven't been able to wipe out GazaStrip like they did the other occupied lands. Stop the genocide or stop playing victim.”

On August 5, 2014, Ismail Said Aboukar, an SJP and MSA UT Arlington activist, tweeted a doctored photo of two smiling female Israeli soldiers purportedly holding signs that read: “We kill children.”

On July 26, 2014, Aboukar tweeted: “@CullenCody Israel owns the United States financially.”

The Firing of SJP UT Arlington Associate Nancy Salem

Among the activists exposed for making anti-Semitic tweets was Arlington-based preschool teacher Nancy Salem, who was affiliated with several SJP UT Arlington activists as well as officers.

On February 21, 2017, following international media coverage of Salem’s tweets, it was announced that Salem had been suspended from her teaching duties, pending an investigation. The following day, Fox News reported that Salem had been fired.

On February 23, 2017, a local Concho Valley, TX news outlet reported the President of SJP UT Arlingtonwrote an email claiming that they “do not know who Salem is...”

The following day, February 24, 2017, the Algemeiner newspaper reported evidence of an affiliation between Salem and several SJP UT Arlington activists, including its board members.

The Algemeiner also reported that an SJP UT Arlington “spokesman” said that one of their activists, Ahmad Hajmahmoud, whose anti-Semitic tweets were also exposed by Canary Mission, “had ‘dropped his membership and will no longer be continuing with us.’”

On April 2, 2017, the National SJP newsletter disclosed“every [SJP UT Arlington] officer except one resigned,” following Canary Mission’s exposure of the chapter’s anti-Semitism.

As of December 2020, SJP UT Arlington’s Facebook page remained inactive, the group’s last post made on February 18, 2017, shortly following the outing of its members’ anti-Semitic postings.

SJP UT Arlington - Anti-Israel Campus Activism

SJP UT Arlington has promoted anti-Israel activities on campus including BDS campaigns.

On October 8, 2015, during the “Knife Intifada” which saw many Palestinian youths stabbing and attempting to stab Israeli civilians, SJP UT Arlington shared a video on Facebook titled: “GRAPHIC: The execution of Fadi Aloun, October 3rd 2015.”

Fadi Aloon posted on Facebook “Either martyrdom or victory” hours before he stabbed a 15-year old Israeli boy. Aloon was shot by Israeli security forces after the attack.

Text SJP UT Arlington posted with the video described the outrage of Israelis at the scene as a “prevailing Nazi like atmosphere.”

On December 29, 2014, SJP UT Arlington shared a video on Facebook demonizing Israel, in order to promote support for BDS.

SJP UT Arlington’s introduction to the video stated: “Next semester we will work towards encouraging the UTA campus to divest from Israeli funding [sic.] products, starting with Sabra Hummus!”

On December 5, 2014, SJP UT Arlington shared a poster on Facebook calling to boycott Sabra.

On November 25, 2014, SJP UT Arlington promoted an event on Facebook supporting Rasmea Odeh.

Odeh was a military operative with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), an internationally designated terrorist organization. In 1969, she masterminded a bombing that killed two university students in a Jerusalem supermarket. Odeh also attempted to bomb the British consulate.

On September 4, 2014, SJP UT Arlington held a ‘March for Palestine,’ to protest Israel’s Operation Protective Edge (OPE). The march was co-organized with Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at UT Arlington.

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

Reverend Craig Hunter, of Denton, Ohio’s Trinity Presbyterian Church, spoke at the march. Hunter accused [00:08:33] Israel of “state terrorism.” Hunter also claimed [00:10:37] that “the root problem is Zionism” and equated Israel to Apartheid South Africa.

Protesters marched chanting [00:16:09]: “No more war crimes! No more Apartheid! No more genocide! Free, free Palestine!”

At the conclusion of the march, Jenny Nguyen, the president of SDS, promoted [00:19:17] BDS. Nguyen urged students to start a divestment campaign at UT Arlington and invoked PFLP terrorist Leila Khaled as a role model, mentioning [00:20:43] “that airline hijacking thing.”

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.

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.