Drew Statham

Overview

Drew Statham is a community volunteerworker "mobilizing and organizing college students and community members across Alabama...for protests to repeal Alabama's immigration law."

In 2012, Statham was an intern at Wi'am - Palestinian Conflict Resolution and Transformation Center (Wi'am) in Bethlehem. Statham worked with the director of Wi’am, Zoughbi Zoughbi, who claims that the designated terrorist organization Hamas has always been truce-seeking with Israel.

Statham is a 2011 graduate of Samford University in Alabama, Birmingham (UAB), where he majored in Religion.

Statham was a member of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at UAB (SJP UAB). On March 12, 2013, Statham uploaded photos to Instagram of SJP UAB members preparing to install a mock apartheid wall on campus, as part of Israeli Apartheid Week.

Supporting Terrorist Samer Issawi

On February 5, 2013, Statham tweeted, multiple times, support for Palestinian terrorist, Samer Issawi — who received a 26 year prison sentence in 2002 for attempted murder by shooting at Hebrew University students and Israeli police and for possession of explosives.

Statham tweeted, "‘The only choices I have are to triumph or die a martyr.’ #IssawiAction196 #IssawiAction196 #IssawiAction196 #IssawiAction196."

Issawi was a member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. During the Second Intifada, Issawi was convicted of manufacturing and distributing pipe bombs and, in several incidents, firing indiscriminately on Israeli civilian vehicles.

Demonizing Israel

On November 20, 2012, Statham retweeted a tweet that read — "#Israel by definition of the state cannot ‘live peacefully’, its whole existence rests on its ability to kill, destroy,& expand #Palestine."

On November 17, 2012, during Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense (OPD) Statham claimed on Twitter that Israel considers children in Gaza to be terrorists and aims to eliminate them — "@NicholsUprising No Israeli children have died, but apparently Gaza’s children are terrorists that need to be eliminated."

Also on November, 20, 2012, Statham retweeted a tweet that suggested that Israel’s OPD deliberately targeted children. The tweet featured an image of a child with a rocket with the star of David on it to symbolize Israel about to land on a Palestinian child’s head, with the caption "Happy Childrens Day!!! Israel is a War Criminal."

On October 11, 2012, Statham propagated a libel concerning Palestinian access to water. He tweeted — "#Palestinians Face Food and Water Crisis bc of #Israel’s Control of Resources #fascism #occupation via @CriticalReading..."

Presenting Propaganda As Fact

On July 28, 2014, Statham posted a status on Facebook concerning Israel’s Operation Protective Edge (OPE). Statham quoted Dr. Mads Gilbert who claimed — "The number of children is unusually high...the Israelis are relentlessly killing and injuring children."

Gilbert — who routinely presents Hamas’ inflated casualty figures as fact — has been banned indefinitely from entering Gaza through Israel because of his connections to Hamas’ leadership.

Accusing Israel and the U.S. of "Deceiving the West"

On November 19, 2012, in response to a tweet posted by a Twitter user that said — "Anyone else having trouble with tweetdeck? It won't post links or pics for me anymore." Statham replied, tweeting — “@PeterRollins it’s probably Zionists again trying to prevent any news being shared of their massacres in Gaza.”

On November 20, 2012, in a Twitter conversation that referred to Israel’s OPD as a "massacre’ in Gaza, Statham accused Israel and the U.S. of deception, tweeting — “Yes, and US/Israel’s days of deceiving ‘the west’ with propaganda are numbered—with few left."

Slandering Israel to Defend Hamas

On March 2, 2016, SJP UAB produced a video replete with lies about Israel, that defended Hamas. The video featured several SJP UAB members:

SJP UAB member Ruaa AbuAishah falsely claimed — despite readily available evidence — that Gaza has been "turned into the world's largest open air prison, by Israel."

The 2016 SJP UAB events' coordinator and MSA UAB 2014 vice president, Farah Jiwani — together with 2015-2016 MSA UAB president, Omar Bilbeisi—complained that other countries, which are neither strategic allies to the U.S. nor essential to American interests receive lesser economic benefits than those granted to Israel.

Ala'a Abu-Spetani— another SJP UAB member — falsely accused Israel of "the murder of 1391 Palestinian civilians in 2008-2009." The video accompanied Abu-Spetani’s accusation with a deceptive image of an Israeli soldier kneeling with his weapon as a Palestinian woman accosted him with her crying children.

By November 2010 Hamas had already admittedIsrael killed between 600 to 700 Hamas’ fighters during Israel’s Operation Cast Lead in 2008-2009. This figure was consistent with the original IDF projected number of 709 dead combatants — as opposed to the unreliable estimated casualty figures of B’Tselem and Palestinian Centre for Human Rights.

SJP member Bayan Karassi further mislead the video’s audience by misrepresenting the number of Palestinians killed during Israel’s Operation Protective Edge in 2014 — by citing the total number of Palestinians killed as "... over 2100 in 2014," without identifying the percentage of combatants among them.

On November 16, 2012, Statham promoted on Twitter an SJP UAB- organized balloon-releasing event, to mark four years of SJP’s opposition to Israel’s Operation Cast Lead (OCL) in 2008-9. The event description libelously described OCL as an "offensive against civilians."

SJP UAB - Solidarity with Terrorists

On May 14, 2012, SJP UAB shared on Facebook a graphic depicting Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jail. SJP UAB included a partial list of prisoners and called for “solidarity with the innocent Palestinian prisoners, supporting their legendary hunger strike.” 

Hamas military commander Abdullah al-Barghouti was on the SJP UAB list of prisoners. Al-Barghouti was sentenced to 67 life sentences for his role in multiple terrorist attacks, including the 2001 Sbarro Cafe Bombing, which murdered 15 people and wounded more than 120.

SJP UAB - Hatred of Israel

On March 12, 2013, SJP UAB activists installed a mock “apartheid” wall on campus as part of its Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW). 

IAWis presented as “an international series of events that seek to raise awareness of Israel’s settler-colonial project and apartheid system over the Palestinian people.” It is intended to build support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

The mock apartheid wall display sought to demonize Israel’s security barrier, built as a deterrent to Palestinian terror attacks. The concrete portions of the barrier were built in direct response to Palestinian sniper attacks. 

The display also featured a series of maps showing lands previously controlled by Jordan, Egypt and Britain as autonomous “Palestinian Land,” suggesting the land was stolen by Israel. In 2016, copies of a college textbook containing the misleading maps were recalled by publisher McGraw-Hill.

On February 19, 2013, SJP UAB organized a balloon-releasing event, to mark SJP’s opposition to Israel’s Operation Cast Lead (OCL).

Operation Cast Lead (OCL)was commenced by Israel in 2008-09 to stop Hamas rocket fire from Gaza targeting Israeli civilians. Two years later, Hamas admitted that nearly 700 of the Palestinian casualties in OCL were combatants.  

SJP UAB’s event featured a banner that labeled OCL a “massacre” and referred to Israel’sblockade of Gaza as a “siege.” The banner read: “4th anniversary of Gaza massacre - the 22 day Israeli invasion & siege on the Gaza strip ‘operation cast lead.’ @SJPUAB honors the fallen with a balloon release.”

The Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza was approved by the United Nations in 2011, as a security measure to stop Hamas from acquiring sophisticated rockets. Multiple attempts have been made to breach the blockade, with at least one flotilla initiating a violent confrontation with Israeli forces.  

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.

Social Media and Weblinks

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/drewstatham

Twitter:https://twitter.com/drewstatham

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/drew-statham-02422924

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/drewstatham/