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Ellen Li
Ellen Li has spread antisemitism and expressed support for Hamas terrorism.
In February 2024, Ellen Li was an organizer for Princeton’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter (Princeton SJP). Li is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
As of December 2024, Ellen Li’s bio for Princeton’s Program in Latin American Studies said Li was a “senior in Comparative Literature.”
Ellen Li graduated with a degree in comparative literature from Princeton in May 2024.
On February 14, 2024, the Daily Princetonian said Li gave a speech at a Princeton SJP “die-in” at Princeton where she claimed that Israel was committing a “genocide” against Palestinians and carrying out “the final solution…”
The Nazis called their planned mass murder of Jews: “The Final Solution to the Jewish Question.”
The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) highlights as one possible contemporary example of anti-Semitism: “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.” The U.S. State Department adopted the IHRA’s working definition of anti-Semitism in 2016. Over 40 countries have adopted the definition as well.
Anti-Israel activists compare Israel to Nazi Germany to insinuate that the plight of Palestinians has eclipsed Jewish suffering during the Holocaust.
On October 13, 2023, according to a post on X, Li composed an SJP email publishing the group’s “Statement on Recent Events in Palestine.” The statement characterized Hamas’s October 7, 2023 massacre of approximately 1,200 Israelis as “an unprecedented uprising…tearing down the border wall…” and described Gaza as an “open-air prison.”
Referring to Gaza as an “open-air prison” is a way to delegitimize the UN-approved [pp. 39–41] joint Israeli-Egyptian blockade of the Gaza Strip imposed in 2011 to prevent Hamas from acquiring more sophisticated rockets. Following Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, the Israeli military discovered that Hamas went around the blockade by smuggling weaponry through tunnels under the Philadelphi corridor separating Gaza from Egypt.
The statement also claimed: “...During the ‘Great March of Return’ in 2018-19, tens of thousands of Palestinians marched peacefully on the Gazan border every week for a year…”
In May 2018, terror group Hamas instigated violent riots on the Israeli-Gaza border. Thousands of rioters attempted to breach Israel’s border fence, declaring their intention to harm Jews across the border under the pretext of “peaceful resistance.”
During the 2018 March of Return, Hamas routinely directed its members to infiltrate the border between Gaza and Israel to train for an attack on Israeli communities in the area, leading to the October 7, 2023 massacre. For more information, see the Canary Mission page on Hamas.
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.
SJP Princeton’s statement read: “...We maintain the Palestinian right to fight for their freedom and resist…We call for the full dismantling of the Zionist apartheid state…”
Anti-Israel activists use the term “resistance” to refer to violence and terror perpetrated against Israeli civilians and their allies. It is used to glorify and encourage anti-Israel and anti-Semitic violence. Anti-Israel activists chant slogans such as: “Resistance by any means necessary!” and “Resistance is justified when people are occupied!” in response to terror attacks.
On February 9, 2024, Li organized and spoke at [00:45:33] an SJP anti-Israel protest at Princeton.
Li wore a keffiyeh on her head and a mask over her face and led protesters in chanting [00:12:30]: “when Palestinians are oppressed, boycott, sanctions and divest” and [00:15:14]: “resistance is justified, when people are occupied.”
The protesters also chanted [00:20:55]: “Yemen, Yemen, make us proud, turn another ship around.”
Following the outbreak of Israel’s 2023 war against Hamas, Houthi terrorists attacked commercial ships off Yemen’s Red Sea coast and launched missiles into southern Israel. Like Hamas, the Houthi movement is backed by Iran, and is designated as a terror group by the United States, Saudi Arabia and other countries.
The Houthi slogan reads: “God is the Greatest / Death to America / Death to Israel / A Curse Upon the Jews / Victory to Islam.”
In her speech, Li accused Israel of [00:45:47] “genocide in Gaza” and referred to a [00:47:09] “false Israeli report of 40 Israeli babies killed by Hamas…”
Hamas terrorists murdered Israeli Jewish babies during its October 7, 2023, terror attacks. Some of the babies were beheaded and some were murdered in front of their parents.
Li referred to [00:50:11] “Palestinian resistance in Gaza” and said: “We need to learn from their bravery and fight alongside the Palestinian resistance in their struggle to free their land…and break their chains, from the river to the sea.” She led the protesters in chanting [00:50:33]: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free” is a chant used [00:02:47] to call for the elimination of 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. In April 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning the chant as antisemitic.
Li continued [00:51:33] “...Every rally, every march is a rehearsal for the revolution” and led chants of [00:52:21]: “There is only one solution, intifada revolution” and [00:52:41] “From Princeton to Gaza, globalize the intifada; intifada, intifada, long live the intifada.”
The term “intifada,” which translates from Arabic as “uprising” or “insurrection,” carries the connotation of violence. Palestinian intifadas waged against Israel have been marked since 1987 by hundreds of hijackings, shootings, stabbings, bombings and suicide missions.
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 Student 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.
The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement was founded by pro-terror activist Omar Barghouti in 2005 to turn “Israel into a pariah state, as South Africa once was.” Barghouti has also called for Israel's destruction and the BDS movement demands would result in that same goal.
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 infiltrating university campuses through lobbying for “BDS resolutions.” In these cases, student governments propose resolutions to boycott or divestment from Israel or Israeli-affiliated entities. 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 and pro-terror activism on campus.
