Francesca Riccio-Ackerman

Francesca Riccio-Ackerman is a PhD student who engaged in anti-Israel activism and demonized Israel during a war against Hamas terrorists in late 2023 and early 2024. As of February 2024, her LinkedIn profile said she was studying at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

The incidents occurred 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 terror attacks left over 1,200 Israelis dead, hundreds kidnapped and thousands wounded. Israel retaliated with a war called “Swords of Iron.”

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.

Riccio-Ackerman was affiliated with the anti-Israel campus group CAA in November 2023.

Riccio-Ackerman is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

As of February 26, 2024, Riccio-Ackerman, who also goes by Francesca Brianna Riccio-Ackerman, was listed online as a research assistant at the MIT Media Lab.

As of February 2024, Riccio-Ackerman’s LinkedIn profile said she was a PhD student in health system strengthening and health equity at MIT.

As of the same date, Riccio-Ackerman’s LinkedIn also said she graduated from Florida International University (FIU) with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical and medical engineering in 2018. FIU is located in Miami, Florida.

On November 9, 2023, Riccio-Ackerman reportedly participated in an anti-Israel sit-in protest titled: “Shut It Down For Palestine.”

MIT Coalition Against Apartheid (CAA) and several other anti-Israel campus groups organized the protest, which was on the MIT campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The event description read: “The MIT Coalition for Palestine is joining the call for a global shutdown for Palestine with a demonstration…and a fast…in solidarity with our siblings in Palestine facing genocide orchestrated by the US and Israel.”

At the event, anti-Israel activists reportedly blockaded the main lobby on campus, while “calling for a violent uprising (‘Intifada’) and justifying the terror attacks of Hamas on Israeli civilians.”

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.

Anti-Israel demonstrators also reportedly clashed with pro-Israel students who came to counterprotest.

During the disruption, the university administration decided [slide 2] that “all protesters…must leave the lobby area within a set time, or they would be subject to suspension.”

After protesters were told to leave the venue, Riccio-Ackerman tweeted: “Happening right NOW at MIT. Anti-war protestors calling for a ceasefire and an end to preventable civilian loss of life are being physically attacked, harassed, threatens [sic] by MIT administration with suspension…”

The protest lasted all day. In the evening, the police instituted a lockdown of the entire area.

On February 13, 2024, MIT president Sally Kornbluth suspended CAA for violating campus policies.

Anti-Israel Activism during a Hamas War

Demonizing Israel

BDS

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