George Abraham
Overview
George Abraham has glorified terrorists and promoted a 2018 Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) initiative at Swarthmore College (Swarthmore).Abraham has also defended violent protesters, demonized Israel and opposed the Birthright Israel heritage trip. He also promoted hatred of Zionists, spread anti-Israel conspiracy theories and expressed support for anti-Israel agitators.
Abraham was a member of Students for Peace and Justice in Palestine (SPJP) at Swarthmore. Swarthmore Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) was formerly known as Swarthmore SPJP, from 2010-2017.
Abraham performed anti-Israel poetry for SJP chapters in 2016 and 2018, and attended the 2016 National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) conference. NSJP published a sample in its 2016 Newsletter, under Arts & Activism.
In August 2017, the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Science (Harvard) website listed Abraham as a first year Ph.D. candidate, in Engineering.
As of February 2020, Abraham’s Facebook said he was a student at Harvard and that he attended Swarthmore from 2013-2017, where he studied Electrical engineering and Mathematics.
Glorifying Terrorists
On May 15, 2018, Abraham posted to Instagram a photo of himself wearing a T-Shirt bearing an illustration of Leila Khaled holding an assault rifle and the phrase: “resistance is not Terrorism.”
Abraham commented: “Today, I am choosing to uplift my ancestors by celebrating Palestinian femmes as the backbone of our resistance. For thise [sic] of you who don't know the shirt, Google #LeilaKhaled<3.”
He also wrote: “The people of Gaza are not terrorists for resisting their oppressors. Don't forget Palestinian women were the backbone of the intifada & this resistance.”
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 that same day, Abraham posted to Facebook the same photo of himself with the Khaled T- shirt, with the same comment.
Abraham also tweeted the same photo, adding: “PSA @ the ppl of Boston who stare at me for wearing Leila Khaled & my kuffiyat in public: your racism is showing. Wipe that booger from your face. Oh wait. That's just your face.”
On May 6, 2017, Abraham was tagged on Facebook participating in Swarthmore SPJP’s “Saltwater Challenge.”
The “Saltwater Challenge” was held in solidarity with hunger-striking Palestinian prison inmates convicted of terrorism. The strike was initiated by Marwan Barghouti, who was serving five consecutive life sentences for his role in suicide bombings that killed five Israelis during the second intifada. Aarab Barghouti, the son of Marwan Barghouti, launched the "Saltwater Challenge."
On March 9, 2016, Abraham shared to Facebook a series of photos of keffiyeh-masked Palestinian women, one brandishing a handgun, another throwing a molotov cocktail, and others drawing and firing slingshots, and gathering rocks and boulders.
Although romanticized as a form of “popular resistance,” rock throwing remains a deadly form of violence.
Abraham commented: “These are what my heroes look like. There's no room for misogyny in movements like these - don't even pretend that men were the backbone of free palestine. None of this would be possible without these women and other non-male identifying people. #FreePalestine#InternationalWomensDay.”
Boycotting Sabra Hummus
On March 4, 2018, Abraham tweeted: “Please sign and share this petition from @swarthmore's SPJP chapter to end the sale of Sabra hummus on campus - this is absolutely unacceptable, and institutions like this have a notorious history of supporting Palestinian ethnic cleansing.”
Abraham also linked to the petition calling to “End the Sale of Sabra Products.”
In March 2018, Swarthmore SJP published a petition calling for an end to the sale of Sabra products on campus. Sabra Hummus is partially owned by an Israeli company, the Strauss Group.
The petition accused Sabra of supporting Israeli forces who allegedly commit “countless human rights violations,” including “arbitrary murders, assaults, incarcerations, evictions, and arrests of children.”
On April 4, 2018, Swarthmore SJP held a rally to support SJP members slated to meet with Swarthmore President Valerie Smith to push the Sabra boycott.
On April 11, 2018, Swarthmore SJP reportedly held another rally at Swarthmore to promote the boycott, during which they held a moment of silence for protesters who died in the Great March of Return.
Approximately 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza approached Israel’s border on March 30, 2018 as part of the “March of Return,” which was organized and funded by Hamas as a campaign of violent protests to spotlight the demand of Palestinians to “return” to Israel.
On April 30, 2018, President Smith announced that Swarthmore would continue to sell Sabra products on campus and begin selling an alternative brand of hummus. In response, on May 2, 2018, Swarthmore SJP held a rally to protest Smith’s announcement.
Also on May 2, 2018, Abraham posted to Facebook: “Swarthmore College - as alumni, we are outraged by President Smith's campus email in response to the Swarthmore SJP campaign to have Sabra hummus deshelved on campus. I, alongside fellow Jewish alumni Helen Hawver & Marissa Diamond, have drafted this statement of solidarity with SJP, calling on Swarthmore to deshelve Sabra products immediately.”
Abraham then called on alumni to share his his statement and linked to a petition titled: “Palestinian, Jewish, & Allied Alumni Response to President Smith: Revoke Your Sabra Decision Now!”
On May 2, 2018, Abraham tweeted: “@swarthmore, as Palestinian & Jewish alumni, we're outraged with President Smith's response to the campaign to deshelve Sabra hummus Alumni & allies - please sign & share widely if you're against Swarthmore ignoring Palestinian human rights #FreePalestine.”
Defending Violent Protesters
On May 30, 2018, Abraham posted to Facebook: “...the israeli government is continuing to scapegoat Palestinians like this, leaving them no choice but violent resistance when faced with continuous slaughtering of innocent nonviolent protesters. Historically, oppressed peoples liberated themselves by means of violent resistance when it came down to it... Why is this situation any different?”
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.”
On May 14, 2018, Abraham shared to Facebook a post by anti-Israel activist Remi Kenazi, stating: “18 Palestinians executed today in Gaza. It's barely 2pm. Premeditated murder. Israel promised the world bloodshed and delivered. Nothing done in response. Foot dragging and cheap concern by the most dovish of nations.”
Abraham commented: “I hear the count is up to 37 now. Keep in mind that American tax dollars & American complacency with settler colonial practices is what's ultimately behind this (it's not just moving the embassy to Jerusalem, although that's on all of our minds today; it's the continued systematic environmental genocide that the israeli blockade has been imposing on Gazans).”
On May 16, 2018, a Hamas senior official, Salah al-Bardawil, stated that 50 out of 62 protesters killed during the May 14 Gaza border protest were Hamas operatives. Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) also claimed that three of its members were killed at the same protest.
On December 11, 2018, Abraham authored an article in the Paris Review, titled “Imagining a Free Palestine.” In the article, Abraham claimed that in 2018, “Israel committed a several-month-long campaign slaughtering Palestinian protestors in Gaza.”
The violent March of Return riots continued until the end of 2018, accompanied by military-style attacks carried out by Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and other terrorist organizations. The attacks included gunfire, armed rioters penetrating Israeli territory, throwing IEDs and hand grenades and launching incendiary kites and balloons into Israel.
Demonizing Israel
On May 3, 2016, Abraham posted to Facebook: “If you celebrate ‘Israeli Independence,’ congratulations - you're celebrating a history of ethnic cleansing, genocide, and colonization,” adding “There is blood dripping from your celebratory hands.”
In 2017, Abraham published a chapbook of his poems titled “Al Youm.”
In one poem, titled “Family History Fragments — a reverse chronology”, Abraham claimed that following Israel’s war of independence, Israeli “colonizers emptied the villages, they lined up the men to be executed in front of their families, raped the women & planted pine trees over the wreckage.”
On May 30, 2017, Abraham posted to Facebook a condemnation of Israeli actress Gal Gadot, adding: “she actively supported/supports modern IDF [Israel Defence Forces] and Israeli atrocities against the people of Gaza.”
Abraham added: “The IDF is a racist police force which shoots unarmed Palestinians” and added “IDF are cogs in a larger system of dehumanization of Palestinians.”
On June 9, 2017, Abraham demonized Gadot again, posting to Instagram: “... is it too much to ask for a movie led by someone who isn't a supporter of genocide?” Abraham added: “#EndApartheid.”
On July 23, 2017, Abraham tweeted about the Brave New Voices [BNV] Poetry slam : “Being Palestinian and hearing abt BNV through twitter breaks my heart :( I feel this so hard. Zionism *is* racism & has no space in slam.”
On May 14, 2018, Abraham tweeted: “#Gaza was never an issue of border security. That thing is not a border- it's an illegal apartheid barrier that's been making Gazans prisoners in their own home for over a decade. This is environmental genocide: bomb a population & trap then without access to resources to rebuild.”
On November 28, 2018, Abraham retweeted a tweet that said: “just got a haircut & am feeling super hot so i guess now is a good time to say that teaching zionism isn’t ‘history’, it’s racism & violent erasure.” Abraham added: “tbh when isn't this my mood?”
On December 11, 2018, Abraham published an article in the Paris Review titled “Imagining a Free Palestine.”
In the article, Abraham labeled Israel a “settler colonial” project based on theft. He also wrote: “All interactions with the settler colonial project, be they cultural or economic, normalize the existence of the aforementioned settler colonial project.”
Demonizing Birthright
On November 16, 2017, Abraham tweeted: “Submitted Birthright (my full-length) to 2 more dream presses tonight <3 Fingers crossed!.” In the same thread, Abraham tweeted: “in case ur wondering the title is an intentional callout of @birthright & their white colonial propaganda/erasure of Palestinian existence.”
Birthright Israel is a heritage trip to Israel for Jewish young adults from across the world.
On the same day, Abraham also tweeted: “I hope a zio sees my Birthright on the shelves of Barnes & Noble one day, picks it up, and reevaluates their entire lives
.”Hatred of Zionists
On January 8, 2019, Abraham tweeted: “Y'all. I'm at the Jax airport minding my business & this group of old ppl start sitting around me. Turns out, they're part of some christian zionist trip & now they're talking abt going to the sea of Gallilee -_- Why does this always happen to me @ public zionist encounters…”
Abraham added in the same thread: “They're multiplying. I looked up and over the course of minutes, at least 2 more Ethels appeared... Now they're talking abt bringing back mud from the dead sea and I really hope they get food poisoning from the sh**ty unseasoned ‘israeli’ food they eat on their trip
.”On February 23, 2018, Abraham tweeted: “Woke up to a notification that a sh**ty zionist twitter account I reported got deleted! :D wow today is gonna be a good day.”
On January 23, 2018, Abraham tweeted: “Lmaooo accidentally flicked a piece of salad into the eye of a person sitting next to me (a whyte woman) and felt a bit bad abt it but then she started talking abt going on birthright so i dont feel bad any more bc she owes me a country so....
”In the same thread, Abraham tweeted: “Lmaoo update: the salad gave me food poisining so it must have been zionist too
.”In response to the comment: “my neighbor is a zionist so i dont really feel bad when my roommate sweeps the dust from our kitchen onto her doorstep. it's the least we can do,” Abraham tweeted: “LMAOOO right?!?!?!? Ughhh smh im sorry to hear you have to live near one :/.”
On January 13, 2018, Abraham posted to Facebook: “liberal zionism is nothing but pure cowardice and is just as violent, if not even more insidious, than regular zionism. To be a zionist and to be human rights oriented is a contradiction.”
On December 8, 2017, Abraham tweeted: “Doing a surprise visit to Swarthmore tomorrow! Can't wait to run into the zios**hts who came back from israeli abroad trips (i.e. extended birthright) who i didnt have to deal with my senior year
it'll be like they saw a ghost lol.”Abraham also tweeted, in reference to a former pro-Israel student at Swarthmore, “Fam that smashed pumpkin graduated lol. I.e. went back to the farm that birthed him. I wish nothing less than mad cow disease upon him. And plus, ive upgraded to bigger badder zios (i.e. ones who try to get me fired. Frum is all bark, he'll just write a swat independent piece).”
On November 6, 2017, Abraham tweeted: “PSA: I don't accept ‘happy birthday's’ from zionists
.”On July 3, 2016, Abraham demonized Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel on Facebook, claiming he has “notorious racist zionist views.” Abraham labeled Wiesel “a major supporter of Palestinian genocide and ethnic cleansing” who is “guilty of trivializing mass Arab death.”
On March 4, 2016, Abraham posted to Facebook inviting friends to watch him perform poetry on Swarthmore campus, adding: “(watch me stick my middle finger up at Zionism for 8 min
;) ). #FreePalestine #F**kZionism.”Spreading Anti-Israel Conspiracy Theories
On May 15, 2018, Abraham tweeted: “Every time a massacre in Palestine happens, the internet turns into a YouTube comment section & meanwhile more Palestinians die/are erased… This is intentional - israel invests millions in paying adults & teens to troll ppl online abt Palestine & dilute the truth #FreePalestine.”
On November 6, 2017, Abraham posted to Facebook: “This is a really informative video documenting how the racism in the American police force is deeply intertwined with the israeli military industrial complex. This is just one of many ways the relationship between america and israel continues to terrorize brown communities.”
On November 6, 2017, Abraham posted to Facebook: “This is a really informative video documenting how the racism in the American police force is deeply intertwined with the israeli military industrial complex. This is just one of many ways the relationship between america and israel continues to terrorize brown communities.”
Abraham added: “Huge thanks to JVP for this informative video, and also for calling out organizations who are funding this deadly exchange, and presenting concrete, effective ways we can protest this #DeadlyExchange. Surprise surprise birthright babes - yalls program is helping fund the racist police state worldwide.”
In 2017, JVP launched the “Deadly Exchange (DX)” campaign, which accused American Jewish organizations of promoting human rights abuses. JVP also released a video that blamed [00:04:04] U.S.-based Jewish organizations for violence that occurs against Black and Brown communities, immigrants and activists in the U.S.
Supporting Anti-Israel Agitators
On February 11, 2019, Abraham tweeted: “Sending love to @IlhanMN in the midst of another smear campaign against her as she critiques AIPAC [American Israel Public Affairs Committee]. And what's remarkable is that some perpetrators of this racist campaign identify as ‘anti occupation.’ Ppl like you aren't a help to Palestinian liberation.”
Ilhan Omar was elected to the U.S. Congress in 2018. In February 2019, top Congressional leaders denounced Omar for tweeting anti-Semitic remarks.
On November 30, 2018, Abraham tweeted: “Having a problem with ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ is a new low @CNN/ @ all zionists. Y'all act like there aren't whole Palestinians living under an apartheid regime in that little "country" y'all imagined between the west bank & Gaza??? #IStandWithMLH.”
In November 2018, Hill was fired from his contributor position at CNN (Cable News Network) after he gave an anti-Israel speech at the United Nations. He called [00:20:47] for a “free Palestine from the river to the sea,” a phrase associated with demands to dismantle the State of Israel. Hill also accused [00:16:19] Israel of “ethnic cleansing,” as well as [00:17:49] “white supremacy” and [00:17:56] “settler colonialism.”
On November 25, 2017, Abraham posted to Facebook: “My heart is with the people of Nabi Salih, now and always.” He added “Every week, the people of Nabi Salih (including children) protest the occupation, which sometimes results in incarceration and even death of unarmed Palestinian youth.”
The village of Nabi Saleh is a Tamimi family stronghold. It is notorious as a place where photographers gather nearly every Friday to document scenes of Palestinian residents and international activists clashing with Israeli soldiers. Much of this is instigated by the Nabi Saleh Tamimi clan.
In the same Facebook post, Abraham wrote that Ahed Tamimi “was violently taken from her home in the middle of the night by the IDF and imprisoned for her resistance efforts.”
Ahed Tamimi has a long history of physically attacking Israeli soldiers. Tamimi is the daughter of Bassem Tamimi, who is known for exploiting young children as political props in staged confrontations with Israeli soldiers.
On January 3, 2019, Abraham tweeted: “Not exactly a thobe but some Palestinian embroidery to celebrate @RashidaTlaib today!”
Rashida Tlaib was elected to the U.S. Congress in November 2018. She has advocated for a one-state solution, endorsed the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and called for reduced foreign aid to Israel. In July 2019, Tlaib co-sponsored a pro-BDS bill in the U.S. Congress introduced by Rep. Ilhan Omar.
SJP Activism
On December 27, 2016, Abraham posted to Facebook: “I will be flying back to the homeland tomorrow morning, and as such, I will be deactivating my Facebook.”
In response to the comment: “Yo also don't forget u gotta pull the biggest Hillary Clinton anyones ever seen with those emails,” Abraham added: “ LMFAO already did that days ago fam ;)no trace of sjp even in my trash bin haha.”
BDS Support
On December 25, 2017, Abraham tweeted: “As a Palestinian who gets criticized for like existing, I know @lorde is gonna get so much s**t for her decision to support the cultural boycott of the israeli apartheid state, and I just wanna show some love to her & other artists supporting a #FreePalestine.”
On June 29, 2016, Abraham posted to Facebook: “Fact: BDS is working and is both a legitimate and effective form of nonviolent resistance against occupational 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.
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.
Social Media and Weblinks
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/1074345994Twitter: https://twitter.com/IntifadaBatata
Website:https://www.gabrahampoet.com/
Videos
3 videos
Photos & Screenshots
104 images
Infamous Quotes
“If you celebrate ‘Israeli Independence,’ congratulations - you're celebrating a history of ethnic cleansing, genocide, and colonization”
“The IDF is a racist police force which shoots unarmed Palestinians”
“To be a zionist and to be human rights oriented is a contradiction.”
