Habiba Khaled

SPHR is an alternative name for Students For Justice In Palestine (SJP). For more information, see the McMaster SPHR chapter profile.

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

In August 2017, Khaled’s LinkedIn profile said she graduated from McMaster with a bachelor’s degree in political science and history in 2017.

As of December 2019, Khaled was reportedly “a 2020 Master of Public Policy Candidate at the University of Toronto’s [U of T] Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy” and “a senior analyst at the EDPP Initiative at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.”

As of August 2023, Khaled was listed under “Recent Cohort” in the Toronto Urban Fellows program “for recent graduate[s] of Masters, LLB, JD, and PhD programs to tackle strategic projects at the City of Toronto.”

From 2011 to 2015, Khaled went by the username “Habiba K” and used the handle “@bibbaak” on Twitter. 

Khaled also promoted homophobia and anti-Semitism before attending university.

Anti-Israel Activism

On March 9, 2016, Khaled indicated on Facebook that she attended an Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) event titled “Apartheid: Live!” hosted by McMaster SPHR. The event featured a “mock apartheid wall” labeled “Barrier to Peace” and infographics that called Gaza “An Open Air Prison.”

The “mock apartheid wall” is a series of panels meant to represent Israel's security barrier, which was built to deter and respond to Palestinian terror and sniper attacks. Panels feature misleading statistics and “facts” that present a skewed image of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The “wall" is often featured at the Palestinian Awareness Week (PAW), formerly Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW), which is organized annually by SJP chapters on more than 200 North American university campuses.

On October 16, 2015, Khaled indicated on Facebook that she attended a protest co-sponsored by McMaster SPHR titled: “End the Occupation: Justice, Freedom, Equality.” At the rally, protesters chanted [00:00:23] “Viva, viva intifada!” and [00:00:35] “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free!”

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.

“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free” is a chant calling to dismantle 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.

On March 23, 2015, Khaled tweeted: “Today McMaster passed BDS with quorum! A historic day! #weareMac #Macpride.”

On that date, the McMaster Student Union (MSU) voted in favor of a BDS resolution at its annual General Assembly.

Khaled featured in a group photo posted on Facebook on the same date by McMaster anti-Israel activist Salah Abdelrahman that was captioned: “The team that made it happen. Team BDS at McMaster.”

Earlier that day, Khaled tweeted about the vote taking place: “@McMasterU @TheMcMACademic general Assembly BDS happening righttttt now at burrige gym! (iwc1) come out & make your voices heard!!!!”

On March 22, 2015, Khaled set her Facebook cover photo to a banner urging students to “vote YES to BDS” at the General Assembly.

On March 4, 2015, Khaled indicated on Facebook that she attended an IAW event featuring anti-Israel activist David Sheen, who would “give a lecture and slideshow about Israeli incitement to racist violence.”

David Sheen is an anti-Israel activist and filmmaker who works to portray Israel as an extremist racist state. To this end, Sheen has been accused of purposefully mistranslating Hebrew articles and other media to make Israelis appear racist.

On April 3, 2014, Khaled shared on Facebook a petition she had signed calling on Justin Timberlake to “Cancel Apartheid Israel Show.” The petition accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing, colonization, racial discrimination.” The petition claimed Timberlake canceled the show, although he performed in Tel Aviv in May 2014.

On March 26, 2014, Khaled tweeted: “Vote YES to BDS #McMasterBDS.” That day the MSU voted in favor of a BDS resolution, which passed as a non-binding resolution.

On March 23, 2014, Khaled shared on Facebook a petition she signed to protest a decision by Columbia College Chicago (COLUM) to cancel part of a course about the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after complaints about bias. The Chair of the Department of Humanities, History, and Social Sciences reportedly asked the course’s professor, Iymen Chehade, to address the subject in a more balanced way.  

Chehade has expressed support for terrorists, was a faculty advisor for SJP and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) at COLUM and supports BDS. He wrote in a Facebook post that “Asking for a ‘balanced’ discussion in the context of the Palestinians and their Zionist oppressors is absurd.”

On February 27, 2014, Khaled tweeted a photo of a cup with a label promoting IAW and wrote: “That’s what’s up! #israelapartheidweek.”

Pre-University Homophobia and Anti-Semitism

On April 21, 2011, Khaled tweeted: “i cant help the fact that im homophobic :S Where i come from its illegal to be gay &people will beat the living s**t out of you if you are.”

On the same day, Khaled tweeted: “did you know that 90 % of media & news is run by jews? hows THAT for ‘freedom of expression’ .. showing the isreali not Palestinian side.”

The assertion that Jews secretly control Western governments through banking and media has been traced to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, an anti-Semitic fabricated text that depicts wealthy Jews conspiring to take over the world.

Also on April 21, 2011, Khaled tweeted: “#icanthelp the hate i have towards ‘Israel’.They complain about the holocaust but do the EXACT same thing to Palestinians! #nojustice.”

On November 18, 2012, during Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense (OPD) against Hamas, Khaled tweeted: “Never in my life been more ashamed to be canadian. The governments a puppet in the hands of the USA and the zionist lobby. #GazaUnderAttack.”


Israel launched OPD to stop Hamas rocket attacks on Israeli civilians from Gaza. Over the course of eight days in November 2012, Palestinian terrorist groups fired more than 1,500 rockets at Israel. The majority struck Israel, damaging homes, schools and other civilian areas. Human Rights Watch noted: “Palestinian armed groups made clear in their statements that harming civilians was their aim.”

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 Web Links

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/habiba.khaled [Deleted]

Twitter:https://twitter.com/bibbaak [Deleted]

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/bibbaak/ [Deleted]

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/habiba-khaled-9074aa125/ [Deleted]