Hajer Nakua

Overview

Hajer Nakua is affiliated with Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) at McMaster University (McMaster) in Hamilton, Ontario in 2015. Mac SPHR is a chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), employing an alternative name

Nakua supported the 2015 Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) efforts at McMaster and attended the March 23rd “Vote Yes to BDS” initiative on campus.

Nakua is the outreach director of the Muslim Students Association (MSA) at McMaster.

As of June 26, 2017, Nakua’s Facebook page lists her as attending McMaster from 2014-2018. She is reportedly completing a BA in Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour major, with a minor in History. 

In February of 2017, Nakua unsuccessfully ran for elections to the Board of Governors at the McMaster Student Union (MSU).

Nakua is a recipe developer at Amanah Fitness.

Supporting Mac SPHR

Nakua attended the 2016 Israel Apartheid Week (IAW) at McMaster. 

On March 9, 2016, Nakua attended the the event “Apartheid, Live!” co-hosted by Mac SPHR. Apartheid, Live! was part of IAW 2016 — which demonized Israel as an “apartheid” state with the aim of to building McMaster’s BDS campaign.

The event showcased a poster that described Gaza as an “open Air Prison” and referred to Israeli defensive operations as “attacks.” The poster misleadingly employed  raw casualty figures as indicators of moral merit. 

The event displayed another poster featuring a series of maps that portrays lands once controlled by Britain, Egypt and Jordan as autonomous “Palestinian land” purportedly stolen by Israel.

In February of 2016, publisher McGraw-Hill Education recalled and destroyed copies of a college level textbook that contained the fraudulent maps. In October 2015, the United States cable news network MSNBC apologized for airing a similar series of maps and retracted them.

On March 15, 2016, Nakua attendedan event co-hosted by Mac SPHR featuring Eran Efrati, senior member the anti-Israel Breaking the Silence organization, and Maya Wind, who has legitimized Palestinian terrorism as “merely resisting.”

Mac SPHR  

Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) at McMaster (SPHR Mac) is a chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), employing an alternative name.   

Mac SPHR - Calling to Free Terrorists  

On May 13, 2017, Mac SPHR promoted a “rally in solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners” on Facebook. The rally was co-organized by Hammam Farrah, Rawan Al-Ahrar and Salma Fakhry of Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) at York University.

At the demonstration, Mac SPHR President Lina Assi led protesters in the chant “Free, free prisoners!” [4:57]

One of the professionally prepared placards displayed at the rally read: “#dignity_strike” and featured images of convicted Palestinian terrorists. The largest image was that of convicted terrorist Marwan Barghouti, who is serving five consecutive life sentences for his role in suicide bombings and shooting attacks against Israelis that killed five people during the second intifada. Barghouti financed the guitar-case bomb used in the Sbarro Cafe massacre.

The so-called “dignity strike” referenced by the sign referred to a hunger strike initiated by Barghouti, who headed the Palestinian Authority (PA) terrorist Tanzim force and founded the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. Barghouti’s organizations carried out numerous terror attacks that killed scores of Israelis and wounded hundreds.

Barghouti completed a doctorate in Political Science while in Israeli prison.The poster also featured other convicted murderers, including:

- Ahmad Sa’adatconvicted of the assassination of the Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze’evi  
Thaer Hamad - convicted of killing three civilians, seven soldiers and injuring others in a shooting attack
Ayman al-Sharabati - convicted of terrorist attacks aimed at Israeli citizen 
Dia Zakaria Shaker al-Agha - convicted of killing an Israeli citizen
Yassir Mahmoud Abu Bakr - an operative of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades who was convicted of helping orchestrate a suicide bombing in Netanya that killed two people, including a nine-month-old toddler, and wounded at least 35 others. 

Other signs at the rally read “Free All Political Prisoners” and “Canada must condemn Israeli terrorism against the Palestinians.”

During the protests, demonstrators chanted “Israel is a racist state!” [0:25] and [0:40] “Israel and U.S.A. - How many kids did you kill today?” and “From the river to the seas, palestine will be free!” [3:30] and “No justice, no peace!” [4:20].

Video footage of the rally, which was not released on the “official” event page, documented protest coordinator Rawan Al-Ahrarleading protesters in chants of “Viva, Viva, Intifada!” [00:11].

Following the protest, some demonstrators objected to “unauthorized pictures” of the rally that were snapped by an unidentified photographer. One protester stated that the photographer should have been “prevented from taking pictures.” A second demonstrator responded: “agreed. but we need a strategy around that… would be helpful at all demos.”

The protest also featured the so-called “Saltwater Challenge.” According to CNN, the Saltwater Challenge appears to have been started by Aarab Marwan Barghouti, the son of Marwan Barghouti.

Mac SPHR - Glorifying Terrorism  

On March 9, 2017, Mac SPHR shared a post to Facebook that celebrated International Women’s Day and urged followers to “Stop by and learn about revolutionary Palestinian women like Leila Khaled…”  

Khaled is a leader 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 for the use of children in terror activities and compared Zionists to Nazis.


The PFLP claimed credit for the 2014 Har Nof Massacre where six people were murdered during morning prayers in a Jerusalem synagogue. The PFLP also claimed credit for the 2001 assassination of the Israeli tourism minister. 


On March 4, 2017, Mac SPHR posted to Facebook a link to an “international Women’s Day” event, with Khaled’s photograph and text urging “A WOMAN’S PLACE IS IN THE STRUGGLE!”.  

Mac SPHR - Supporting Terrorist Violence  

On October 16, 2015, Mac SPHR advertised and co-sponsored an anti-Israel rally in front of the Israeli consulate, along with Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) and the Palestine House in Toronto.

The Arabic version of the invitation, disseminated by Palestine House invited demonstrators to a “Protest rally in solidarity and support of Palestine Intifada (انتفاضة).” 

October 2015 saw an upsurge in violence across Israel incited by Palestinian political and religious leaders. The wave of stabbings, known as the “Knife Intifada,” saw young Palestinians throughout the country stabbing and attempting to stab scores of Israeli civilians.

During the rally, protesters chanted: “Viva, Viva Intifada!” and “from the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free!”

The Palestine House was de-funded by the Canadian federal government in 2012 for aligning itself with terrorist causes, including celebrating the release of terrorists and honoring the founder of the PFLP. 

On October 12, 2015, Mac SPHR posted to its Facebook page: “A tribute to the brave Palestinian women in the the struggle for resilience.” The post linked to a series of photos entitled “Tribute to the Palestinian women in the struggle,” celebrating the then-current Knife Intifada. The photos showed young women, masked in keffiyehs, using slingshots and gathering rocks for throwing.

Mac SPHR - Whitewashing Terrorists  

On October 5, 2015, Mac SPHR posted on Facebook: “What are your thoughts? Could this be the beginning of the third intifada?” Mac SPHR’s post linked to a video from anti-Israel news source AJ+, an affiliate of Al Jazeera, claiming that “Four Palestinian teenagers have been shot dead by Israeli authorities...”  

The video went on: “Police say Fadi Alloun wounded a teenager in a knife attack.” In fact, Alloun [Aloon] was shot by Israeli security forces after he stabbed a 15-year-old Israeli boy in his chest and back. Several hours before his attack, Aloon reportedly posted “Either martyrdom or victory” on his Facebook page. 

The video continued: “19-year-old Muhannad Halabi was also killed,” adding that “authorities say he killed two Israelis.” Halabi stabbed to death two men — one of whom was a father, murdered in front of his wife and two young children. Halabi also stabbed the mother and a two-year-old child before Israeli security forces shot Halabi dead. 

On October 6, 2015, Mac SPHR posted on Facebook: “Rest in Peace Fadi Alloun, a Palestinian teenager attacked by a mob of Israeli settlers and shot dead by Israeli Police officers,” along with a Youtube video of Alloun being shot. 

On October 12, 2015, Mac SPHR posted to its Facebook page: “GRAPHIC CONTENT A 14 years old shot by Israeli soldiers and the settler filming yells ‘Die, you son of a b****’  Share and let the world see… PS. The kid is dead! :( #Palestine.” 

The Mac SPHR Facebook post linked to a video of Ahmed Manasra (sometimes spelled Mansara), who was wounded — not killed — on October 12, 2015, while he and his 15-year-old cousin, Hassan, were engaged in a stabbing spree in Jerusalem. 

Ahmed Manasra (sometimes spelled Mansara) and his 15-year-old cousin Hassan went on a stabbing spree in Jerusalem on October 12, 2015, during the Knife Intifada. They critically wounded a 13-year-old boy and moderately wounded a 25-year-old man. The spree ended when police shot Hassan and a passing motorist hit Ahmed. Ahmed was taken to an Israeli hospital. He admitted to investigators: “I went there to stab Jews.” He was later tried and convicted on two counts of attempted murder.


Also on October 12, 2015, Mac SPHR posted on Facebook a video describing Asraa Zidan Tawfik Abed as “a Palestinian woman who was gunned down by Israeli forces after she allegedly tried to stab a security guard.” Abed was shot in the lower body on October 9, 2015 — after she attempted to stab a security guard at a bus station and refused to heed repeated commands to drop her weapon. Abed was not killed — and later underwent surgery at an Israeli hospital.

Mac SPHR - Calling Violence 'Political Activism'  

On January 12, 2016, Mac SPHR posted to Facebook an article that claimed: “Israeli forces have arrested dozens of politically active students” from Birzeit university and that “the acting president of Birzeit University called for the release of students. Israel is responsible for the well being of the students who are demonstrating peacefully against the occupation.”

The Israeli Defense Forces increased operations following the Knife Intifada — a surge of stabbing, shooting and car-ramming attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers, which began in October of 2015.

Fatah’s Shabiba student movement at Birzeit University produced a militant video, titled “Martyrdom-seeking unites us.” In December of 2015, the group posted Facebook pictures of themselves standing by a Christmas tree festooned with the portraits of murderers — including one who had recently stabbed four Israeli civilians. The featured terrorists were collectively responsible for thousands of attacks. Behind the students was a sign that proclaimed: “The way to freedom is a bullet and a martyr... a crescent and a cross; Merry Christmas, [Fatah] Shabiba student movement, Birzeit University.”

Birzeit’s student body elected Hamas to power in 2015 and 2016. In 2015, Bilal Barghouti became the Honorary Chairman of the Bir Zeit University Student Council. Barghouti was then serving 16 life terms in Israeli prison for his role in a series of suicide attacks. Bilal Barghouti was the senior terrorist behind the Sbarro cafe bombing.

On January 10, 2016, Israeli soldiers conducted a raid on Birzeit university, directed at terror cells believed to be operating from the campus. During the operations, soldiers arrested 15 terror suspects and seized weapons stockpiles, materials linked to local terror cells and Hamas propaganda.

Birzeit characterized the January 2016 IDF raid to arrest wanted militants as a “belligerent... attack on the university and our right to education…”  

Mac SPHR - Anti-Israel Activism  

On March 12, 2015, four Israelis who comprised a delegation illustrating Israeli diversity were reportedly harassed while visiting McMaster. 

One of the delegates, an Arab-Israeli woman named Areen Haj Ahmad, was reportedly harassed, surrounded and told she should not have the Palestinian flag at the table because she did not represent the “oppressed Palestinian voices.” Ahmad was also reportedly called “a traitor” and received numerous bullying messages on Facebook. Hamad ended up deactivating her Facebook account and pulling out of a speaking event about using business as a tool for dialogue and coexistence.

The following day, 75 students gathered in McMaster’s atrium to hold a “die-in.” Concerning the “die-in,” SPHR Mac posted to Facebook that “it is not our event... but message us if you want details and we can direct you to the students organizing it.” 

Raphael Szajnfarber, director of McMaster Hillel, later reported that all of the leaders of SPHR organized [the die in] and spoke at the protest.”

On March 14, 2015, Mac SPHR posted to their Facebook page a picture of the “die-in” with the comment: ”United we can make a difference. Great initiative by Palestinian students to protest Israel on Campus bringing ex IDF commanders onto campus, and the administration at McMaster allowing it to happen.”

On March 15, 2015, Mac SPHR changed their Facebook cover photo to a picture of the demonstrators participating in the “die-in.”  

Mac SPHR - Demonizing Israel  

On February 6, 2017, Mac SPHR posted to its Facebook page lengthy excerpts of an article demonizing Israel by anti-Israel Professor Marwa Osman. Osman wrote: “Caged by Zionism, Israel has become the embodiment of apartheid, bigotry and intolerance” and “state-regulated sectarianism and racism,” as well as “fascist ethno-centrism.” The post also quoted Osman saying: “From every angle, Israel is inherently a racist state, and, one might actually argue, a white supremacist state.”

On May 14, 2016, Mac SPHR endorsed on Facebook an anti-Israel rally to protest a fundraiser benefitting the Jewish National Fund (JNF). Mac SPHR accused the JNF of “ongoing land theft & expropriation of Palestinian land.” 

The Facebook event page accused the JNF of raising “funds in Canada to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from their homes and farms in Israel/Palestine. The event further labeled the the JNF as “racist and criminal” and demanded that Canada “immediately remove the charitable status of the JNF.”

On January 14, 2016, Mac SPHR  hosted an anti-Israel event titled “Palestinian Genocide.”

In November of 2015, Mac SPHR posted a graphic to its Facebook page of a consumer picking up a can with “made in Israel” stamped on it, to reveal a flattened, bloodied child wearing a Palestinian flag. 

On November 6, 2015, Mac SPHR posted to Facebook an excerpt of an article published by Dana Olwan and Mike Krebs in which the authors claimed: “...in colonized Palestine, land theft was secured not only by military force but also by laws that sanctioned the terrorising of indigenous Palestinian girls and women and subjugated them to the technologies of sexual harassment intimidation, punishment and death.” 

The article — a litany of purported Israeli crimes against Palestinian women — claimed: “In [Deir Yassin], Palestinian women were molested, raped, and then killed. In one example of such gendered and sexualised violence, the womb of a nine months pregnant Palestinian woman was cut open before she was murdered”. 

On October 12, 2015, Mac SPHR posted a picture of a Palestinian youngster on Facebook and commented: “Israeli soldiers broke into the house of this 3 year old boy to arrest him on accusations of ‘throwing stones’ - an act that can now get you up to 20 years in Israeli prisons (but only if you’re Palestinian of course). October 05, 2015.” 

On September 30, 2016, SPHR Mac posted to Facebook an article propagating the widely debunked Al-Dura hoax. The Al-Durah hoax is an iconic piece of anti-Israel propaganda that was fabricated during a riot in the Gaza Strip, on September 30, 2000, at the start of the second intifada. A France 2 report, filmed by a Palestinian cameraman and narrated by France 2's editor — who was not at the scene — purported to show Jamal Al-Durah and his 12-year-old son Muhammad, crouching behind a concrete cylinder, shot by Israeli forces. 

Subsequent review of the raw footage revealed that France 2 edited out the final scenes captured by the Palestinian cameraman — which showed the boy peeking at the camera from beneath his raised arm. Film of the father and son from other news networks — indicating that the entire scene was staged — was also uncovered.

The article, originally published by the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), claimed Muhammad was “executed” and suggested that Jamal was killed as well. 

On February 5, 2016, Mac SPHR posted to Facebook an article claiming Israel is spraying crop-killing chemicals on Gaza farmland, adding : “#genocide.”

Mac SPHR - Israel Apartheid Week  

SPHR Mac hosted and ran a two-week long “Israel Apartheid Week (IAW)” from March 6 until March 17, 2017. 

On March 1, 2017, SPHR Mac tweeted: “Join us from March 6-17 here at McMaster University in our struggle against colonization, militarization and apartheid! #IAWMAC2017.” 

The tweet featured an IAW promotion video that claimed “to raise awareness for Israel’s settler colonial project and its apartheid policies” [0:19] against  Palestinians who are being “targeted and cleansed by the state of Israel” [1:25], an “apartheid regime” [1:31].

Young Communist League (YCL) activist Aparajito Singh, working in tandem with Mac SPHR, created buttons for IAW 2017 featuring the PFLP logo, PFLP terrorist Leila Khaled as well as Ghassan Kanafani, a leading member and spokesperson of the PFLP in its early years.

Kanafani announced the PFLP’s responsibility for the Lod Airport Massacre of May 1972 and was personally linked to the airport attackers. The attack killed 26 people.

SPHR Mac denied Jewish indigeneity to Israel and hosted speakers who accused Jews of “settler colonialism.”

On March 16, 2017, Mac SPHR hosted an event, titled “From Intifada to Liberation - Defeating Colonialism & Imperialism.” Since the early 2000’s, the term “intifada” has carried the connotation of militant violence. In 2017, violent intifada that erupted two years earlier continued in Israel.

On March 8, 2017, Mac SPHR co-hosted the event “Israeli Apartheid Week: The Lab.” The Facebook event page elaborated that: “Since 9/11, the Israeli arms industries are doing bigger business than ever before. Large Israeli companies develop and test the vessels of future warfare, which is then sold worldwide by private Israeli agents, who manipulate a network of Israeli politicians and army commanders, while Israeli theoreticians explain to various foreign countries how to defeat civil and para-military resistance.” 

Mac SPHR also hosted IAW in 2016.

On February 7, 2016, Mac SPHR advertised for IAW by posting on Facebook photographs that likened Israel to Jim Crow America.

On March 9, 2016, Mac SPHR hosted the event “Apartheid, Live!” as part of IAW.That event showcased a poster that described Gaza as an “open Air Prison” and referred to Israeli defensive operations as “attacks.” The poster misleadingly employed  raw casualty figures as indicators of moral merit. 

The event displayed another poster featuring a graphic composed of a series of maps portraying lands once controlled by Britain, Egypt and Jordan as autonomous “Palestinian land” purportedly stolen by Israel.

In February of 2016, publisher McGraw-Hill Education recalled and destroyed copies of a college level textbook that contained the fraudulent maps. In October 2015, the United States cable news network MSNBC apologized for airing a similar series of maps and retracted them.

The event also featured an installation mischaracterizing Israel’s security fence as an “Apartheid Wall.”

On March 14, 2016, Mac SPHR members posted to Facebook an article written by then-SPHR President Yara Shoufani and 2017 SPHR President Lina Assi, who claimed that IAW aimed to raise “awareness about Israel’s ongoing settler-colonial project and apartheid policies… of racial segregation.” 

On March 1, 2015, Mac SPHR hosted David Sheen during Israel Apartheid Week. Sheen is an anti-Israel propagandist who was banned from the German Parliament in November of 2014.  

Mac SPHR - Pushing BDS  

In March of 2014, Mac SPHR attempted to push through a divestment bill during a heated meeting of the McMaster Student Union (MSU) General Assembly. 

The bill was introduced by Salah Abdelrahman and seconded by Seif Youssef.

Students on both sides of the debate reported a tense atmosphere. One student at the microphone reportedly asked security to stand between him and another student. “I’m actually feeling a little unsafe right now,” he said. Individual pro-Israel students who opposed the resolution were reportedly derided and mocked.

The MSU General Assembly voted in favor of the motion — despite the lack of a constitutionally-required 632-member quorum. The resolution was, therefore, non-binding.

In 2015, McMasterBDS and Mac SPHR pushed another intensive campaign for the passage of a BDS resolution that used the exact same wording as the 2014 Divestment resolution. 

On March 18, 2015, Mac SPHR and McMasterBDS  created a video to further their BDS campaign that claimed Israel killed “500 kids” in “Gaza this summer.” 

On March 23, 2015, the MSU General Assembly voted to pass the divestment resolution proposed by then-SPHR President Yara Shoufani. The resolution claimed that Israel is committing “war crimes” and called on McMaster “to endorse” the global BDS movement. 

Proponents of the divestment resolution resisted all attempts to alter its exclusive condemnation of Israel. 

This time, the motion passed with a constitutional quorum — but with less than 10% of  students in attendance. During the discussion, the motion was criticized having been forwarded in violation of the undergraduate student union’s notice provisions. 

Following the vote, then-SPHR President Lina Assi gave an interview to a pro-BDS local radio host, Brendan Stone. In the interview, Assi claimed it was “not true” that “BDS targets Israeli companies or products” and alleged that students are “blinded by misconceptions” in these matters [18:05]. 

Former SPHR President Yara Shoufani also participated in the interview. Shoufani stated: “The next step is to mobilize and lobby the administration, because, you know what, the [McMaster Student Union] MSU has money, but the administration has even more money… it’s not over yet, Palestine is not liberated… the administration have a lot of money” [19.55].

On February 2, 2016, it was reported that McMaster’s BDS had compiled a 3,000-vendors list and was “going through each company to find out whether they’re boycottable or not. Assi told Imprint, the University of Waterloo's official student paper, that “Once we submit the recommendations to our student union, they will have to divest.” Assi said that “since the BDS movement is now a binding motion on the student union, [the administration] have no choice but to follow the motion.”  

Mac SPHR - Defending Terror-Supporter Nadia Shoufani   

On August 19, 2016, Mac SPHR shared a McMaster BDS poston its Facebook page, that promoted a petition defending terrorist-supporter Nadia Shoufani. Nadia is the mother of Yara Shoufani, who pushed for McMaster’s endorsement of BDS.

Nadia Shoufani — who called the murderer of a 4-year-old Israeli girl a “hero” on Facebook — was placed under investigation by Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board, for a speech she gave during a Toronto Al-Quds Day Rally in July of 2016. At the rally, Shoufani called on the public to support the resistance “in any form that is possible” and intoned “Glory to the martyrs.” Shoufani reportedly wrote on her Facebook page that “the ‘martyrdom’ of Samir Kuntar was a ‘testament for heroism.’”

During her speech, Shoufani promoted the ideology of the late PFLP activist “Ghassan Kanafani,” whom Shoufani called “our martyr.” Shoufani’s speech denigrated peace and co-existence with Israel. In it, she also declared “we salute and demand the freedom of Bilal Kayed a 34 year-old activist” — a PFLP member jailed for terrorist operations committed during the second intifada. Shoufani also criticized the detention of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, a Lebanese terrorist imprisoned in France for killing two American and Israeli officials. 

Shoufani also claimed that “arbitrary executions are committed daily” by Israel, which she alleged was “putting all sorts of racist discriminatory laws.” 

Following her speech, Shoufani was suspended from teaching for a month.

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.



MSA

The MSA was  established by members of the Muslim Brotherhood in January 1963 at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, with the goal of "spreading Islam as students in North America." A 2004 FBI investigation uncovered an internal Muslim Brotherhood document in which a brotherhood leader identified the MSA as "one of our organizations." 


The MSA reportedly has “nearly 600 chapters” located in the United States and Canada, and is “the most visible and influential Islamic student organization in North America,” boasting conferences, special events, publications, websites and other activities.


The organization includes a number of previous chapter presidents with explicit links to terrorist groups. Included are al-Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki (Colorado State University), Somali al-Shabaab militant leader Omar Shafik Hammami (University of South Alabama) and Pakistani Taliban recruiter Ramy Zamzam of the MSA's Washington, D.C. council.  


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