Hannah Gignoux

Overview

Hannah Gignoux has demonized Israel, opposed the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, praised anti-Israel agitators and condemned the Birthright Jewish heritage tour (Birthright). Gignoux has also expressed support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Gignoux was an e-board member of Ithaca College (Ithaca) Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) in 2018 and is affiliated with Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP).

As of December 2019, Gignoux’s LinkedIn page said she was a caregiver at The Racker Center in Ithaca, New York Area from “Aug 2019 - Present.”

As of December 2019, Gignoux’s Linkedin page said she graduated from Ithaca in 2018 and with a bachelor’s degree in Politics and Government (International Studies) as well as English Language and Literature.

As of November 2019, Gignoux is indicated on Twitter that she was applying to graduate school. In April of 2018, Gignoux expressed [00:52:59] a desire to become a professor.

Demonizing Israel

On December 31, 2017, Gignoux shared a video on Facebook of anti-Israel activist and professor Amer Zahr, which suggested [00:00:42] Israelis evict Palestinians from their homes and steal their culture.

On January 15, 2018, Gignoux shared a video [00:02:08] on Facebook from JVP, featuring an interview between anti-Israel propagandist Abby Martin and anti-Israel activist Ronnie Barkan.

Ronnie Barkan is the founder of “Boycott from Within,” an association of Jewish and Arab Israelis who support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Abby Martin’s introduced [00:00:52] Barkan as “an ardent critic of the notion of a Jewish state.”

On July 24, 2017, Gignoux shared to Facebook a photofrom anti-Israel activist Linda Sarsour. The photo’s caption claimed: “Denied access to pray at Al Aqsa Mosque in their own homeland, Palestinians pray on the streets in an act of non-violent resistance. They are met with tear gas and rubber bullets.”

On July 14, 2017, terrorists murdered two Israeli police officers outside the entrance to the Al-Aqsa compound, reportedly following claims that the Al-Aqsa Mosque was in danger. In response to the terror attack, Israel installed metal detectors and security cameras at the entrance to the holy site, which the authorities later removed, after further rioting and escalation in violence.

Opposing the Recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital

On December 6, 2017, Gignoux shared to Facebook an article from the New York Times, titled: “U.S. to Recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital, Trump Says, Alarming Middle East Leaders.” Gignoux commented: “Actually going to start crying now.”

That same day, the U.S. government recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and announced the decision to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

On December 8, 2017 Gignoux shared to Facebook a video from AJ+, with the comment: “MORE IMPORTANT THAN FINALS.” The video’s description said: “Tensions are boiling over in the occupied Palestinian territories after President Trump's statement on Jerusalem.”

The video noted [00:00:09] Hamas’s call for a third Intifada and showed [00:00:17] video of Palestinian youth taking to the streets and other unrest.

Ginoux retweeted a December 14, 2017 tweet from Al Jazeera English which linked to an article called: “Why Jerusalem is not the Capital of Israel.”

Praising Anti-Israel Agitators

On March 10, 2019 Gignoux tweeted: “#retweet if you are an anti-Zionist Jew in support of @IlhanMN speaking out against #apartheid in #Israel #justiceinPalestine #nomoreoccupation.”

Ilhan Omar was elected to the U.S. Congress in 2018. In February 2019, top Congressional leaders denounced Omar for tweeting anti-Semitic remarks.Omar has demonized Israel and endorsed BDS. In July 2019, Omar introduced a pro-BDS resolution in the U.S. Congress, which she described as “an opportunity for us to explain why it is we support…the BDS movement.”

On August 16, 2017, Gignoux shared on Twitter an Al-Jazeera video glorifying Manal Tamimi and commented: “Supermom is an understatement

”

Manal Tamimi has spread anti-Semitic blood libels and support for terrorists.

On December 22, 2017, Gignoux shared to Facebook a video about Ahed Tamimi. The video description said Tamimi was “famous for standing up to Israeli soldiers.”

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 March 9, 2018, Gignoux shared to Instagram a photo of Tamimi with the caption: “#internationalwomensday Reminder that Ahed Tamimi is still in jail and if we are honoring badass hero women she should be at the top of that list. #freeahedtamimi #justiceforpalestine🇵🇸.”

Condemning Jewish Heritage Tour

On April 12, 2018, Ithaca SJP posted to Facebook a live video of a presentation, titled:“BirthWrong,” which Gignoux delivered to a small group. Gignoux began her presentation by discussing [00:06:23] a Jewish Heritage trip trip she took to Israel December 2015 under the auspices of Birthright, with her school’s Jewish Student Center, Hillel.

Gignoux subtitled her presentation: “how a young Jewish woman became seduced by the promise of a sheltering family, history and nation.”

After describing her limited Jewish background, Gignoux offered a description of her trip, including its structure and the experiences of Jewish community and culture to which she was introduced. Whenever she mentioned [00:14:02] issues like “security risks” and “terrorism,” to her SJP audience she showed [00:23:51] visible discomfort.

Gignoux spoke [00:28:17] of the dialogue she shared with other Birthright participants, fostered by the trip, including an openness that she found [00:31:02] not to exist elsewhere in “Jewish spaces” on campus.

The second part of her presentation consisted of efforts to distance herself from her Birthright experience. Gignoux related [00:31:46] her reframing of her Birthright experience after she was brought by someone to SJP. Gignoux said: [00:32:34] “I’m in a place of needing to separate my Jewish identity from Israel.”

She went on to claim [00:33:50] that Birthright engaged in “covert” brainwashing of Jews to become Israeli citizens and accused [00:33:56] Birthright of “blending the lines between culture and community, family, religion” so that “by the end of the trip you don’t even realize you care about the Nation.”

When asked if she would tell others to go on Birthright, Gignoux responded [00:37:15] “On a structural level, on like a generally yknow Birthright supporting the Israeli state activist level, I would say ‘no, boycott Israel.’”

She continued that she did not support the program Birthright “on a structural level,” but clarified that if individuals go it should be with “awareness” and understanding “the subtleties.” Gignoux added that she felt she did not have the authority to tell people not to go on the trip but felt it should be boycotted [00:37:56] “from an institutional level, like structural level...I don’t support the program.”

Gignoux mentioned JVP’s Return the Birthright campaign and maintained [00:50:42] that the program was to “make a statement about Palestinian Right of Return” and that “I wanna look into that more.”

The “right of return” is a Palestinian demand discredited as a means to eliminate Israel.

Gignoux concluded by stating [00:53:56] “The existence of the Israeli state...is probably one of the more dangerous things for Jewish identity.”

On December 22, 2017, Gignoux shared to Facebook a video from Return the Birthright. The video featured [00:00:07] a protest Return the Birthright held earlier that month in front of the Birthright offices in New York City. JVP members assembled to chant anti-Birthright slogans and encourage other young Jews to boycott the trip.

The “right of return” is a Palestinian demand discredited as a means to eliminate Israel. International law mandates no absolute right of return and UN Resolution 194, which defined principles for “refugees wishing to return to their homes,” was unanimously rejected by Arab nations following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

Support for BDS

Gignoux retweeted an August 19, 2017 tweet from Al Jazeera English that said: “Opinion: How banning the BDS movement is an attack on the US democratic values” and linked to an opinion piece titled: “The Israel Lobby vs the First Amendment.”

On April 15, 2018, Ithaca College’s SJP Instagram account shared a photo of a wall in Montreal with the words “Viva Palestina BDS” painted on the side and tagged Gignoux’s Instagram account.

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.