Hashem Abu-Sham’a

Overview

Hashem Abu Sham’a is a member of Students for Peace and Justice in Palestine at Earlham College (Earlham), which is alternate name for Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).

He is also a leader within the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement at Earlham (BDS-Earlham).

He was appointed as the Youth Ambassador of Palestine Refugees at the UN Summit on Israeli Violations of Human Rights. In August 2015 he spoke for the UN Relief Works Agency (UNRWA), giving a presentation entitled, "Occupied Territories, Free Minds." He also spoke at the 2013 Seeds of Peace 20th Anniversary Gala.

Abu Sham’a was born and raised in the Arroub Refugee Camp, located in the north of Hebron, Israel. In 2013 he founded the local environmental awareness project "Trash the Occupation, Not Our Land." The intentionally politicized organization features a Facebook page with numerous posts glorifying and romanticizing deadly stone-throwings against Israeli citizens. The group has also incorporated the BDS logo into its own.

On November 15, 2015, during the wave of Palestinian terror attacks sweeping Israel, Abu Sham’a published a blog post, entitled: "A third Intifada? Asking the Wrong question." In the article Abu Sham’a staed that Israel sparked the Second Intifada by attacking the Al Aqsa mosque, intoning: “The second intifada … was the intifada of al-Aqsa mosque. ... The ‘intifada of al-Aqsa’ refers to the consistent attacks on al-Aqsa mosque by the Israeli police and settlers, which reached their peak when the former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon invaded al-Aqsa compound in September 2000.” Abu Sham’a went on to label the 2015-2016 wave of violence as a response to “the occupation.”

Abu Sham’a is an undergraduate student at Earlham, majoring in Peace and Global Studies and Economics. He is also the 2015-2016 co-President of the Earlham Student Government.

SPJP Earlham

In 2013, SPJP Earlham ran a Palestine Awareness Week, which featured a mock "apartheid wall." Per Earlham Alumni Against Apartheid, the wall was meant to resemble the borders “between Mexico and the US” to connect the Palestinian cause to the struggle of undocumented immigrants in the United States. Other activities included demonstrations on campus in solidarity with Palestine and a presentation by anti-Israel poet Remi Kanazi. In both 2014 and 2015, SPJP Earlham ran similar Awareness Weeks.

In March 2014, Abu Sham’a was a panelist at an SPJP Earlham function entitled, "Injustice, Oppression, & Apartheid: Are they different?"

In November, 2014, Abu Sham’a was one of two students that represented SPJP Earlham at the SJP National Conference at Tufts University.

In 2014 and 2015 SPJP Earlham also raised money for BDS activities at Earlham (BDS-Earlham) and collaborated with BDS on campus.

During the fall semester of 2015, SPJP Earlham screened "Occupation 101," a film designed to justify Palestinian violence and foster contempt for Israel.

SPJP and BDS Earlham

In March 2015, SPJP and BDS Earlham held Israeli Apartheid week on campus. Abu Sham’a sent out an official newsletter on behalf of both organizations. Events includes a "mock arrest," a “mock checkpoint,” a Nakba demonstration, a panel of BDS speakers, and extensive marketing on the main campus walkway.

On April 21, 2015, the Earlham student senate passed a BDS Resolution endorsing BDS-Earlham’s drive for the college to divest from several companies with business ties to Israel. The resolution was passed by consensus - requiring a unanimous decision. However the Earlham Socially Responsible Investment Advisory Committee (SRIAC), a standing committee of the Earlham College Board of Trustees, decided to reject BDS-Earlham’s and the student senate’s proposal.

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.