Heba Latif

Overview

Heba Latif expressed support for the Hamas terror attacks of October 7, 2023, as the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) co-president at Ohio State University (SJP OSU). Latif has also promoted hatred of Israel and America in her campus activism, as well as hatred of Israel on social media.

When Latif was co-president, SJP OSU showed support for terrorism and spread anti-Semitism during Israel’s war against Hamas after the October 7, 2023 attacks. On that day, Hamas murdered over 1,200 Israelis, kidnapped hundreds and wounded thousands. War crimes against civilians included torture, rape and beheadings.

As of May 2024, Latif’s LinkedIn profile said she served as co-president of SJP OSU from May 2023 to May 2024. Latif also had served as the “Educational Research Chair” of SJP OSU since August 2022. OSU is located in Columbus, Ohio.

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

Also as of May 2024, Latif’s LinkedIn said she had leadership positions in two other anti-Israel groups at OSU. She was co-president of The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF) chapter at OSU (PCRF-OSU) from May 2023 to May 2024, with other roles as early as 2022. She was treasurer of the Palestinian Women’s Association at OSU from April 2022 to May 2024.

As of February 2024, Latif’s LinkedIn profile said she was a pre-law student at OSU, studying for a bachelor's degree in political science. She was slated to graduate in 2024. Her LikedIn also said she graduated from Columbus State Community College (CSCC) with an associate’s degree in political science and government in 2021.

As of May 2024, Latif’s LinkedIn said she was a “Development Program Intern” at the Ohio chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) from June 2022 to July 2022. She was also a “Political Affairs Intern” at The Borgen Project from December 2020 to March 2021.

As of May 2024, Latif’s LinkedIn said she was located in Columbus, Ohio.

Support for Hamas Terrorists

On October 8, 2023, while Latif served as the SJP OSU co-president, the group held a rally at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, titled: “Stand with Gaza.” The rally was one day after the October 7, 2023 terror attacks.

On the same date, Latif featured [00:00:42] in a video posted by a local news channel. A reporter said [00:00:59]: “Latif calls the Hamas attack a resistance movement against the occupation.”

Among Palestinians and anti-Israel activists, the term “resistance” can be a euphemism for nationalistic terror. It is often used to excuse or even glorify anti-Israel and anti-Semitic violence.

In the same video, Latif led [00:00:33] an anti-Israel chant and she said [00:00:40]: “This is a response to the 75 years of a brutal occupation and apartheid system.”

The modern State of Israel was founded 75 years earlier, in 1948.

On Saturday, October 7, 2023, approximately 2,900 heavily armed Hamas terrorists breached Israel’s border with Gaza. They executed numerous war crimes on civilians, including mass murder, beheadings of children, rape of men and women, torture, kidnappings and mutilation. Hamas broadcast videos of their butchery on social media, often to victims’ accounts for families to see. Israel retaliated with a war called “Swords of Iron.” As of November 10, 2023, over 1,200 Israelis, the vast majority of them civilians, were murdered during the attacks. Hamas kidnapped 242 Israelis, including at least 30 children. At least 3,500 people were wounded, many severely.

A terrorist detained by Israel admitted he raped an Israeli woman when he broke into a kibbutz house during the October 7, 2023 attack. In March 2024, a former hostage of Hamas publicly stated she was sexually abused and tortured while in captivity.

For more information on the October 7, 2023 terror attacks, see the Canary Mission page on Hamas.

On October 14, 2023, SJP OSU, the Palestinian Women’s Association, and another OSU anti-Israel group published a statement that said: “We stand in solidarity with Palestinians and their right to resist the 75-year occupation, settler-colonialism, and ethnic cleansing…As students, we stand for the liberation and an end to the occupation of Palestine.”

SJP OSU - Spreading Anti-Semitism

On December 8, 2023, during Latif’s tenure as co-president of SJP OSU, the group set up a display with signs to protest Israel’s war against Hamas.

The SJP OSU signs said: “NEVER AGAIN?,” “GENOCIDE UNIVERSITY,” “#Lift the Siege on Gaza NOW,” and “...#End the Israeli Occupation NOW…”

The phrase “Never Again” is often deployed as a general declaration against genocide, invoking the Nazis’ war of extermination against the Jews.

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) highlights as one possible contemporary example of anti-Semitism: “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.” The U.S. State Department adopted the IHRA’s working definition of anti-Semitism in 2016. Over 40 countries have adopted the definition as well.

Israel and Egypt implemented a United Nations-approved [pp. 39–41] joint blockade of the Gaza Strip in 2011 to stop Hamas from acquiring more sophisticated rockets.

Hatred of Israel and America in Campus Activism

On November 22, 2023, Latif was a featured speaker at an SJP OSU event titled: “Teach-ins for a free Palestine.” The topics Latif was set to speak on included: “Zionism, Media Misinformation, & How the U.S. Funds Genocide.”

Zionism is the belief that Jews have the right to self-determination in their own national home, and the right to develop their national culture.

On October 12, 2023, Latif spoke [00:00:12] at an anti-Israel event, titled:
“Day of Resistance Protest for Palestine.” The event was hosted by SJP OSU and the Palestinian Women’s Association.

At the event, protesters at the front of the march held a banner that said: “FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA.”

“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free” is a chant used [00:02:47] to call for the elimination of 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. In April 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning the chant as antisemitic.

One protestor held a sign that said: “STOP ETHNIC CLEANSING AND GENOCIDE.” Other signs said: “IT’S NOT ‘CONFLICT’ IT’S GENOCIDE” and “‘RESPECT EXISTENCE OR EXPECT RESISTANCE.’”

Hatred of Israel on Social Media

On May 5, 2022, Latif, referring to Israeli Independence Day, tweeted: “74 years of occupation, genocide, illegal settlements, unfair trials, and murder. So, all that never made you feel better???”

On April 27, 2022, Latif tweeted: “You’re disgusting, and a hypocrite! As if the IOF themselves are not a terrorist organization that kill anyone they see, including mothers and children. Put your energy towards something that is actually accurate and beneficial.”

“Israeli Occupation Forces,” or “IOF,” is a derogatory name for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) used by anti-Israel activists to demonize Israel’s army.

Latif’s tweet responded to an April 27, 2022 tweet that said: “Another ‘young Palestinian’ turns out to be an Islamic Jihad operative / On the left, Pro-Palestinian channels: ‘a young innocent Palestinian victim’. / On the right, another photo of Islamic Jihad operative Ahmad Masad, educating the younger generation.” The tweet included an image of an 18-year-old Islamic Jihad operative posing with a child and a rifle.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) is a terror group “whose objective is the destruction of the State of Israel and the establishment of a sovereign, Islamic Palestinian state.” PIJ is backed by Iran and has killed dozens of Israelis in suicide bombings and other attacks.

Anti-Israel Activism (SJP, BDS)

On January 27, 2024, anti-Israel website Mondoweiss, reported that SJP OSU and all Big 10 Conference SJP chapters signed a letter accusing their schools of “complicity in the Palestinian genocide.” The letter also called on their schools to “immediately divest from all entities associated with the internationally condemned state of Israel.”

On November 30, 2024, Latif spoke at an SJP OSU “die-in” where activists demanded that the university “Divest and cut ties with Israeli corporations, which fund and uphold the illegal illegitimate apartheid state of Israel.”

At the event, there were signs that said: “#Lift the Siege on Gaza NOW,” and “#End the Israeli Occupation NOW.”

On November 1, 2023, Latif signed an anti-Israel statement titled: “Statement in Solidarity with Palestine: A Letter to Our University Community.”

The statement said: “We must not lose sight of the fact that the root cause of this cycle of violence is Israeli settler colonialism, military occupation, and apartheid.” The statement also claimed: “To be clear, occupation, genocide, apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and war crimes are not matters of opinion.” The statement also promoted SJP OSU and called on the university to support the BDS movement.

On October 16, 2023, Latif attended [00:00:29] a rally at a Columbus City Council meeting. At the meeting, an activist spoke to the council and said: “Today, we are witnessing a genocide happen in Gaza.”

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.