Hemza Azzam
Overview
Hemza Azzam has spread incitement, demonized Israel and was an activist with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Ohio State University (OSU), from 2013 through 2015.Azzam was also active in a 2015 Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign at OSU.
As of March 2020, Azzam’s LinkedIn page said that he was a “Sales Engineer” at Eaton, in the Pheonix, Arizona area since January 2020 and that he was an employee of Eaton since February 2017.
Azzam’s Linkedin page also said that he received a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from OSU, in 2016.
Spreading Incitement
Demonizing Israel
On April 28, 2016, Azzam posted to Facebook: “It is not cheap funding an apartheid state, who needs clean water in flint [sic], jobs in Detroit, or universal healthcare ! As long as Israel has money to 'defend itself' from its victims of oppression. Our tax money at work!”On October 12, 2015, Azzam posted a Facebook video whitewashing Ahmed Manasra.
On December 3, 2014, Azzam shared to Facebook a 2014 video of British politician George Galloway speaking in the British Parliament, defending Hamas attacks that sparked Operation Protective Edge (OPE).
Israel commenced OPE in July 2014 to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.
In the video Azzam shared, Galloway declared [00:01:14] “it is a legal and moral right of an occupied people to rise up against their illegal occupier and described [00:03:09] Israel as “the criminal in this picture.”
Galloway also accused Israel [00:04:58] of committing “ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem” and called [00:03:24] on Britan to end trade with Israel.
Galloway’s anti-Zionist rhetoric has been condemned as anti-Semitic on numerous occasions. In 2013, Galloway walked out of an Oxford debate saying “I don’t recognize Israel and refuse to debate with Israelis” when he discovered one of the participating students was an Israeli citizen.
In 2014, Galloway declared his constituency of Bradford an “Israel-free-zone.”
On July 6, 2014, Azzam posted to Instagram a cartoon of an armed Nazi soldier standing next to a boy wearing a Star of David, juxtaposed with a cartoon of an Israeli soldier next to a Palestinian boy. Azzam commented: “Food for thought#israel.”
Promoting BDS at OSU
On February 2, 2015, Azzam participated in a photo campaign promoting an anti-Israel OSU Divest initiative. In his post, Azzam said he was committed to “speaking out against the Israeli occupation at any chance I saw.”
In March 2015, OSU Divest unsuccessfully attempted to pass a last-minute BDS divestment referendum at OSU’s University Student Government (USG).
On March 23, 2016, OSU Divest worked closely with SJP OSU to present another divestment resolution to the USG. The resolution failed in a secret ballot by 21-9 votes, with 15 abstentions.
During the pre-vote discussion of the bill, OSU Divest members accused Israel of “apartheid.” One claimed that United States presidential election candidates “all paraded to AIPAC to pledge allegiance to a foreign government.”
SJP OSU
Students for Justice in Palestine at OSU (SJP OSU) was formerly known as the Committee for Justice in Palestine (CJP), until 2016.SJP OSU - Spreading Incitement 2013-2015
On September 23, 2015, SJP OSU promoted an event on Facebook titled: “#AlAqsaUnderAttack: The Treatment of Sacred Palestinian Places of Worship Under the Occupation.”The event’s Facebook description claimed that there have been “attacks of Masjid Al-Aqsa, the third-holiest site in the Islamic faith, by the Israeli Defense Forces.”
On September 13, 2015, masked Palestinian rioters barricaded themselves inside the Al Aqsa Mosque. They set off fireworks, starting a small fire, and threw stones and debris stored inside the mosque at Israeli police. The police later found pipe bombs the rioters had prepared to launch at Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount plaza.
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In October 2015, there was an upsurge in violence across Israel incited by Palestinian political and religious leaders. The wave of stabbings, known as the “Knife Intifada,” was characterized by young Palestinians throughout the country stabbing and attempting to stab Israeli civilians. The attacks were incited by Palestinian leaders propagating the libel that Israel intended to desecrate the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
On November 3, 2014, SJP OSU co-sponsored and promoted on Facebook a “Hands Off Al Aqsa!” event.
The event’s Facebook description said: “When will we stop rallying? When Palestine is FREE! Religious freedom is under attack! As humans, we cannot stand around and watch as Palestinians are robbed of their religious freedom.”
On October 30, 2014, after a terrorist attempted [00:00:13] to assassinate Rabbi Yehuda Glick, triggering a temporary closure of the the Temple Mount, SJP OSU posted to Facebook an Al-Jazeera article titled: “Shutdown of Al-Aqsa mosque a ‘declaration of war’ say Palestinian leaders.”
SJP OSU - Spreading Hatred of Israel 2014-2016
On April 2, 2016, SJP OSU promoted on Facebook an event the group hosted as part of Birzeit University’s “Right to Education” tour.The Right to Education Tour brings Birzeit University students to U.S. campuses, where they claim that Israel is obstructing the rights of Palestinians to higher education. This claim mischaracterizes the sweeps Israeli security forces have made to shut down terror cells operating on the Birzeit campus, including cells linked to Hamas.
On November 6, 2015, SJP OSU posted an article on Facebook that claimed Israel harvested organs from the bodies of killed Palestinians. The accusation was made by the chief Palestinian delegate at the United Nations, Riyad Mansour. Israel’s then-U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon wrote to the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon demanding that he condemn the accusation.
On October 2, 2014, SJP OSU posted a graphic on Facebook that read: “#JSIL.”
The hashtag “#JSIL” means “Jewish State in the Levant” and is used as a way of comparing Israel to the Islamic State (ISIS), also known as the Islamic State in the Levant (ISIL).
SJP OSU’s Facebook post linked to an Al Jazeera social media stream post that spread an effort by Twitter users “to rebrand Israel as [Islamic State and the Levant] ISIL, renaming it ‘The Jewish State of Israel in the Levant.’”
On September 26, 2014, SJP OSU posted on Facebook a graphic featuring a series of misleading maps that presented lands once controlled by Britain, Egypt and Jordan as autonomous “Palestinian land,” purportedly stolen by Israel. SJP OSU also featured these maps as part of their mock “apartheid wall,” during Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) .
Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) is presented as “an international series of events that seek to raise awareness of…Israel’s settler-colonial project and apartheid system over the Palestinian people” and build support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
SJP OSU - Demonizing Trips to Israel 2016
On December 1, 2016, SJP OSU hosted an event objecting to a trip to Israel geared towards student government leaders, sponsored by an Israel advocacy group.Yousef Yacoub, SJP OSU’s then-treasurer, wrote on Facebook that he would track student “senators, directors, and members of senior staff,” who indicated interest in the trip.
On November 18, 2016, Yacoub wrote on Facebook: “I see you, and I promise you that if you go on this trip without hearing our voices, I will take action. At the first General Assembly of next semester, I will bring forth a resolution for all of your impeachments.”
On April 4, 2016, SJP OSU shared to Facebook a quote from an article published anonymously a month earlier in the Tufts University student newspaper, that demonized Birthright-Israel.
Birthright Israel is a heritage trip to Israel for Jewish young adults from across the world.
The article claimed that Birthright was “violent” and that “To make Birthright fun and safe means eradicating an Arab populace.” The article also said that “Birthright is the erasure of our right to our homeland, and it promises our homeland to one in four students at this university.”
On February 22, 2016, SJP OSU promoted a poster on Facebook that condemned a free trip to Israel awarded to Oscar nominees. The poster suggested that laws distinguishing between Israeli citizens and foreign nationals were “a defining feature of an apartheid state” and said: “Free Trip To Israel At The Expense of Palestinians” and “#SkiptheTrip, Don’t endorse Israel Apartheid.”
SJP OSU - Supporting an Anti-Israel Agitator 2017
On December 25, 2017, SJP OSU posted to Facebook: “#FreeAhedTamimi” and attached an article from the anti-Israel publication Mondoweiss, which claimed: “Israel has transferred Ahed Tamimi to three different detention facilities in the last five days even though she has not yet been charged with a crime.”On December 24, 2017, SJP OSU tweeted: “#FreeAhedTamimi.”
OSU Divest 2015-2017
OSU Divest was established in January 2015: “in response to the ever-worsening human rights crisis in the occupied Palestinian territories.”The group claimed that by “advocating for divestment from corporations, we are not condemning or attacking a country, a community, or a people,” and “our initiative does not support any particular political stance.”
In March 2015, OSU Divest introduced a BDS resolution at OSU’s University Student Government (USG). The divestment resolution was voted down.
On March 23, 2016, OSU Divest worked closely with SJP OSU board members to present another divestment resolution to the USG.
During the pre-vote discussion of the 2016 bill, which was published by secretary of the USG, OSU Divest activists accused Israel of “apartheid.” One claimed that United States presidential election candidates “all paraded to AIPAC [American Israel Public Affairs Committee] to pledge allegiance to a foreign government.”
The stated mission of AIPAC is to “strengthen, protect and promote the U.S.-Israel relationship in ways that enhance the security of the United States and Israel.”
OSU Divest received the 1,895 signatures required for their 2017 divestment initiative to be placed on the USG ballot as a referendum. The 2017 divestment bill was ultimately defeated.
OSU Divest 2018
On January 25, 2018, twelve USG senators co-sponsored an anti-Israel motion submitted to the OSU student senate, that was approved via a “secret vote.”The divestment resolution allowed the “student government to create a committee of senators to investigate OSU’s investment in companies that might be linked to domestic human rights violations.”
A January 25, 2018 article in OSU’s student newspaper, “The Lantern,” reported that the resolution contained links to multiple websites promoting BDS and accusing Israel of “apartheid.” The resolution also contained multiple references to anti-Israel divestment resolutions passed by student governments at other universities in the U.S.
During the discussion on the resolution, 38 OSU students reportedly spoke against the resolution and 8 spoke in favor. One student described the resolution as “intentionally dishonest,” while other students cited “its anti-Semitic undertones.”
The Lantern article noted the resolution was “on track to fail,” however then-sophomore Maria Humayun proposed that the resolution be amended and “less explicitly linked to the Israeli-Palestine conflict.” Another student, Ezequiel Herrera, reportedly proposed an amendment to add a statement denouncing the BDS movement, however USG Senators rejected the proposal.
The Lantern article also reported that the first round of secret ballot voting resulted in a revote, because more votes were recorded than senators present. USG offered no explanation for the discrepancy.
Sophie Chang, then-USG speaker and vice president, was reportedly responsiblefor approving the voting mechanism of a secret ballot and “refused to state how many senators voted in favor of the motion.”
Ultimately, Chang announced that the USG approved the divestment resolution following a second round of secret ballot voting, however the resolution was not implemented.
On December 5, 2018, Ahmad Abusharkh and the OSU Coalition for BDS (OSU4BDS) presented a new divestment resolution to the USG. This resolution specifically called to “support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctioning of Israeli products,” as well as calling for an academic boycott against Israel.
The USG voted down the resolution, 30 to 7.
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 Weblinks
- Status:
- Professional
- University:
- Ohio-State
- Organizations:
- BDS,
- SJP
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- Last Modified:
- 06/23/2025
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