Henry Rosh

Overview

Henry Rosh has expressed support for terrorists, demonized Israel and spread hatred of Zionists as an activist with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement at George Washington University (GWU).

Rosh demanded the release of an activist who reportedly helped the Palestinian Authority (PA) torture and kill Arabs who sold land to Jews. He has also promoted a boycott of Birthright Israel, a Jewish heritage trip to Israel.

Rosh was a “coordinating committee” member of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at GWU, according to an April 2017 photo and an article written by SJP at GWU activist Abby Brook. Rosh was active [00:02:09] in the #DivestThisTime BDS campaign at GWU, which was led by fellow SJP at GWU activists.

Rosh graduated from GWU in 2017 with a degree in Engineering.

On March 4, 2014, Rosh tweeted that he would be “spending my summer at Birzeit University,” located near Ramallah.

Support for Terrorists

Rosh retweeted an October 9, 2015 tweet that said: “Intifada, uprising: call it what you want but don't fail to mention Palestinians fighting for their lives under occupation that kills them.”

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.

Rosh retweeted a May 10, 2018 tweet that showed a mural featuring racist Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara, anti-Israel Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez and the logo of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization. The tweet said: “long live the latin american-palestinian friendship, long live the palestinian revolution.”

Rosh retweeted a May 29, 2018 tweet that said: “Hamas has finally retaliated after weeks of one sided Israeli massacres of unarmed protesters. Remember this when the media spins this as an unprovoked attack on Israel.”

Hamas fired over 70 rockets into Israel from Gaza on May 29, 2018. Also in May 2018, violent riots, instigated by Hamas on the Israeli-Gaza border, saw thousands of rioters attempting to breach the border fence.

Media reports confirmed [00:00:20] the Gaza protesters’ breaches and attempted breaches of Israel’s border fence, some by armed Palestinians. One Hamas leader declared [00:00:30]: “We will take down the border [with Israel] and we will tear out their hearts from their bodies.”

The rocket attacks into Israeli civilian areas, including one that hit a kindergarten, came after Israel had rebuffed nearly two months of Hamas-led riots and attempts to breach the Gaza border fence.

On March 30, 2018, some 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza approached Israel’s border to take part in “Land Day Protests” or the “March of Return.” The March of Return was organized and funded by Hamas as a campaign of violent protests along Israel’s border to spotlight the demand of Palestinians to “return” to Israel.

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

March participants sent scores of kites bearing explosive devices across Israel’s border to burn Israeli crops and homes. Participants also attempted to breach the border fence, which caused the Israeli Defense Forces to respond with live fire.

Agitators threw Molotov cocktails, firebombs, shot firearms and threw rocks under the cover of smoke from burning tires.

On May 16, 2018, a Hamas senior official stated that 50 out of 62 protesters killed during a May 14 protest were Hamas operatives. Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) also claimed that three of its members were killed at the same protest.

Rosh retweeted a May 14, 2018 tweet that said: “Names and ages of 43 out of the 55 Palestinian martyrs massacred today have been released. Majority of them were youth.”

Demonizing Israel

Rosh retweeted a June 11, 2018 tweet implying that the Israeli flag is a “terrorist” flag.

Rosh retweeted a May 15, 2018 tweet about the March of Return that said: “Apologists like to excuse IDF violence by saying ‘Israel has the right to exist’ but if they can't exist without slaughtering children then maybe they don't.”

Rosh retweeted a May 15, 2018 tweet that called Israel an “ethnosupremacist genocidal apartheid state.”

Rosh retweeted a May 15, 2018 tweet accusing Israel of “GENOCIDE.”

Rosh retweeted a May 14, 2018 tweet about the March of Return accusing Israel of “genocide” in Gaza and claiming that Israelis are “white settlers.”

On May 2, 2018, Rosh tweeted: “good morning

f**k the genocidal state of israel and all of its defenders hope everyone else enjoys the nice weather.”

Rosh retweeted a January 25 2018 tweet that accused Israel of “colonization.”

Rosh retweeted a September 13, 2017 tweet that said the “Axis of Evil” is “America X Israel Saudi Arabia.”

Rosh retweeted a March 6, 2017 tweet that read: “hey that's cool but do u know what's still legal in israel? ethnic cleansing.”

On February 11, 2017, Rosh tweeted that Israel is an “apartheid state.”

On December 1, 2015, Rosh tweeted: “reminder: it doesn't matter how progressive the IDF is, they still are torturing and killing innocent Palestinians.”

On June 3, 2015, Rosh tweeted: “not only is Israel torturing Palestinian kids, they're desensitizing the next generation of Israelis to their crimes.”

Spreading Hatred of Zionists

Rosh retweeted a May 9, 2018 tweet of photo showing a toilet with a sticker inside that read: “This is what a Zionist looks like.”

On April 24, 2018, Rosh celebrated the #DivestThisTime BDS victory on Instagram where he wrote at the bottom of his post: “#makezionistsafraid #divestthistime#freepalestine.”

In his post, he also promoted SJP at GWU, the broader BDS movement and the GWU chapter of the anti-Israel Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) organization.

Rosh retweeted a February 14, 2018 tweet that said: “Roses are red Violets are blue
F**k Israel And zionists too.”

Defending Criminal Ezra Nawi

On January 19, 2016, Rosh tweeted: “Tell @IsraelInUSA: Activist Ezra Nawi must be released.”

Ezra Nawi was caught on tape bragging of his role in telling the Palestinian Authority (PA) about Arabs who sold land to Jews, and knowing that the PA would torture and murder these Arabs. Nawi was detained by Israeli security as he tried to flee the country.

Nawi was also convicted in 1997, for the statutory rape of a 15-year-old boy.

Demonizing Birthright

Rosh retweeted an October 16, 2017 tweet that said: “Birthright should be boycotted and opposed until Palestinians are granted the right of return to their ancestral homeland.”

Birthright Israel is a heritage trip to Israel for Jewish young adults from across the world.

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

Anti-Israel Activism

On May 2, 2017, Rosh spoke before the GWU Student Association (SA) after that year’s #DivestThisTime BDS resolution failed. He represented SJP at GWU and said [01:29:22]: “We will not stop calling for BDS on this campus. As a member of SJP, we do not distance ourselves from that movement.”

On April 26, 2017, Rosh indicated on Facebook that he “went” to a DC for Palestine- organized event that protested against Israeli musician Idan Raichel. Protestors alleged that Israel is a “racist state” and accused Israel of “fascism” and “apartheid.”

On March 29, 2017, Rosh spoke [00:02:09] in the 2017 #DivestThisTime Facebook video, where activists compared Israel to apartheid-era South Africa. Rosh said: “GW failed South Africa. Don’t fail Palestine.”

On March 24, 2017, Rosh urged people to attend Palestine Awareness Week, tweeting: “hey! GW SJP is hosting Angela Davis for our Palestine Awareness Week on Monday. If you're in DC, we'd love for you to attend!”

Palestine Awareness Week (PAW) is a re-branding for American audiences of Israel Apartheid Week (IAW), originally 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.
On March 25, 2016, Rosh indicated on Facebook that he “went” to the SJP East Regional Conference in Philadelphia.

On November 9, 2015, Rosh indicated on Facebook that he “went” to a protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House. The event page claimed Netanyahu was a “War Criminal...Wanted for Torture, Murder, Ethnic Cleansing, Racist Apartheid.”

On February 28, 2015, Rosh indicated on Facebook that he “went” a rally against the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). The rally was co-organized by multiple anti-Israel organizations, including CODEPINK and If Americans Knew (IAK).

The anti-Semitic organization If Americans Knew (IAK) was founded by anti-Israel agitator Alison Weir. IAK has been condemned for anti-Semitism by both the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the anti-Israel U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR).

Pushing BDS at GWU

On March 27, 2017, SJP at GWU launched the Divest This Time campaign. The campaign’s name alluded to GWU’s declining to “divest from apartheid in South Africa” and called “for GWU not to make the same mistake with Palestine.”

On March 28, 2017, SJP at GWU held an event titled “Why Divest?” in order to recruit support for divestment.On March 29, 2017, Divest This Time released a video that cameoed SJP at GWU student activists and their supporters promoting the campaign. Students featured in the video invoked “the Occupation of Palestine” to demonize Israel and companies that provided Israel with security technology. In the video, SJP at GWU student activists also equated Israel with Apartheid South Africa and accused Israel of “using the identities” of Transgender people to prove that Israel respects human rights.

The campaign video incorporated footage from a March 26, 2017 protest against the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) organized by Al-Awda — The Palestine Right to Return Coalition — and joined by SJP at GWU.

The text of the divestment resolution was introduced to the student senate on April 24, 2017. It was then “leaked to the general public,” just ahead of Israeli and International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Successive “whereas” clauses of the resolution blamed Israel for crimes against humanity, “deliberately” causing “suffering to Palestinian populations,” discriminating against women, “deliberately” killing “Palestinian civilians” and causing an “epidemic of homelessness” among the Palestinians. The resolution also condemned Israel’s detention of Palestinian children for violating Israeli Military Order 1651 which criminalized rock throwing with up to 20 years of prison time.

On April 25, 2017, the bill’s co-sponsor — Jack Jomarron — and others claimed the resolution did not target Israel for boycott, divestment and sanctions. However, the resolution’s third “whereas” clause stated: “The act of divesting creates political pressure on corporations to withdraw their involvement in the occupation…” The bill’s fourth “whereas” clause specifically invoked the Rome statute of the International Criminal Court, calling for criminal responsibility and punishment for ”crimes against peace, humanity, and of war.”

The resolution’s primary sponsor — Keiko Tsuboi — also attempted to distance the bill from BDS and claimed it was not meant to “paint some skewed vision of Israel,” but to “describe the situation on the ground, that palestinian students are talking about.” Tsuboi appealed to the infamous Goldstone Report to buttress paragraphs 7 through 18 of the resolution’s allegations. Although Judge Goldstone himself publicly retracted the central thesis of his report, in April of 2011, Tsuboi, insisted “these are the facts on the ground and they are not up for a debate for the purposes of this resolution.”

Some GWU students noted that the resolution was “one sided.” The bill exclusively singled out for divestment companies that supplied Israel with security technology — and demonized the use of that technology. One student suggested the resolution looked to “alienate pro Israel students from the GW community” and reflected a “hidden agenda.”

Co-sponsor Jomarron admitted that he understood the “fear of a hidden agenda” and went on to observe: “the national BDS movements and the national SJP groups are frankly super troublesome to me.” However, Jomarron continued to insist that the resolution was not connected with the agenda of the BDS movement.

On Saturday, April 27, 2017 — Holocaust Remembrance Day — BDS co-founder Omar Barghouti delivered a talk on behalf of the Jerusalem Fund/Palestine Center about the “Successes and Challenges of BDS.” During the Q & A session that followed, Barghouti said: “... if you join a campaign for justice and freedom, it doesn't have to carry the BDS logo. It doesn’t have to say ‘boycott,’ it doesn't have to say ‘BDS.’ There are many creative ways how to do things without labeling it as ‘BDS.’”

On May 1, 2017, GWU’s Student Association voted down the resolution 15-14, in a sharply divided session.

Following the resolution’s defeat, SJP at GWU organizer — Henry Rosh — said: “we will not stop calling for BDS on this campus.”

Another SJP at GWU student activist — Maryam Alhassani — posted on Facebook to label those who opposed the resolution as “PEP (Progressive Except Palestine)” and “just outright racist.”

SJP at GWU also released a statement on Facebook that read: “At GWU, this action has only just begun — SJP will continue the fight for Palestinian human rights and for those who are oppressed around the world. The Divest This Time coalition is passionate about the GW community and thus looks to further justice on campus.”

The campaign’s Facebook page also released a statement that said, among other things, “The Divest This Time coalition and SJP at GWU will continue to uplift these voices as we move forward in our campaign to end GW complicity in one-sided violence.”

On May 4, 2017, Abby Brook — Divest This Time founder and SJP at GWU student activist — told The GW Hatchet student newspaper that SJP at GWU would push for a referendum vote, in which the entire student body would vote on divestment.

On May 15, 2017, the Editorial Board of the GW Hatchet published an article titled: “Divestment referendum would marginalize part of the student body.” The article recalled the sharply divided Student Association Senate vote and criticized SJP at GWU’s announcement to push for a vote rather than increase dialogue and understanding concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on campus.

SJP at GWU student activist Maryam Alhassani shared the editorial board’s article on Facebook and commented: “This is a huge f**k you to all the Palestinians on campus and in Palestine. The GW Hatchet thank you for showing us how sh**ty you are and how Palestinians don't matter…”

SJP at GWU - Palestine Awareness Week

On March 27, 2017, SJP at GWU launched Palestine Awareness Week (PAW). The kick-off of PAW was a speaking event that featured Angela Davis. The Facebook event page noted that Davis’ 2015 book, titled” Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine and the Foundations of a Movement,” purported to reveal “the deep connections between the incarceration of Black Americans and the continued occupation of Palestine by the state of Israel.”

SJP at GWU - Promoting Anti-Semites and Holocaust Deniers

As part of SJP at GWU’s 2017 PAW, SJP at GWU participated in and promoted a demonstration scheduled for March 26, 2017, organized by Al-Awda — The Palestine Right to Return Coalition.

The rally demonized the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and featured a lineup of speakers who have spread anti-Semitism. Among them was the rally’s lead organizer, Al-Awda co-founder Abbas Hamideh, who has been called out for promoting anti-Semitism on his Twitter account, by a prominent pro-Israel blog. Hamideh personally thanked SJP at GWU for promoting the event on Facebook.

The rally’s Facebook page accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing” and demanded: “End the illegal occupation of Palestine from the River to the Sea!.” The chant “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free” — which Hamideh confirmed as a call to eliminate Israel — was a constant refrain at the rally.

Another speaker at the rally was Ryan Dawson — a denier of Nazi gas chambers. Dawson mocked ancient Jewish Scriptures and attacked Jewish historical claims to the Land of Israel. Dawson’s comments were greeted with cheers. Dawson also said: “If I can give something across to the scumbags inside … AIPAC is a virus … AIPAC is a parasite.” Those comments were also greeted with shouts of approval.

Anti-Israel activist and author Miko Peled also spoke at the rally, claiming: “We know very well that the Palestinian resistance is not terrorism. Palestinian resistance is legitimate resistance. And all of us today are part of that resistance.” Peled’s comments were met with applause and shouts of approval from the crowd.

On March 27, 2017, SJP at GWU shared a video on Facebook produced by Al Jazeera with footage from the rally including David Feldman, a member of the Neturei Karta — a marginal, anti-Zionist, fringe Jewish group. He has helped to tokenize the radically anti-Zionist Neturei Karta members — and has falsely portrayed their anti-Zionism as emblematic of mainstream Judaism. The group is notorious for its delegation to an Iranian Holocaust denial conference in 2014.

SJP at GWU - Promoting “Anti-Normalization”

On March 30, 2016, SJP at GWU hosted an event titled: “Why You Should Take Sides: Israel/Palestine and Normalization.”

The Facebook event page description referred to the definition of “Anti-Normalization” according to the Palestine Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) which opposes the normalization of relations between Israelis and Palestinians (and/or Arabs). PACBI defines “normalization” as “the participation in any project, initiative or activity” aiming “to bring together Palestinians (and/or Arabs) and Israelis (people or institutions) without placing as its goal resistance to and exposure of the Israeli occupation.”

The event comprised a panel discussion with the then events coordinator for the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University (Georgetown) Tareq Radi. Radi is also the founder of GMU Students Against Israeli Apartheid — an affiliate of SJP. The panel also included DC Metro Chapter Coordinator of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) Shelley Cohen Fudge and journalist Jamal Najjab.

On August 2, 2014, Radi spoke on behalf of SAIA at a rally in Washington DC during Operation Protective Edge, in which he denounced the affirmation that Israel has a right to defend itself as “ludicrous rhetoric.”

Radi claimed that Zionists “are trying to soil the words we hold sacred — Shahid, Martyr, Revolutionary’ which are sacred because they "belong to the oppressed. They empower us and strike fear into the hearts of cowards. We are people of resistance and we need to rebuild our culture of resistance.”(1.00)

He also stated: "We must resist the Zionist entity at every turn. They must know that their presence is not welcome anywhere that values justice. I don’t care what the setting may be, there is no room for a diversity of opinions on issues of human rights!" (3.30)

Radi went on to say that “by surrendering to the language of peace, we have handcuffed the means in which our people back home can resist.” (1:04)

SJP at GWU - Saltwater Challenge

On May 12, 2017, Maryam Alhassani — led SJP at GWU student activists in a “Saltwater Challenge,” in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners then hunger striking in Israeli prisons.

The prisoners’ hunger strike was initiated by Marwan Barghouti, then serving five consecutive life sentences for his role in shooting attacks that killed five Israelis during the second Intifada.

Barghouti completed his doctorate in Political Science while in Israeli prison.

As head of the Palestinian Authority (PA)’s terrorist Tanzim force and founder of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Barghouti was behind attacks that killed scores of Israelis and wounded hundreds of others. Barghouti personally financed the guitar-case bomb used in the Sbarro Cafe bombing.

According to CNN, the Salt Water Challenge appears to have been invented by Marwan Barghouti’s son, Aarab Marwan Barghouti.

SJP at GWU - Hosting Right to Education Tour 2016

On April 5, 2016, SJP at GWU hosted “two Palestinian students from Birzeit University in the West Bank who are travelling the US on the Right to Education Tour.”

The Facebook event page linked to a video “to learn more about R2E,” by Birzeit University students, published in 2013. The video celebrated the creation of the Palestinian curriculum and attacked what it called “a Jewish-American organization,” The Center for Monitoring The Impact of Peace, for exposing that curriculum’s indoctrination of children to terror.

The campaign brings students to U.S. campuses, who claim that Israel is obstructing the rights of Palestinians to higher education. These claims mischaracterize sweeps Israeli security forces have taken to shut down terror cells operating from Birzeit’s campus.

Birzeit’s student body elected Hamas to power in 2003, 2015 and 2016.

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

In September of 2014, pro-Palestinian Haaretz reporter Amira Hass was thrown off of Birzeit’s campus — because Hass is Jewish.

SJP at GWU - Hosting Radicals

On April 9, 2015, SJP at GWU hosted a speaking event featuring Iyad Burnat — the coordinator of the so-called Bil’in Popular Non Violent Resistance Committee, has repeatedly equated Israel with Hitler and ISIS has been accused of personally attacking Israeli soldiers. The weekly demonstrations he has organized against the Israeli security barrier since 2005 have frequently turned violent.

On March 2, 2015, SJP at GWU hosted an event that featured anti-Israel author Miko Peled, titled: “Palestine Beyond Zionism - Hope for Peace and Co-Existence.”

The Facebook event page description claimed: “… In South Africa removing Apartheid was the key to ending the plight of black South Africans, in Palestine removing Zionism is the key to resolving the plight of the Palestinians.”

SJP at GWU – Celebrating Violence

On March 8, 2016, SJP at GWU shared, with supportive comments, photos of numerous women — masked by Keffiyehs — brandishing guns, firing slingshots and collecting large rocks.

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.