Hossam Gamea

Overview

Hossam Gamea has promoted anti-Semitism, supported Hamas, urged solidarity with terror-supporters and idealized violence. Gamea has repeatedly demonized Israel and attacked Palestinians seeking dialogue with Israel.

Gamea is a member of the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at the City University of New York- Hunter College (CUNY Hunter) Facebook group, “Hunter Students for Justice in Palestine.”

Gamea led a workshop for the 2017 National SJP Conference (NSJP 2017).

NSJP 2017 was held October 27-29, 2017 at the University of Houston (UH). The conference was themed “A Reimagined World: Dismantling Walls from Palestine to the Rio Grande.” Per the 2017 National SJP Conference website, the conference aimed to strengthen “collaborative efforts within all regions to pass BDS” and envision “pathways to achieving sanctions in the future.”

Gamea is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. He was also student activist with the Muslim Students Association (MSA) at CUNY Hunter.

Gamea is a member of the “Palestine Solidarity Alliance (PSA) of Hunter College”

Facebook group. PSA lists on its group description section that it “works to end the racist Israeli regime of military occupation, apartheid, and colonization” and “organizes in support” of BDS.

Gamea co-founded the Islamic Movement for Justice (IMJ) in 2013 and remains on the IMJ committee. On their “About” page, IMJ declares that “ [Islamic] believers are called to stop oppression war and propaganda that serve racism and colonialism generally” and “Zionism particularly”. In January 2016, Gamea and IMJ hosted a webinar featuring SJP co-founder Hatem Bazian. In 2004, as the second intifada was winding down in Israel, Bazian called for an intifada in the United States.

Gamea graduated from Hunter in 2016, with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology.

In October of 2017, Gamea posted on Facebook that he was considering changing his name on Facebook, to disassociate himself from his social media postings — so he could get a job.

Promoting Anti-Semitism

On November 1 , 2017, Gamea published a video on Facebook of a panel at NSJP, 2017, where he was featured as a panelist.

In the video, Gamea told [00:04:54] U.S. supporters of the Palestinians that an “aspect of knowing your privilege” meant becoming comfortable with Palestinian anti-Semitism.

Gamea alleged that Americandiscomfort with frequent Palestinian slurs and attacks against “Yahood [Jews]” was a consequence of being “privileged,” noting that [00:04:58] “you gonna have people uncomfortable relay-ing something Palestinians say, because sometimes they may say ‘Yahood’ for… ‘Jews’ instead of ‘Zionists.’”

Gamea then accused Israel of identifying itself as the Jewish Commonwealth in order to blame Palestinians for their anti-Semitic language, messaging and behavior. Gamea said [00:05:54] “Israel identifies itself as Yahood [Jewish]” which is “obviously a strategy - a tactic to then be, like, ‘the Palestinians, they’re practising anti-Semitism.’”

Gamea went on to purport that Palestinians can’t be anti-Semitic, “because the main thing people think of when they think about anti-Semitism is Nazism or Nazis” [00:06:30] and “Arabs had nothing to do with the Nazis. Palestinians have nothing to do with the Nazis. They had nothing to do with the Holocaust.”

Gamea omitted all mention of the German-Arab collaboration against the Jews during World War II and the anti-Semitic Palestinian Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, who famously shared Hitlers doctrine against “the English, the Jews and the Communists.”

Later, during the same NSJP 2017 panel, Gamea promoted anti-Semitic propaganda, insisting [19:48] “Israel specifically targets the religion of Palestinians.”

Gamea painted Israel as targeting Muslims internationally and claimed [00:20:05] “Israel manifests itself through geopolitics … where they ally with the Myanmar regime, right now .. They ally with India .. after they have Hindu nationalist gangs within India, killing Muslims…”

Gamea then alleged [00:20:30] “Israel and Zionists constantly push Islamophobia in the U.S., as well, and they’re funding the Islamophobia industry in the U.S.”

Gamea added [00: 21:04] “Israel tries to eradicate the religious identity, as well, of Palestinians...and Muslim unity, that's why Zionists constantly target Muslim institutions in the U.S. to normalize with them.”

Gamea went on to say [00:21:44] “Muslims all over are taught, from birth, to hate Israel because of what they did to the Palestinians and because of how they try to demonize our religion and to occupy Aqsa [Al-Aqsa mosque] and they want to break down Aqsa and to further colonize within other Muslim Arab lands as well...”

Supporting Hamas

On September 17, 2017, Gamea promoted Hamas on Facebook, as “an Islamist political entity currently posing the greatest threat to Israel's government,” and compared Hamas to the “Islamist movement that liberated Algeria from the French.” Gamea added: “Israel functionally opposes Islamism” and is “at the forefront of increased oppression against Muslim populations all over the world..”

On August 4, 2017, Gamea criticized anti-Israel activist Linda Sarsour, tweeting: “Ya Allah, you called Hamas a terrorist organization akin to ISIS and Bashar al Assad. Some flimsy support there.”

On July 19, 2017, Gamea tweeted: “Hamas isn't even allowed to govern for anyone to make any arguments about their ability to govern. I see their resistance as legitimate.”

Hamas, whose founding charter called for the murder of Jews, is a designated terrorist organization by the European Union, Canada, Australia, the United States and Israel.

Solidarity with Terror Supporters

On July 9, 2017, Gamea posted to Twitter, wishing “the American Muslim community” would show “solidarity for” the Holy Land 5, Tarek Mehanna and Aafia Siddiqui.

The Holy Land Five (HLF5) were five individuals associated with the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) indicted for funneling funds to Hamas in the guise of humanitarian aid. The men were all convicted and sentenced in 2009 to federal prison terms ranging from 15 to 65 years.

Tarek Mehanna was convicted in 2011 in Massachusetts on numerous charges, including conspiracy to provide material support to al Qaeda, providing material support to terrorists, conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country and lying to the FBI.

Aafia Siddiqui, also known as “Lady Al-Qaeda,” was convicted in 2010 of attempting to kill Americans in Afghanistan. ISIS reportedly sought Siddiqui’s release in exchange for American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, who were later beheaded.

Idealizing Violence

In a video of an NSJP 2017 panel, which Gamea published on Facebook on November 1, 2017, he urged [00:03:40] non-Palestinian supporters of the Palestinian cause to “Know your privilege” and reprimanded non-Palestinians for distancing themselves from Palestinian anti-Israel violence.

Gamea noted that [00:03:47], as U.S. citizens “the most we do is pushing BDS…” He condemned non-Palestinians for ignoring “the aspect of armed liberation - armed resistance - in Palestine,” saying they “just focus on this nonviolent aspect and say ‘this is the movement,’ when it's not the movement. This is just an aspect of the movement, where Americans can help.”

On July 21, 2017, Gamea posted on Facebook, likening Israel’s installation of metal detectors on the Temple Mount to the murder and torture of believers. He then idealized protesters against the safety measure as “people sacrificing their lives and souls for their beliefs” with “zeal that we all shamefully lack. ”

In the same post, Gamea called for supporting the protesters “and channeling our rage against the Israeli regime that has given people no choice but to choose death over humiliation and slavery.”

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.

Gamea’s July 21, 2017 post claimed: “Israel would kill Palestinians and bar them from Al Aqsa whether they protested or not” and called Israel “heartless and monstrous.”

Demonizing Israel

On September 4, 2017, Gamea tweeted: “Israel is funding the Burmese government to kill Rohingya Muslims.”

On the same day, Gamea tweeted: “Israel is funding Islamophobia and genocide against Muslims all over the world.”

On July 22, 2017, Gamea posted to his Facebook page: “In 2014 Israel made up a story of how Palestinians killed 2 Israeli teens with no proof whatsoever that Palestinians committed the crime.”

Hamas was responsible for the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers from a bus stop on June 12, 2014. The abducted boys were murdered by their captors, and their bodies were found buried in Palestinian-controlled territory on June 30, 2014.

Gamea’s July 22nd Facebook posted went on to say: “Israel is killing Palestinians because Israel seeks to eliminate Palestinians from existence, there's literally no other reason. It doesn't matter what Palestinians do and don't do, Israel's ultimate goal is the cultural and physical elimination of the Palestinian people.”

On July 9, 2017, Gamea tweeted: “Normalizing w/ Zionist organizations should be seen like someone normalizing with the KKK full stop. Zionism is still not seen as pure evil.”

On June 3, 2017, Gamea advocated for the boycott of the Wonder Woman movie featuring Israeli actress Gal Gadot, accusing Gadot of “ justifying and DIRECTLY PARTICIPATING in the murder of children.”

On May 28, 2017, Gamea tweeted: ‘White Supremacy is what allows Israel to oppress Palestinians and steal their land for 60 years while the US funds their oppression.”

On April 4, 2017, Gamea claimed that Assad’s chemical weapons attack on civilians in Syria are comparable to Israel’s “Israel mercilessly bombs occupied Palestinians. Genocide.”

Opposing Muslim-Jewish Dialogue

Gamea has repeatedly attacked the Muslim Leadership Initiative (MLI), as well as Muslim activists who participated in the Initiative.

On November 8, 2017, Gamea targeted, on Facebook,Muslim activist, and previous MLI participant, Rabia Chaudry. Gamea wrote:“Rabia Chaudry I humiliated you before, I'm more than willing to humiliate your hypocritical, opportunistic, sell out self yet again” for participating in MLI.”

Gamea also called Rabia a “snake” and claimed her “little cult of Zionist a** kissing opportunists are participating in the destruction of Islam and the overt massacring of Muslims in Palestine.”

On September 24, 2017, Gamea attacked Chaudry on Twitter, calling her a “hypocrite Zionist shill who also doubles down on her injustices” because she “work[ed] with MLI which is an organization that takes Muslim leaders to Israel to build ‘Muslim Jewish’ solidarity”.

On September 24, 2017, Gamea tweeted: “What's the goal of MLI? To show Zionism isn't all that bad. Would you go on a trip to see how not so bad Nazis are? I assume not.”

On October 19, 2017, Gamea tweeted: “Hopefully they drop the MLI fratboy Zionist loving liberal Wajahat Ali next.” The tweet was referencing Wajahat Ali, a previous MLI participant, who was invited to speak at the 2017 Reviving the Islamic Spirit Convention (RIS2017).

On July 22, 2017, Gamea called Wajahat Ali, an activist and previous participant at MLI, a “Zionist Normalizing Clown.”

MLI "invites North American Muslim leaders to explore how Jews understand Judaism, Israel and North American Jewish identity through a Zionist lens," and to expand their understanding of Jewish “ethics, faith, and practice.” According to MLI founder Imam Abdullah Antepli, “MLI aims to put mainstream North American Jewry in conversation with their Muslim counterparts.”

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.

MSA

The MSA was established by members of the Muslim Brotherhood in January 1963 at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, with the goal of "spreading Islam as students in North America." A 2004 FBI investigation uncovered an internal Muslim Brotherhood document in which a brotherhood leader identified the MSA as "one of our organizations."

The MSA reportedly has “nearly 600 chapters” located in the United States and Canada, and is “the most visible and influential Islamic student organization in North America,” boasting conferences, special events, publications, websites and other activities.

The organization includes a number of previous chapter presidents with explicit links to terrorist groups. Included are al-Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki (Colorado State University), Somali al-Shabaab militant leader Omar Shafik Hammami (University of South Alabama) and Pakistani Taliban recruiter Ramy Zamzam of the MSA's Washington, D.C. council.