Irène Lucia Delaney

Overview

Irène Lucía Delaney [Irene Lucia] has supported terrorists, propagated anti-Israel incitement and spread hatred of Israel as an activist with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).

She has also promoted the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (UM Ann Arbor).

Delaney has been a member of the National SJP (NSJP) Steering Committee since May of 2016. She attended and fundraised for the 2016 NSJP Conference and was an organizer of the 2017 NSJP Conference.

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.”  

Delaney is a member of Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE), a chapter of SJP at UM Ann Arbor. She was also an executive member of SJP at Bryn Mawr College (Bryn Mawr), while an undergraduate student, from 2013 until 2016. 

Delaney is pursuing a PhD in the French program at UM Ann Arbor, where her studies draw on “postcolonial theory, human geography, and justice-based opposition to Zionism, segregation, genocide, and apartheid.”

Supporting Terrorists

On October 31, 2017, Delaney wrote “Radicalize the youth” alongside a Facebook photo of a flash drive, masked as a candy bar with the text: “These kids think they’re gonna get candy when really I’m handing out 429 copies of Leila Khaled’s autobiography in PDF.”

Khaled is a leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and participated in the hijacking of TWA Flight 840 in 1969 and El Al Flight 219 in 1970. As of 2017, Khaled was a member of PFLP's Political Bureau.

Khaled has said that the second intifada failed because it was not violent enough, advocated for the use of children in terror activities and compared Zionists to Nazis.

The PFLP claimed credit for the 2014 Har Nof Massacre where six people were murdered during morning prayers in a Jerusalem synagogue. The PFLP also claimed credit for the 2001 assassination of the Israeli tourism minister. 

On May 23, 2017, Delaney promoted on Facebook the hashtag “#DignityStrike,” which was created to support Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli prisons.

Delaney’s wrote: “We are steadfast in our solidarity with these imprisoned Palestinians as they continue their strike, and with political prisoners everywhere.”

“Dignity Strike” refers to a hunger strike initiated by Marwan Barghouti on April 16, 2017. More than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners participated in the strike – most them also convicted for acts of terrorism. Barghouti headed the Palestinian Authority (PA) terrorist Tanzim force and founded the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. He was sentenced to five consecutive life terms by an Israeli civilian court for some of his crimes, including his role in the Sbarro Cafe bombing. 

On August 9, 2016, Delaney posted an Instagram photo of herself holding a sign that read: “FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS.” Delaney commented: “#Justice4Rasmea #FreeBilalKayed.” The post was part of an SJP campaign “Demanding the Release of Our Freedom Fighters.”

PFLP terrorist Bilal Kayed was incarcerated for 14 years  for terror attacks and attempted terror attacks committed during the second intifada, in 2002.  

Odeh was a key military operative with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization. In 1969, she masterminded a PFLP supermarket bombing that killed two college students. She also attempted to bomb the British consulate in Jerusalem. Odeh later moved to the United States but was deported to Jordan in 2017 for immigration fraud.

Spreading Incitement

On July 22, 2017, Delaney wrote a Facebook post claiming there was a “Zionist crackdown on Palestinian Muslims' access” to the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Delaney concluded: “Barring freedom of movement and religious expression is a key tenet of the Occupation's strength, but resistance is stronger and it will fall. #DefendalAqsa#FreePalestine.”

Spreading Hatred of Israel

On May 2, 2017, Delaney claimed that Israel’s founding was a “fallacy” and that Israel is not a “legitimate country.” Instead, she claimed that Israel is a “settler colonial occupying force.”

On the same day, Delaney accused Israel on Facebook of “ethnic cleansing and colonial occupation.”

On May 1, 2017, Delaney posted on Facebook “Drink a Unicorn Frappuccino this Israeli Independence Day so you can celebrate two myths at once!” Delaney’s post included a picture of an Israeli flag next to the words “end soon.”

On May 2, 2016, Delaney posted an Instagram photo with the heading “‘Israeli Independence Day’” and concluding with the message: “GENOCIDE is nothing to celebrate.” She also accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing.”

Promoting BDS

On November 14, 2017, Delaney shared a video of the UM Ann Arbor divestment resolution vote on Facebook and wrote: “

On November 2, 2017, just after NSJP 2017, Delaney wrote on Instagram: “A future of resistance beyond BDS iA [Allah-willing]. Towards a real return for all Palestinians iA [Allah-willing].”

SAFE - SJP on UM Ann Arbor Campus

As of November 2017, SAFE’s University of Michigan (UM) web page said that “SAFE is Michigan’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), a national coalition of students standing in solidarity with Palestine.” 

SAFE - Pushing BDS at UM Ann Arbor  

In October 2017, Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE) at UM Ann Arbor launched a BDS campaign, #UMDivest, to pass a BDS resolution on campus. Similar SAFE resolutions in 2014, 2015 and 2016 all failed. As of May 2018, SAFE’s university web page said it was a Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter.

Misrepresenting BDS

On October 24th, 2017, SAFE members announced the launch of their 2017 divestment campaign at a Central Student Government Assembly (CSG Assembly) meeting. SAFE activist and UM alumnus Devin Jones said that the goals of #UMDivest were the “goals of BDS movement.”

However, during a November 7, 2017 CSG Assembly meeting, Jones downplayed the resolution’s affiliation with BDS, announcing: [01:51:28] “this is part of the BDS movement… only the D in BDS.”

At the same meeting, SAFE activist Arwa Gayar also said: [01:34:53] “I would like to first reiterate that...we [#UMDivest] is “just divestment” and not aligned with the larger BDS movement. She added  [01:35:00] that “we always have this statement that ‘we just want the D and no BS.’”

On November 10, 2017, a news article quoted “a SAFE representative” who claimed  #UMDivest 2017 “is not affiliated with the BDS movement.”  

SAFE - Intimidation on Campus

In 2013, SAFE posted mock eviction notices on the dorm rooms of approximately 1,500 students, violating UM Ann Arbor policy. SAFE said it did so “in order to have students momentarily experience the feeling of receiving an eviction notice upon waking up.”

After SAFE’s 2014 BDS initiative failed to pass, individual students and student government representatives were reportedly targeted with violent threats and intimidation by “pro-Palestinian forces.”

During March of 2014, violent rhetoric and racial epithets were reportedly issued by pro-Palestinian activists at students who opposed the SAFE resolution to divest from Israel. Pro-Israel students reportedly received death threats and were called "kikes" and "dirty Jews," which subsequently led to a police investigation.

Some CSG representatives who voted for postponement of the legislation also reportedly received threats as a result of their decision. Business senior Michael Proppe, CSG president in 2014, reported threatening and inflammatory messages were directed at CSG representatives who voted to table the resolution.

On October 5, 2016, during the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah, SAFE staged an anti-Israel demonstration, accompanied by a mock checkpoint in a central campus area.

The Michigan Review reported that “[b]ecause Rosh Hashanah calls for attending service at the synagogue, many Jewish students were not on campus to express their feelings of anguish while the event occurred. Those students who remained on campus were left to cope with the demonstration without the support of many of their peers.”

SAFE - Idealizing Terrorists

From 2014 through 2017, SAFE has supported terrorist Rasmea Odeh.

Odeh was a key military operative with the terrorist group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). In 1969, Odeh masterminded a PFLP bombing that killed two college students in a Jerusalem supermarket. Odeh also attempted to bomb the British consulate.

Odeh confessed, in a highly detailed account, the day following her arrest. In a 2004 documentary, one of Odeh’s co-conspirators directly implicated her as the mastermind.

In 1970, an Israeli court tried and convicted Odeh for her involvement in both bombings and sentenced her to life imprisonment. However, Odeh was released 10 years later, in a prisoner swap and emigrated to the United States.

On November 10, 2014, a Michigan federal jury convicted Odeh for immigration fraud, because she failed to disclose her prior conviction and life sentence on her immigration application. On March 12, 2015, she was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

In 2017, after an appeal and a lengthy court battle, Odeh admitted to immigration fraud, was stripped of her U.S. citizenship and deported to Jordan.

On November 1, 2017, SAFE staged an anti-Israel demonstration at UM Ann Arbor, accompanied by a wall display representing Israel’s security fence, and claimed that Israel practices “apartheid.”

SAFE’s wall featured an image of international hijacker Leila Khaled, a member of the PFLP Political Bureau, who participated in the hijacking of TWA Flight 840 in 1969 and El Al Flight 219 in 1970.

In a 2014 interview, Khaled opined that the Palestinian second intifada failed because it was not violent enough. 

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

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/691703011/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/_i_reine [Deleted]

https://twitter.com/ireneldel [Suspended]

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/ireneldel/

LinkedIn:www.linkedin.com/in/irène-lucía-delaney

Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/user/ireneatpeace/