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James Ray
James Ray spoke at a rally praising the Hamas terrorist organization after the group committed war crimes against Israeli civilians, including mass murder, torture, rape, beheadings and kidnappings, on October 7, 2023.
Ray has called for violence against Israelis, expressed support for terrorists and called for the dismantlement of the United States and Israel. He has also defended terrorism and spread hatred of Zionists, Israel and America. He is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
In October 2023, Ray was an activist with Philly DSA, the Philadelphia chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).
In 2021, Ray expressed solidarity with Yasmeen Mashayekh, a graduate student at the University of Southern California (USC) and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Senator who tweeted her desire to “kill every motherf**king Zionist.”
As of December 2023, Ray’s Facebook page said he was a “Social media specialist” at Sole Strategies, which describes itself as an organization “dedicated to helping Democrats run and win their elections nationwide.” On Ray’s Facebook page, he wrote that the firm is “Working to optimize the online presence of Progressive campaigns nationwide and maintaining internal social media accounts for the firm itself.”
As of June 2022, Ray’s LinkedIn profile said he had worked in the same position at Sole Strategies since May 2021.
Ray’s LinkedIn also said he graduated from Purdue University (PU) with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Economics in 2020.
As of June 2022, Ray’s Facebook also said he studied at Murray State University (MSU).
In November 2021, Ray indicated on Twitter that he was located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
As of March 2023, Ray went by the username “James Ray ☭” and used the handle “@GoodVibePolitik.” As of the same date, Ray went by the username “James Ray” and the handle “@makeitrayn_” on Instagram.
Also as of March 2023, Ray used the handle “jamesgetspolitical” on TikTok.
In June 2022, Ray went by the username “James Ray ☭” and used the handle “@MakeItRayn_” on Twitter.
Date: October 8, 2023
Organizers: Philly Palestine Coalition (PPC), Temple SJP: a chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP)
Location: Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia, PA
On October 8, 2023, the day after Hamas terrorists murdered nearly 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped hundreds more, anti-Israel groups in Philadelphia held an “Emergency Solidarity Rally.” Chants during the march to the rally featured various calls for Israel’s destruction and celebrations of Hamas terrorism by using the euphemism “resistance.”
At the rally, activist Romance Albarqawi said during her speech: “What we saw yesterday morning was decolonization taking place!” The crowd cheered in response to this line as well as after another line when she said: “The resistance is justified!” Workers World Party activist Michael Wilson later said: “I think that we should all give an applaud right now to Hamas for a job well done!” The crowd again cheered in response.
On October 8, 2023, Ray spoke at an anti-Israel rally and march held in support of the Hamas terrorist attacks. The event took place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was reportedly organized by the Philly Palestine Coalition.
At the rally, Ray justified the Hamas massacre and said [00:00:25]: “...this is not unprecedented nor is it an invasion at all. For decades, the Zionist settler colonial project has waged open war on the Palestinian people, ethnically cleansing and colonizing vast swaths of occupied Palestine.”
Ray also claimed [00:01:52] that Israel has not only occupied Gaza but “the entirety of the 1948 territories.”
Ray concluded [00:02:21]: “Brave Palestinians have for the first time broken through the blockade completely and reclaimed land… that has for long been occupied by the Zionist entity. Brave Palestinians have looked into the eyes of one of the strongest military forces in the world and struck a mortal blow.”
Ray continued [00:02:54]: “Brave Palestinians have seized the day and we stand here today in total solidarity with them. Free Palestine, 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.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas murdered approximately 1,200 Israelis, kidnapped hundreds and wounded thousands. War crimes included mass rape and torture. Many Palestinian civilians participated in and supported the attacks, and Gazans working in the targeted Israeli communities gave intelligence to Hamas on where to strike.
For more information, see the Canary Mission page on Hamas.
On November 17, 2024, Ray posted on X, referring to the anti-Semitic pogroms in Amsterdam earlier that month: “It should be the goal of every football/soccer fan to have Israeli teams expelled from their respective leagues and do everything they can to make games those teams and their fans are at as horrible a time as possible for them.”
On November 8, 2024, anti-Semitic rioters coordinated a violent attack on hundreds of Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Local police reported that at least five victims were hospitalized and more than 60 assailants were arrested.
As of November 2024, Ray’s username on X was “James Ray🔻. ”
The inverted red triangle is a symbol showing support for Hamas and Palestinian terrorism. It was first used by Hamas during the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks to signify an Israeli target.
On November 26, 2024, Ray posted on X, referring to Israel’s war against Hamas Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon: “To resist colonialism is freeing in itself. Those brave souls in Lebanon who have been embroiled in a war of defense and liberation on the ground have put their lives on the line for a just cause and deserve praise and respect. May Allah bless them in this life and the next.”
Anti-Israel activists use the term “resistance” to refer to violence and terror perpetrated against Israeli civilians and their allies. It is used to glorify and encourage anti-Israel and anti-Semitic violence. Anti-Israel activists chant slogans such as: “Resistance by any means necessary!” and “Resistance is justified when people are occupied!” in response to terror attacks.
Hezbollah has long been known as an anti-Semitic and genocidal terror organization dedicated to destroying Israel.
On October 27, 2024, Ray posted on X: “I and several other DSA members were called the ‘Hamas Caucus’ by another member for writing and advocating for a statement over the death of Palestinian freedom fighter Ismail Haniyeh only a couple months ago.”
Ismail Haniyeh served as the senior leader of terror group Hamas for 18 years. During this time, Hamas increased its rocket barrages on southern Israel and built more terror tunnels. Haniyeh was assassinated in Iran on July 31, 2024, during the Swords of Iron war, which Israel launched against Hamas in response to the October 7, 2023, Hamas atrocities.
On September 28, 2024, Ray posted on X: “Hassan Nasrallah, like all those in the resistance, accepted the possibility, even the likelihood, of death when he dedicated himself to the cause of life. His dedication and the dedication of the movement will be what secured their victory and liberation. Glory to the martyrs.”
Hassan Nasrallah became the leader of terror group Hezbollah in 1992 and maintained his leadership until an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon killed him on September 27, 2024. Nasrallah once said: “In a future war, all of occupied Palestine will be struck by our rockets” and [00:00:19]: “Israel is a cancerous tumor!…The only solution is to eradicate the cancer.” He called Jews the most “cowardly, despicable, weak and feeble” people in the world.
On September 23, 2024, Ray posted on X: “Glory to the martyrs. May Allah protect the resistance and all those facing Zionist oppression. The Zionist project will collapse in our lifetimes.”
On October 7, 2023, Ray posted a video of himself on TikTok in which he celebrated the Hamas massacre which occurred that day. In the background, a video was playing of Hamas terrorists driving tractors into Israel’s border fence with Gaza in order to target thousands of Israeli civilians for murder, torture and kidnapping.
In the video, Ray said [00:00:05]: “...Palestinians have done the unimaginable and have successfully broken through the decades-long siege of the Gaza strip. Resistance organizations launched a massive offensive that…led to the total overrunning of Israeli military positions and bases and the reclamation of Palestinian land.”
Ray continued [00:00:25]: “This operation has also led to the firing of over 5,000 rockets from the Gaza strip and we’ve seen what seems to be a failure of Israel’s touted Iron Dome anti-missile system as rockets have hit targets across occupied Palestine.”
The Iron Dome is an Israeli missile defense system designed to intercept and destroy rockets and artillery shells.
In May 2021, during Israel’s Operation Guardian of the Walls (OGW), Hamas’s Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades website publicized some of its long-range missile capabilities, known to include a variety of deadly rockets. The rockets have killed and injured civilians and damaged homes.
Ray glorified [00:00:57] Hamas terrorists who paraglided into Israel to commit war crimes as “one of the wildest things he’s ever seen.”
Ray claimed [00:01:04]: “This is a historical feat for the Palestinian people and their resistance to their continued colonization at the hands of Zionist forces” and said [00:01:50]: “...colonized people have the right to resist their occupiers…by any means necessary, including armed struggle.”
On October 22, 2021, Ray tweeted: “PFLP is good actually we should all support and work with them.”
On November 29, 2021, Ray tweeted his reading list that included the PFLP’s 1969 book titled: “Strategy for the Liberation of Palestine.”
The terrorist organization’s strategy book calls [p.62] for violent “armed struggle” against Israel to achieve the “liberation of Palestine” and the book also lists [p.4] Israel and [p.6] the U.S. among its “enemies.”
On September 5, 2021, Ray tweeted: “ ‘Are you pro-choice or pro-life’ I’m pro dismantling the U.S. settler empire.”
On September 7, 2021, Ray tweeted: “It’s interesting to note how Americans leftists such as this guy are willing to critique the capitalist system they exist in but not push to dismantle what is a White Supremacist settler colony, because doing the latter would cause them to lose their grip on power societally.”
On July 21, 2021, Ray tweeted: “...Zionism is the ideological threat, but the settler colony of Israel is the physical manifestation of the ideology and must be dismantled. We must combat Zionism, but this isn’t simply a battle of ideology.”
On July 30, 2021, Ray tweeted: “My liberal TikTok followers who followed me for discussing U.S. politics not realizing I’m a Leftist waking up to me saying we must dismantle the Israeli state every few weeks.”
On August 3, 2021, Ray tweeted: “When people say ‘I’m not critiquing Israel, just the government’ it implies there is an ‘optimal’ government, which is flawed given it fails to acknowledge the nature of Israel’s settler colonial project. The very nature of the state is the problem. Abolition is necessitated.”
On September 10, 2021, Ray tweeted: “Dismantle the Israeli apartheid state and all settler colonies worldwide.”
On November 22, 2021, Ray tweeted: “Free Palestine, from the river to the sea♥️
♥️...”
On February 28, 2023, Ray tweeted: “He made a conscious choice to join a genocidal occupation force as it continues a campaign of mass ethnic cleansing and set himself up in the West Bank on the front lines of the colonial endeavor he sought to uphold. He deserved to die, and his memory will be a stain on the land.”
Ray was responding to a tweet that said: “We are shattered by the loss of Elan Ganeles, a US-Israeli citizen & IDF [Israel Defense Forces] vet murdered today by Palestinian terrorists.”
On February 27, 2023, during a wave of Palestinian violence against Israelis, U.S. citizen Elan Ganeles was shot to death by a terrorist while driving near Jericho.
On November 22, 2021, Ray tweeted a screenshot of a comment he made on TikTok for a video he produced justifying the murder of Eliyahu David Kay in a Jerusalem terror attack. Ray wrote on TikTok: “He showed no remorse or care for the effect his actions would have on occupied Palestinians I do not care about being civil to him in his death.”
On November 21, 2021, Eliyahu David Kay, a 25-year-old Israeli civilian and tour guide, was killed by a Hamas gunman, Fadi Abu Shkhaidem, who opened fire near the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Kay was an immigrant from South Africa who had served in the Israeli army. One civilian and two policemen were also injured from the shooting.
In the same November 22, 2021 tweet, Ray wrote: “This in response to a video covering the death of a South African ex-IOF soldier and South African migration to Israel. The audacity of people to champion civility for those guilty of upholding and participating in genocidal institutions is beyond me.”
On August 14, 2021, Ray tweeted: “‘Palestinians are shooting rockets and throwing rocks😡’ people always seem to leave out the material analysis that would explain perfectly well their motivations and how their violence stems from decades of violence employed against them by the Israeli government. Curious that.”
Although romanticized as a form of “popular resistance,” rock throwing remains a deadly form of violence.
On August 7, 2021, Ray tweeted: “Liberals say ‘Free Palestine’ and proceed get mad when Palestinians employ even the slightest amount of violence against their colonizers like did you think Palestine would be freed by tweets and petitions?”
On December 28, 2021, Ray shared to Twitter a tweet that read: “Jewish man says he was slugged in Brooklyn for wearing Israeli military hoodie.” Ray commented: “IDF can’t protect you in Brooklyn ♥️.”
On December 26, 2021, two Jewish college students, Blake Zavadsky and Ilan Kaganovich, were reportedly assaulted by two men outside a Foot Locker in Brooklyn, New York. Zavadsky, who was wearing an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) sweatshirt, was punched in the face by one of the assailants, who called Zavadsky and Kaganovich “dirty Jews.”
On November 5, 2021, Ray tweeted: “Liberal Zionism is nothing more than genocide apologism. The notion that one can be a ‘softer’ or ‘more liberal’ supporter of a genocidal apartheid settler project is nothing more than absurd mental gymnastics to make ‘Liberal’ settlers and their allies feel better.”
On October 23, 2021, Ray tweeted: “95% of the people I block are zionists lmfao [laughing my f**king a** off]...I just don’t like dealing with idiots😭.”
On October 9, 2021, Ray tweeted in defense of people booing Israel’s national anthem: “Zionists will support the expulsion, exploitation, brutalization, and murder of millions but god forbid you boo their bum a** national anthem.”
On December 31, 2024, Ray posted on X: “May this next year be the last one the Zionist entity exists in.”
On November 13, 2021, Ray tweeted a screenshot that said “IDF soldier” and wrote: “I’ve studied genocide and can tell you what it means but you’re not gonna like it.”
On November 12, 2021, Ray tweeted: “Israel is an settler colony maintained through apartheid and genocide. How do I know? Because I’m American. I know.”
On October 21, 2021, Ray tweeted: “...As always f**k Israel and free Palestine from the river to the sea.”
On September 22, 2021, Ray tweeted in opposition to U.S. Congresswoman Val Demings who supported funding Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system.
Ray wrote: “What Val Demings and most establishment Democrats & Republicans fail to understand is that Israel is a settler colony founded and maintained through the mass ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. ‘Safety and Security’ for Israel means subjugation & elimination of all Palestinians.”
On September 10, 2021, four days after a prison break in Israel, Ray tweeted: “The Zionist settler project that is Israel relies on violence in every aspect of its occupation to terrorize the Palestinian people into submissions. It’s prisons are an extension of that violence. Every Palestinian in apartheid prisons is a political prisoner. Free them all.”
On September 6, 2021, six Palestinian prisoners escaped from the maximum-security Gilboa Prison in Israel. The escaped prisoners were convicted members of the terror organizations Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, who were jailed for their involvement in attacks carried out during the second intifada. All were recaptured by September 19, 2021, by Israeli authorities.
On August 31, 2021, Ray tweeted: “...The very foundation of Zionist planning in Palestine are thus genocidal by nature, and the Nakba is evidence they accepted this reality.”
The term “Nakba” is generally translated as “catastrophe” in Arabic, referring to the outcome of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It is a term used to delegitimize the creation of the State of Israel by drawing a comparison to the Holocaust, known in Hebrew as the Shoah, meaning “catastrophe.”
On August 6, 2021, Ray tweeted: “Oh god oh f**k the people who support Israel’s apartheid settler project indiscriminately bombing Palestinians as they carry out an ethnic cleansing…”
On August 6, 2021, Ray tweeted: “Every facet of Israel’s existence is predicated on violence. Every act of Palestinian resistance is met with disproportionate force from the regime as it desperately tries to maintain its illegal occupation…”
On June 15, 2021, Ray tweeted: “Israel named Tel Aviv airport ‘Ben Gurion Airport’ despite him denying right of return for the 700,000-800,000 Palestinians ethnically cleansed...”
The “right of return” is a Palestinian demand discredited as a means to eliminate Israel. International law mandates no absolute right of return and UN Resolution 194, which defined principles for “refugees wishing to return to their homes,” was unanimously rejected by Arab nations following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
On May 8, 2021, Ray tweeted: “Good morning to everyone except people who support Israel’s apartheid regime♥️.”
On October 7, 2021, Ray tweeted: “If the U.S. military tries to draft me for WW3 they are gonna have to try me for treason … I will not spill blood for this demon country.”
On September 20, 2021, Ray tweeted: “White Supremacy isn’t some fringe movement of right wingers it’s a foundational element of our state and is present in every single American institution.”
In November 2021, Ray tweeted multiple times in support of Yasmeen Mashayekh who was [00:11:08] in the middle of a national controversy over anti-Semitism she spread on social media that year.
In October 2021, Mashayekh was listed as the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Senator for USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering (Viterbi). In May 2021, she tweeted: “I want to f**king kill every motherf**king Zionist.” She also tweeted: “yel3an el yahood [curse the Jews]😌.”
Mashayekh has also spread violent hatred of Israeli Jews, called for the destruction of Israel and America, expressed support for Hamas and glorified terrorists.
Mashayekh was condemned after Canary Mission exposed her anti-Semitic tweets.
On November 25, 2021, Ray tweeted in opposition to a Viterbi thread where the school condemned Mashayekh’s anti-Semitic tweets. Ray wrote: “The fact that this is how y’all chose to respond after having a student (@intifadyas) doxxed and blackmailed in a Zionist led smear campaign just for having the audacity to… be Palestinian and not accept the annihilation of her people?… is f**king shameful and embarrassing.”
On November 22, 2021, Ray tweeted: “But yeah anyway follow and support @BDSmovement and @DSA [Democratic Socialists of America]_Palestine…”
On August 12, 2021, Ray tweeted: “Very good time to remind everyone that BDS explicitly calls for denormalization and to not debate Zionists as it normalizes their position...” Ray’s tweet referred to a tweet that publicized a debate titled: “Is Zionism Settler Colonialism?”
Proponents of the “anti-normalization” policy seek to police all interactions between Israelis and Palestinians and shut down all conversations and interactions perceived as being ideologically unaligned with their own agenda. They believe “liberal Zionist” dialogue with Palestinians “normalizes” entrenched power dynamics. This policy was originally dictated by the BDS National Committee (BNC), which prioritized the “Monitoring & Rapid Response” against interactions that recognize or cooperate with “Israel’s regime.”
On July 26, 2021, Ray tweeted: “Amazing seeing multiple Olympic athletes pull out of matches because they don’t want to be in a match against an Israeli athlete. It’s beautiful, and they should be applauded.”
The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement was founded by pro-terror activist Omar Barghouti in 2005 to turn “Israel into a pariah state, as South Africa once was.” Barghouti has also called for Israel's destruction and the BDS movement demands would result in that same goal.
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 infiltrating university campuses through lobbying for “BDS resolutions.” In these cases, student governments propose resolutions to boycott or divestment from Israel or Israeli-affiliated entities. 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 and pro-terror activism on campus.
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