Jana Al-Suleiman

Overview

Jana Al-Suleiman spread hatred of Israel and celebrated terrorism during Israel’s war against Hamas terrorists, while she was vice president of an anti-Israel activist group at the University of Central Florida (UCF).

Al-Suleiman’s activism followed Hamas atrocities and war crimes against Israeli civilians, including mass murder, torture, rape, beheadings and kidnappings, which were executed on October 7, 2023. The attacks left over 1,200 Israelis dead, hundreds kidnapped and thousands wounded. Israel retaliated with a war called “Swords of Iron.”

Al-Suleiman served as vice president of the Palestinian Student Union (PSA) at UCF (UCF-PSA) for the 2023-2024 academic year. During her tenure, the group promoted hatred of Israel less than a week after the October 7 attacks and they showed support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Al-Suleiman was also the marketing director for UCF-PSA during the Spring 2023 semester. UCF is located in Orlando, Florida.

As of December 31, 2023, Al-Suleiman’s LinkedIn profile said she was studying for a bachelor’s degree in “Health Services/ Allied Health/Health Sciences” at UCF. She was slated to graduate in 2026.

As of the same date, Al-Suleiman’s LinkedIn said she was located in Clermont, Florida.

10/13/2023 - Hatred of Israel at a UCF-PSA Protest

On October 13, 2023, while she was UCF-PSA vice president, Al-Suleiman joined in a protest the group organized on the UCF campus. Protesters held many anti-Israel signs, including ones that called for Israel’s destruction, celebrated Hamas terrorism, promoted BDS and spread hatred of Israel and America.

On Saturday, October 7, 2023, approximately 2,900 heavily armed Hamas terrorists breached Israel’s border with Gaza. They executed numerous war crimes on civilians, including mass murder, beheadings of children, rape of men and women, torture, kidnappings and mutilation. Hamas broadcast videos of their butchery on social media, often to victims’ accounts for families to see. Israel retaliated with a war called “Swords of Iron.” As of November 10, 2023, over 1,200 Israelis, the vast majority of them civilians, were murdered during the attacks. Hamas kidnapped 242 Israelis, including at least 30 children. At least 3,500 people were wounded, many severely.

A terrorist detained by Israel admitted he raped an Israeli woman when he broke into a kibbutz house during the October 7, 2023 attack. In March 2024, a former hostage of Hamas publicly stated she was sexually abused and tortured while in captivity.

For more information on the October 7, 2023 terror attacks, see the Canary Mission page on Hamas.

At the event, one protester held up a sign with a slogan commonly used as a chant used to call for Israel’s destruction.

“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.

Another protester held a sign that said: “ZIONISM IS COLONIALISM.”

Zionism is the belief that Jews have the right to self-determination in their own national home, and the right to develop their national culture.

One way that anti-Israel activists spread anti-Semitism is by claiming that Jews have no connection to the Land of Israel.

Another protester held a sign that used a variation of an inverted red triangle to be the letter “D” inside text that read: “END OCCUPATION.”

The inverted red triangle is a symbol showing support for Hamas and Palestinian terrorism. It first appeared in propaganda videos produced by the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, during its terror attacks of October 7, 2023. The symbol was used by Hamas to signify one of their Israeli targets.

Other signs said “END THE GENOCIDE / FREE PALESTINE” and “US EMPIRE SUPPORTS APARTHEID.” Another protester held a sign in support of BDS.

Al-Suleiman also held a sign that said: “SUPPORT 4 PALESTINE IS NOT ANTISEMITISM.”

UCF-PSA - Hatred of Israel during a Hamas War

On October 31, 2023, while Al-Suleiman was vice president of UCF-PSA, the group issued an anti-Israel statement claiming [slide 3] that Israel was committing a “silent genocide” and that there was “ongoing oppression and colonialism taking place.”

The statement also accused [slide 2] Israel of “ongoing apartheid and ethnic cleansing.” UCF-PSA further demonized [slide 1] Israel for “Building walls and checkpoints,” a reference to Israel’s security barrier.

Israel’s security barrier, 97 percent of which is a low chain-link barrier, was built as a deterrent to Palestinian terror attacks. The concrete portions of the fence were built in response to Palestinian sniper attacks.

Israeli checkpoints were built to prevent terror attacks, such as suicide bombings, against Israel's civilian population.

UCF-PSA’s statement also claimed [slide 1] in the statement that Israel’s founding was a “Nakba” and that “Gaza is the largest open-air prison.”

The term “Nakba” is generally translated as “catastrophe” in Arabic, referring to the outcome of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It is a term often used to delegitimize the creation of the State of Israel by defining it as a catastrophe.

Referring to Gaza as an “open-air prison” is a way to delegitimize the United Nations-approved [pp. 39–41] joint Israeli-Egyptian blockade of the Gaza Strip imposed in 2011 to prevent Hamas from acquiring more sophisticated rockets.

Hatred of Israel and Celebrating Terrorism

On November 1, 2023, Al-Suleiman was interviewed [00:02:59] after she participated in a UCF-PSA protest on campus. One protester held a sign that said: “Land you have to kill for is not yours, land you die for is.” Another sign accused Israel of “GENOCIDE.”

On January 1, 2024, Al-Suleiman shared on her Instagram story text accusing Israel of “Genocide.”

On January 13, 2024, Al-Suleiman attended the “March on Washington for Gaza” rally held in Washington D.C.

On the same date, Al-Suleiman featured in a UCF-PSA Instagram story with the caption: “I’m going to take you guys with me to the DC protest

.”

Also on January 13, 2024, UCF-PSA posted an Instagram story of a protester with a sign that said: “We the People WONT BE SILENCED ABOUT SLAUGHTER.” Another sign UCF-PSA featured on Instagram read: “THIS GENOCIDE WAS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE AMERICAN TAX PAYER.”

In another post in the UCF-PSA Instagram story reel from the rally was a video in whichthe crowd chanted [00:01:39]: “Long live the Intifada!”

The term “intifada,” which translates from Arabic as “uprising” or “insurrection,” carries the connotation of violence. Palestinian intifadas waged against Israel have been marked since 1987 by hundreds of hijackings, shootings, stabbings, bombings and suicide missions.

On January 13, 2024, Al-Suleiman posted to her Instagram story an image of a sign from the rally that read: “F**K YOU ISRAEL YOUR MOM’S A HOE.”

On January 14, 2024, Al-Suleiman posted a video on TikTok of the January 13, 2024, event. The video featured [00:00:20] a sign that said: “UNITED STATES OF GENOCIDE.” On the other side of the sign were pictures of U.S. president Joe Biden and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu with the caption: “Child Murderers.”

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.