John Liang
Overview
John Liang [Yongxin Liang] was vice president internal of his university’s student union when it expressed support for Hamas terrorism against Israeli civilians in October 2023. Liang’s student union’s statement also spread hatred of Israel and promoted the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.The incident occurred following a series of Hamas terror atrocities and war crimes against Israeli civilians, including mass murder, torture, rape, beheadings and kidnappings, which were executed on October 7, 2023.
The Hamas terror attacks left over 1,200 Israelis dead, hundreds kidnapped and thousands wounded. Israel retaliated with a war called “Swords of Iron.”
As of January 2024, Liang was listed as “Vice President Internal” of the University of Toronto Mississauga’s (UTM) students union (UTMSU) following his election in March 2023. He was also UTMSU’s vice president internal associate from May 2022 to April 2023 and “Division II Board of Director” from March 2021 to May 2022.
As of January 2024, Liang’s LinkedIn profile said he was studying for a bachelor’s degree in environmental management, sociology and human geography at UTM, slated to graduate in April 2024. His name on LinkedIn was “John (Yongxin) Bayar Liang.”
As of the same date, Liang’s LinkedIn said he lived in Oakville, Ontario, Canada.
Support for Hamas Terrorism and Spreading Hatred of Israel
On October 10, 2023, the UTMSU with Liang as its vice president internal, issued [slide 2] a statement in support of “all Palestinians” and [slide 3] the “right to resist an apartheid regime.”Among Palestinians and anti-Israel activists, the term “resistance” can be a euphemism for nationalistic terror. It is often used to excuse or even glorify anti-Israel and anti-Semitic violence.
The UTMSU statement also called [slide 3] for the “divestment of weaponry, arms-manufacturing and any investment in apartheid.” UTMSU also accused [slide 3] Israel of “Apartheid and Colonialism.”
The statement accused [slide 2] Israel of “ethnic cleansing and mass genocide” and said that Israel has “besieged” Gaza since 2007, transforming Gaza into an “open-air prison.”
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.
The UTMSU statement also said: “For 75 years, the Israeli government has maintained a military occupation over Palestinians…”
The modern State of Israel was founded 75 years earlier, in 1948.
On October 17, 2023, speaking in the Ontario parliament, Ontario’s minister of colleges and universities, Jill Dunlop, condemned the statement and others who celebrated or justified Hamas’s massacre 10 days earlier.
Hamas Atrocities of October 7, 2023
Hamas intentionally targeted youth centers and elementary schools to execute and kidnap children. They also took stimulant drugs to give added energy to murder and maim. Nazis also took drugs during World War II to fuel their anti-Semitic massacres.
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/profile.php?id=100012478779600Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbayarliang/ [Private]
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbliang/
- Status:
- Student
- University:
- Toronto-Mississauga
- Organizations:
- BDS
- Related Profiles:
- Last Modified:
- 06/23/2025
Photos & Screenshots
