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Justine Abigail Yu
Justine Abigail Yu participated in the pro-Hamas encampment at UofT in May and June 2024. Yu has also celebrated terrorism and spread hatred of Israel.
On July 3, 2024, Yu posted on Instagram a photo of herself at the UofT encampment holding a sign that said “UofT alums for PALESTINE.” In the post, she wrote a statement in support of the encampment that began: “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 June 14, 2024, Yu posted a photo [slide 3] of herself at the encampment.
On May 23, 2024, Yu posted a photo [slide 1] at the UofT encampment holding a sign that said “UofT alums for PALESTINE.”
Yu’s post called on UofT to “immediately and publicly” commit to “Disclose all investments held in endowments, short-term working capital assets, and other financial holdings of the university hereafter; Divest the university’s endowment, capital assets, and other financial holdings from all direct and indirect investments that sustain Israeli apartheid, occupation and illegal settlement of Palestine;Terminate all partnerships with Israeli academic institutions that either: a) Operate in settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, or b) Support or sustain the apartheid policies of the state of Israel and its ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
UofT is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Justine Abigail Yu’s Participation in the Pro-Hamas Encampment at the University of Toronto (UofT)
On May 2, 2024, activists from the UofT Occupy for Palestine (Occupy UofT) group “stormed down” [00:00:24] the fencing around UofT’s Kings College Circle and set up a pro-Hamas encampment, which they called the “People’s Circle for Palestine.”
That day, Occupy UofT called on “community members to…help us defend our encampment” at an emergency rally in the evening. Protesters chanted [00:02:59] for “intifada” and celebrated “resistance” [00:02:45]. Both terms are calls for terrorism. The activists also chanted [00:01:28; 00:02:21] for Israel’s destruction multiple times.
One speaker, Nabil Jalbout, said [00:09:02]: “...we are not fighting for peace, we are fighting for liberation, because ‘peace’ is a white man's word.” Another speaker, Ahmad Jarrar Hajahmad, claimed [00:05:52]: “All these Israeli and Zionist entities fill all these politicians with money in their pockets…we already know who runs this system…”
Signs displayed at the encampment said: “LONG LIVE THE INTIFADA” and “LIBERATION FOR ALL REQUIRES RESISTANCE FROM ALL.”
On May 4, 2024, anti-Israel protesters at the encampment assaulted a Jewish man, punching him in the stomach as they forcibly took his Israeli flag. The attackers told the man [00:01:02]: “God bless the armed resistance,” and: “Go back to Europe!” They also reportedly called him “a “dirty Jew.”
Protesters “occupied” [00:00:17] the area from May to July 2024, despite UofT’s warning they were trespassing. The group said they would not leave until UofT divested from companies that “sustain Israeli apartheid, occupation and illegal settlement of Palestine” and terminated partnerships with Israeli academic institutions.
Following the October 7, 2023 massacre of nearly 1,200 Israelis, the inverted red triangle - 🔻- became a Hamas symbol. This symbol appeared on large signs at the encampment multiple times. Erin Mackey, one of the primary organizers, is openly pro-Hamas, having used the symbol in her activism. In addition, pro-Hamas marches that began in other parts of the city concluded at the encampment.
On July 3, 2024, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice issued an injunction at the request of UofT’s Governing Council, requiring students to clear the encampment. Occupy UofT dismantled the encampment and wrote [slides 5-6]: “We are just getting started…come fall, every incoming student will hear our message loud and clear…Whatever institution you have access to and influence over - you need to take this campaign there!” The statement concluded: “Long live the intifada.”
The encampment was one of over 140 pro-Hamas and anti-Israel college encampments set up in North America, and over 20 more globally, in the spring of 2024. The first began on April 17, 2024, at Columbia University. The encampments were unofficially known as the “student intifada,” borrowing a term associated with terrorist violence.
Protesters harassed Jewish students, blocked Jews from campus facilities and shouted anti-Semitic slogans. They occupied campus grounds, in many cases illegally, caused property damage, violently took over buildings, celebrated terrorism and promoted the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Activists set up encampments to oppose Israel’s right to wage war against the Hamas terror group following October 7, 2023, when Hamas murdered approximately 1,200 people, including 32 American and 8 Canadian citizens. Hamas also kidnapped 252 people, including 11 Americans and the bodies of 2 murdered Canadians. As of May 26, 2024, 125 hostages remained in Hamas captivity.
For more information on the October 7, 2023 terror attacks, see the Canary Mission page on Hamas.
On October 24, 2023, Justine Abigail Yu posted to Instagram photos from an anti-Israel rally she attended.
One of her photos featured [slide 2] a poster with an image of terrorist Leila Khaled holding a rifle. The same photo also featured a poster that said: “FROM PALESTINE / TO THE PHILIPPINES / CRUSH THE ZIONIST & IMPERIALIST WAR MACHINE!”
Leila Khaled is a leading member 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 [00:36:07] for the use of children in terror activities and compared Zionists to Nazis.
The same post featured [slide 3] a video of activists carrying a banner that had two communist hammer and sickle symbols, along with the text “INTIFADA UNTIL VICTORY.” The rally she attended happened about two weeks after the October 7, 2023 terror attacks.
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.
Justine Abigail Yu is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
As of March 2024, Yu posted on Instagram that she was “...proud to be a part of” Davenport for Ceasefire, a group described as a “neighbour-led coalition of Davenport residents who are critical of MP Julie Dzerowicz' and the Canadian governments [sic] support of Israel's ongoing aggression in Palestine.” In February 2024, The Breach reported that Yu was an organizer with Davenport for Ceasefire.
As of August 2024, Yu’s LinkedIn profile said she founded “Living Hyphen” in September 2017.
As of the same date, Yu’s LinkedIn said she graduated from Trinity College (Trinity), which is part of UofT,with a bachelor’s degree in political science and sociology in 2011.
Also as of August 2024, Yu’s X page said she was located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
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