Katrina Bacome

Overview

Katrina Bacome has supported the “intifada,” spread hatred of Israel and expressed support for terrorist Rasmea Odeh and disgraced anti-Israel Professor Steven Salaita.

Bacome was an activist with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at the University of Toledo (UT) in 2014. She also organized anti-Israel demonstrations in Toledo, Ohio.

Bacome was active with “UT Divest” — UT SJP’s Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement campaign — in 2015 and is a supporter of the BDS movement.

As of October 2017, Bacome’s Facebook page lists her as living in Toledo, Ohio.
According to a July 9, 2017 tweet, Bacome is unemployed.

Supporting the Intifada

In September of 2013, Bacome was photographed spray painting “Long Live the Intifada” on a mock “apartheid” wall during an anti-Israel event held by UTSJP.

Since the early 2000’s the term “intifada” has carried the connotation of terrorist violence.

Spreading Hatred of Israel

On February 20, 2016, Bacome posted a picture of herself on Facebook wearing a shirt that read: “End Israeli Apartheid.”

On November 28, 2014, Bacome shared an article on Facebook that claimed “Israel jailed an 11-month-old child.”

On August 2, 2014 — during Operation Protective Edge (OPE) — Bacome co-hosted an anti-Israel demonstration with UT SJP member Farouk Abu Alhana. The event’s description accused Israel of committing “genocide.”

Israel commenced Operation Protective Edge (OPE) in July 2014, to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.

On July 13, 2014, Bacome led demonstrators in anti-Israel chants during a demonstration endorsed by UT SJP.

Nadine Armoush — a member of UT SJP — covered the demonstration for UT:10news and interviewed Bacome, who claimed [00:01:10] that Israel is committing a “slaughter of innocent Palestinians” and referred [00:01:12] to Gaza as “the world’s largest open-air prison.”

Bacome also wrote a play performed by UT SJP during Israeli Apartheid Week in March of 2014. The play demonized [00:08:12] Israeli soldiers as irrational, [00:05:20] cruel and [00:10:24, 00:36:21] violent.

One character labelled [00:39.34] Israel a “brutal racist system” while another character claimed [00:37:13] that Israel locks Palestinian children in cages outdoors.

Supporting Rasmea Odeh

On October 30, 2014, Bacome shared a photo of Rasmea Odeh to her Facebook page, with the caption “I Support Rasmea”

Odeh was a key military operative [00:02:08]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 [00:10:53] Odeh 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, deported to Jordan and banned from re-entering the U.S.

Supporting Steven Salaita

Bacome is a supporter of disgraced anti-Israel professor Steven Salaita, and on September 4, 2014, shared a petition on Facebook calling for his reinstatement.

In 2014, The University of Illinois withdrew an offer of employment to Salaita after becoming aware of his anti-Semitic tweets. One tweet, posted shortly after Hamas kidnapped three teenage Israeli high school students, read: "You may be too refined to say it, but I’m not: I wish all the f**king West Bank settlers would go missing.” In 2017, Salaita posted to Facebook: “People ask if I would go back in time and change anything. I would not…I will die unapologetic.” In February 2019, Salaita stated that he had become a school bus driver in the Washington, D.C., area.

In September 9, 2014 Facebook post, Bacome accused the U of I administration of firing Salaita because “pro-Israel donors would stop giving the university money.”

On that same day, Bacome shared a Facebook post written by Salaita advertising a press conference.

UT SJP - Defending Terrorism

On October 29, 2015, during the Knife intifada in Israel, UT SJP held an anti-Israel demonstration at the university's student union using propaganda posters depicting Palestinian terrorists as victims.

In October 2015, there was an upsurge in violence across Israel incited by Palestinian political and religious leaders. The wave of stabbings, known as the “Knife Intifada,” was characterized by young Palestinians throughout the country stabbing and attempting to stab Israeli civilians.

One of UT SJP posters read: “Israeli forces have killed 25 Palestinians this month. 8 of them children.” The poster then listed the “children” which included Ahmed Manasra, Marah Bakris [Marah Al-Bakri] and Israa [Asraa Zidan Tawfik Abed] Abed.

In October 2015, 16-year-old Marah Al-Bakri [Marah Bakir] stabbed an Israeli border police officer and tried to grab his weapon before she was shot.

In September of 2013, UT SJP held a mock checkpoint event to demonize Israel, where SJP member Katrina Bacome was photographed spray painting “Long Live the Intifada” on the mock “apartheid” wall.

Since the early 2000s, the term “intifada,” which translates from Arabic as “uprising” or “insurrection,” has carried the connotation of violence.

UT SJP - Demonizing Israel and Israelis

On August 4, 2014 UT SJP posted to their Facebook page a graphic denying that Hamas used human shields and claiming that Israel deliberately targeted Palestinian civilians.

Israel commenced Operation Protective Edge (OPE) in July 2014, to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.

On July 12, 2014, UT SJP endorsed an anti-Israel demonstration held a day later. During the demonstration, UT SJP member Katrina Bacome led anti-Israel chants, while UT SJPmember Shahrazad Hamdah held a sign that read: “Gaza is today’s Warsaw Ghetto.”

Nadine Armoush — a member of UT SJP — covered the demonstration for UT:10news, a weekly newscast at UT. Armoush claimed [00:00:11] that “Israel has occupied Palestine since 1948.”

Armoush also interviewed Bacome, who claimed [00:01:10] that Israel is committing a “slaughter of innocent Palestinians” and referred to Gaza as “the world’s largest open-air prison.”

On March 18, 2014 — during UT SJP’s Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) — UT SJP performed a play which demonized [00:08:12] Israeli soldiers as irrational, [00:05:20] cruel and [00:10:24, 00:36:21] violent.

One character in the play labelled [00:39.34] Israel a “brutal racist system” while another character claimed [00:37:13] that Israel locks Palestinian children in cages outdoors.

UT SJP - Hosting Hamas Supporters

On October 3, 2016, UT SJP hosted Hamas propagandist Mads Gilbert.

Gilbert has been banned indefinitely from entering Gaza through Israel because of his connections to the Hamas leadership.

In 2008, 2009, 2012 and 2014 Gilbert was stationed at a hospital that served as a Hamas command center and rocket launching site. During that time he acted as a propagandist for the Hamas government in Gaza.

In 2001, following al Qaeda's September 11 terrorist attacks, Gilbert expressed support for the terror acts as a “legitimate response.” In December of 2009, Gilbert was accused of faking resuscitation on a dead child in Gaza for dramatic effect for a CNN video.

On April 19, 2014, UT SJP co-hosted a “Gaza Fundraising Dinner.” Speaking at the event was Osama Abu Irshaid, the national policy director of the American Muslims for Palestine (AMP). Abu Irshaid formerly served as editor of Islamic Association for Palestine's Arabic periodical, Al-Zaitounah — a mouthpiece for pro-Hamas propaganda.

UT SJP - UT Divest

In 2015, UT SJP launched and ran a divestment campaign under the slogan “UT Divest,” as part [01:34:54]of the wider Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement.

On February 17, 2015, the UT Student Government (SG) held a closed meeting on the Divestment resolution. The Students Judicial Council ruled [00:02:03] that the resolution was unconstitutional because it would be impossible for student senators to remain neutral.

Following the vote, UT SJP successfully campaigned to have the ruling overturned, and on March 3, 2017 the student senators approved the divestment resolution in a 21-4 vote. One senator’s request [02:47:56] for a secret ballot was rejected.

On March 4, 2015, UT Interim President Nagi Naganathan released a statement saying that, regardless of the senators’ vote, UT would not divest from companies doing business with Israel.

On March 31, 2015, SG approved a UT SJP sponsored referendum inviting the student body to vote on whether SG should call upon the UT Board of Trustees to implement divestment.

57.13% of students voted in favor of the referendum, failing to meet the required two-thirds threshold.

UT SJP - Supporting Rasmea Odeh

On September 20, 2017, UT SJP shared a photo of Rasmea Odeh to their Facebook page, adding: “We stand with Rasmea!”

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

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.