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Krystal Strong
Krystal Strong is a professor who expressed support for terrorism on October 7, 2023, the same day that Hamas carried out war crimes against Israeli civilians, including mass murder, torture, rape, beheadings and kidnappings.
Strong also led and spoke at several rallies supporting Hamas terrorist war crimes in October and December 2023.
Strong was reportedly the founder of a Penn student group called Police Free Penn that signed a statement supporting the Hamas war crimes against Israeli civilians. The group was established [00:14:13] in 2020 and Strong was still engaged in activism with them in October 2023 when the group signed the statement.
On October 7, 2023, Strong tweeted: “Do we have a duty to fight for our freedom or nah? / Free Palestine
.”
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, approximately 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.
Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S., Canada, European Union, Israel and other countries. Founded in 1987, it has killed thousands of Israeli civilians through mass shootings and suicide bombings. Hamas has also kidnapped children, families and the elderly and held them hostage in Gaza. It has desecrated [slide 7] dead bodies and launched numerous rocket attacks against Israeli civilians.
On October 8, 2023, the day after the Hamas massacre, Strong spoke on behalf of Black Lives Matter - Philadelphia (BLM Philly) at an anti-Israel rally and march in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The event was organized by the Philly Palestine Coalition in support of Hamas terrorist attacks.
Strong showed support for terrorists destroying the security barrier between Israel and Gaza, saying [01:24:10]: “I don’t know about y’all, but when I woke up yesterday and saw the images, the video of those bulldozers tearing that mother f**king wall down, it felt like May 2020 to me when we saw a police precinct up in flames…” Her reference to “May 2020” was about rioters burning down a police precinct in Minneapolis, Minnesota following the death of George Floyd.
Strong went on to say [01:24:44]: “...and it is up to us to make sure that the struggle for Palestinian liberation isn't the same after yesterday. Something I don’t understand. People are freedom fighters until it comes to Palestine. People are against displacement until it comes to Palestine. People are against genocide until it comes to Palestine.”
Strong also said [01:25:53]: “No colonized people, no oppressed people needs to be told how to fight for their lives, how to fight for their freedom.” She later said [01:27:01]: “We gotta make sure that progressives who stand for justice…are more afraid of us than they are afraid of AIPAC and their funders."
The stated mission of AIPAC is to “strengthen, protect and promote the U.S.-Israel relationship in ways that enhance the security of the United States and Israel.”
Strong continued [01:27:53]: “As long as our tax dollars are used to fund an apartheid state, a genocidal state, we have every duty, responsibility, to be in solidarity, to fight alongside the Palestinian people…because…the same police that are ready to kill you and me here…are going over to Palestine to learn the best methods to do so.”
The accusation that Israeli law enforcement teaches American police brutal tactics during police exchange programs is used to demonize Israel. Participants in these programs have stated [00:02:14] that the training in Israel focuses [00:13:36] on public policy, counterterrorism and leadership training in the form of lectures and discussions.
Strong led [01:29:02] protesters in chanting: “We will free Palestine! Within our lifetime!”
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.
Strong spoke [00:00:01] at a pro-Hamas rally and march in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on December 3, 2023, where she spread hatred of Israel. Her activist group, the Coalition to Save the UC Townhomes, co-organized the rally.
At the rally, Strong said [00:05:58]: “When you are telling people about gentrification in your community, you should also be telling them about settlements in Palestine. You should be telling them about Zionism while you are telling them about white supremacy because they are one and the same. They are one and the same. They are one and the same!”
Strong went on to say [00:06:32]: “We have to do whatever we have to do until we win. If that means occupying these streets, so be it. If that means occupying the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University, then so be it. If that means running up to the mayor's office in City Hall, then so be it. If that means we go all the way down to Washington, D.C. and tell ‘Genocide Joe’ not on our watch, then so be it.”
On December 3, 2023, anti-Israel activist groups held a rally titled: “Flood Philly For Gaza.” Participants chanted [00:00:01] in support of terrorism and called [00:00:01] for Israel’s destruction. Protesters also joined [00:33:31] speakers in denying Hamas war crimes. In the evening, the crowd gathered outside Goldie, an Israeli-owned falafel shop, chanting: “Goldie, Goldie, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide!
The language of “flood” is a reference to Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, the name Hamas used for their terror operation on October 7, 2023. It is a reference to the allegation that Jews “threaten” to destroy Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, and has been a pretext for Arab attacks on Jews long before Israel was founded in 1948.
On October 11, 2023, the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) anti-Israel group Penn Students Against the Occupation of Palestine (PAO) authored a statement in support of Hamas titled: “Statement of Solidarity with Palestine.” Four other groups co-signed the statement, which praised [slide 2] Hamas as “the Palestinian resistance.” The statement described [slide 4] Hamas’s war crimes against Israeli civilians, such as mass murder, torture, rape, beheadings and kidnappings, as “resistance efforts.”
The statement began [slide 2]: “We, the undersigned, write this statement in support of Palestinians who are fighting to liberate their lands from the Israeli Occupation.” The statement also said [slide 2] the groups “unequivocally condemn” Israel’s retaliatory strikes against Hamas, asserted [slide 5] that Palestinians had the “right to resist” Israel “by any means necessary” and claimed [slide 4]: “Israel bears sole responsibility for the violence” since Hamas invaded Israel.
At the time of the October 2023 PAO statement, Strong was reportedly a founder of Police Free Penn, and was still engaged [00:04:50] in activism with them when the group signed the statement.
On October 2, 2023, Strong spoke [00:04:50] on a panel titled: “Penn and Black Philadelphia” hosted by Police Free Penn.
As of November 2023, Strong was listed as an assistant professor of “Black Studies in Education” at Rutgers University (Rutgers).
In October 2023, Strong said [00:04:59] on a panel that she taught at Penn until 2022.
As of November 2023, Strong’s LinkedIn said she had worked as an assistant professor at UPenn since 2015.
As of October 2023, the Rutgers website said, that Strong received a PhD in anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) in 2015.
As of the same date, her LinkedIn profile said she studied anthropology from 2006 to 2012 at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria and graduated from New York University (NYU) with a bachelor’s degree in 2006.
As of December 2023, Strong was a “core organizer” with Black Lives Matter Philly and an activist for the Coalition to Save the UC Townhomes.
As of November 2023, Strong’s LinkedIn profile said she was located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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