Laith Shalabi

Hamas is a designated terrorist organization founded in 1987 that is dedicated to destroying Israel and killing Jews. Since 2001, Hamas has launched thousands of rockets at Israel and on October 7, 2023, Hamas murdered approximately 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped over 200 hostages, including children and the elderly.

Shalabi reportedly graduated from the University of New Orleans (UNO) with a bachelor’s degree in 2022. UNO is located in New Orleans, Louisiana.

4/30/2024 - Arrested at an Anti-Israel CUNY Encampment

On April 30, 2024, Shalabi was reportedly arrested and charged with trespassing at an anti-Israel protest encampment at the City College of New York (CCNY), which is part of CUNY.

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.

Calling for Israel’s Destruction during a Hamas War

On October 8, 2023, one day after the massacre of approximately 1200 Israelis by Hamas terrorists, Shalabi, participated in an anti-Israel rally in New York, where he was filmed [00:00:22] wearing a keffiyeh and chanting with a crowd of anti-Israel activists: “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free!”

“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.

Support for Terrorism (Hamas)

In May 2021, Shalabi participated in an anti-Israel protest in New Orleans, Louisiana. At the rally, Shalabi said [00:01:24]: “...Hamas…is a product of occupation and under any fights for freedom, there will be militia groups who will fight for freedoms and do so any way possible…No one asks for freedom nicely.”

In May 2021, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists fired over 4,300 rockets from Gaza at major population centers in Israel. Israel responded by launching “Operation Guardian of the Walls (OGW),” carrying out targeted military strikes in Gaza.

At the same protest, Shalabi also reportedly said: “As we grow older, we’ll raise younger generations to continue fighting injustice and against oppression.”

At the rally, anti-Israel activists chanted [00:01:31]: “be-ruh be-dam nifdik ya Falastine, be-ruh be-dam nifdik ya Aqsa.”


The allegation that Jews “threaten” to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque has been a pretext for Arab attacks on Jews long before the existence of the modern Jewish state. Such propaganda has led to multiple periods of violence against Israeli civilians.

Hatred of Israel and America

On December 16, 2023, Shalabi posted on his personal website: “...Almost 76 years of constant occupation and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people…The breath of any Palestinian is a defiance of every zionist; it is a defiance of every imperialist, every colonizer…Zionism will fall and crumble within our lifetime inshallah [please God]…”

The modern State of Israel was founded 76 years earlier, in 1948.

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. Zionism is a core part of the identity of most Jews.

As of November 12, 2023, Shalabi had reportedly changed his username to “f**k israel” on his since-deleted Twitter account.

On May 12, 2021, Shalabi tweeted: “...calling Israel an apartheid state implies if it treated Palestinians equally, it would deserve to exist as a state. israel’s sole existence is at the expense of the genocide of Palestinians and the uprooting of their land. it is an illegitimate state.”

On December 8, 2019, Shalabi tweeted: “hi gal gadot is a zionist and goes completely against everything the wonder woman character stands for.”

Gal Gadot is an Israeli actress famous for her role as Wonder Woman.

On August 5, 2019, Shalabi posted on his personal website a blog titled: “Terrorists in the United States of AmeriKKKa.”

The term “Amerikkka” uses the initials of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) as a way to demonize America as “fascist or racist.”  

Pro-Hamas Encampment at Columbia University

On April 19, 2024, Shalabi was featured [06:00:15] in a YouTube video participating in the pro-Hamas encampment at Columbia. He can be seen in the video wearing a keffiyeh over his shoulders. The encampment was also in support of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

On April 17, 2024, Columbia students and anti-Israel activists set up a pro-Hamas encampment on campus to protest Israel’s war against Hamas and promote BDS. The encampment was forcibly dismantled and approximately 80 Columbia students were arrested.

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Laithh_ [Deleted]

Twitter 2:https://twitter.com/yallahhbb [Private]

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/laith-shalabi-2a61b0190 [Deleted]

Personal Website:https://laithshalabi3.wixsite.com/website