Layal Bata
Overview
Layal Bata spread hatred of Israel as a member of the executive board of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Occidental (Oxy) College (SJP Oxy).Bata attended the 2019 National SJP Conference at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities (UMN) as well as the 2018 National SJP Conference at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). National SJP held their conference at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities (UMN), from November 1-3, 2019. The conference was themed: “Beyond Struggle: From Roots to Branches Towards Liberation.” The 2018 National SJP conference was held on November 16-18, 2018 at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The conference was themed “Radical Hope: Resistance in the Face of Adversity.” The conference website stated: “[t]he reason we can have hope is that Zionism...can be destroyed.”
As of December 2020, Bata’s LinkedIn page said she was a Researcher at Oxy Multisensory Lab, since January 2019, and a Resident Advisor at Oxy since August 2018.
As of the same date, Bata’s LinkedIn page said she was seeking a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Cognitive Science from Oxy, slated to graduate in May 2021.
Also as of December 2020, Bata’s LinkedIn page said she was an “active member” of the Muslim Student’s Association (MSA).
Spreading Hatred of Israel
On April 16, 2019, Bata was quoted in The Occidental student newspaper discussing SJP Oxy’s Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW), which was held on campus from April 8 -12, 2019.During IAW 2019, SJP Oxy erected a mock apartheid wall on campus meant to represent Israel’s security barrier. Text on one panels read: “Israeli restrictions make it difficult or impossible for Palestinian Muslims and Christians to worship freely” and ”Imagine segregation where the color of your license plate dictates which road you can drive on.”
In the article, Bata was quoted as saying that “the boards were placed there as both a representation of the wall that separates Israel from the West Bank as well as art that would incite conversation.”
On April 9, 2019, SJP OXY hosted SJP UCLA activist Omar Zahzah as part of IAW for a session titled: “Academic Unfreedom & the BDS Movement.”
In November 2018, Zahzah led attendees at the 2018 National SJP conference in the chant in Arabic, “With our blood and souls, we will redeem you Palestine.” Zahzah has also called for intifada, expressed support for terrorists, demonized Zionism and defended the violent harassment of pro-Israel students and campus events.
Since the early 2000s, the term “intifada,” which translates from Arabic as “uprising” or “insurrection,” has carried the connotation of violence.
SJP Activism
On November 7, 2018, Bata appeared in an SJP Oxy Instagram photo promoting an SJP Oxy event held that day titled: “101 Years Since Balfour: A conversation.”The 1917 Balfour Declaration favored the establishment of a Jewish National home in British Mandate Palestine.
SJP Oxy co-hosted the event with MSA, the Jewish Student Union (JSU) and the History Society.
The event’s Facebook description urged students to join the event “for a conversation with Oxy's own and esteemed Professor Montag & Professor Gasper about the history of the Palestinian Struggle and alternatives to Zionism. This event is organized in light of the 101st anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, which promised a national home to the Jewish people in Palestine.”
In February 2018, Professor Warren Montag was reportedly Oxy SJP’s faculty advisor.
Attending the 2019 National SJP Conference
On November 4, 2019, Bata appeared in a photo posted to Instagram by SJP Oxy at the 2019 NSJP Conference.The Conference partnered with numerous anti-Israel organizations and conducted their event in a clandestine manner.
Attending the 2018 National SJP Conference
On November 18, 2018, Bata appeared in a photo posted to Instagram by SJP Oxy that was captioned: “Day #3@sjpatucla.”2019 National SJP - Supporting BDS
The Conference website called to capitalize on shifts in the political climate, represented by the elections to the U.S. Congress of Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, who both support BDS. National SJP speakers also reportedly drew attention to Rep. Omar’s support for the BDS movement as the Representative for UMN’s Congressional district.During the Conference, National SJP speakers reportedly “noted the success of past divestment campaigns at the University [UMN], which ultimately resulted in the passing of a campus-wide [BDS] referendum in 2018.”
The UMN resolution passed in 2018 by a margin of 3.4 percent of those students who voted, translating to approval by 6.18% of all eligible voters. Less than 13% of the eligible voters actually voted on UMN’s BDS referendum.
2019 National SJP - Rejecting Israel and Zionism
The 2019 National SJP Conference website indicated that the goal of their “solidarity movement” was to push for policies that “demanded the end of” the state of Israel, referred to as “the Israeli occupation.”The website clarified that “the Palestinian struggle against Zionism, extends beyond the confines of 1967, and well before the Nakba,” and was based on the rejection of Jewish national self-determination in Israel.
Nakba is an Arabic term for “catastrophe” and refers to the outcome of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It is a term often used to delegitimize the creation of the State of Israel.
2019 National SJP - Heightened Secrecy
The 2019 National SJP Conference required attendees to be “verified and vouched for” by an SJP chapter to which they belonged and required each chapter to register as a group. The conference also required each group to be verified by a “reference––someone who is NOT going to this conference but who is or has recently been a part of your SJP.”2019 National SJP - Partnering Organizations
National SJP partnered with other anti-Israel organizations to table, sell merchandise and lead workshops, including CODEPINK, Palestine Youth Movement (PYM), Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), Palestine Legal, Watan Palestine and the Adalah Justice Project.Keynote speakers included Loubna Qutami, Chair of PYM, as well as Taher Herzallah of American Muslims for Palestine (AMP). Other speakers included Miko Peled, Sandra Tamari, Suhad Katib, Chris Gazaleh, Clarissa Bitar, Tariq Luthun, Maytha Alhassen and Sima Shakhsari.
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.
MSA
The MSA was established by members of the Muslim Brotherhood in January 1963 at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, with the goal of "spreading Islam as students in North America." A 2004 FBI investigation uncovered an internal Muslim Brotherhood document in which a brotherhood leader identified the MSA as "one of our organizations."
The MSA reportedly has “nearly 600 chapters” located in the United States and Canada, and is “the most visible and influential Islamic student organization in North America,” boasting conferences, special events, publications, websites and other activities.
The organization includes a number of previous chapter presidents with explicit links to terrorist groups. Included are al-Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki (Colorado State University), Somali al-Shabaab militant leader Omar Shafik Hammami (University of South Alabama) and Pakistani Taliban recruiter Ramy Zamzam of the MSA's Washington, D.C. council.
Social Media and Weblinks
Twitter:https://twitter.com/layalbata
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/layal.bata [Private]
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/layal-bata/
