Layla Tabbal

Layla Tabbal’s Involvement in the Pro-Hamas Encampment at Columbia University (Columbia), Leading Chants Celebrating Hamas Terrorism, Calling for Israel’s Destruction and Promoting Incitement

Layla Tabbal led chants celebrating terrorism one day after Hamas murdered 1,200 Israeli Jews. She also called for Israel’s destruction, promoted incitement and spread hatred of Israel in other chants she led.

Tabbal led the chants one day after Hamas carried out war crimes against Israeli civilians, including mass murder, torture, rape, beheadings and kidnappings. The attacks were executed on October 7, 2023, leaving over 1,200 Israelis dead, hundreds kidnapped and thousands wounded. Israel retaliated with a war called “Swords of Iron.”

Layla Tabbal spoke and led chants at the pro-Hamas encampment at Columbia in April 2024.

As of November 2023, Tabbal’s LinkedIn profile said she had been working as a solution-based casework case planner at the Arab-American Family Support Center (AAFSC) since August 2022.

As of January 31, 2024, Tabbal was enrolled as a first-year student at the Hagop Kervorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies at New York University (NYU), slated to graduate in 2025. Tabbal graduated from Columbia with a bachelor’s degree in 2021.

As of January 31, 2024, Tabbal’s LinkedIn said she was located in New York, New York.

10/8/2023 - Leading Chants Celebrating Hamas Terrorism

On October 8, 2023, Tabbal led multiple chants at a rally in support of the Hamas massacre the day before when terrorists murdered 1,200 Israeli Jews. In her chants, she celebrated [00:08:02] terrorism, called [00:00:07] for Israel’s destruction, promoted [00:43:38] incitement and spread [00:44:42] hatred of Israel.

The rally was held in Times Square in New York City, and it was co-hosted by multiple anti-Israel activist groups, including Al-Awda and American Muslims for Palestine (AMP). The rally was titled: “ALL OUT FOR PALESTINE.”

At the rally, Tabbal led [00:00:07] the chant: “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.

Tabbal later led [00:01:07] the chant: “1-2-3-4, occupation no more! 5-6-7-8, smash the settler Zionist state!”

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.

Tabbal continued [00:01:43] by leading the chant: “Resistance is justified, when people are occupied!”

Anti-Israel activists use the term “resistance” to refer to violence and terror perpetrated against Israeli civilians and their allies. It is used to glorify and encourage anti-Israel and anti-Semitic violence. Anti-Israel activists chant slogans such as: “Resistance by any means necessary!” and “Resistance is justified when people are occupied!” in response to terror attacks.

Tabbal also led [00:02:43] the chant: “Hey hey! Ho ho! Zionism has got to go!”

Later at the rally, Tabbal chanted [00:08:02] through a megaphone: “There is only one solution! Intifada, revolution! There is only one solution! Intifada, revolution! Intifada, intifada! Long live the intifada! Intifada, intifada! Long live the intifada! Intifada, intifada! Globalize the intifada! Intifada, intifada! Long live the intifada! From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free! From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free!”

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.

Tabbal continued [00:09:09] by leading the chant: “Resistance is justified, when people are colonized! Resistance is justified, when people are colonized!”

Later on, Tabbal stood [00:42:05] in front of the crowd again and chanted [00:42:08]: “Be-ruh, be-dam nifdik ya Falasteen [With spirit, with blood, we will redeem you, Palestine]!”

Tabbal also led [00:42:57] the chant: “Min il-maya lal maya, Falasteen Arabiye.” The chant literally means: “From the water to the water, Palestine is Arab.” It is the Arabic version of “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free.”

Tabbal also led [00:43:38] the chant: “Bab Al-Aqsa min hadeed, mabyiftah-ha illa shaheed [The gate of Al-Aqsa is made of iron, only a martyr will open it]!”

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.

Tabbal later led [00:44:42] the chant: “Netanyahu you will learn, refugees will return!"

The “right of return” is a Palestinian demand discredited as a means to eliminate Israel. International law mandates no absolute right of return and UN Resolution 194, which defined principles for “refugees wishing to return to their homes,” was unanimously rejected by Arab nations following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

Hamas Terrorist Atrocities of October 7, 2023

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.

As of December 25, 2023, Hamas had fired over 10,600 missiles from Gaza at Israeli communities, with Hamas claiming 5,000 the day it launched the attack. While Hamas was the main group involved, members of other terror groups also joined in the atrocities.

Many Palestinian civilians, including women and children, also participated in the attack. In several instances, Gazans who worked in the targeted Israeli communities gave intelligence to Hamas on where to strike.

In a December 2023 poll, 57% of Gazans and 82% of Palestinians in the West Bank supported the terror attacks. 42% of Gazans were supportive of Hamas rule, up from 38% before the attacks, and 44% in the West Bank supported Hamas, up from 12%.

Hamas began by launching thousands of rockets at Israel and using motorized paragliders “to infiltrate Israeli territory and secure terrain.” Terrorist ground forces destroyed parts of the border fence with Gaza, murdering and kidnapping soldiers.

Terrorists then turned their attention to 22 communities around Gaza, where they went house to house to savagely murder, mutilate and kidnap anyone they found. They executed children in front of their parents and parents in front of their children.

Terrorists beheaded children and babies, and massacred entire families, burning some alive who hid in their homes. Hamas terrorists kicked around the heads of beheaded victims like soccer balls. Israelis as young as an infant of nine months and as old as 85 were kidnapped and taken forcibly to Gaza. Hamas has not allowed the Red Cross access to the hostages.

Over 360 unarmed young men and women were surrounded and slaughtered at one music festival alone. Bodies were publicly desecrated, with some dragged through the streets of Gaza, then beheaded.

Women were raped next to the bodies of dead friends. Some were raped and then shot in the head. Others, including young girls, were raped and murdered or mutilated in other ways. Israeli officials opened an unprecedented investigation into the widespread sexual assault. Forensic analysis of corpses showed evidence of torture and rape. Hamas terrorists said they were given explicit orders to carry out the atrocities, including chopping off legs and raping the corpses of murdered victims.

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.

Hamas intentionally targeted youth centers and elementary schools to execute and kidnap children. They also took stimulant drugs to give added energy to murder and maim. Nazis also took drugs during World War II to fuel their anti-Semitic massacres.

The atrocities were acknowledged as the worst single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, including by U.S. President Joe Biden, who also compared Hamas to ISIS. Hamas attacked on the annual holiday of Simchat Torah, which that year was on Shabbat, the weekly Jewish Sabbath.

The Hamas atrocities against Israeli civilians are crimes against humanity according to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

The mass murder generated great sympathy for Israel from many countries but led to countless celebrations among Palestinians and anti-Israel organizations in America that back the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Hamas called the October 7, 2023 terror attacks “Al-Aqsa Flood,” a reference to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. The allegation that Jews “threaten” to destroy the mosque has been a pretext for Arab attacks on Jews long before Israel was founded in 1948. Such propaganda has led to multiple periods of violence against Israeli civilians.

Involvement in the Pro-Hamas Encampment at Columbia

On April 25, 2024, Tabbal was featured in a video posted on Instagram speaking at a “Landback & Palestine teach-in” at the Columbia encampment.

Tabbal said: “We need to understand how our struggles are connected from Turtle Island to Palestine.”

The phrase “Turtle Island” or “occupied Turtle Island” is a name that some indigenous peoples use for North America. The call to “decolonize” Turtle Island, shouted at anti-Israel rallies and backed by major anti-Israel activist groups, is a call for the destruction of the United States of America and Canada. Similarly, the call to “decolonize” Palestine is a call for Israel’s destruction.

On April 21, 2024, Tabbal was featured in a video posted on Instagram leading chants at a rally on the fifth day of the Columbia encampment at Columbia. Tabbal held a megaphone and led [00:00:01] the chant: “Who runs Columbia, the students of Columbia..” She also led [00:00:22] the chant: “We will free Palestine, within our lifetime!”

In the post, she was identified as a member of the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) chapter in New York (PYM NYC).

On April 20, 2024, Tabbal was featured [slide 8] in a photo posted on Instagram at a rally in solidarity with the Columbia encampment. In the photo, Tabbal can be seen holding a microphone.

On April 17, 2024, Columbia students and anti-Israel activists set up a pro-Hamas “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” on the university's main lawn. Many participants were arrested and the encampment featured multiple violent incidents, including taking over a campus building and taking a university worker hostage.

Activists protested Israel’s war against Hamas and demanded that Columbia “divest from companies and institutions that profit from Israeli apartheid, genocide and occupation…”