Lena Azzouz
Overview
Lena Azzouz has spread an anti-semitic conspiracy theory, demonized Israel and promoted a terrorist leader.Azzouz reportedly served as a board member of the General Union of Palestine Students (GUPS) at San Francisco State University (SFSU) in September 2020. GUPS is an affiliate of the national anti-Israel campus group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).
Azzouz showed support for SJP in 2015 and 2016, and indicated that she was affiliated with the SJP chapter at Midwestern State University (MSU Texas) in 2015.
Azzouz is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Azzouz was reportedly a member of the Muslim Students Association (MSA) at MSU Texas in 2017.
As of October 2022, Azzouz’s LinkedIn said she had served as the founder and co-executive director of Finding Refuge, since April 2019.
Azzouz’s LinkedIn said she was a graduate student at SFSU from 2019 to 2021, where she received a master’s degree in Social Psychology. Her LinkedIn page also said that she worked at SFSU as a Graduate Student Specialist from March to June 2022 and as a Graduate Research Assistant from October 2020 to December 2021.
Also as of October 2022, Azzouz’s LinkedIn said she was a student at MSU Texas from 2014 to 2018, where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology.
Also as of October 2022, Azzouz’s LinkedIn said she was located in Berkeley, California.
As of October 2022, Azzouz went by “Lena Az” on Facebook and “@lenadical” on Instagram and Clubhouse. She also used the handle “@lenafalastinya” on Twitter and “@lazzouzzz” on her other Instagram account.
Spreading an Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theory
On September 14, 2016, Azzouz tweeted: “the israeli lobby runs america 100%.”Demonizing Israel
On July 21, 2015, Azzouz tweeted: “Christians that think they have to support Israel make me laugh. You're not being a true Christian if you support a terroristic state.”On February 12, 2016, Azzouz tweeted: “my sociology professor just said israel is an illegal state maintained by genocide and apartheid im screaming.”
On September 14, 2016, Azzouz tweeted: “why is America giving the most aid ever in history to a highly developed country w the one of the best militaries in the world???
.” In the same thread, Azzouz tweeted: “nevermind undrinkable water in many US cities.. israel needs to kill more!”On January 10, 2017, Azzouz tweeted: “obama supplied israel with the necessary support & funding for continuation of the ethnic cleansing of my people in palestine.”
On May 7, 2022, Azzouz changed her Facebook profile photo to one captioned with the words “#SaveSheikhJarrah.”
Promoting a Terrorist Leader
On September 24, 2020, Azzouz was serving as a GUPS board member when the group and its faculty advisor, Rabab Abdulhadi, attempted to host terrorist Leila Khaled on various social media platforms. Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), a national anti-Israel group, said that Azzouz was part of a “team of graduate and undergraduate students” who participated in the online event.Leila Khaled is a leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and participated in the hijacking of TWA Flight 840 in 1969 and El Al Flight 219 in 1970. As of 2017, Khaled was a member of PFLP's Political Bureau. Khaled has said that the second intifada failed because it was not violent enough, advocated [00:36:07] for the use of children in terror activities and compared Zionists to Nazis.
On September 19, 2020, GUPS SFSU posted to Instagram in support of an open classroom panel event titled:“Whose Narratives? Gender, Justice, and Resistance: A Conversation with Leila Khaled.” The event, scheduled for September 23, 2020, was to be streamed on the digital video conferencing platform Zoom. It was organized by SFSU’s Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Studies (AMED) undergraduate programand co-moderated by anti-Israel professor Rabab Abdulhadi.
In the same post, GUPS urged its Instagram followers to sign a petition to “support academic freedom on Palestine and against the vilification of Palestinian freedom fighter, Leila Khaled.” The petition came after a letter was sent to Zoom stating that live streaming the event “may give rise to violations of 18 U.S.C.§ 2339B, which makes it unlawful to provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization.”
The petition opened with the words: “AMED Studies at SFSU is under attack from the ultra-right-wing Zionists for hosting a conversation with Palestinian freedom fighter, Leila Khaled.”
On September 22, 2020, Zoom reportedly announced the live stream’s cancelation “in light of the speaker’s reported affiliation or membership in a U.S. designated foreign terrorist organization, and SFSU’s inability to confirm otherwise.”
AMED attempted to use Facebook instead, but the company followed Zoom in its decision to cancel the event. YouTube initiated the streaming but subsequently shut down its service when Khaled began speaking about the PFLP.
Supporting SJP
On October 4, 2015, Azzouz tweeted: “so glad I got to participate in boston SJP two summers ago so sad that I am not there for all the current strides they are making sigh.”On October 13, 2015, Azzouz tweeted: “favorite if you’d join my (SJP) students for justice in palestine at msu lol.”
On March 23, 2016, Azzouz tweeted: “yessssss,” referring to a photo of man wearing a shirt that said “Students for Justice in Palestine.”
On November 9, 2016, Azzouz tweeted: “sjp students in the second photo
.” Her tweet shared another tweet from the same day that said: “The students of @UTAustin took it to the streets today,” and displayed photos of students protesting. Supporting BDS
On October 28, 2020, in her role as a GUPS SFSU member, Azzouz urged the SFSU Associated Students’ Board of Directors to pass a BDS resolution.On September 4, 2015, Azzouz tweeted: “good job bds!!! Keep it up, show the world that we don’t f**k with Israe
.” On October 31, 2015, Azzouz tweeted: “the amount of candy I can’t eat this halloween bc of boycotting israel is
.”On August 11, 2016, Azzouz tweeted: “wouldn’t buy Estée Lauder even if I wanted to I gotta boycott the s**t out of them they test on animals & love giving $$$ to Israel.”
GUPS SFSU - Overview
GUPS SFSU has promoted terrorists, participated in anti-Israel rallies, demonized Israel and Zionism, and campaigned for the BDS Movement as part of its anti-Israel activism.GUPS SFSU was founded in 1973. Hatem Bazian was reportedly GUPS SFSU’s most prominent alumnus, as he co-founded the anti-Israel organization Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at UC-Berkeley in 2000. He also founded American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) in 2006. SJP was modeled on GUPS when it was founded.
GUPS SFSU - Glorifying Terrorists 2019-2020
On November 15, 2019, during Israel’s Operation Black Belt against the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terror group, GUPS SFSU tweeted: “Rest in peace to our martyrs.” The tweet included a November 13, 2019 tweet from the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) mourning the death of “24 Palestinians…killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.”Most of the reported dead were identifed as PIJ members killed in an Israeli operation in Gaza.
In November 2019, Israel launched “Operation Black Belt” to stop rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip. The rockets were sent by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terror group on November 12-14, 2019, targeting Israel’s biggest civilian population centers.
GUPS SFSU - Anti-Israel Rally 2019-2020
On November 15, 2019, GUPS SFSU promoted on Instagram an “emergency protest” titled “Hands Off Gaza!” organized by the Palestine Action Network (PAN) to take place at the Israeli Consulate in San Francisco the following day.At the protest, demonstrators chanted [00:01:43]: “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free.” They also held signs that said: “Israel is an Apartheid State! An Apartheid State is a Racist State!” and accused Israel and the U.S. of commiting genocide.
GUPS SFSU - Rally in Support of Anti-Israel Violence 2018-2019
On March 27, 2019, GUPS SFSU promoted on Instagram a March 30, 2019 rally, hosted by the Palestine Action Network (PAN), celebrating the first anniversary of Gaza’s “Great March of Return.” The post featured a flier urging people to “defend” the BDS Movement, “support Palestinian self-determination and the right of return” and “stop all U.S. aid to Israel.”At the rally, protestors expressed hatred of Israel, accused Israel of commiting genocide, expressed support for BDS and claimed [00:01:18] that “both the US and Israel were established as settler colonial states.”
GUPS SFSU - Demonizing Israel 2020-2021
On March 31, 2021, GUPS SFSU promoted on Instagram “Israel Apartheid Week,” which it co-sponsored with the University of California, Berkeley anti-Israel student organization Bears for Palestine. Among the activities advertised was a lecture [slide 3] on the Palestinian “right of return” and a lecture [slide 4] with the participation of anti-Israel organization Addameer titled: “Palestinian Political Prisoners and the Case against Military Courts.”Israel Apartheid Week (IAW), which has been re-named Palestine Awareness Week, is an annual event to build support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and “to raise awareness of Israel’s settler-colonial project and apartheid system over the Palestinian people.”
Addameer advocates on behalf of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and has promoted the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. The organization is reportedly an “affiliate” of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror organization.
On May 14, 2021, GUPS SFSU promoted on Instagram a May 15, 2021 anti-Israel protest to take place on Israel Independence Day. The post mentioned the “ongoing Nakba,” and emphasized the need to “prioritize BDS” as well as “educate the public about israeli settler colonialism and terrorism.” Promotional material in the post accused [slide 4] Israel of apartheid.
The term “Nakba” is generally translated as “catastrophe” in Arabic, referring to the outcome of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It is a term often used to delegitimize the creation of the State of Israel by defining it as a catastrophe.
GUPS SFSU - Demonizing Israel 2018-2019
On February 12, 2019, GUPS SFSU promoted on Instagram an “emergency rally” in response to SFSU’s recognizing Israel Independence Day on its list of “Religious Observances.” The post said: “Zionism is NOT allowed on our campus!”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.
The post was accompanied by a statement signed by the “General Union of Palestine Students” labeling Israel a “settler colonial state” and accusing Israel of “the ongoing murder and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.”
GUPS SFSU - Demonizing Zionism 2018-2019
On April 16, 2019, GUPS SFSU posted to Instagram accusing Zionism of being “a white supremacist settler colonial ideology.” The post also claimed: “Zionism is not separate from massacre, from ethnic cleansing but that these are inherently Zionist.” The post ended by urging: “Don’t Normalize Zionism!”GUPS SFSU - Demonizing Zionism 2017-2018
On February 23, 2018, GUPS SFSU wrote on the Medium platform that “Zionism is the violent ideology responsible for the genocide and displacement of indigenous Palestinians and the destruction of Palestinian land," as well as a “form of hate” that is not welcome “in the Bay Area, let alone SFSU.”GUPS SFSU - Anti-Israel Activism 2020-2021
On April 20, 2021, during a property dispute in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, GUPS SFSU posted to Instagram a call to sign a petition and pressure government representatives “to support the campaign against the illegal expulsion of Palestinians in Jerusalem.” The post also promoted the idea of Nakba, accusing Israel of ethnic cleasing in Jerusalem and the West Bank.The petition claimed the pending evictions were “part of Israel's larger plan of racist colonial expansion,” and was co-sponsored by anti-Israel organizations Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), among others.
GUPS SFSU -Supporting BDS 2020-2021
On October 26, 2020, GUPS SFSU promoted the BDS Movement on Instagram and called on people to support the divestment resolution they drafted and were advocating to be approved by the university.On November 18, 2020, SFSU Associated Students approved the resolution.
On November 19, 2020, GUPS SFSU posted to Instagram that they were “happy and proud” that through their “passion for social justice and organizing” they succeeded in campaigning for the BDS resolution. They also emphasized that this was a step toward a world “free from the evils of colonialism and white supremacy.”
GUPS SFSU - Anti-Israel Rallies 2020-2021
On May 12, 2021, during Operation Guardian of the Walls (OGW), GUPS SFSU promoted to Instagram a May 15 protest and rally titled: “All Out For Palestine. #Nakba73 SaveSheikhjarrah #GazaUnderAttack.” The post also accused Israel of “settler colonial violence.”The term “Nakba” is generally translated as “catastrophe” in Arabic, referring to the outcome of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It is a term often used to delegitimize the creation of the State of Israel by defining it as a catastrophe.
In May 2021, Palestinian violence erupted regarding the eviction of over 70 Palestinian tenants illegally residing in Jewish-owned properties in Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. Following more violent incitement in Jerusalem, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists fired over 4,300 rockets into Israel. Israel then launchedOperation Guardian of the Walls (OGW), carrying out targeted military strikes in Gaza.
“From the River to the Sea” [Palestine will be free] is from a well-known chant employed by Hamas to call for the replacement of Israel with an Islamic state, and to dismantle the State of Israel.
At the same rally, anti-Israel professor Hatem Bazian, a featured speaker, said [00:29:18]: “There are many people that ask the question, ‘What is happening in Palestine today?’...[U.S. President] Biden and his gang, they say that Israel have the right to defend itself. Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah…in Haifa…in Ramallah, in Gaza, and in San Francisco, [are] saying: ' لننرحل [We will never leave]!’”
On May 17, 2021, during OGW, GUPS SFSU promoted on Instagram a May 18, 2021 Day of Action hosted by the Palestine Action Network (PAN) “in solidarity with the Palestinian uprising and general strike.” The post accused Israel of committing “ethnic cleansing and apartheid,” and instructed protestors to meet “in front of the israHELLI consulate.”
During the May 18 rally, anti-Israel agitator Lubna Morrar led the chant [00:00:11]: “Intifada, Intifada,” while protestors held signs that claimed “Israel = Nazi,” defended the Hamas terror group and advocated for the Palestinian “right of return.”
The term “intifada” has carried the connotation of violence, since the early 2000’s.
“Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” is highlighted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) as one possible contemporary example of anti-Semitism.
The “right of return” is a Palestinian demand discredited as a means to eliminate Israel.
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.
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
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lazouzzzzTwitter: https://twitter.com/lenafalastinya
https://twitter.com/lenadical [Deleted]
https://twitter.com/Lazzouzzz [Deleted]
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lazzouzzz/ [Private]
https://www.instagram.com/lenadical/ [Private]
https://www.instagram.com/lenadica [Deleted]
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lena-azzouz-312866127/
Clubhouse: https://clubhousedb.com/user/lenadical
Tumblr: http://lazzouzzz.tumblr.com/
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