Lena Ibrahim

The “right of return” is a Palestinian demand discredited as a means to eliminate Israel. 

The term "Zio" is a common derogatory reference to Zionists, as well as an often-used anti-Semitic slur among white supremacists.

In October 2015, there was an upsurge in violence across Israel incited by Palestinian political and religious leaders. The wave of stabbings, known as the “Knife Intifada,” was characterized by young Palestinians throughout the country stabbing and attempting to stab Israeli civilians.

Trivializing Hamas Terrorism

Israel commenced Operation Protective Edge (OPE) in July 2014, to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.  

Spreading Hatred of Israel

The term "Zio" is a common derogatory reference to Zionists, as well as an often-used anti-Semitic slur among white supremacists.

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.

Disrupting Pro-Israel Events

BDS Activism

Attending the 2016 National SJP Conference

SAIA - Supporting BDS

In March 2013, SAIA launched campaign to boycott Sabra Hummus at GMU. Sabra is partially owned by an Israeli company, the Strauss Group. SAIA member Keil Eggers organized a petition "[i]]n accordance with the call issued by Palestinian civil society" alleging that The Strauss Group was complicit in human right violations. 

In August 2016, BDS leader Ilan Pappé admitted that BDS was not initiated by a “call” from Palestinian civil society; rather, it was initiated by a small number of radical anti-Israel extremists.

On April 25, 2013, GMU SAIA held a panel event featuring SAIA Advisor and GMU professor Craig Willse delivering a lecture on BDS. 

On November 25, 2013, SAIA members participated in the American Studies Association (ASA) Conference, during which a resolution calling for an academic boycott of Israel was adopted.  

GMU SAIA - Shutting Down Dialogue with Israelis

On November 5, 2013, SAIA staged a walkout to disrupt a talk given by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Sgt. Benjamin Anthony at GMU about his personal experiences of the Israeli-Arab Conflict. The group also projected [00:00:48] the SAIA logo on the building used to host the event. 

SAIA produced a video of the walkout with a description claiming: “The walkout was part of SAIA's anti-normalization strategy that seeks to expose normalizing events…” 

Propanents of the “anti-normalization” policy seek to police all interactions between Israelis and Palestinians and shut down all conversations, interactions and speech that they perceive as being ideologically unaligned with their own agenda. Adherents to this position reject “liberal Zionist” groups who seek to dialogue with Palestinians, on the grounds that such interaction “normalizes” entrenched power dynamics.  

GMU SAIA - Promoting A Graduation Day Walkout

On December 19, 2013, SAIA staged a graduation day walkout during a speech delivered by American-Israeli businesswoman and philanthropist Shari Arison, who SAIA described as an “apartheid profiteer.”

During the walk-out,several graduates reportedly wore “no honor in apartheid” stickers on the tops of their graduate caps while their guests waved [00:02:04]keffiyehs.

Before the event, SAIA leader Tareq Radi co-authored with GMU professor and SAIA advisor Craig Willse an "open letter outlining our concerns," hosted on the GMU SAIA website. The open letter quoted University President Ángel Cabrera’s praise of “Arison’s example of practicing moral responsibility in business” as the basis to allege that the “university’s name is being used to whitewash the activities of the Arison Group.”

Radi and Willse claimed “Honoring Arison makes Mason appear to be a PR machine for robber baron billionaires” and claimed that the Arison Group was displacing Bedouins, constructing a “cross-Israel Jewish-only highway”, building a portion of “the Apartheid Wall,” operating “an illegal factory for construction materials” and illegally extracting minerals from the occupied portion of the Dead Sea.  

GMU SAIA  - Crashing an Israel Festival 

In May 2014, GMU SAIA members crashed an Israeli Independence Festival wearing garments with the SAIA emblem and Keffiyehs. The police permitted the group to enter only after issuing [00:01:53] a warning not to cause trouble. The group subsequently spent their time at the festival arguing [00:05:37] with pro-Israel attendees.  

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.

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.

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