Lewam Dejen
Overview
In 2015, SOOP was reportedly a coalition of 19 student groups campaigning for Stanford to “divest from corporations profiting from human rights abuses in occupied Palestine.” The Stanford BDS campaign was initiated [00:12:16] by SJP Stanford.
As of May 2020, SOOP’s Facebook page said its mission was “To end Stanford's investments in corporations which profit from the Israeli Occupation of the Palestinian Territories.”
As of the same date, Dejen’s LinkedIn page said she was Communications Coordinator at Critical Exposure in Washington, D.C., since January 2020. Dejen’s LinkedIn also said she graduated with degrees in International Relations and Affairs and Film & Media Studies from Stanford in 2017.
Spreading Hatred of Israel
On November 26, 2014, Dejen wrote an article for the online Stanford publication, STATIC, summarizing the visit of two students from Birzeit University who spoke at a “Right to Education” event, hosted by Stanford SJP and promoted by SOOP.The Right to Education Tour brings Birzeit University students to U.S. campuses, where they claim that Israel is obstructing the rights of Palestinians to higher education. This claim mischaracterizes the sweeps Israeli security forces have made to shut down terror cells operating on the Birzeit campus, including cells linked to Hamas.
Birzeit University’s student body has celebrated terrorists since at least 2003. That year, student government elections featured models of exploding Israeli buses, as parties competed on the basis of which Palestinian faction had killed the most Israelis.
In 2003, 2015 and 2016, Birzeit University students elected Hamas’ student wing to power.
In Dejen’s article, she claimed Palestinians were subjected to “months in prison for students simply expressing opinions against occupation.” Dejen also said that while she was writing her article, CNN was reporting on a Palestinian terror attack in a Jerusalem synagogue and that “somehow all I can do is find grotesque humor in the abnormality of CNN headlining ‘TERROR FOR PALESTINIANS.’”
Promoting Divestment at Stanford
The petition called on Stanford University’s Board of Trustees to divest from companies that SOOP claimed were “complicit in the infrastructure of occupation, collective punishment, state-sponsored repression, and unjust incarceration in Palestine.”
On January 12, 2015, Dejen endorsed an op-ed by fellow SOOP member
Muzzammil Shittu in the Stanford Daily student newspaper comparing Israel to Apartheid South Africa and promoting divestment.
On January 27, 2015, SOOP published a BDS resolution on “standfordreview.org,” calling for Stanford to divest from companies it claimed “violate international humanitarian law by: maintaining the illegal infrastructure of the Israeli occupation…facilitating Israel and Egypt’s collective punishment of Palestinian civilians…[and] facilitating state repression against Palestinians.”
On January 29, 2015, Dejen posted on Facebook an image promoting SOOP’s campaign and linked to SOOP’s campaign website.
On February 9, 2015, Dejen featured [00:03:24] as part of Stanford’s First-Generation Low Income Partnership (FLIP) in a video of various Stanford student groups expressing their support for SOOP’s BDS campaign.
On February 10, 2015, the SOOP resolution initially failed [00:00:42] but was later brought forward in a motion calling for a re-vote and passed on February 17, 2015.
On April 14, 2015, however, the Stanford Board of Trustees announced that Stanford would take no action on SJP’s request to divest.
In accordance with the board���s Statement on Investment Responsibility, the board said in its statement on the resolution that they focused on “questions of divisiveness and negative impact” and determined that acting on the request would be “likely to impair the capacity of the University to carry out its educational mission.”
Stanford SJP - Protesting Against a Vigil for Terror Victims
In October 2015, SJP Stanford organized a protest as a “preemptive response” to a vigil scheduled to mourn Israeli civilians and soldiers killed in stabbing and ramming attacks, during the “Knife Intifada,” then occurring in Israel.SJP Stanford co-president Fatima Zehra was quoted in Stanford’s campus newspaper, saying: “We wanted to do something because we felt that Sunday’s protest was going to be really one-sided.”
Zehra reportedly considered e-mails advertising the scheduled mourning vigil problematic, because they referred to Israelis who had been murdered as “victims of terror.” Zehra claimed: “There’s implicit racism in that, because it’s like, all Palestinian Arabs are terrorists...”
SJP Stanford - Hosting Anti-Israel Agitators
On April 27, 2016, Stanford SJP held an event hosting Omar Barghouti for a live-video lecture.Barghouti, who is the founder of the BDS movement, rejects Israel’s existence. Barghouti has claimed [00:04:28] that international law allows anyone with Palestinian ancestry the right to settle in Israel and said [01:18:21] BDS demands are “inflexible” and “non-negotiable.”
On November 9, 2015, Stanford SJP held a “Visual Talk” featuring Dr. Mads Gilbert, noting that he was “hit with a lifetime ban from entering Gaza by the Israeli government.”
Gilbert, who is banned indefinitely from entering Gaza via Israel due to his connections with Hamas leadership, was stationed at a hospital that served as a Hamas command center and rocket launching site in 2008, 2009, 2012 and 2014.
While at the hospital, Gilbert acted as a propagandist for the Hamas government in Gaza and was accused of faking resuscitation on a dead child in Gaza for dramatic effect for a CNN video.
After the September 11 terrorist attacks, Gilbert called the attack a “legitimate response.”
SJP Stanford - Supporting the “Right To Education” Tour
On November 12, 2014, Stanford SJP hosted an event titled: “Education Under Occupation: A Night With Students From Palestine.” The Facebook event’s description described the event as a “stop of the nationwide Right To Education tour!” at Stanford.The Right to Education Tour brings Palestinian students from schools such as Birzeit University to U.S. college campuses, where they accuse Israel of obstructing the access of Palestinians to higher education. These students routinely demonize security sweepsby the Israeli military to shut down terror cells. These cells are also linked to Hamas, whose ideology dominates on Palestinian campuses, like Birzeit.
SOOP #Stanford Divest
Stanford Out of Occupied Palestine (SOOP) was reportedly a coalition of 19 student groups campaigning for Stanford University (Stanford) to “divest from corporations profiting from human rights abuses in occupied Palestine.”The campaign was initiated [00:12:16] by Stanford Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and promoted on social media under the hashtag “#Stanford Divest.”
As of January 2020, SOOP’s Facebook page said its mission was “To end Stanford's investments in corporations which profit from the Israeli Occupation of the Palestinian Territories.”
SOOP has reportedly stated that it is not connected to the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and is focused on “selective divestment.” However, the coalition has reportedly disseminated BDS materials and promoted a video that solicited donations for BDS.
SOOP - 2015 Divestment Campaign
In February 2015, members of SOOP presented a petition and a divestment resolution to the Associated Students of Stanford University (ASSU) Undergraduate Senate to further the agenda of the Boycott, Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement.The resolution, titled: “A Resolution to Divest from Companies Violating Human Rights in Occupied Palestine,” was co-authored by Ramah Awad, SOOP leader and co-president of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Stanford (SJP Stanford) at the time and then-members of SOOP, Clayton Evans, Laura Perez and Emma Hartung.
The resolution called for Stanford University Trustees to divest from companies that it alleged: “violate international humanitarian law by: maintaining the illegal infrastructure of the Israeli occupation.”
The resolution also called for divestment from companies it claimed facilitates Israel’s “collective punishment of Palestinian civilians…[and] state repression against Palestinians.”
On February 8, 2015, The Stanford Review, a student-run political magazine reported that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings showed no evidence that Stanford has been invested in any of the companies that SOOP targeted for divestment over the last ten years, with the exception of Raytheon, for one filing period.
The resolution initially failed [00:00:42] to garner the required 66% majority senate approval, in a vote held on February 10, 2015.
Senate Chair Ana Ordonez then brought forward a motion calling for a re-vote. Ordonez reportedly initially abstained from voting and was later quoted in the student newspaper, the Stanford Daily, as saying: “Now that the noise has subsided, I know that I voted incorrectly.”
Ordonez voted in favor of the resolution in the re-vote, which passed on February 17, 2015. However, the Stanford Board of Trustees later announced on April 14, 2015, that Stanford would take no action on SJP’s request.
In accordance with the board’s Statement on Investment Responsibility, the board said in its statement on the resolution that they focused on “questions of divisiveness and negative impact” and determined that acting on the request would be “likely to impair the capacity of the University to carry out its educational mission.”
SOOP - Promoting BDS
On February 10, 2015, SOOP promoted a BDS Youtube video on Facebook, titled: “Stanford Student Groups Support #StanfordDivest.”The video featured members of student groups, including [00:03:38] SJP Stanford, expressing why they support “#StanfordDivest.” Ramah Awad, SOOP leader and co-president of SJP Stanford at the time, said [00:03:45]: “We recognize divestment as one step on that path to liberation.”
On January 23, 2015, SOOP posted a photo album on Facebook titled: “Human of ‘Out of Occupied Palestine,’” which featured photos of Stanford students holding posters with anti-Israel messages and showing support for #StanfordDivest.
One photo showed a student holding a sign which read: “I support divestment because collective punishment is a war crime.” Another sign read: “There are better & more commendable ways to fiscally profit that doesn’t contribute to the displacement & exploitation of human lives.”
On January 21, 2015, SOOP reportedly organized a panel discussion to promote its BDS petition, which called for Stanford’s divestment from corporations that allegedly “facilitate human rights violations in Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian Territories.”
On January 9, 2015, SOOP published a Youtube video titled: “FilasteenFridays: Collective Punishment in the Palestinian Territories.” The video urged Stanford students to support their BDS campaign as “the only way to show true moral neutrality.”
On January 8, 2015, SOOP hosted an informational event titled: “Case for Divestment from the Occupation of Palestine.”
The event’s Facebook description said it would include an explanation of SOOP’s “divestment criteria, followed by a moderated discussion with some of the campaign organizers.”
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.
Social Media and Weblinks
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/656759464Twitter:https://twitter.com/trevantesgrills [Deleted]
https://twitter.com/virginsangrias [Deleted]
www.twitter.com/LewamDejen [Deleted]
www.twitter.com/Lew-Dejen [Deleted]
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/lewam-dejen-63a9aa84
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/eldejen/ [Deleted]
https://www.instagram.com/lewamdee/ [Deleted]
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiCOv8M_scFygcJ7pTRTkSg
Website: https://www.lewamdejen.com/
Medium:https://medium.com/@lewamdejen
- Status:
- Student
- University:
- Stanford
- Organizations:
- BDS,
- SOOP
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- Last Modified:
- 06/23/2025
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