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Luma Qashou

Overview

Luma Qashou has spread hatred of Israel on Twitter and reportedly co-founded Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Kalamazoo College (Kalamazoo) in Michigan, in 2018. Qashou was president of SJP at Kalamazoo in 2019.

As of March 2020, Qashou was an EBoard member of SJP at Kalamazoo.

Qashou attended the 2019 National SJP Conference at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities (UMN) as an activist with SJP at Kalamazoo.

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.”  

As of August 2020, Qashou’s LinkedIn page said she was a student at Kalamazoo majoring in Chemistry, slated to graduate in 2022. As of the same date, Kalamazoo listed Qashou as a Spanish major and a Chemistry minor.

Qashou was also a 2020 student tour guide at Kalamazoo.

Spreading Hatred of Israel

On June 17, 2020, Qashou urged readers on Twitter to sign a Change.org petition titled: “Oppose the Annexation of Palestinian Land.”

In the spring of 2020, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israeli sovereignty would be applied to certain areas of the West Bank. The annexation plan was canceled a day before the July 1, 2020 deadline.
The petition featured a series of misleading maps. 

The maps claim that lands once controlled by Britain, Egypt and Jordan as autonomous “Palestinian land” were purportedly stolen by Israel. In February 2016, publisher McGraw-Hill Education recalled copies of a college textbook containing the fraudulent maps. In October 2015, American cable news network MSNBC apologized for airing a similar series of maps and retracted them.


Also on June 17, 2020, Qashou tweeted: “Some more petitions to sign #FreePalestine” and included a link to a list of anti-Israel petitions and information on the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

The list posted by Qashou on Twitter included a Change.org petition that accused Israel of ethnic cleansing and a petition started by the anti-Israel organization Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) that charged the Israeli government with the “erasure of Palestine.”

The list also included a petition started by SJP at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) in solidarity with anti-Israel professor Hatem Bazian.

Hatem Bazian is the founder of the anti-Israel organizations Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and American Muslims for Palestine (AMP). Bazian has a decades-long history of incitement and of using classic anti-Semitic tropes to demonize Israel.

On July 9, 2014, during Operation Protective Edge (OPE), Qashou tweeted: “Palestine has been in pain since 1948 and no one gives a s**t #FreePalestine💔😔”

Israel commenced OPE in July 2014 to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.

The State of Israel was established in 1948.

SJP Activism

On April 23, 2020, Qashou appeared in an SJP at Kalamazoo Instagram photo captioned: “Hey y’all great first online meeting😄Can’t wait for the next one🇵🇸.”

On March 29, 2020, Qashou featured in an SJP at Kalamazoo Instagram post captioned: “Hey!! Having an E Board meeting right now and planning for spring term🤓🌸 DM us any ideas💡Take care of yourselves and be safe. Comment🇵🇸if you’re excited!! #FreePalestine.”

On March 22, 2020, Qashou appeared in an SJP at Kalamazoo Instagram photo, posing with SJP activists in front of a board that displayed a Palestinian flag and a banner that read: “Free Palestine Free Gaza.” 

On February 25, 2020, Qashou featured in an SJP at Kalamazoo Instagram photo tabling with fellow SJP activists at a fundraising event.

On September 25, 2019, Qashou appeared in an SJP at Kalamazoo Instagram photo tabling with fellow SJP activists at “K Fest,” an annual student organization and involvement fair at Kalamazoo.

On May 7, 2019, Qashou hosted an event with SJP and the Muslim Student Association (MSA) at Kalamazoo. The event’s Facebook description said the event would be “an information session about what SJP at Kalamazoo College is all about!”

In an April 11, 2019 post to the Facebook group “K Student Body,” Qashou wrote: “Hey everyone! Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) will be meeting tonight. If you're a returning junior or someone who's never been to a meeting, tonight is your chance to get involved!! We'll be discussing some current events as well as our goals for the new quarter.”

In a September 17, 2018 post to the Facebook group “K Student Body,” Qashou wrote that she would be tabling for SJP at Kalamazoo at K Fest. An October 24, 2018 article in a Kalamazoo student newspaper reported that “The SJP table generated a lot of interest at K Fest, with over sixty names on their initial email list.”

Attending the 2019 National SJP Conference

On November 4, 2019, Qashou appeared [slides 3 and 4] in an SJP at Kalamazoo Instagram photo at the 2019 NSJP Conference, leading a session titled “Activism in the Face of Anti-Palestinian Sentiment - The Case of Alex Odeh.”

In October 2019, Qashou wrote an article titled: “Remembering Alex: What Odeh’s Story Means To Young Palestinian Activists Today,” published by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC).

The 2019 National SJP Conference was held at the University of Minnesota- Twin Cities (UMN), from November 1-3. The Conference themes centered on support for BDS as well as the rejection of Israel and Zionism.

The Conference partnered with numerous anti-Israel organizations and conducted their event in a clandestine manner. 

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 th​is​ conference but ​who ​is or has ​recently ​been a part of your ​SJP.”

Members of allied student groups could register only as part of an SJP chapter delegation which, in turn, needed to be “vouched for by their campus’s SJP” for “security culture and accountability reasons.”

The Conference also restricted media access to journalists “registered and confirmed by our Media Committee ​in advance ​to attend the conference.​ Absolutely no exceptions will be made.​”

During the Conference, National SJPreportedly covered the windows of the conference hall.  

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.


Social Media and Weblinks

Luma Qashou
Status:
Student
University:
Kalamazoo
Organizations:
SJP

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Last Modified:
06/23/2025

Photos & Screenshots

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