Mahfuza Shovik
Overview
Mahfuza Shovik [Mahfuza Maliyat Shovik] co-authored and co-sponsored a Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) resolution as a Student Assembly (SA) representative and activist with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Cornell University (Cornell).In 2018-2019, Shovik was also a member of the Cornell SA Financial Aid Review Committee.
As of March 2022, Shovik’s LinkedIn page said she was a “Software Application Engineer II [Level 2]” at Workday and that she was located in the San Francisco Bay Area, California.
Shovik’s LinkedIn also said she graduated from Cornell with a bachelor’s degree in Information Science, Systems and Technology in 2019.
In 2019, Shovik used the handles “dushtomeye” and “yellowslides” on Twitter.
Co-Authoring and Co-Sponsoring a BDS Resolution
Cornell SJP’s resolution called on Cornell to divest from Cornell Tech’s partnership with the Technion. Cornell Tech is Cornell’s technology, business, law and design campus.
Cornell SJP also called on the university to divest from Tata Motors, Ingersoll-Rand, Raytheon, G4S, Hewlett-Packard and any other companies SJP Cornell claimed “profit directly from Israeli military occupation.”
Cornell SJP also said: “We will publicly name endowment investments…and hold university leadership responsible for complicity in crimes of apartheid.”
On February 18, 2019, Cornell SJP delivered a letter to Cornell’s President Martha Pollack calling on the University to “divest from companies profiting from morally reprehensible human rights violations in Palestine.”
On April 11, 2019, Cornell SJP presented their divestment initiative to the Cornell SA. During the discussion, Shovik denied [00:22:23] the resolution was part of the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
SA senators used a secret ballot to vote in favor of the resolution, but the resolution failed to pass after a “community vote” (SA by-laws, section 7) was cast.
BDS activists have resorted [00:11:05] to the use of secret ballots to eliminate [02:51:15] transparency from the voting process and avoid any public scrutiny and accountability for their anti-Israel initiatives on university campuses.
On April 12, 2019, Cornell SJP activist, resolution sponsor and SA representative for the College of Human Ecology, Omar Din, acknowledged in his tweet that he helped get Shovik elected to the Cornell SA, in part, to push the BDS initiative.
Cornell SJP - Overview
Cornell SJP has dismissed anti-Semitism, supported anti-Israel violence and whitewashed terrorists. The student group has also disrupted Israel Day campus events multiple times, demonized Israel and campaigned for the BDS movement.Cornell SJP activists wrote an anti-Israel statement and presented it at Cornell’s Student Assembly (SA) in May 2021.
Cornell SJP - Whitewashing Terrorist Rasmea Odeh 2014-2015
On August 20, 2014, Cornell SJP tweeted: “Arrest of Odeh is part of the systematic criminalization of Palestinian organizing #Justice4Rasmea.”Odeh was a key military operative [00:02:08] with the terror group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), who masterminded a bombing in a Jerusalem supermarket in 1969 that killed two college students. She also attempted to bomb the British consulate. Odeh later moved to the United States, where she was convicted of immigration fraud in 2014, stripped of her U.S. citizenship in 2017 and deported to Jordan.
On November 6, 2014, Cornell SJP tweeted: “Cornell SJP is in solidarity with Rasmea Odeh!” accompanied by a link to their statement titled: “Justice For Rasmea Odeh, Justice For Palestine.”
In their statement, Cornell SJP claimed that Israel detained Odeh “on a spurious accusation of terrorism” and added: “Rasmea Odeh is the type of citizen that American leaders should be honoring.”
On March 16, 2015, Cornell SJP posted to Facebook and Instagram: “#justiceforrasmea #CornellSJP #resistance #freepalestine” and attached a photo of Cornell SJP activists holding a large banner that read: “Justice for Rasmea.”
Cornell SJP also posted a blog post to their WordPress titled: “Justice Denied: Rasmea Odeh Sentenced To Prison And Subsequent Deportation” that condemned the U.S. court’s decision to sentence and deport Odeh and labeled the decision “the repression of Palestinian activists.”
Cornell SJP - Disrupting Israeli Independence Day2016-2017
On May 2, 2017, Cornell’s student newspaper, The Cornell Daily Sun, reported that Cornell SJP disrupted Cornell Hillel’s Israeli Independence Day celebration in Anabel Taylor Hall by holding a “die-in” protest in the middle of the event.Cornell SJP activists were granted entrance to the event venue after they assured campus police they would not disrupt the Hillel event. However, within minutes of entering the hall, four members of Cornell SJP held up a sign that read: “Celebrating 69 years of Genocide,” while others handed out flyers or lay on the floor, simulating corpses.
Cornell SJP members reportedly distributed flyers that said: “the modern day Jewish state was founded on the expulsion of the indigenous population.”
Cornell SJP - Disrupting Israeli Independence Day Celebration 2014-2015
On April 23, 2015, Cornell SJP held a march and “die-in” protest during Hillel’s Israel Day at Cornell. Protesters lay on the floor, simulating corpses in front of Hillel's Israel Day tables, while holding a banner that read: “Celebrating 67 years of Independence Genocide.”One protester displayed a sign that said: “Celebrating Apartheid,” while another held a sign reading: “Celebrating Genocide.”
Cornell SJP - Endorsing an Anti-Israel Agitator 2017-2018
On February 12, 2018, Cornell SJP held a protest rally on behalf of anti-Israel agitator Ahed Tamimi, calling for her release from Israeli detention. During the event, protesters held signs that said: “Free Ahed,” “Free Palestine” and “Israeli Occupation is Apartheid.”Ahed Tamimi, who has a long history of physically attacking Israeli soldiers, was detained after she was filmed punching and kicking Israeli soldiers. She is the daughter of Bassem Tamimi, who is notorious for exploiting young children as political props in staged confrontations with Israeli soldiers.
On February 21, 2018, Cornell SJP hosted a “letter writing for Ahed Tamimi” event. That same day, Cornell SJP posted to Facebook: “Letter writing for Ahed Tamimi happening right now on Ho Plaza! Stop by anytime before 4pm!!”
Later that day, Cornell SJP posted to Facebook: “Thank you for all of you who stopped by to write some words of support in solidarity with Ahed Tamimi, who has become the symbol of the Palestinian resistance headed the youth and children against the occupation and apartheid in Palestinian Lands.”
Cornell SJP - BDS Overview
In February 2019, Cornell SJP launched an anti-Israel divestment campaign, calling on the University to divest from Technion Israel Institute of Technology (Technion) and any companies which Cornell SJP claimed “profit directly from Israeli military occupation.”Cornell SJPmembers tried to [00:23:03] deny that the resolution was part of the larger BDS movement, a tactic encouraged [00:58:53] by BDS-founder Omar Barghouti. Cornell senators also used a secret ballot to vote on the bill. The bill ultimately failed to pass.
In October 2019, Cornell SJP moved to direct confrontation, disrupting the quarterly meeting of Cornell’s Board of Trustees and calling on the Board to “sever ties” with the Technion. Cornell SJP also called to eliminate the Board’s power of discretion in investments in “the occupation of Palestine.”
Cornell SJP - Divestment Campaign 2019-2020
On October 19, 2019, Cornell SJP in conjunction with Islamic Alliance for Justice (IAJ) and other student organizations disrupted the quarterly meeting of Cornell’s Board of Trustees, and then held a protest outside the meeting venue.Protesters called on the Board to “sever ties” with the Technion and claimed the Technion engaged in “morally reprehensible” behavior. Protesters also called to eliminate the Board’s power of discretion in investments, so as to “stop funding atrocities in Palestine” and end “the 71 year long Israeli occupation of Palestine!”
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.
