Mai Gaafar

Overview

Mai Gaafar spread incitement and hatred of Israel while participating in a 2022 rally co-hosted by a coalition that included Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Temple University (Temple SJP).

As of October 2022, Gaafar’s LinkedIn page said she had been studying for a bachelor’s degree in “Global Studies & Political Science and Government” at Temple, and was slated to graduate in 2024.
 
As of the same date, Gaafar’s Facebook page said she lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

August 10, 2022 - Participating in an Anti-Israel Rally

On August 10, 2022, Gaafar participated [00:45:10] in an anti-Israel protest titled: “Philly Stands with Gaza” that was held in central Philadelphia during the late afternoon rush hour. Speakers spread anti-Semitism and promoted incitement, while protesters blocked traffic and threatened drivers. 
 
The protest was in opposition to Israel’s Operation Breaking Dawn (OBD) against the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terror group in Gaza.  
 
Philadelphia Coalition for Palestine (PCP) organized the rally in order to “Honor the 45 Palestinian martyrs; End the blockade on Gaza; Defend Palestinian resistance!” PCP includes Temple SJP and the Philadelphia chapters of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and IfNotNow.
 
The protest demonstration consisted of two rallies and a march in between. The first rally was held on the east side of Philadelphia's City Hall and the second one was held later on the west side of City Hall.

 Hatred of Israel at the Rally
 
Nada El-Hillal began the protest by leading [00:00:02] the chant: “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free!” The chant is a call for the elimination of the State of Israel. She later led [00:11:50] the chants: “Stop the crime! Israel out of Palestine! From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free! One two three four, occupation no more! Five, six, seven, eight, we will not cooperate!” 
 
Protesters then marched while leaders led [00:41:53] the chants: “There is only one solution! Intifada, revolution!” Since the early 2000s, the term “intifada,” which translates from Arabic as “uprising” or “insurrection” has carried the connotation of violence.

Gaafar marched [00:45:10] at the front of the protest and chanted [00:45:12]: “Israel out of Palestine!” and [00:45:22]: “Not another nickel, not another dime; no more money for Israel's crimes!” She also chanted [01:00:24]: “No more money for Isra-Hell!” Gaafar also joined [00:52:20] in the chant: “Resistance is justified when people are occupied!” 

Gaafar marched carrying a sign that read: “PEOPLE POWER WEST PHILLY TO THE WEST BANK.”
 
Brice Peterson, who was also a speaker, marched with other protesters and joined them in intentionally blocking [01:08:45] commuter traffic. He slammed [01:08:47] his hand on one of the cars when its driver tried to move slowly past the protesters. He then threatened [01:09:27] the driver, yelling: “Don’t do it, do not do it! I will break your f**king window and beat the f**k out of you! Don’t you dare!” 
 
During Peterson’s incident with the driver, a march leader chanted [01:09:17]: “Israel, Israel, you can’t hide! We charge you with genocide!” 
 
After the march ended at the west side of City Hall, one speaker said [01:15:01]: “We need to end the blockade on Gaza and support the Palestinian resistance in any way that we can. We need to be boycotting Israeli companies. We need to be taking action. This is a settler colonialist project and we need to shut it down, finally.”

Israel and Egypt implemented a U.N.-approved joint blockade of the Gaza Strip to stop Hamas from acquiring more sophisticated rockets.

Toward the end of the rally, Ahmed Shaat, a protest leader holding a bullhorn, threw [01:28:01] two Israeli flags on the pavement. Other protesters then proceeded to trample on the flags. 
 
Mohammad Omaren, another protest leader, burned [01:28:20] the flags while Shaat led [01:28:26] protesters in the chant: “Allahu Akbar [God is the greatest]!” Another leader led [01:28:32] protestors in the chant: “Hey, hey! Ho, ho! The Occupation has got to go!” Shaat then yelled [01:28:57]: “Hey, hey! Ho, ho! The yahoodi [Jew] must go!” Omaren then trampled [01:30:30] on the Israeli flags repeatedly.   
 
Multiple signs over the course of the rally promoted hatred of Israel. One protester held a sign that read: “Stop Israeli Holocaust against Palestinians.” Temple SJP posted photos to Instagram from the protest that featured a sign claiming [slide 5] Israel was a “TERRORIST STATE.” Another sign accused [slide 4] America and Israel, saying: “THERE IS BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS.”