Malak El-Batroukh

Overview

Malak El-Batroukh has spread hatred of Israel, promoted a conspiracy theory and participated in a violent protest organized by Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) at York University (YU). SAIA is an alternate name for Students for Justice In Palestine (SJP).

El-Batroukh is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

In March 2021, and March 2019, El-Batroukh was an activist with the University of Waterloo (UWaterloo) Students For Palestinian Rights (UW SFPR).

As of April 2021, El-Batroukh’s LinkedIn page said she was a student at Wilfrid Laurier University (Laurier) in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada and that she was the Project Design Coordinator at Walker House Museum, in Kincardine, Ontario, Canada, from “Jul 2020 - Present.”

As of April 2021, El-Batroukh’s Facebook page also said she was studying at Laurier, “Attending from 2017 to 2022,” and that she lived in Waterloo, Ontario in Canada.

As of April 2021, El-Batroukh was listed as a Workshop Facilitator with The Ripple Effect Education.”

In a March 2021 Facebook post, The Ripple Effect wrote that El-Batroukh “worked with a Grade 2 class” in their “Elementary Classroom Program.”

El-Batroukh’s profile on therippleeffecteducation.ca website said she was “third year student at Wilfrid Laurier University, majoring in Global Studies with an option of Social Entrepreneurship and a specialization in International Development.”

As of April 2021, El-Batroukh used the handle malaaaakkkkk and the screen name“

exhausted socialist” on Twitter.

As of the same date, El-Batroukh went by the name “Mal EB’ on Facebook.

Spreading Hatred of Israel

As of April 2021, El-Batroukh’s Twitter bio said: “me n my homies hate fr*nce&isra*l.”

On August 3, 2020, El-Batroukh tweeted: “I think I can give up my friends for Israel not to exist.”

On June 26, 2020, El-Batroukh tweeted: “The IDF [Israel Defense Forces] are the most disgusting, ruthless military in the world.”

El-Batroukh’s tweet included another tweet with a video of Ahmad Erakat [Ahmad Moustafa Erekat], who was killed by Israeli security forces after he accelerated and rammed his car into soldiers at a checkpoint. One female soldier was injured.

On April 21, 2020, El-Batroukh tweeted: “The audacity. Maybe don't kill Palestinians this month. Try it out.”

El-Batroukh’s tweet was responding to a tweet by the IDF that read: “رمضان كريم من جيش الدفاع الإسرائيلي. [Ramadan Kareem from the Israel Defense Forces]”

On February 3, 2020, El-Batroukh tweeted: “Why does Israel ruin everything.”

El-Batroukh’s tweet was responding to a tweet that read: “use of kombucha girl meme now violates BDS.”

On July 31, 2019, El-Batroukh tweeted: “...Israel is a racist terrorist state.”

On March 9, 2019, El-Batroukh tweeted: “Palestinian culture is buying a map and then crossing off Israel and putting Palestine instead.”

On September 11, 2018, El-Batroukh tweeted: “Israel is absolute trash.”

Promoting a Conspiracy Theory

On July 21, 2020, El-Batroukh tweeted: “When you look at the U.S's history in regards of helping and making Israel grow as big as it is now, makes you think that what if this was alll plotted since the 1800s

.”

El-Batroukh added: “America has committed various crimes against humanity in order to make Israel as big as it is. But like when you rlly wonder .. why? Why? What is the reason ? Did they see the potential of Israel from the 1930s? Or did they just want to take down Palestine.”

Participating in a Violent Protest

On November 21, 2019, El-Batroukh tweeted a thread of videos she filmed when she joined SAIA YU activists, who attempted to shout down former Israeli soldiers from Reservists on Duty, speaking at a YU campus event.

On the same day, a Facebook post featured videos of footage from the protest where protesters chanted [00:00:00]:“FREE FREE PALESTINE… OCCUPATION IS A CRIME…”

In another video posted on Facebook, protesters chanted [00:00:00]: “IDF YOU CAN’T HIDE, WE CHARGE YOU WITH GENOCIDE!”

On November 20, 2019, footage from the protest was posted on Youtube that featured an activist leading [00:00:10] chants of “VIVA VIVA INTIFADA!”

Since the early 2000s, the term “intifada,” which translates from Arabic as “uprising” or “insurrection,” has carried the connotation of violence.

On the same day, the Algemeiner reported that since-removed footage from the protest was posted on Youtube that“showed a violent scuffle breaking out next to the event hall shortly before the presentation began.”

On November 20, 2019, Aviva Hermannoff, an attendee of the event, streamed a video on Facebook from inside the event lecture hall that showed how protesters could be heard banging on the door and yelling [00:00:45]: “5-6-78 ISRAEL IS AN APARTHEID STATE!”

On November 21, 2019, El-Batroukh shared footage on Twitter of the SAIA protesters who sat in the audience and disrupted [00:05:08] the talk by chanting [00:18:30] before getting escorted [00:06:07] out of the event.

On the same day, YU President and Vice Chancellor Rhonda Lenton issued a statement that she was “deeply disappointed by the behavior that was on display last night,” and that “Shouting, threats of violence and attempts to intimidate community members are not consistent with the responsibilities we all share.”

On November 21, 2019, several Canadian politicians also took to Twitter to condemn the protest,

On November 22, 2019,, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted: “On Wednesday night, violence & racist chants broke out against an event organized by the Jewish community at York University. What happened that night was shocking and absolutely unacceptable. Anti-Semitism has no place in Canada. We will always denounce it & all forms of hatred.”

Support for BDS

On June 3, 2020, El-Batroukh tweeted calling to boycott Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and linking to an article on the BDS movement website, titled: “It’s Time to Boycott Ben & Jerry’s.”

On May 15, 2020, El-Batroukh tweeted: “Well I already boycott Airbnb cuz of Israel so two kharas [s**ts] with one stone really.”

UW SFPR Activism

On May 16, 2020, El-Batroukh tweeted: “Lol my last normal photo was me on campus picking out free Palestine stickers for our Israeli apartheid week. Which got cancelled

#lastnormalphoto.”

Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) is presented internationally as a “series of events that seeks to raise awareness of…Israel’s settler-colonial project and apartheid system over the Palestinian people.” One of its goals is to build support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. IAW has been renamed Palestine Awareness Week.

El-Batroukh’s tweet included a photo of a laptop displaying a graphic with a caption: “FREE PALESTINE” and an image of the map of Israel.

On March 29, 2019, El-Batroukh was featured in multiple group photos shared on Facebook by UW SFPR.The pictures were taken during IAW, organized by UW SFPR on “March 18th - 21st.”

Several of the photos also featured El-Batroukh speaking on stage.

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.