Malikul Muhamad

Overview

Malikul Muhamad [Malikul S. Muhamad] has demonized Israel and promoted a 2019 Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) initiative as an activist with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Cornell University (Cornell).

As of March 2022, Muhamad was an activist with the Islamic Alliance for Justice (IAJ) at Cornell. IAJ officially endorsed Cornell SJP’s divestment campaign in 2019.

As of March 2022, Muhamad’s LinkedIn page said he was an “Ambassador” at Cornell’s Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) School in October 2017 – May 2020.

Muhamad’s LinkedIn also said he was a “Consulting Analyst” at Accenture since January 2021, and that he was located in Boston, Massachusetts.

Muhamad’s LinkedIn said he graduated from Cornell with a bachelor’s degree in Industrial and Labor Relations in 2020, and that he studied Economics at Robert Morris University (RMU) in 2016-2017.

Demonizing Israel

On February 26, 2019, Muhamad published a “LETTER TO THE EDITOR: On Human Rights” to Cornell’s student newspaper, the Cornell Sun. The letter was tagged: “APARTHEID.”

In the letter, Muhamad claimed: “Not a day passes without Israel escalating its assault on the Palestinian people” and labeled Israel a “racialized apartheid state.” Muhamad added that the “U.S. shares a common history with Israel as a fellow settler-colonial project rooted in genocide.”

Muhamad went on to characterize the founding of Israel as “the 1948 al-Nakba (‘The Catastrophe’)...”

The term “Nakba” is generally translated as “catastrophe” in Arabic, referring to the outcome of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It is a term often used to delegitimize the creation of the State of Israel by defining it as a catastrophe.

Supporting BDS

In his February 26, 2019 “LETTER TO THE EDITOR: On Human Rights” in the Cornell Sun, Muhamad wrote: “We have an obligation to answer Palestinian civil societies’ call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against the state of Israel,” which he referred to as an “apartheid regime.”

Muhamad wrote that the aim was to pressure Israel into “the removal of the separation barrier (apartheid wall) in the West Bank” and the “right of return.”

Israel’s security barrier, 97% of which is a low chain-link barrier, was built as a deterrent to Palestinian terror attacks. The concrete portions of the fence were built in response to Palestinian sniper attacks.

The “right of return” is a Palestinian demand discredited as a means to eliminate Israel.

Muhamad then wrote: “We call upon Cornell’s administration to divest its endowment pool from companies complicit in the morally reprehensible human rights violations in Palestine,” adding “our values do not include supporting the ethnic cleansing and military subjugation of the Palestinian people.”In February 2019, Cornell SJP launched an anti-Israel divestment campaign, introducing and pushing S.A. Resolution 36, “Urging Cornell to Divest from Companies Profiting from the Occupation of Palestine and Human Rights Violation.”

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 Cornell’s Student Assembly (SA). During the discussion, Mahfuza Shovik, a resolution sponsor, denied [00:23:03] the resolution was part of the 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.

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 created its Facebook page on April 25, 2013.

Cornell SJP - Glorifying Terrorist Ghassan Kanafani 2019-2020

On January 28, 2020, Cornell SJP shared to their Facebook a post from a local communist collective known as the Central Ohio Revolutionary Socialists (CORS), glorifying terrorist Ghassan Kanafani and promoting Kanafani’s rejection of any negotiations with Israel.

Kanafani was a leading member and spokesperson for the terrorist organization, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) during their formative years. Kanafani was also involved in the Lod Airport Massacre near Tel Aviv, for which PFLP took responsibility.

Cornell SJP - Demonizing Israel 2019-2020

On February 21, 2020, during the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, Cornell SJP hosted a webinar titled: “Mental Health Under Siege - the Case of Palestine” given by four members of the Palestine Global Mental Health Network (PGMHN) steering committee.

The Facebook event description accused Israel of “political violence, institutional racism, and internal colonialism,” claiming that Israel does not “just target the physical living conditions of the Palestinians, but aims to break the very fabric of their society, their souls, and their psyche as well.”

One of the speakers, Mustafa Qassoqsi, described [00:11:53] the founding of the state of Israel as the “colonization of Palestine by European Jews” and accused [00:13:15] Israel of “settler colonialism” and [00:15:00] “ethnic cleansing.”

Another presenter, Samah Jabr, head of the Mental Health Unit within the Palestinian Ministry of Health, claimed [00:38:15] that Israel’s humanitarian aid to Gaza is a “deceiving mask for sadistic intentions.”

Rana Nashashibi, a psychologist living and practicing in Jerusalem, alleged [00:46:54] that the Gaza Strip and most of the West Bank today is “very much like a huge, overcrowded prison, whose inmates are kept in check by heavily armed guards at the gates.”

Nashashibi added [00:47:11]: “If…this prison were to be called anything, it would be ‘a ghetto.’”

On November 22, 2019, Cornell SJP hosted an event titled: “Teach-in Gaza: Life inside the world's largest open air prison.”

The event description on Facebook said: “we will be discussing the history of Gaza from the Nakba to the Great March of Return to last week's military aggression by Israel. Learn more about U.S ally Israel's role in creating the world's largest open air prison...and how Palestinians today are fighting back for their lands.”

Approximately 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza approached Israel’s border on March 30, 2018 as part of the “March of Return,” which was organized and funded by Hamas. This was used as a campaign of violent protests to spotlight the Palestinian demand to “return” to Israel.

The “right of return” is a Palestinian demand discredited as a means to eliminate Israel.

In November 2019, Israel launched Operation Black Belt to stop rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel. From November 12 to November 14, 2019, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terror group sent hundreds of rockets into Israel, targeting major civilian population centers.

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 - 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.