Manar Dajani

Overview

Manar Dajani was the co-president of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at University of Maryland, College Park (SJP UMD) in 2015. As of July 27, 2016, Dajani was listed on an official UMD webpage as the treasurer for SJP UMD.

Dajani is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. She is also a member of the Facebook group of the UMD Muslim Association for Social Change (UMD MASC), which campaigns for BDS at the university alongside SJP UMD.

Dajani has listed herself as a member of the Facebook page for the Muslim Students Association (MSA) at the UMD (UMD MSA).

Dajani is a member of multiple anti-Israel Facebook groups, including Americans Against the Genocide in Gaza. One group of which Dajani is a member is titled Muslims, Christians, Jews and all Humans who nobly stand-up against zionism.That group’s Facebook cover photo features an image that portrays Gaza as a Nazi death camp.

As of May 24, 2017, Dajani’s LinkedIn profile said that she graduated from UMD in 2016, with a bachelor’s degree in Operations Management and Logistics, Materials, and Supply Chain Management. Dajani’s affiliation with SJP is not listed on her LinkedIn profile, although her association with other UMD clubs is mentioned there.

As of May 24, 2017, Dajani claimed on her LinkedIn profile that she is a Service Expeditor at Rhode & Schwarz. She claims to have been at the position since June of 2018.

Justifying Anti-Israel Terror

On October 20, 2015, Dajani led an SJP UMD event, deceptively titled: “Palestine Under Attack.”

October 2015 saw an upsurge in violence across Israel incited by Palestinian political and religious leaders. The wave of stabbings, known as the “Knife Intifada,” saw young Palestinians throughout the country stabbing and attempting to stab scores of Israeli civilians.

The attacks were sparked and fueled by Palestinian leaders propagating the libel that Israel intended to desecrate the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

SJP UMD’s Facebook announcement compounded the religious incitement, repeating the libel that the Israeli military was “occupying” the Al-Aqsa mosque. The announcement also featured a poster bearing the phrases “Hands Off Al-Aqsa” and “Boycott Israel Now!”

When Dajani spoke, she appeared next to the event’s promotional image which included the text “#PalestineUnderAttack.”

The SJP event announcement further claimed: “In light of Israel's escalation of violence against the Palestinians, SJP is holding an emergency forum.” The announcement omitted any mention of the Palestinian terror campaign but alleged that “In the past two weeks, over 1600 people have been shot…” and continued with the libel that “dozens were killed by the Israeli police, soldiers and settler lynch mobs.”

On November 16, 2015, Dajani spoke and promoted BDS at an SJP UMD event that featured Washington, D.C.-based Reverend Graylan Hagler. Hagler romanticized Palestinian violence against Israel and compared Palestinian terrorism to anti-police demonstrations in Black American neighborhoods. Hagler stated: “As I saw the young folks jump off in Baltimore, it reminded me of the first and second intifada because you saw young folks with bricks and rocks standing up against glocks, the cops were on the run because the folks were mad.”

At the event, Hagler also said that he was “sick and tired of hearing about ‘THE’ Holocaust… as if there has only been one holocaust in the world at any point in history.”

Hosting Anti-Semitic Propagandist Abbas Hamideh

On April 28, 2015, Dajani co-organized an event SJP UMD hosted featuring anti-Israel propagandist Abbas Hamideh — who has been called out for promoting anti-Semitism on his Twitter account, by a prominent pro-Israel blog.

Hamideh is the co-founder of Al-Awda - The Palestine Right to Return Coalition (Al Awda) and is known for his denial of Jewish history, his denigration of Judaism and his frequent comparisons of Israel to Nazi Germany. Hamideh is a vocal supporter of terrorist organizations, including Hamas and Hezbollah.

Hamideh’s Twitter feed — especially in the year leading up to the event — was replete with hate speech and terror support. Haddad and other SJP UMD members posed for a photo with Hamideh after his talk on the “Nakba.”

On March 22, 2015, Hamideh tweeted: “They are dealing with the Hitler regime of our time! #ProtectGazaPress.”

That same day, he also tweeted: “One #Holocaust doesn't justify another. #Palestine.”

On March 16, 2015, Hamideh tweeted: “European Jews don't have any relations to #Palestine. The only connection to the land for 3,500 years is a bunch of perpetual myths. #Lies.”

On December 7, 2014, Hamideh tweeted: “Just remember Hezbollah Missiles don't need visas to enter occupied #Palestine ”

On December 3, 2014, Hamideh tweeted: “Any Jew who doesn't have Palestinian Semitic origins that believes they have a right to #Palestine can kiss my Palestinian Semitic a**!”

On July 6, 2014, Hamideh tweeted: “I re-wrote a historical chant yesterday and named it ‘khaybar, khaybar ya sahyun’ [khaybar, khaybar o zionists] does that even make sense? #Palestine.”

Khaybar Khaybar, ya yahud, Jaish Muhammad, soufa ya'oud [Jews, remember Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning]” is a chant recalling the early seventh-century Battle of Khaybar. At Khaybar, Muhammad and his followers massacred the Jews of that town and enslaved the surviving women as “wives.” The chant is often heard at anti-Israel rallies in the United States.

SJP UMD - Supporting Terrorists

As of August 1, 2016, an image in support of Rasmea Odeh was the group’s Facebook cover photo.

Odeh was a key military operative with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization. In 1969, she masterminded a PFLP supermarket bombing that killed two college students. She also attempted to bomb the British consulate in Jerusalem. Odeh later moved to the United States but was deported to Jordan in 2017 for immigration fraud.

On March 3, 2014, SJP UMD tweeted an article in support of 21-year-old Musab Moussa al-Zaaneen who was killed in an Israeli airstrike. The article stated that al-Zaneen and others were “preparing to launch rockets” at Israel.

SJP UMD’s said in the tweet: “RT @allissonCD ‘An hour ago the Israeli air force dropped two bombs on #Gaza. A 21 year old was killed. http://tinyurl.com/mlqhahb ’ #AIPAC14.”

On November 15, 2013, SJP UMD shared an article from the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) praising Yasser Arafat’s 1988 declaration of Palestinian independence. The story showed photos of ISM agitators joining Palestinian militants to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Arafat’s declaration — by breaching Israel’s security fence, using sledgehammers and bolt cutters.

Yasser Arafat was the former leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and is known by some as the “father of modern terrorism.” Under Arafat, the goal of the PLO was the violent destruction of Israel.

The post also slandered Israel with unsupported allegations that Israeli forces used Palestinian civilians as human shields in its three-week Operation Cast Lead (OCL) against Hamas in 2008-2009. To support its claim, SJP UMD cited unsubstantiated and anonymous testimonies from the discredited anti-Israel organization, Breaking the Silence.

SJP UMD - Celebrating the Disruption of Israeli Officials

On April 19, 2016, SJP UMD held a “die-in” disrupting the annual Israel Fest celebration — a non-political event held at UMD to celebrate Israeli culture.

During the die-in, students lay on the ground near the Israel Fest participants and blocked student walkways. Several SJP UMD activists refused police requests to get off the ground and clear the area. Many demonstrators continued to occupy the space, in defiance of university rules and engaged in heated confrontations with campus police.

The demonstration began with a rally outside McKeldin Library where leading SJP UMD activist Mohammad Sajjad Soltanmohammadi — a supporter of both Hezbollah and Hamas — led chants of “when people are occupied, resistance is justified.”

SJP UMD co-president Shane James led the chant: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” The chant, a standard feature at SJP rallies, calls for the dismantling of Israel as a Jewish state.

When some onlookers challenged SJP UMD for spreading propaganda, one SJP activist conjured the conspiracy theory: “When the textbooks are written and taught by the Jewish or the Israeli faculty? Of course they’re biased!” Another SJP UMD activist accused Israel of “genocide.”

Soltanmohammadi led the chant: “Netanyahu what do you say, how many kids did you kill today?” The demonstrators called for shutting down Israel’s “border wall” and accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing” and having “racist policies.” Some demonstrators held signs painted with simulated blood stains, reading: “Zionism Kills.”

Following the rally, Soltanmohammadi led the protestors in a march on Israel Fest, where — against campus rules — they laid down on an adjacent walkway for the die-in. During the march toward Israel Fest, they chanted: “Israel is an apartheid state. Israel is a terror state. Israel is a racist state.”

SJP UMD - Supporting Steven Salaita's Hate Speech

On October 8, 2014, SJP UMD tweeted its support for Steven Salaita, the Said Chair of American Studies at the American University of Beirut (AUB).

In 2014, The University of Illinois withdrew an offer of employment to Salaita after becoming aware of his anti-Semitic tweets. One tweet, posted shortly after Hamas kidnapped three teenage Israeli high school students, read: "You may be too refined to say it, but I’m not: I wish all the f**king West Bank settlers would go missing.” In 2017, Salaita posted to Facebook: “People ask if I would go back in time and change anything. I would not…I will die unapologetic.” In February 2019, Salaita stated that he had become a school bus driver in the Washington, D.C., area.

SJP UMD’s tweet claimed that Salaita was “unfairly targeted on the job” due to “his support for Palestine.”

SJP UMD - Spreading Propaganda on Campus

On October 22, 2015, SJP UMD hung posters on campus of a map that showed lands that were controlled by Britain, Egypt and Jordan as autonomous “Palestinian Land” stolen by Israel.

In February of 2016, publisher McGraw-Hill Education recalled and destroyed copies of a college level textbook that contained the fraudulent maps. In October 2015, the United States cable news network MSNBC apologized for airing a similar series of maps and retracted them.

SJP UMD - Disrupting an Israeli Cultural Event

On November 10, 2014, SJP UMD tweeted: “Dozens of students walk out on Israeli ambassador Ron Dermer at UMD: Read more here!”

On March 24, 2014, SJP UMD’s blog featured a letter co-signed by other SJP chapters that supported as “political speech” numerous instances of anti-Israel heckling, hate speech and intimidation. SJP UMD referred obliquely to the 11 Muslim Student Union (MSU/MSA) members who were arrested after repeatedly attempting to shout down Michael Oren, the Israeli ambassador to the U.S., when he spoke at the University of California at Irvine in 2010. One of the students slandered Israel by claiming it was engaging in the “genocide” of Palestinian Arabs.

UMD MASC and SJP UMD - Marginalizing UMD Jews for Supporting Israel

On April 27, 2017, UMD MASC and SJP UMD posted a co-authored letter on Facebook that promoted an anti-Israel rally at UMD. The “boycott” rally was timed to coincide with “Israel Fest” — an annual Israeli cultural event held at UMD, on Israeli Independence Day. The groups called the annual celebration of Israel’s independence on campus “unnecessary” and “insulting.”

UMD MASC and SJP UMD called for a “Mass Boycott of Israel Fest” and stated in their letter: “Our efforts may be wrongly confused with anti-Semitism, but we urge those who conflate this action with that sentiment to rethink the accusation … It is the country and its discriminatory policies that we oppose, and not the Jewish people.”

The letter said that Israel is “undeniably responsible for the displacement, imprisonment, and killing of thousands of Palestinians.” The letter added that Israel was an “apartheid state” that was “founded on the forced displacement of thousands of individuals” and that Israel was “the very country responsible for their suffering.”

UMD MASC and SJP UMD went on to demand that UMD’s Jewish Student Union (Maryland JSU), the festival organizer, prove that the event is “in fact a celebration of Jewish culture.” They also demanded that Maryland JSU change the festival’s name and remove tables promoting Birthright Israel and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Birthright Israel is a series of Jewish heritage trips to Israel for Jewish young adults from the United States, Canada and other countries around the world.

UMD MASC and SJP UMD ended their letter, stating: “We urge you to stand with Muslim and Arab Terps as their allies. We urge you to stand with justice.”

On May 2, 2017, UMD MASC and SJP UMD co-hosted their “boycott” of Israel Fest. The rally featured a barrier, emblazoned with “ISRAELI APARTHEID WALL” and promoted BDS. The barrier also featured text that said “FREE GAZA” and “NO BORDERS.” SJP members chalked "Boycott Israel Fest" all over the campus in the week preceding the festival.

UMD MASC and SJP UMD - 2017 Divestment Resolution

On April 10, 2017, Sarah Eshera — UMD MASC founder and SJP UMD activist — announced on Facebook that the UMD Student Government Association (UMD SGA) scheduled a vote on an anti-Israel divestment bill for April 19, 2017. Eshera stated that UMD MASC and SJP UMD jointly introduced the anti-Israel resolution.

On February 12, 2017, the UMD student newspaper reported on the launch of the BDS campaign and interviewed SJP UMD’s president, Miranda Mlilo. The newspaper wrote: “Mlilo said SJP doesn't know what organizations this university may be invested in, but that they may file a public records request to find out.”

As of May 23, 2017, the UMD student newspaper had no reportage about the scheduled divestment vote.

UMD MASC and SJP UMD - Promoting Anti-Israel Propagandists

On April 18, 2017, UMD MASC and SJP UMD co-hosted a BDS event featuring Taher Herzallah and Kareem El Hosseiny, in anticipation of a divestment vote reportedly scheduled for the the following day.

Herzallah serves as the Associate Director of Outreach & Grassroots Organizing for American Muslims for Palestine (AMP). Hosseiny is the AMP Government Relations Coordinator.

On November 27-29, 2014, Herzallah — at the seventh annual AMP conference — accused “progressive community” allies of viewing only Muslim “freedom fighters” who employed violent means as practicing “terrorism.” Herzallah then rhetorically asked: “What if, as Muslims, we wanted to establish an Islamic state? Is that wrong? What if, as Muslims, we wanted to use violent means to resist occupation? Is that wrong?...”

The April 18, 2017 event was originally billed as “A Conversation with Yousef Munayyer.” Munayyer is the Executive Director of the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR), formerly the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation (ETO).

However, on April 16, 2017, UMD MASC wrote on the Facebook event page that Munayyer could not attend and that “in his place we will have Taher Herzallah from American Muslims for Palestine. We're so happy to be hosting him!”

SJP UMD - Demonizing Israel

On February 26, 2017, SJP UMD released an online petition, titled “OFFICIAL STATEMENT ON BDS,” addressed to the UMD SGA and UMD President, Wallace Loh. The petition was circulated in anticipation of the anti-Israel divestment bill that was co-authored by UMD MASC and SJP UMD and announced on Facebook by Sarah Eshera — UMD MASC founder and SJP UMD activist, on April 10, 2017.

The petition alleged that Israel committed murder and claimed: “Innocent children are forced from their homes to make room for Israeli settlers.” The petition also condemned Israeli checkpoints, which were built to stop suicide bombings and other terror attacks.

The petition also cast Israel in the role of apartheid South Africa and stated: “In 1989, our university boldly stood against South African apartheid by divesting from the institutions which supported racist policies in that country. Our goal is to have our university take a strong stand against injustice again.”

SJP UMD - Misrepresenting BDS

SJP UMD’s online February 26, 2017, BDS petition, mentioned above, concluded with a paraphrased 2010 quote from BDS’ founder, Omar Barghouti: “The global BDS movement for Palestinian rights presents a progressive, antiracist, sophisticated, sustainable, moral, and effective form of nonviolent civil resistance to apartheid.”

Barghouti’s original quote spoke of “resistance for Palestinian human rights,” only. SJP UMD replaced that phrase with “resistance to apartheid.” The petition also prefaced its paraphrased Barghouti quote with the statement: “To ensure the safety and equality of Palestinians is to ensure the safety and equality of all.”

However, as early as December 13, 2003, Barghouti made clear that his goal is to create a “unitary state, where, by definition, Jews will be a minority.”

On May 31, 2009, Barghouti also said: “I am completely and categorically against binationalism because it assumes that there are two nations with equal moral claims to the land and therefore, we have to accommodate both national rights.”

SJP UMD’s online petition concluded with a core BDS demand, stating: “As proponents of BDS, we call for Israel to respect the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their home country from which they are currently exiled, as stipulated by UN Resolution 194.”

The BDS movement’s selective appeal to U.N General Assembly Resolution 194 (Article 11) has been discredited as a subterfuge to eliminate Israel. The non-binding resolution made no mention of the refugees’ ethnicity — either Jewish or Arab — indicating it was aimed at all refugees from the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

Resolution 194 urged that refugees be allowed to return to their pre-war homes, provided they were “willing to live in peace with their neighbors.” The Arabs unanimously rejected Resolution 194.

UMD MASC

On February 2, 2017, Sarah Eshera, UMD MASC founder and a Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at UMD (SJP UMD) activist, created the UMD MPA Facebook page. UMD MASC operates alongside SJP UMD to coordinate anti-Israel activity on campus.

On August 3, 2017, UMD MPA re-branded itself as UMD MASC.

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.

MSA

The MSA was established by members of the Muslim Brotherhood in January 1963 at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, with the goal of "spreading Islam as students in North America." A 2004 FBI investigation uncovered an internal Muslim Brotherhood document in which a brotherhood leader identified the MSA as "one of our organizations."

The MSA reportedly has “nearly 600 chapters” located in the United States and Canada, and is “the most visible and influential Islamic student organization in North America,” boasting conferences, special events, publications, websites and other activities.

The organization includes a number of previous chapter presidents with explicit links to terrorist groups. Included are al-Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki (Colorado State University), Somali al-Shabaab militant leader Omar Shafik Hammami (University of South Alabama) and Pakistani Taliban recruiter Ramy Zamzam of the MSA's Washington, D.C. council.

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.