Mardiya Shardow

Overview

Mardiya Shardow [Mardiya Hussein Shardow] signed a 2021 anti-Israel statement while serving as the 2020-2021 Dyson School of Business Student Representative with the Student Assembly (SA) at Cornell. She also promoted a 2021 Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) protest at Cornell in support of anti-Israel violence and dismissed anti-Semitism.

Shardow is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

As of March 2022, Shardow’s LinkedIn page said she was pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Applied Economics and Management at Cornell’s Dyson School of Applied Economics & Management, slated to graduate in 2023.

As of the same date, Shardow’s LinkedIn said she was a Business Development Intern at HGGC in Jun-August 2021 and a Strategic Marketing Intern for Beyond The Billion (BTB) from September 2020 to March 2021.

As of March 2022, Shardow served as the 2021-2022 student member of the University Hearing and Review Boards (UHRB).

UHRB defines itself as“the pool of students, staff, and faculty who serve on the panels that hear and review cases brought by the Office of the Judicial Administrator as part of the campus disciplinary process.”

As of March 2022, Shardow was listed as the “VP [Vice President] of Alumni Affairs” for IvyUntold, an online forum dedicated to minority students at Ivy League universities.

Signing an Anti-Israel Statement

On May 13, 2021, Shardow signed an anti-Israel statement titled: “Recognizing and Condemning Violent Attacks Against Palestinians.”

The statement, published on Cornell SA letterhead, said: “We, the undersigned, are writing to condemn the violent and vicious acts of terrorism, ethnic cleansing, and settler-colonialism, that have been plaguing Palestinians for years and specifically regarding recent events.”

The statement also alleged Israel carried out “illegal evictions” and deliberately targeted Palestinians celebrating Ramadan for violent attacks. Claiming “Mosques full of Muslims observing the last 10 days of Ramadan in solitude were attacked with grenades and ransacked,” the statement also alleged that Israel was considering an invasion of Gaza during the Islamic holiday of Eid.

Incitement surrounding Al-Aqsa and Sheikh Jarrah were leading factors in Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists firing over 4,300 rockets from Gaza at Israeli population centers from May 10 to 21, 2021. In response to rocket attacks from Gaza, Israel launched “Operation Guardian of the Walls (OGW),” striking military targets in the terrorist-controlled enclave.
The statement then called on the university administration to “act immediately” to end “their relationship with Technion in Haifa, Israel” and “any relationship between the Cornell University Police Department (CUPD) and Israel.” The statement also called on the University to issue a statement in defense of Palestinian rights and to reconsider investments in Israel.

The statement was signed by 23 students, but neither voted on nor enacted by the SA.

Promoting a Protest in Support of Anti-Israel Violence

On May 15, 2021, Shardow shared to her “PalestineProtest” Instagram Stories Highlights a video taken at Cornell SJP’s “March for Palestine” in support of then-ongoing anti-Israel violence.

On May 15, 2021, Cornell SJP held their “March for Palestine” on Cornell’s Ho Plaza. The event poster featured calls to: “SAVE SHEIKH JARRAH” and “SAVE AL-AQSA.”

On May 15, 2021, Cornell SJP demonstrators participated in the group’s march. Protesters displayed a banner that read: “Stand with Palestinian Resistance,” as well as signs that read: “End the Palestinian Holocaust” and “Stop the US Funding of Genocide.”

At the protest, one demonstrator accused [slide 2] Israel of “white supremacy,” as well as [slide 1] “ethnic cleansing” and “violent brutal occupation.” Joseph Mullen, a newly-elected SA member and march organizer, labeled [00:01:50] Israel an “apartheid” state and pledged [00:00:50] “to end Cornell’s relationship with Israel.”

On May 16, 2021, Cornell SJP posted photos of their demonstration to Facebook and commented: “Cornell students and Ithaca residents turned out in force today to demonstrate solidarity with the Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation and apartheid!”

Dismissing Anti-Semitism

In May 2021, during OGW, Shardow signed a letter by the Cornell Arab Student Association (Cornell SA) condemning Cornell’s President Martha Pollack.

On May 26, 2021, President Pollack issued a statement which took notice of the “alarming national rise in anti-Semitic hate crimes…amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East,” and appealed for “rigorous discourse and debate, devoid of personal invective and attacks.”

Anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S. “more than doubled” during OGW and its aftermath, compared to the same time period in 2020, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

Supporting BDS

On May 18, 2021, Shardow shared [slide 11] to her “PalestineProtest” Instagram Stories Highlights a post by anti-Israel agitator Yasir Qadhi, in which Qadhi shared a video of himself promoting BDS. Shardow wrote: “Check out the BDS movement!!”

On May 19, 2021, Shardow shared [slide 14] to her “PalestineProtest” Instagram Stories Highlights a post by Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) including an image that said: “Jews for BDS.” The JVP post linked to a “A call for Jews to endorse Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” and included a pledge endorsing a restatement of the BDS movement’s demands.

Cornell SJP - Dismissing Anti-Semitism 2020-2021

On May 28, 2021, Cornell SJP posted to Instagram, opposing [Slide 1] a May 26, 2021 letter [Slide 1] by Cornell President Martha Pollack, which took notice of the “alarming national rise in anti-Semitic hate crimes...amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East,” and appealed for “rigorous discourse and debate, devoid of personal invective and attacks.”

Cornell SJP condemned [Slide 4] the term “ongoing tensions” and blamed Israel exclusively for Palestinian-Israeli tensions, accusing Israel of “apartheid” and “provocations against Palestine, from the occupation of Sheikh Jarrah to the assault on Al-Aqsa Mosque and the bombings of the Gaza strip.”

Incitement around Al-Aqsa and Sheikh Jarrah were leading factors in Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists firing over 4,300 rockets from Gaza at Israel’s major centers on May 10-21, 2021. In response, Israel launched “Operation Guardian of the Walls (OGW),” striking military targets in the terrorist-controlled enclave.

Cornell SJP also rejected [Slide 7] President Pollack’s call for “rigorous discourse and debate,” promoting, instead, “the duty to resist colonial violence.”

Cornell SJP called on their Instagram followers to “send an email to [the Cornell] administration in regards to their complete dismissal of the ethnic cleansing and apartheid of Palestinians.”

Cornell SJP attached a link in their Instagram bio to a google document of an email condemning President Pollack’s letter, signed by Cornell professors, as well as Cornell students and student groups.

Cornell SJP - Promoting Anti-Israel Violence 2020-2021

On May 12, 2021, Cornell SJP promoted on Instagram their upcoming May 15, 2021 “March for Palestine” on Cornell’s Ho Plaza. The event poster featured calls to: “SAVE SHEIKH JARRAH” and “SAVE AL-AQSA.”

On May 12, 2021, Cornell SJP promoted their upcoming march on Facebook, calling on their followers to “show support for the ongoing rebellion in occupied Palestine against the Zionist occupation” and condemn “Zionism and Israeli state terrorism.”

Zionism is the belief in the right to self-determination and statehood of the Jewish people in their ancestral homeland, Israel. The word Zion originates in the Bible, where it refers to the land of Israel and Jerusalem.

On May 15, 2021, Cornell SJP demonstrators participated in the group’s march. Protesters displayed a banner that read: “Stand with Palestinian Resistance,” as well as signs that read: “End the Palestinian Holocaust” and “Stop the US Funding of Genocide.”

At the protest, one demonstrator accused [slide 2] Israel of “white supremacy,” as well as [slide 1] “ethnic cleansing” and “violent brutal occupation.” Joseph Mullen, a newly-elected SA member and march organizer, addressed the attendees as “a member of the student assembly and a South African in solidarity with Palestine.”

Mullen claimed that [00:01:50] South African style apartheid “lives on in one place today - Israel” and characterized [00:01:59] Israel as a “a massive police state” that “brutalizes, monitors and murders Palestininans.”Mullen also pledged [00:00:50] “to end Cornell’s relationship with Israel.”

On May 16, 2021, Cornell SJP posted photos of their demonstration to Facebook and commented: “Cornell students and Ithaca residents turned out in force today to demonstrate solidarity with the Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation and apartheid!”

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 Activists Push an Anti-Israel Statement 2020-2021

In May 2021, Laila Abd Elmagid, Cornell SJP activist and Vice President of Internal Affairs with the Cornell Student Assembly (SA), reportedly helped write an anti-Israel statement titled: “Recognizing and Condemning Violent Attacks Against Palestinians.”

The statement, published on Cornell SA letterhead, said: “We, the undersigned, are writing to condemn the violent and vicious acts of terrorism, ethnic cleansing, and settler-colonialism, that have been plaguing Palestinians for years and specifically regarding recent events.”

The statement also alleged Israel carried out “illegal evictions” and deliberately targeted Palestinians celebrating Ramadan for violent attacks. Claiming “Mosques full of Muslims observing the last 10 days of Ramadan in solitude were attacked with grenades and ransacked,” the statement also alleged that Israel was considering an invasion of Gaza during the Islamic holiday of Eid.

The statement then called on the university administration to “act immediately” to end “their relationship with Technion in Haifa, Israel” and “any relationship between the Cornell University Police Department (CUPD) and Israel.” The statement also called on the University to issue a statement in defense of Palestinian rights and to reconsider investments in Israel.

On May 13, 2021, Cornell’s student newspaper, The Cornell Review, reported that Abd Elmagid, as well as Uche Chukwukere, SA Vice President of Finance and SJP Cornell affiliate, and Joseph Mullen, an SJP Cornell activist and incoming College of Arts and Sciences Representative, introduced the anti-Israel statement during the final SA meeting of the year.

The statement was signed by 23 students, but neither voted on nor enacted by the SA.

Cornell SJP - Demonizing Israel 2020-2021

On April 21, 2021, Cornell SJP promoted an April 22, 2021 “virtual teach-in” on the “Deadly Exchange” and encouraged students to “tune in to find out what it will take to end the militarization of campus police and (one aspect of) Cornell's complicity in the occupation of Palestine!”

Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) launched the “Deadly Exchange” campaign in 2017. The campaign claimed that American Jewish organizations promoted human rights abuses. A video for the campaign by JVP accused American Jewish organizations of planning programs between American and Israeli security personnel, to advance “racist policies.”

On December 13, 2020, Cornell SJP hosted a teach-in titled: “Health and the Israeli Occupation.”

The event description alleged: “The apartheid system imposed by the Israeli occupation of Palestine extends to all facets of life, including health and medical treatment…Hospitals in Gaza are frequently demolished by Israeli bomber planes.”

Hamas has used hospitals in Gaza as command centers, weapons storage and launch sites for missile and rocket attacks against Israel in violation of international humanitarian law in regard to armed conflicts.

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.”

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.

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 - Divestment Campaign 2018-2019

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, and 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 - 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.