Maryam Ahmad

Overview

Maryam Ahmad has spread hatred of Israel. Ahmad also promoted an anti-Semitic campaign, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement in September 2022. 

Ahmad was the Digital Managing Editor and a member of the editorial board for The Wellesley News, the school newspaper at Wellesley College (Wellesley), when it authored an editorial supporting the Wellesley SJP chapter (WSJP), BDS and the Mapping Project. The Mapping Project is a BDS campaign targeting Jewish and pro-Israel institutions in Massachusetts. 

As of November 2022, Ahmad’s LinkedIn page said she was pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Government from Wellesley, slated to graduate in May 2024.

As of the same date, Ahmad’s LinkedIn page said she was a “Content Writing Intern” at Rifelion, a media production company based in Portland, Oregon. She has also published articles in Nerdist.

As of November 2022, Ahmad used the handle “@curious_maryam” on Twitter. 

As of November 2022, Ahmad’s LinkedIn page indicated she was located in Cohoes, New York. However, as of the same date, Ahmad’s rocketreach.co profile said she was located in Wellesley, Massachusetts. 

Hatred of Israel

On May 31, 2021, Ahmad wrote an article in The Wellesley News titled: “Palestinian Professors and Students Question Wellesley Community’s Silence on Palestine.”
 
In the article, Ahmad claimed: “On May 7, Israeli forces raided Al-Aqsa mosque, where people were gathered to observe the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan, leaving hundreds of Palestinians injured. The raid marked the beginning of two weeks of Israeli airstrikes in Gaza and rockets fired by militants from Gaza.” 

During OGW in May 2021, Hamas reportedly used civilians as human shields to defend against Israeli counterstrikes. Hamas also launched rockets from densely populated civilian areas, stockpiled weapons in private homes and situated key operations facilities in civilian apartment buildings, near mosques, hospitals and schools.

Ahmad retweeted an August 18, 2021 tweet from Defense for Children International - Palestine (DCI-Palestine) that read: “BREAKING: Israeli forces raided and sealed shut our Ramallah-area office early this morning, leaving a notice taped to the door ordering the office closed declaring DCIP an illegal organization. #StandWithThe6.”
 


Ahmad retweeted an April 29, 2022 tweet by anti-Israel activist Mohammed El-Kurd that read: “the Editorial Board of The Harvard Crimson released an unequivocal statement of support for BDS & ‘A Free Palestine.’ They also reflect on their past unwise positions on BDS within the article. This is only the beginning.”

On September 26, 2022, Ahmad tweeted: “Incredible article from @tariq_raouf about why Sabra should not be in the MCU [Marvel Cinematic Universe]. Read it!!”
 
Ahmad shared a Nerdist article that described the MCU character Sabra as “a Jewish and Israeli version of Captain America who works for the government’s intelligence agency Mossad.” The article alleged: “The Israeli government and police force—the same ones that Sabra fictionally works for—are realistically practicing apartheid.”

Ahmad retweeted an October 19, 2022 tweet that read: “... anti-racist student groups at berkeley law who pledged not to host zionist speakers are in the moral and constitutional right.”
 
The tweet linked to an article that claimed: “Just as these groups are under no obligation to host white supremacists or people who oppose a woman’s right to an abortion, no student group is constitutionally obligated to host pro-Zionist speakers.” The article also accused Israel “of land theft, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid.”

Ahmad retweeted an October 22, 2022 tweet promoting anti-Israel activist Nerdeen Kiswani and Within Our Lifetime (WOL), an anti-Israel activist group in New York City that often shows support for terrorism.

Promoting an Anti-Semitic Campaign, SJP and BDS

On September 28, 2022, Ahmad and the other members of The Wellesley News editorial board published a front-page editorial titled: “The Wellesley News Calls for the Liberation of Palestine.” 

The editorial endorsed WSJP and the BDS movement, praising WSJP’s efforts to “push Wellesley’s administration to acknowledge the College’s role in settler-colonialism and divest from Israel.” The WSJP logo was the lead photo and the editorial also endorsed the Mapping Project, calling it a “vital service.” 

On June 3, 2022, the activist group BDS Boston released the Mapping Project, a campaign with an interactive map targeting Jewish and pro-Israel institutions in Massachusetts, including schools, synagogues and businesses. Among the institutions it targeted were Wellesley College and the Wellesley, MA, police department. 

The campaign’s website said it would reveal “local institutions responsible for the colonization of Palestine or other harms such as policing, US imperialism, and displacement…so we can dismantle them.” The project was denounced by public officials as anti-Semitic and was condemned for targeting Jewish institutions.

The Wellesley News editorial board wrote: “We believe that the Mapping Project is providing a vital service. Collecting data about these institutions, tracing their financial and political activity and publicizing this information is incredibly important.” 

The Mapping Project targeted Wellesley College and the Wellesley Police Department for being complicit in the “harm” of Zionism, which it called “a form of white supremacy.”

Zionism is the belief that Jews have the right to self-determination in their own national home, and the right to develop their national culture.

The Mapping Project also condemned Wellesley for multiple things, including that the college “works with Birthright Israel to encourage students to attend free propaganda trips to Israel.”

Birthright Israel is a heritage trip to Israel for Jewish young adults from across the world.

In its editorial, The Wellesley News editorial board wrote: “The Wellesley Investment Office should immediately withdraw any investments in entities based in Israel or those that support the apartheid regime.” The editorial also demanded that Wellesley’s administration “should cease promoting Birthright Israel.”

On October 7, 2022, Wellesley president Dr. Paula A. Johnson authored an email to the Wellesley alumnae community with the subject line: “Condemning Antisemitism.” The email denounced the Mapping Project and distanced Wellesley’s administration from The Wellesley News and its editorial.

Johnson wrote: “Claiming that Jewish people and organizations are responsible for a host of societal harms and calling for action against them is, by definition, anti-Semitism.” She also wrote that she was concerned that the project posed “a significant threat to the physical security of the Jewish community of Greater Boston, including neighbors and partners of the College.”

As of October 7, 2022, the names and photos of The Wellesley News editorial board were still available on the newspaper’s website. However, by October 9, 2022, the entire editorial board page was removed from the website. 

On October 10, 2022, WSJP posted a statement on Instagram in support of The Wellesley News editorial board. WSJP said: “As long as the illegitimate occupying state of ‘Israel’ exists, Palestinians and all other colonized nations and peoples have the inalienable right to resist their oppressor and aggressor by any means necessary.”

Ahmad retweeted an October 10, 2022 tweet in support of WSJP and The Wellesley News editorial board.

On October 12, 2022, The Wellesley News editorial board released a statement reaffirming its support for WSJP, BDS, and “the liberation of Palestine.” The statement retracted its support for the Mapping Project, writing: “We intended to use the Mapping Project only as a source of information about Wellesley College and its affiliated institutions.” 

On October 13, 2022, WSJP organized a sit-in protest outside of Johnson’s campus office “to support students calling for the liberation of Palestine.” Protesters then marched to the front yard of Johnson’s house.

Ahmad retweeted an October 19, 2022 tweet that included a Wellesley News article on the WSJP protest. The lead photo on the article showed a protester holding a sign that read: “FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA.”

“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free” is a chant calling to dismantle the State of Israel. It has also been employed by Hamas leader Khaled Mashal to call for the replacement of Israel with an Islamic state.

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.

Social Media and Weblinks

Twitter: https://twitter.com/curious_maryam 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maryam-ahmad-6013a51b2/ 

The Wellesley News: https://thewellesleynews.com/byline/maryam-ahmad/

Website: http://maryamahmad.com/

Muck Rack: https://muckrack.com/maryam-ahmad/articles