Maryam Alhakim

Overview

Maryam Alhakim [Maryam Abdul Ali Alhakim] has spread hatred of Zionists and Israel.

As a Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) activist, Alhakim promoted an anti-Semitic bylaw supporting the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement in 2022. 

In August 2022, the bylaw was initiated and adopted [p. 3] by the SJP chapter at University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Berkeley Law), known as Berkeley LSJP, where Alhakim was an organizer [00:03:10]. 

As of November 2022, Alhakim served as the President of the Muslim Student Association (MSA) chapter at Berkeley Law (BLMSA). 

In August 2022, BLMSA was one of eight other Berkeley Law student groups that adopted [slides 2 and 3] a similar [p. 3] bylaw banning any individuals from speaking to BLMSA who have “expressed and continue to hold views” in support of Zionism or the State of Israel. 

As of the same date, Alhakim’s LinkedIn page said she was pursuing a JD at Berkeley Law, slated to graduate in 2024. Alhakim graduated from The University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas) with a degree in American Studies in 2020.

Also as of November 2022, Alhakim’s LinkedIn page said she had been a Legal Extern at the Contra Costa Public Defenders (CCPD) office in Martinez, CA, since August 2022.

As of November 2022, Alhakim went by the name “babyghurl” and used the handle “@maryam_yams” on Twitter. She used the handle “@maryam_maryamuuu” on Instagram.

As of November 2022, Alhakim wrote on her Instagram bio that she was a student at Berkeley Law in Berkeley, CA. However, as of the same date, Alhakim’s LinkedIn said she was located in Richardson, TX.

Hatred of Zionists and Israel

On August 30, 2021, Alhakim tweeted:“no zionists allowed.”

Alhakim retweeted a May 20, 2021 tweet that claimed Israel’s military forces “murder Palestinians.” The tweet also said: “decolonization is a global struggle!! the u.s trains with israeli military forces who murder palestinians…”

Alhakim also retweeted a May 20, 2021 tweet that said: “Saw this on IG which I thought was helpful re boycotting for.”

The tweet comprised of screenshots promoting a targeted consumer boycott against all products made in Israel and specific companies doing business with Israel.

Text on one screenshot said [slide 2]: “anything ‘Made in Israel’ is an immediate NO NO” and “both owners [of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream] are Zionist and the company itself directly supports israel.”

During Israel’s Operation Guardian of the Walls (OGW) against Hamas and other terrorists, Alhakim retweeted a May 17, 2021 tweet that said: “MAY 18TH IS A DAY OF ACTION IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE PALESTINE UPRISING & GENERAL STRIKE: A thread of actions taking place tomorrow across different cities!.”

In May 2021, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists fired over 4,300 rockets from Gaza at major population centers in Israel. Israel responded by launching OGW, carrying out targeted military strikes in Gaza.

On May 11, 2021, during OGW, violent Arab riots broke out in Israel’s mixed Jewish-Arab city of Lod and in other Israeli cities with large Arab populations. The rioters in Lod reportedly raised Hamas and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) flags and attacked Israeli civilians with slabs and rocks, as well as firebombs and metal rods. Rioters also torched synagogues, cars and businesses, and vandalized hospital medical equipment, schools and government buildings.  

The same May 17, 2021 tweet Alhakim retweeted included a Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) event flier that accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing against our people in Sheikh Jarrah.” The tweet’s images also supported BDS and included the hashtags “#SaveSheikhJarrah” and “#GazaUnderAttack.”

In May 2021, Palestinian violence erupted in anticipation of an Israel High Court ruling on eviction proceedings concerning over 70 Palestinian tenants illegally residing in Jewish-owned properties in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. 

On December 7, 2017, Alhakim tweeted: “Mood #JerusalemBelongsToPalestine.”
 
Alhakim’s tweet included a screenshot of a translated TV interview with Jordanian Politician Thaher Anmad Amr, during which Amr predicted [00:02:10] the annihilation of “the Jews” on a specific date. Amr then said: “By God, I see the annihilation of Israel as clearly as I see you.”

Alhakim’s tweet also included a screenshot of another translated video showing a Jordanian TV host burning an Israeli flag live, on air. The screenshot included the words: “Let us spit on this flag. Tfu Tfu.”

Berkeley LSJP Anti-Semitic Bylaw

On August 6, 2022, Berkeley LSJP amended its group constitution to include a bylaw banning pro-Israel speakers from participating in club events. The bylaw explicitly excluded [p. 3] any speaker who had “expressed and continued to hold views…in support of Zionism, the apartheid state of Israel, and the occupation of Palestine.” 

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.

Berkeley LSJP claimed it created the bylaw “in the interest of protecting the safety and welfare of Palestinian students on campus.” 


Berkeley Law student Malak Afaneh was the president of Berkeley LSJP when the group adopted its bylaw. She has spread hatred of Zionists and has expressed support for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror group, which has a history of suicide bombings, stabbing attacks on civilians and airplane hijackings. 

After Berkeley LSJP adopted the bylaw, it attempted to get other Berkeley Law student groups to also adopt it. The bylaw committed a group to not “host, sponsor, or promote” pro-Israel events and to mandate its leaders to participate in Berkeley LSJP’s “Palestine 101” training course “to learn ways to create a safe and inclusive space for Palestinian students and students that are in the support of the liberation of Palestine.”

On August 21, 2022, Berkeley LSJP celebrated a “BDS VICTORY!!” on Instagram, announcing [slide 2] that eight other Berkeley Law student groups had adopted the anti-Semitic bylaw. The post said: “LSJP is calling ALL student organizations at Berkeley Law to take an anti-racist and anti-settler colonial stand and adopt the bylaw into their constitutions ASAP!”  

The eight groups included Berkeley Law’s Muslim Student’s Association (BLMSA), Middle Eastern and North African Law Students Association (MENALSA) and the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA).

Around the same time, 30 members of the Berkeley Law faculty issued a statement “in Support of Jewish Law Students.” The statement said that groups adopting the bylaw “impermissibly exclude a large majority of the UC Berkeley School of Law faculty from participating in the work of these organizations.” Berkeley Law alumni, Jewish student groups and faculty at other law schools also condemned the bylaw as anti-Semitic. 

On August 25, 2022, Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky sent an email to student leaders criticizing the bylaw as “troubling.” 

On August 26, 2022, Chemerinsky was quoted in an article as saying that the bylaw “would exclude about…90 percent or more of our Jewish students.” He also said: “Indeed, taken literally, this would mean that I could not be invited to speak because I support the existence of Israel…” 

On August 27, 2022, the Jewish Students Association at Berkeley Law (JSABL) wrote an open letter on Medium, where they said: “[O]ur organization was one of the few affinity groups not contacted” during the process of the bylaw’s adoption and passage. 

On August 29, 2022, Berkeley LSJP wrote a statement on Instagram to the Berkeley Law community criticizing Cherminsky’s email. Berkeley SJP accused Israel of “genocide and apartheid” and of “murdering, disabling, and displacing Palestinian families day and night.” They also said: “Apartheid is a crime against humantiy [sic]...”

On October 6, 2022, Berkeley Chancellor Carol T. Christ criticized the Berkeley LSJP bylaw as “regrettable,” and in “direct opposition to our essential Principles of Community…”

Alhakim retweeted an October 7, 2022 Twitter thread from Palestine Legal (PL) that alleged: “Voting to boycott racist, pro-apartheid speakers on campus does not harm Jewish students.”

On October 21, 2022, Berkeley LSJP published a “Statement of Solidarity” with the other eight student groups that adopted the bylaw, claiming that they were subject to “baseless allegations of antisemitism.” The first group to sign the statement was the Student Association at Berkeley Law (SABL), the Berkeley Law student government.

The 169 individuals and groups that signed the statement included various SJP chapters, BDS groups and branches of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), an anti-Israel group. Also among the signatories was Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network (Samidoun), an NGO that spreads awareness about terrorists in Israeli jail and whose leadership includes three PFLP members [pp. 22–28].

Promoting the Anti-Semitic Bylaw 

On November 20, 2022, Alhakim promoted [00:04:36] the Berkeley LSJP bylaw with fellow Berkeley LSJP member Matt Fernandes on the “Middle East in Focus” segment on KPFK Public Radio. 

The interview was conducted by Estee Chandler, founder and “key organizer” of the anti-Israel Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) organization’s Los Angeles chapter (JVP LA).

Alhakim revealed [00:04:40] that SJP’s previous BDS strategy was to have individual chapters initiate a campaign to get student government to adopt BDS into their charter and to recommend that their university divest from Israel. 

Alhakim then explained [00:04:52] that with regard to the bylaw initiative, “a student came up with a bylaw, because they wanted to kind of, I guess, approach BDS from a different stance. So, instead, um, they went to individual organizations and had them democratically, um, adopt the bylaw.” 

Alhakim continued [00:05:16]: “So it was more of like a student-organization-by-student-organization movement to…basically solidify the stance that, you know, as a law school, we are all against the apartheid and the oppression of Palestinian people.” 

Alhakim then claimed [00:05:32]: “And, so the bylaw has nothing to do with, you know, people of the Jewish faith…but is more about…Zionism, and making sure that, you know, we do not support that in any way.”

Alhakim explained [00:05:48] that the Berkeley Law student groups that added a BDS bylaw to their constitution committed to refrain from financially supporting any companies “that are complicit and are gaining advantage from the…occupation of Palestine…as well as not bringing any speakers who hold Zionist views.” She claimed [00:06:13]: “[T]his is a comprehensive way of making sure that…all of us who have adopted the bylaw are in…support of our Palestinian students…and also people in Palestine...”

Later in the interview, Alhakim said [00:19:35]: “...I just don't see how there is any suppression…on them [Zionists], you know,just because they feel uncomfortable, which - you know, they should feel uncomfortable, for supporting a settler colonial state that is actively engaging in, you know, ethnic cleansing…”

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.