Maryam Alhassani
Overview
Maryam Alhassani [Maryam Nuha Alhassani] has expressed support for terrorists and campaigned for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns in 2017 and 2018, known as #DivestThisTime. She has also spread hatred of Israel and promoted an anti-Israel agitator.Alhassani was a “coordinating committee” member of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at GWU, according to an April 2017 photo and an article written by SJP at GWU activist Abby Brook.
On January 27, 2017, Alhassani appeared in a Facebook photo at the 2016 National SJP (NSJP) conference.
As of June 2018, Alhassani’s Facebook page said that she was scheduled to graduate from GWU in 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in Peace Studies and Communications. She was listed as working at Access California Services as of May 2018.
As of June 2018, Alhassani went by “Maryam Nuha Alhassani” on Instagram and Facebook. In June 2017, she was a member of the “Al-Awda Orange County California” Facebook group.
Support for Terrorists
On May 12, 2017, Alhassani appeared in a Facebook video leading SJP at GWU activists in a “Saltwater Challenge.”On May 4, 2017, Alhassani posted a photo to Instagram of her at a Code Pink-organized protest supporting the same Palestinian prisoners.
In addition to Barghouti, hunger strikers included terrorist Ahmad Sa’adat, the Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
Alhassani retweeted an October 2, 2016 tweet showing several murals, including one honoring PFLP terrorist Bilal Kayed.
PFLP terrorist Bilal Kayed was incarcerated for 14 years for terror attacks and attempted terror attacks committed during the second intifada, in 2002.
BDS Activism
On April 23, 2018, Alhassani appeared [00:52:48] in a Facebook video, where she spoke in favor of the #DivestThisTime BDS resolution before the GWU Student Association (SA).Alhassani’s speech came after a Jewish student, who told [00:51:19] the SA: “You are all forcing my community to fight hateful rhetoric against a place of safety for many and my personal homeland.”
Once the Jewish student finished, Alhassani responded [00:52:48] by quoting from a poem by anti-Israel poet Remi Kanazi, “You say that this divestment bill hurts your feelings?!”
Alhassani read Kanazi’s poem, claiming [00:54:44] that “our tuition dollars are profiting off death” and accusing [00:53:17] Israel of “terror.”
Also on April 23, 2018, Alhassani tweeted an image celebrating the #DivestThisTime victory and promoted SJP at GWU’s 2018 “Israeli Apartheid Week.”
Hatred of Israel
On May 14, 2018, Alhassani posted a photo of herself to Facebook with the caption: “#NAKBA70 WE WILL RETURN.” She commented: “It isn’t about narrative, it’s about occupation #freepalestine.”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.
The “right of return” is a Palestinian demand discredited as a means to eliminate Israel.
Alhassani retweeted a March 4, 2018 tweet that said “she sure is if youre palestinian” commenting on another tweet about Israeli actress Gal Gadot that said: “SHES REALLY TRYING TO KILL ME #Oscars.”
On May 2, 2017, Alhassani wrote on Facebook: “P.S. stop being PEP (Progressive Except Palestine). That is such a contradicting position one can take and it honestly is just outright racist.”
Alhassani retweeted a February 15, 2017 tweet that said: “#Netanayhu now exploiting completely irrelevant fear of ISIS to justify indefinite illegal occupation & apartheid in Palestine.”
On January 27, 2017, Alhassani tweeted a video that lauded a videographer for shaming people who took goofy “selfies” at the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin. The videographer superimposed the selfies on period photos of dead and starving Holocaust victims.
Alhassani wrote: “He should do the same thing but instead it would be all those Israelis on stolen Palestinian land #FreePalestine.”
On January 9, 2017, Alhassani tweeted: “It’s funny how Israel share the same colors as America- the white and the blue on the flag and the red on their hands #FreePalestine.”
Alhassani retweeted an October 23, 2016 tweet that said: “Israel's #IDF terrorists violations against Palestinians doubled last month, murdering children is their forte!
#BDS.”
Alhassani retweeted an October 16, 2016 tweet promoting BDS and accusing Israel of having an “Apartheid regime.”
Alhassani retweeted an October 15, 2016 tweet with an image claiming that Israel is “stealing” land and “continually breaks international law” in its quest “to a create a ‘National Jewish Homeland.’”
Alhassani retweeted an October 5, 2016 tweet that said: “That's one less #IDF Terrorist then #Israeli Air Force pilot dies after F-16 catches fire #RestInHell #FreePalestine.”
Supporting an Anti-Israel Agitator
On February 23, 2018, Alhassani posted a graphic on Facebook supporting anti-Israel agitator Ahed Tamimi.Alhassani also retweeted a January 19, 2018 tweet and a February 12, 2018 tweet supporting Ahed Tamimi.
Anti-Israel Activism
On May 16, 2017, Alhassani criticized the GW student newspaper on Facebook for an editorial board piece that urged student groups to facilitate increased dialogue about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, instead of pushing for a campus-wide divestment vote.Alhassani wrote: “This is a huge f**k you to all the Palestinians on campus and in Palestine. The GW Hatchet thank you for showing us how sh**ty you are and how Palestinians don't matter…”
On March 30, 2017, Alhassani participated in a “die in” with other SJP at GWU activists to promote that year’s BDS campaign. She was also featured [00:01:33] in the campaign video.
On March 28, 2017, Alhassani tweeted: “Come to our first event for our Divestment campaign!” The tweet linked to a Facebook event page titled “Why Divest?” hosted by SJP at GWU and Divest This Time at GW.
On March 26, 2017, Alhassani attended [00:14:42] an Al-Awda-organized demonstration against the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
On March 26, 2017, Al-Awda, a national anti-Israel group, organized a rally in Washington, D.C demonizing the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
Speakers included [00:13:27] Holocaust revisionist [00:00:54] Ryan Dawson, who incited [00:14:30] hatred towards Jews and called [00:14:21] AIPAC a “parasite.”
Protestors at the rally shouted [00:15:27] “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free!!” Al-Awda co-founder Abbas Hamideh, who has regularly spread anti-Semitism on his Twitter account, confirmed [00:02:52] that the chant is a call to eliminate Israel.
On March 20, 2017, Alhassani promoted on Facebook a SJP at GWU event that claimed to reveal “the deep connections between the incarceration of Black Americans and the continued occupation of Palestine by the state of Israel.”
#DivestThisTime at GWU 2018 - Instigated by SJP at GWU
On March 24, 2018, student groups at GWU launched the second BDS campaign in two years; both were titled “#DivestThisTime.” Activists with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at GWU (SJP at GWU) led both campaigns.On the campaign launch day, #DivestThisTime released a Facebook promotional video, in which activists alleged [00:01:23] that Israel has committed “crimes against humanity.” They also claimed [00:03:34] that Palestinians are “bombed every day” and blamed Israel [00:02:06] for police violence against black Americans in Ferguson, Missouri.
SJP at GWU held five events leading up to the launch of #DivestThisTime, which formed part of its 2018 Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW). IAW is presented as “an international series of events that seek to raise awareness of Israel’s settler-colonial project and apartheid system over the Palestinian people” and build support for the BDS movement.
#DivestThisTime at GWU 2018 - Demonizing Israel
During the hearing, many Jewish students said [01:09:05] they experienced [01:24:45] anti-Semitism related to #DivestThisTime. One student spoke [00:50:40] about the Jewish community’s pain when “this hateful and divisive resolution was proposed over Passover.” One Jewish Israeli-American student said [00:48:05] it “creates an environment where I am made to feel that my identity is taboo” at GWU.
One black Jewish student said [01:39:24] that an SJP activist told him he was “weaponizing” his identity when he asked why a clause mentioning the “discriminatory conditions black people face in the Gaza Strip under Palestinian leadership” was omitted from the resolution.
SJP at GWU activists mocked [00:52:48] or dismissed [00:39:50] concerns over anti-Semitism. Other resolution supporters voiced agreement [00:45:40] with the SJP at GWU activists, including one who claimed [01:04:13] that resolution opponents were stoking “racial fears and sowing the divisions.”
A number of Jewish students walked out [00:35:19] of the hearing to protest [00:33:21] the resolution and to protest the SA’s inaction to combat anti-Semitism within its own ranks.
On April 24, 2018, three of the four resolution co-sponsors — Joshua Gomez, Eden Vitoff and Shaheera Jalil Albasit — voted [00:09:59] against an amendment [00:07:15] that said: “Palestinians and Israelis, like all people, have the right to safety, security, and self-determination” and “Israel is a state and has the right to exist.” Jessica Martinez, the other co-sponsor, abstained [00:10:06].
On May 10, 2018, Al Jazeera published a report on Youtube about #DivestThisTime. SJP at GWU activists spoke [00:01:47] to passers-by on campus and stood next to a display [00:01:43] labeled the “Israeli Apartheid Wall” that demonized Israel’s security barrier.
Israel’s security barrier, 97 percent 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.
Pushing BDS at GWU
On March 27, 2017, SJP at GWU launched the Divest This Time campaign. The campaign’s name alluded to GWU’s declining to “divest from apartheid in South Africa” and called “for GWU not to make the same mistake with Palestine.”SJP at GWU - Palestine Awareness Week
On March 27, 2017, SJP at GWU launched Palestine Awareness Week (PAW). The kick-off of PAW was a speaking event that featured Angela Davis. The Facebook event page noted that Davis’ 2015 book, titled” Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine and the Foundations of a Movement,” purported to reveal “the deep connections between the incarceration of Black Americans and the continued occupation of Palestine by the state of Israel.”SJP at GWU - Promoting Anti-Semites and Holocaust Deniers
SJP at GWU - Promoting “Anti-Normalization”
On March 30, 2016, SJP at GWU hosted an event titled: “Why You Should Take Sides: Israel/Palestine and Normalization.”SJP at GWU - Saltwater Challenge
On May 12, 2017, Maryam Alhassani — led SJP at GWU student activists in a “Saltwater Challenge,” in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners then hunger striking in Israeli prisons.SJP at GWU - Hosting Right to Education Tour 2016
On April 5, 2016, SJP at GWU hosted “two Palestinian students from Birzeit University in the West Bank who are travelling the US on the Right to Education Tour.”SJP at GWU - Hosting Radicals
On April 9, 2015, SJP at GWU hosted a speaking event featuring Iyad Burnat — the coordinator of the so-called Bil’in Popular Non Violent Resistance Committee, has repeatedly equated Israel with Hitler and ISIS has been accused of personally attacking Israeli soldiers. The weekly demonstrations he has organized against the Israeli security barrier since 2005 have frequently turned violent.SJP at GWU – Celebrating Violence
On March 8, 2016, SJP at GWU shared, with supportive comments, photos of numerous women — masked by Keffiyehs — brandishing guns, firing slingshots and collecting large rocks.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.
Social Media and Weblinks
- Status:
- Student
- University:
- George-Washington
- Organizations:
- Al-Awda,
- BDS,
- more...
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- Last Modified:
- 06/23/2025