Maryam Khawaja
Overview
Maryam Khawaja has spread hatred of Israel, promoted anti-Israeli agitators and expressed support of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.Khawaja was an activist with Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) at the University of Toronto St. George (UofT St. George) in 2017 and 2018. SAIA is a chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) employing an alternative name.
Khawaja attended [00:01:06] the 2018 National SJP Conference.The 2018 National SJP conference was held on November 16-18, 2018 at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The conference was themed “Radical Hope: Resistance in the Face of Adversity.” The conference website stated: “[t]he reason we can have hope is that Zionism...can be destroyed.”
In 2015, Khawaja was affiliated with the Muslim Students Association (MSA) at UofT and as of April 2019, was a member of the UofT MSA Facebook group.
As of April 2019, Khawaja used the name “Maryam” on Facebook.
Spreading Hatred of Israel
Khawaja retweeted a May 14, 2018 tweet that read: “Israel has given Palestinians a choice: accept the humiliation of life in an open air prison or we shoot you. Go on, make that choice.”In May 2018, violent riots, instigated by Hamas on the Israeli-Gaza border, saw thousands of rioters attempting numerous breaches of Israel’s border fence, with
participants declaring their intention to harm Jews across the border.
Media reports confirmed [00:00:20] the March of Return protesters’ breaches and attempted breaches of Israel’s border fence, some by armed Palestinians. On May 15, 2018, senior Hamas official Mahmoud Al-Zahhar said that the Gaza protests were under a pretext of “peaceful resistance.”
On May 13, 2018, Khawaja tweeted: “Since you asked - This piece was so disingenuous, I had a hard time finishing it. A pain to read, it is just bad journalism + Zionist apologia for the settler-colonialism + ignoring the violent apartheid = perpetuating Israeli myth of a 1000s yrs ethno-religious ‘conflict.’”
Khawaja’s tweet embedded a tweet by American Muslim writer, Wajahat Ali, that read: “‘A Muslim Among the Settlers’: I took a deep dive for @TheAtlantic into the mindset and motivations of Jewish Settlers living in the West Bank & their role in the Israel-Palestine conflict. Give it a read & let me know your thoughts:”
On April 20, 2018, Khawaja tweeted: “There is nothing abnormal about this. It is completely ordinary for two settler-colonial states to uphold and celebrate each others' violent genocidal nationalist state propaganda!”
Khawaja’s tweet embedded a tweet that read: “The Israeli Flag will be flying at City Hall today in honour of Israel Independence Day.”
Promoting Anti-Israel Agitators
On November 29, 2018, Khawaja tweeted: “Not surprising but truly f**k CNN for this, for policing and punishing anyone who speaks in solidarity of Palestinians. @marclamonthill thank you for your words and bravery
”During the meeting, Hill reportedly whitewashed Palestinian violence and accused Israel of “state violence and ethnic cleansing.” He also called for a “free Palestine from the river to the sea.”
In September 2018, during a U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) conference, Hill insinuated [00:31:01] that Israel poisons Palestinian water and seemingly approved [00:30:34] of violence against Israelis.
On November 30, 2018, Khawaja tweeted: “Read @USACBI demands @CNN immediately reinstate Dr. Marc Lamont Hill.”
Khawaja retweeted a March 30, 2018 tweet by Salaita, that read: “We don't need to convince Westerners that the #GreatReturnMarch was nonviolent (though it was). Colonized people have the right to resist as they please. Besides, Israel considers nothing so violent as the Palestinian demand to return.”
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.
On March 29, 2017, Khawaja tweeted: “How does @stevesalaita go so hard with the truth every day. I can't wait to leave the evil that is UofT - if it doesn't destroy me first lol.”
On July 1, 2015, Khawaja tweeted: “A huge congratulations to @stevesalaita for his position as the Edward Said Chair at the American University of Beirut! All the best!
Supporting BDS
On December 6, 2018, Khawaja tweeted: “
” Khawaja’s tweet embedded a tweet that read: “Major #BDS Win @nyuniversity! Student Senate passes #BDS resoiution, voting 35 for, 14 against. Congratulations to @NYUSJP @nyujvp, and their many allies at NYU!”On October 11, 2018, Khawaja tweeted: “lmaooooo what even? there's no way a zionist court order can hold any weight for #bds activists citizens of another country to pay for ‘damages’ for something this ridiculous right? zios / settlers seem to be the most entitled people on this planet.”
The term "Zio" is a common derogatory reference to Zionists, as well as an often-used anti-Semitic slur among white supremacists.
Khawaja’s tweet embedded an article titled: “Jerusalem court orders BDS activists behind Lorde’s cancellation to ay Fan $12k.”
On January 19, 2016, UofT Divest shared a photo on Facebook of Khawaja tabling at the Varsity Stadium. UofT Divest wrote: “Come drop by and learn about the campaign!”
UofT Divest is a campaign calling on UofT to divest from companies that do business with Israel.
On November 13, 2015, UofT Divest shared a photo on Facebook of Khawaja tabling at the Bahen Centre for Information Technology. UofT Divest wrote: “Happening now!! Stop by and support the campaign.”
SAIA (SJP) Activism
Khawaja indicated on Facebook that she “went” to the SAIA co-hosted event titled: “IAW 2018: Nakba, Resistance, Return - Arts & Culture Night” on March 13, 2018.On March 12, 2017, Khawaja wrote on Facebook: “13th Annual IAW: https://www.facebook.com/events/785938064891029/ come thruuuuuuu.” The post linked to a March 9, 2017 event titled: “13th Annual Israeli Apartheid Week: 100 Years of Settler-Colonialism,” co-organized by UofT Divest and SAIA at UofT St. George, on March 9, 2017.
Mac SPHR - Israel Apartheid Week
SPHR Mac hosted and ran a two-week long “Israel Apartheid Week (IAW)” from March 6 until March 17, 2017.On July 23, 2015, Khawaja wrote on Facebook: “SAIA is phenomenal! Excellent work over the years, so proud to know that Israeli Apartheid Week started right here!”
Attending the 2018 National SJP Conference
On November 19, 2018, Khawaja appeared [00:01:06]in a video taken during the 2018 National SJP Conference.On November 1, 2018, Khawaja tweeted: “yooo help send UofT Divest #BDS & SAIA to the annual national students for justice in Palestine (#NSJP) conference this year!!! help us be better organizers for Palestine!”
On November 9, 2018, Khawaja wrote on Facebook: “The annual Students for Justice in Palestine conference is happening next week but as per usual predictable Zionist fashion, are trying to get the conference cancelled a week before it's supposed to start.”
Khawaja continued: “Help send SAIA + UofT Divest delegation to the conference! Donate/share” Khawaja linked to a Gofundme page to raise money to “Send UofT Divest BDS & SAIA to NSJP.”
On November 7, 2018, Khawaja tweeted: “lmaooo UCLA really tried to compare the NSJP logo of a bear wearing a keffiyeh to its ugly bruin bear logo....pls do better, really reaching with the kite inciting violence metaphor.”
2018 National SJP - Celebrating Violence
Since the early 2000’s, the term “intifada” has carried the connotation of violence. The second intifada was characterized by more than 120 suicide bombings targeting Israeli civilians on buses and in cafes.
Anti-Israel activist Omar Zahzah also reportedly [00:00:07] led National SJP attendees in chanting, in Arabic, “With our bodies and our blood, we will free Palestine.”
As of November 2018, the 2018 National SJP website glorified “radical hope and upfront defiance of Zionism,” citing as examples the “early revolts through the Intifadas to the Great Return March.”
The Great Return March of 2018 was organized and funded by the terror group Hamas as a campaign of violent protests along Israel’s border to spotlight the demand of Palestinians to “return” to Israel.
Tens of thousands of rioters gathered on Israel’s Gaza border, attempting numerous breaches of Israel’s border fence, with leaders andparticipants declaring their intention to harm Jews.
National SJP originally promoted a conference logo featuring a keffiyeh-wearing bear, looking toward a kite bearing the colors of the Palestinian flag.
On October 27, 2018, National SJP said the kite signified “the power in the Gaza March of Return.”
Since March 2018, March of Return participants and Hamas’s “Kite Unit” have sent hundreds of kites bearing incendiary devices and IEDs (improvised explosive devices) across the border into Israel to terrorize Israelis. The kites are often marked with swastikas.
By the time National SJP produced its 2018 conference logo highlighting the kites in October 2018, Gazan terror kites and balloons had ignited more than 1,300 fires in Israel, over seven months.
2018 National SJP - Undermining U.S. Support for Israel
On November 18, 2018, the US Palestine Community Network (USPCN) posted on Facebook the 2018 National SJP keynote speech by Hatem Abudayyeh, USPCN’s co-founder.Abudayyeh has supported [00:08:45] convicted terrorists, praised terror organizations, called for Israel’s destruction and is an activist in theBoycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
In his 2018 National SJP Keynote, Abudayyeh said [00:53:01] that the “specific role” of Palestinian and Arab students was to organize [00:53:42] in order to weaken “Zionist Israel” and force [00:54:23] the U.S. to “no longer provide it with diplomatic, political, financial and military cover and support.”
Abudayyeh predicted [00:55:37] that once U.S. support to Israel ends, National SJP attendees would return to Palestine as “conquering heroes,” end [00:54:38] the “occupation and colonization of all Arab lands including the Golan Heights” and replace “Zionist Israel” with a Palestinian state.
2018 National SJP - Whitewashing Terror Organizations
During his keynote speech, Abudayyeh also painted [00:14:01] terrorist organizations as “liberation movements” and “resistance organizations,” stating [00:14:21] “what we also know is that the majority of the resistance organizations in Palestine are on the U.S. state department list of foreign terrorist organizations.”Abudayyeh also celebrated [00:52:00] that all of the “armed resistance” organizations in Gaza are part [00:52:14] of a “unified resistance in Gaza, that includes all of the resistance organizations, working together under a unified military command.”
2018 National SJP - Defending Terrorist Rasmea Odeh
During his keynote speech, Abudayyeh claimed [00:08:28] that pro-Israel organizations “go after students like you,” adding [00:08:20] “just like they went after my friend and colleague, Rasmea Odeh.”2018 National SJP - Demonizing Israel and Jews
During his keynote speech, Abudayyeh defended [00:27:25] the “Irvine 11” — eleven Muslim Student Union (MSA) members who were arrested in 2010 for repeatedly shouting down former Israeli ambassador Michael Oren during an address at the University of California at Irvine (UC Irvine).Abudayyeh referred [00:27:37] to Oren as a “racist fascist speaker, representative of a racist, fascist country.”
Abudayyeh went on to claim [00:29:48] that “today, even in the United States, Israel is finally being seen as the criminal, apartheid, racist state that it is.”
Abudayyeh also called for increased action in the face of President U.S. Donald Trump, and referred [00:48:41] to Jared Kushner, Trump’s Jewish son-in-law and senior advisor, as “that pig son-in-law of his.”
2018 National SJP - Excluding Students
The 2018 National SJP Conference welcomed only students who were verified and vouched for by an SJP (or otherwise named campus Palestine solidarity group). Media requests needed to be “approved by the NSJP press team” prior to the conference.A November 7, 2018 Columbus Jewish News article reported that the Los Angeles City Council unanimously passed a resolution calling on UCLA to cancel the 2018 NSJP conference, stating that a “public university should not allow any group to implement a litmus test for event participation on their campus.”
On November 12, 2018, UCLA Chancellor Gene Block published an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times that criticized National SJP’s exclusion of members of pro-Israel student groups.
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.
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.
Social Media and Weblinks
Facebook:www.facebook.com/100004123206842Twitter:https://twitter.com/coconutmilki [Private]
https://twitter.com/proyams/ [Deleted]
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/proyams/ [Private]
Videos
Photos & Screenshots
