Masa Hamwi

Overview

Masa Hamwi engaged in anti-Israel activism as the external vice president of Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) at McMaster University (McMaster) in Hamilton, Ontario in 2016-2017. SPHR is an alternative name for Students For Justice In Palestine (SJP).

For more information see the SPHR McMaster Chapter Profile.

As of September 2023, Hamwi’s LinkedIn profile said she was slated to receive a JD from Osgoode Hall Law School at York University (Osgoode York U) in 2023 and has been a volunteer in the FCJ Refugee Centre since October 2022.

As of the same date, Hamwi has also been a research assistant at Osgoode and a volunteer at global law search engine Global-Regulation since May 2022.

As of September 2023, Hamwi was listed as a research assistant for “The Great Land Grab.” Hamwi’s profile said she “dedicated much of her work in academia to Palestinian Indigenous rights” and that “[h]er research in law school thus far has discoursed around the impacts of the illegal occupation and exploitation of Palestinian land and agriculture and the different international legal violations that has and continues to take place as a result.”

As of September 2023, Hamwi’s LinkedIn said she graduated from McMaster with a master’s degree in political science in 2021 and a bachelor’s degree in political science in 2019.

In November 2020, Hamwi was listed [p. 11] in the McMaster Convocation Fall 2020 Program as having received a master’s degree in political science.

As of August 2023, Hamwi’s LinkedIn said she was located in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.

Anti-Israel Activism (SPHR)

In 2017, Hamwi indicated on Facebook that she attended Israel Apartheid Week (IAW) at McMaster, hosted by SPHR McMaster on campus from March 6-17.

Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) is presented internationally as a “series of events that seeks to raise awareness of…Israel’s settler-colonial project and apartheid system over the Palestinian people.” One of its goals is to build support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. IAW has been renamed Palestine Awareness Week.

Hamwi indicated on Facebook that she went to a March 16, 2017 IAW 2017 event titled: “From Intifada to Liberation - Defeating Colonialism & Imperialism.”

The term “intifada,” which translates from Arabic as “uprising” or “insurrection,” carries the connotation of violence. Palestinian intifadas waged against Israel have been marked since 1987 by hundreds of hijackings, shootings, stabbings, bombings and suicide missions.

Hamwi indicated on Facebook that shewent to a March 9, 2017 IAW 2017 SPHR McMaster event titled: “Decolonial Narratives: Settler Colonialism in Canada & Palestine.”

The event’s Facebook description read: “Have you ever had questions about the comparisons between Canada and Israel as settler-colonial entities? This event is a panel that will connect the indigenous struggles of North American Indigenous groups and Palestinians.”

On Hamwi indicated on Facebook that she went to a March 8, 2017 IAW 2017 event co-hosted by 2017 SPHR President Lina Assi that featured a screening of “The Lab.”

The event’s Facebook description said: “Since 9/11, the Israeli arms industries are doing bigger business than ever before. Large Israeli companies develop and test the vessels of future warfare, which is then sold worldwide by private Israeli agents, who manipulate a network of Israeli politicians and army commanders, while Israeli theoreticians explain to various foreign countries how to defeat civil and para-military resistance.”

The event’s Facebook description continued: “The film reveals The Lab, which has transformed the Israeli military occupation of Gaza and the West Bank from a burden to a marketable, highly profitable, national asset."

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.