Miranda Mlilo

Overview

Miranda Mlilo [Miranda Sahyoun Mlilo] promoted the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement at the University of Maryland (UMD) and organized disruptions of pro-Israel events on campus.

Mlilo has supported anti-Israel agitators, demonized the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and has spread hatred of Israel

Mlilo was the 2016-2019 president of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at the University of Maryland, College Park (SJP UMD). She also served as the vice president of SJP UMD from 2015-2016.

Mlilo attended 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.”

As of August 2019, Mlilo was a member of the Facebook group the Muslim Association for Social Change (MASC) at UMD (UMD MASC), since February 2017.

As of August 2019, Mlilo’s LinkedIn page said she was studying Environmental Science and Policy at UMD, from 2015 - 2019. Her LinkedIn also said that she has been a Project Intern at the Community Engagement, Environmental Justice, and Health (CEEJH) Laboratory at UMD, since February 2019.

Promoting BDS

On April 24, 2019, Mlilo featured [00:00:58] in a video posted on Facebook by Divest UMD, urging the UMD Student Government Association (SGA) to pass a BDS bill.

Divest UMD is a campaign that calls on UMD to divest from companies that do business with Israel.

The clip was taken from another video shared on Facebook by the UMD SGA on November 17, 2017, where Mlilo was featured [00:35:15] speaking in support of a divestment bill at an SGA meeting.

On April 24, 2019, Mlilo was featured [00:51:06] in another video posted on Facebook by the UMD SGA, urging the SGA at a meeting to pass another BDS bill.

Mlilo said [00:51:12]: “As a black South African and as an Arab Palestinian, I know apartheid well, and my family has suffered so much as a result, so I don’t want one more person to come up here and tell me that what’s happening in Israel right now isn’t apartheid because you don’t know.”

Mlilo continued [00:51:48]: “Apartheid is a continuation of settler colonies on Palestinian land. “

Mlilo added [00:51:55]: “Apartheid looks like a seige on Gaza, where over 500 children were brutally murdered. Apartheid is Israeli only apartment buildings, white only elementary schools and Israeli only roads and trains.”

On April 25, 2019, Divest UMD announced on Facebook that following a UMD student government vote, the BDS bill failed to pass with “a vote of 9 for, 25 against, and 2 abstentions.”

On February 14, 2017, Mlilo reportedly told the anti-Israel website “Israevil.org” that SJP UMD planned to work with UMD’s SGA to create an anti-Israel divestment resolution that would “support the boycott” and petition UMD’s administration to divest from companies that promote “Israeli occupation.”

On February 12, 2017, the UMD student newspaper DBK News reported: “Mlilo said SJP doesn’t know what organizations this university may be invested in, but that they may file a public records request to find out.”

In April 2017, under Mlilo’s leadership, SJP UMD joined with UMD MASC, declaring that they would introduce an anti-Israel divestment resolution with UMD’s SGA “urging UMD to divest from Israel.”

On November 1, 2017, Mlilo gave an interview to Blog Talk Radio where she said [00:10:52] that SJP UMD was focusing on pushing for BDS on campus.

On November 17, 2017, Mlilo was featured [00:35:15] in a video shared on Facebook by the UMD SGA speaking in support of a divestment bill at an SGA meeting.

Mlilo said [00:35:59]: “Do we want to look back at history and find ourselves complacent with another colonialist power, that gains it’s dominance through apartheid and ethnic cleansing? A lot of students mentioned how their families had to flee or die. That’s horrible but that’s exactly what Palestinians are going through right now.”

Mlilo continued [00:36:37]: “Apartheid looks like a seige on Gaza as punishment for non-compliance, in which over 500 children were brutally murdered. And aparheid is Israeli only apartment buildings, whitle only elementary schools and Israeli only roads and trains. And this apartheid is mantained and upheld by companies that we as Americans choose to put our money into supporting.”

Taher Herzallah and Kareem El Hosseiny were also present [01:09:25] at the divestment hearing, holding up a banner that read: “#UMD Divest.” Herzallah serves as the Associate Director of Outreach & Grassroots Organizing for American Muslims for Palestine (AMP). Hosseiny is the AMP Government Relations Coordinator.

On November 20, 2017, UMD’s online student magazine Unwind reported that the UMD SGA Student Affairs Committee voted against a BDS bill in a 1-21 vote.

Following the vote, Mlilo reportedly posted to Facebook a comment that said that “(a)ny BDS campaign, whether it passes or not, is a success because it brings to light the blatant human rights violations being committed against Palestinians on a daily basis.”

Disrupting Pro-Israel Campus Events

On April 19, 2016, Mlilo organized [00:10:45] a “die-in” [00:00:24], disrupting UMD’s annual Israel Fest celebration. Mlilo was SJP UMD vice president at the time.

During [00:16:47]the die-in, students lay on the ground near the Israel Fest participants and blocked student walkways. Several SJP UMD activists refused [00:15:58] police requests to get off the ground and clear the area. Many demonstrators continued to occupy [00:18:43] the space in defiance of university rules and engaged [00:17:03] in heated confrontations [00:16:41]with campus police.

The demonstration began with a rally outside McKeldin Library where leading SJP UMD activist Mohammad Sajjad Soltanmohammadi — a supporter of both Hezbollah and Hamas — led chants [00:02:01] of “when people are occupied, resistance is justified.”

In 2017, Mlilo and SJP UMD reportedly requested from UMD’s administration that the name “Israel Fest” be changed to “Jewish cultural festival.” SJP reportedly issued a statement clarifying that, as an organization, SJP was against the country of Israel and not the celebration of Judaism.

Mlilo reportedly said: “Changing the name would allow for Jewish students to have a cultural event, without the high politicization of the name ‘Israel Fest.’”

On May 3, 2017, Mlilo organized [00:10:49] an SJP UMD-led “Boycott Israelfest teach-in” in front of a mock “Israeli Apartheid Wall” which was put up by SJP UMD.

Mlilo reportedly said: “We don’t want to be complicit in celebrating a country that has been militarily occupying another for so many years.”

Supporting Anti-Israel Agitators

On March 7, 2019, SJP UMD shared a group photo on Instagram of Mlilo with SJP activists and Eran Efrati, holding a Palestinian flag.

SJP UMD commented: “It was eye-opening and intriguing to hear from Eran Efrati about the deadly exchange between US Police forces and the Israeli Defense Forces! #freepalestine.”

Eran Efrati is an executive board member of Researching the Israeli American Alliance (RIAA) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP).

RAIA, in partnership with JVP, produced the Deadly Exchange report, which claimed to reveal “the extent of massive training programs between U.S. law enforcement and Israeli police, military, and the Shin Bet.”

In 2017, JVP launched the “Deadly Exchange (DX)” campaign, which accused American Jewish organizations of promoting human rights abuses. JVP also released a video that blamed [00:04:04] U.S.-based Jewish organizations for violence that occurs against Black and Brown communities, immigrants and activists in the U.S.
On February 14, 2019, SJP UMD shared a group photo on Instagram featuring Mlilo with SJP UMD activists standing in front of a blackboard with #IStandWithIlhan written on it.

SJP UMD commented: “UMD SJP supports Rep. Ilhan Omar in calling out AIPAC’s role in influencing US policy towards apartheid Israel! #istandwithilhan.”

Ilhan Omar was elected to the U.S. Congress in 2018. In February 2019, top Congressional leaders denounced Omar for tweeting anti-Semitic remarks.Omar has demonized Israel and endorsed BDS. In July 2019, Omar introduced a pro-BDS resolution in the U.S. Congress, which she described as “an opportunity for us to explain why it is we support…the BDS movement.”

Demonizing AIPAC

On March 26, 2019, SJP UMD shared a photo on Instagram of Mlilo with SJP UMD activists, outside the AIPAC policy conference holding signs that read: “END AIPAC”and “END THE OCCUPATION.”

SJP UMD wrote: “A few of our members went to protest the AIPAC Policy Conference! AIPAC lobbies to continue US support for Israeli violence, occupation, and apartheid conditions. 🇵🇸✌🏽.”

The stated mission of AIPAC is to “strengthen, protect and promote the U.S.-Israel relationship in ways that enhance the security of the United States and Israel.”
Mlilo indicated on Facebook that she attended a rally in Washington, D.C. organized by Al-Awda — The Palestine Right to Return Coalition on March 26, 2017.

The rally demonized the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and featured a lineup of speakers who have spread anti-Semitism. Among them was the rally’s lead organizer, Al-Awda co-founder Abbas Hamideh. Hamideh was called out in February of 2017 for promoting anti-Semitism on his Twitter account, by a prominent pro-Israel blog.

The rally’s Facebook page accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing” and demanded: “End the illegal occupation of Palestine from the River to the Sea!.” The chant “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free” — which Hamideh confirmed as a call to eliminate Israel — was a constant refrain at the rally.

Spreading Hatred of Israel

On November 1, 2017, Mlilo was interviewed in her capacity [00:07:47] as president of SJP UMD on a Blog Talk Radio show. The show was titled: “BDS, Israel and Palestinian Oppression: A Student's Quest to End Apartheid.”

After playing a song titled “Checkpoint” the show’s host introduced Mlilo and the topic, alleging that Israel was committing “apartheid” and alleging that it is worse [00:06:54] than apartheid-era South Africa.

Mlilo alleged [00:14:04] that “...because Israel was created as a Jewish only state and Palestinians weren’t Jewish that meant that only two things could happen, one they were going to be ethnically cleansed or they were going to have to leave.”

On October 11, 2015, during the Knife Intifada, Mlilo participated in a Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP)-organized protest in Washington, D.C. titled: “Boycott Hewlett Packard - Complicit with Israeli Apartheid.”

On October 14, 2015, SJP UMD tweeted a photo from the protest, that featured Mlilo posing with a JVP sign that said: “No Blank Check for Israel: End Unconditional US Aid.”

The event’s Facebook description said: “HP is complicit in Israeli apartheid...similarly to the South African Apartheid passport system.”

In October 2015, there was an upsurge in violence across Israel incited by Palestinian political and religious leaders. The wave of stabbings, known as the “Knife Intifada,” was characterized by young Palestinians throughout the country stabbing and attempting to stab Israeli civilians.

SJP UMD - Supporting Terrorists

On April 8, 2018, SJP UMD shared a photo on Instagram of Ghassan Kanafani and wrote: “Today is the birthday of legendary Palestinian author and PFLP member Ghassan Kanafani (1936-72).”

Kanafani was a leading member and spokesperson for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) during the terrorist organization’s early years. Kanafani announced the PFLP’s responsibility for the Lod Airport Massacre of May 1972 and was linked to the airport attackers. The attack killed 26 people and wounded 80 others.

On March 9, 2018, SJP UMD shared a poster on Instagram produced by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and wrote: “Poster of the First Martyr of the Intifada #sjp #intifada.”

The caption on the poster read: “Hatem Al Sesi First Martyr of the Intifada for Freedom and Independence.”

Hatem al-Sisi was killed after he reportedly attemptedto drop a homemade bomb on an Israeli military vehicle during the first intifada.

On the same day, SJP UMD shared another PFLP poster on Instagram and wrote: “Today is Martyr’s day A day to remember all who sacrificed themselves for their people and for human rights #sjp.”

SJP UMD - Demonizing Israel on Campus

On May 11, 2019, SJP UMD reportedly held a teach-in to “boycott the annual celebration of Israel Fest” organized by pro-Israel campus groups at UMD.

“Israel Fest” at UMD is an annual campus event designed “to celebrate and educate students on Israeli culture,” hosted by the Jewish Student Union.

SJP UMD’s teach-in involved activists gathering by a mock “Israeli Apartheid Wall.”

Shivam Shukla, an SJP member, reportedly said that the mock wall was “was meant to mimic the wall that separates Israel from Palestine” and “to block the festival from the view of passersby.” SJP UMD activists reportedly chanted: “Displacing lives since ‘48, nothing here to celebrate!”

The protest took place two weeks after the UMD Student Government Association (SGA) voted against a resolution that called on UMD to divest from companies that do business with Israel, on April 25, 2019.

The resolution was initiated by Divest UMD, a campaign that called on UMD to divest from companies that do business with Israel.

Billy Stranger, another SJP activist, reportedly said he hoped the: “boycott will inform the campus community so that when next year’s bill hearing comes around, they have a better understanding of the divestment movement.” ”

On April 19, 2018, SJP UMD organized a “Teach-In: Boycott Israel Fest”.

The Facebook event page description said: “This year, we ask that you choose not to be complicit in apartheid, genocide, and the enduring illegal occupation of Palestine. Instead of normalizing Palestinian oppression, SJP calls for a massive boycott of Israel Fest by the UMD community, and ask that you attend our teach-in instead, to learn more about why we are boycotting and how you can support human rights.”

On April 10, 2018, Nicholas Galloway, an SJP UMD activist, wrote an article titled: “After violence in Gaza, UMD students should boycott Israel Fest.”

Galloway described Israel Fest as “engaging in two very harmful activities: the normalization of Israeli human rights violations and the erasure of Palestinian suffering.”

He continued: “By holding ‘a day celebrating Israel,’ we are framing the long and painful history of Israeli violence against Palestinians as both normal and acceptable.”

2018 National SJP - Celebrating Violence

During the 2018 National SJP conference, anti-Israel activist Mohammed Nabulsi led the attendees in the chant [00:00:52] “Long Live the Intifada! Intifada! Intifada!”

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.”

Odeh was a key military operative with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization. In 1969, she masterminded a PFLP supermarket bombing that killed two college students. She also attempted to bomb the British consulate in Jerusalem. Odeh later moved to the United States but was deported to Jordan in 2017 for immigration fraud.

Abudayyeh added that he was asked [00:08:45] to talk about Odeh’s case, and praised SJP and SDS students who organized [00:09:15] “absolutely valuable” events on behalf [00:9:11] of Odeh, “as she was fighting to stay in the U.S.”

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 UMD - Celebrating the Disruption of Israeli Officials

On April 19, 2016, SJP UMD held a “die-in” disrupting the annual Israel Fest celebration — a non-political event held at UMD to celebrate Israeli culture.

During the die-in, students lay on the ground near the Israel Fest participants and blocked student walkways. Several SJP UMD activists refused police requests to get off the ground and clear the area. Many demonstrators continued to occupy the space, in defiance of university rules and engaged in heated confrontations with campus police.

The demonstration began with a rally outside McKeldin Library where leading SJP UMD activist Mohammad Sajjad Soltanmohammadi — a supporter of both Hezbollah and Hamas — led chants of “when people are occupied, resistance is justified.”

SJP UMD co-president Shane James led the chant: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” The chant, a standard feature at SJP rallies, calls for the dismantling of Israel as a Jewish state.

When some onlookers challenged SJP UMD for spreading propaganda, one SJP activist conjured the conspiracy theory: “When the textbooks are written and taught by the Jewish or the Israeli faculty? Of course they’re biased!” Another SJP UMD activist accused Israel of “genocide.”

Soltanmohammadi led the chant: “Netanyahu what do you say, how many kids did you kill today?” The demonstrators called for shutting down Israel’s “border wall” and accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing” and having “racist policies.” Some demonstrators held signs painted with simulated blood stains, reading: “Zionism Kills.”

Following the rally, Soltanmohammadi led the protestors in a march on Israel Fest, where — against campus rules — they laid down on an adjacent walkway for the die-in. During the march toward Israel Fest, they chanted: “Israel is an apartheid state. Israel is a terror state. Israel is a racist state.”

UMD MASC

On February 2, 2017, Sarah Eshera, UMD MASC founder and a Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at UMD (SJP UMD) activist, created the UMD MPA Facebook page. UMD MASC operates alongside SJP UMD to coordinate anti-Israel activity on campus.

On August 3, 2017, UMD MPA re-branded itself as UMD MASC.

UMD MASC and SJP UMD - Marginalizing UMD Jews for Supporting Israel

On April 27, 2017, UMD MASC and SJP UMD posted a co-authored letter on Facebook that promoted an anti-Israel rally at UMD. The “boycott” rally was timed to coincide with “Israel Fest” — an annual Israeli cultural event held at UMD, on Israeli Independence Day. The groups called the annual celebration of Israel’s independence on campus “unnecessary” and “insulting.”

UMD MASC and SJP UMD called for a “Mass Boycott of Israel Fest” and stated in their letter: “Our efforts may be wrongly confused with anti-Semitism, but we urge those who conflate this action with that sentiment to rethink the accusation … It is the country and its discriminatory policies that we oppose, and not the Jewish people.”

The letter said that Israel is “undeniably responsible for the displacement, imprisonment, and killing of thousands of Palestinians.” The letter added that Israel was an “apartheid state” that was “founded on the forced displacement of thousands of individuals” and that Israel was “the very country responsible for their suffering.”

UMD MASC and SJP UMD went on to demand that UMD’s Jewish Student Union (Maryland JSU), the festival organizer, prove that the event is “in fact a celebration of Jewish culture.” They also demanded that Maryland JSU change the festival’s name and remove tables promoting Birthright Israel and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Birthright Israel is a series of Jewish heritage trips to Israel for Jewish young adults from the United States, Canada and other countries around the world.

UMD MASC and SJP UMD ended their letter, stating: “We urge you to stand with Muslim and Arab Terps as their allies. We urge you to stand with justice.”

On May 2, 2017, UMD MASC and SJP UMD co-hosted their “boycott” of Israel Fest. The rally featured a barrier, emblazoned with “ISRAELI APARTHEID WALL” and promoted BDS. The barrier also featured text that said “FREE GAZA” and “NO BORDERS.” SJP members chalked "Boycott Israel Fest" all over the campus in the week preceding the festival.

UMD MASC and SJP UMD - 2017 Divestment Resolution

On April 10, 2017, Sarah Eshera — UMD MASC founder and SJP UMD activist — announced on Facebook that the UMD Student Government Association (UMD SGA) scheduled a vote on an anti-Israel divestment bill for April 19, 2017. Eshera stated that UMD MASC and SJP UMD jointly introduced the anti-Israel resolution.

On February 12, 2017, the UMD student newspaper reported on the launch of the BDS campaign and interviewed SJP UMD’s president, Miranda Mlilo. The newspaper wrote: “Mlilo said SJP doesn't know what organizations this university may be invested in, but that they may file a public records request to find out.”

As of May 23, 2017, the UMD student newspaper had no reportage about the scheduled divestment vote.

UMD MASC and SJP UMD - Promoting Anti-Israel Propagandists

On April 18, 2017, UMD MASC and SJP UMD co-hosted a BDS event featuring Taher Herzallah and Kareem El Hosseiny, in anticipation of a divestment vote reportedly scheduled for the the following day.

Herzallah serves as the Associate Director of Outreach & Grassroots Organizing for American Muslims for Palestine (AMP). Hosseiny is the AMP Government Relations Coordinator.

On November 27-29, 2014, Herzallah — at the seventh annual AMP conference — accused “progressive community” allies of viewing only Muslim “freedom fighters” who employed violent means as practicing “terrorism.” Herzallah then rhetorically asked: “What if, as Muslims, we wanted to establish an Islamic state? Is that wrong? What if, as Muslims, we wanted to use violent means to resist occupation? Is that wrong?...”

The April 18, 2017 event was originally billed as “A Conversation with Yousef Munayyer.” Munayyer is the Executive Director of the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR), formerly the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation (ETO).

However, on April 16, 2017, UMD MASC wrote on the Facebook event page that Munayyer could not attend and that “in his place we will have Taher Herzallah from American Muslims for Palestine. We're so happy to be hosting him!”

SJP UMD - Demonizing Israel

On February 26, 2017, SJP UMD released an online petition, titled “OFFICIAL STATEMENT ON BDS,” addressed to the UMD SGA and UMD President, Wallace Loh. The petition was circulated in anticipation of the anti-Israel divestment bill that was co-authored by UMD MASC and SJP UMD and announced on Facebook by Sarah Eshera — UMD MASC founder and SJP UMD activist, on April 10, 2017.

The petition alleged that Israel committed murder and claimed: “Innocent children are forced from their homes to make room for Israeli settlers.” The petition also condemned Israeli checkpoints, which were built to stop suicide bombings and other terror attacks.

The petition also cast Israel in the role of apartheid South Africa and stated: “In 1989, our university boldly stood against South African apartheid by divesting from the institutions which supported racist policies in that country. Our goal is to have our university take a strong stand against injustice again.”

SJP UMD - Misrepresenting BDS

SJP UMD’s online February 26, 2017, BDS petition, mentioned above, concluded with a paraphrased 2010 quote from BDS’ founder, Omar Barghouti: “The global BDS movement for Palestinian rights presents a progressive, antiracist, sophisticated, sustainable, moral, and effective form of nonviolent civil resistance to apartheid.”

Barghouti’s original quote spoke of “resistance for Palestinian human rights,” only. SJP UMD replaced that phrase with “resistance to apartheid.” The petition also prefaced its paraphrased Barghouti quote with the statement: “To ensure the safety and equality of Palestinians is to ensure the safety and equality of all.”

However, as early as December 13, 2003, Barghouti made clear that his goal is to create a “unitary state, where, by definition, Jews will be a minority.”

On May 31, 2009, Barghouti also said: “I am completely and categorically against binationalism because it assumes that there are two nations with equal moral claims to the land and therefore, we have to accommodate both national rights.”

SJP UMD’s online petition concluded with a core BDS demand, stating: “As proponents of BDS, we call for Israel to respect the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their home country from which they are currently exiled, as stipulated by UN Resolution 194.”

The BDS movement’s selective appeal to U.N General Assembly Resolution 194 (Article 11) has been discredited as a subterfuge to eliminate Israel. The non-binding resolution made no mention of the refugees’ ethnicity — either Jewish or Arab — indicating it was aimed at all refugees from the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

Resolution 194 urged that refugees be allowed to return to their pre-war homes, provided they were “willing to live in peace with their neighbors.” The Arabs unanimously rejected Resolution 194.

SJP UMD - Inciting Violence Against Israeli Jews

In the spring of 2010, SJP UMD hosted Obi Egbuna for its first Palestinian Solidarity Week — a variation of Israeli Apartheid Week — who reportedly stated that “the only good Zionist is a dead Zionist.”

On October 20, 2015, SJP UMD co-president Manar Dajani led an SJP UMD event deceptively titled: “Palestine Under Attack.”

October 2015 saw an upsurge in violence across Israel incited by Palestinian political and religious leaders. The wave of stabbings, known as the “Knife Intifada,” saw young Palestinians throughout the country stabbing and attempting to stab scores of Israeli civilians.

The attacks were sparked and fueled by Palestinian leaders propagating the libel that Israel intended to desecrate the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

SJP UMD’s Facebook announcement compounded the incitement, repeating the libel that the Israeli military was “occupying” the Al-Aqsa mosque. The announcement also featured an image with the phrases “Hands Off Al-Aqsa” and “Boycott Israel Now!”

The SJP event announcement further claimed: “In light of Israel's escalation of violence against the Palestinians, SJP is holding an emergency forum.” The announcement omitted any mention of the Palestinian terror campaign but alleged that “In the past two weeks, over 1600 people have been shot…” and continued with the incendiary libel that “dozens were killed by the Israeli police, soldiers and settler lynch mobs.”

On November 16, 2015 SJP UMD hosted Washington, D.C.-based Reverend Graylan Hagler who said that he was “sick and tired of hearing about ‘THE’ Holocaust… as if there has only been one holocaust in the world at any point in history.”

Hagler also romanticized Palestinian violence against Israel and compared Palestinian terrorism to anti-police demonstrations in Black American neighborhoods. Hagler stated: “As I saw the young folks jump off in Baltimore, it reminded me of the first and second intifada because you saw young folks with bricks and rocks standing up against glocks, the cops were on the run because the folks were mad.”

SJP UMD - Supporting Terrorists

As of August 1, 2016, an image in support of Rasmea Odeh was the group’s Facebook cover photo.

On March 3, 2014, SJP UMD tweeted an article in support of 21-year-old Musab Moussa al-Zaaneen who was killed in an Israeli airstrike. The article stated that al-Zaneen and others were “preparing to launch rockets” at Israel.

SJP UMD’s said in the tweet: “RT @allissonCD ‘An hour ago the Israeli air force dropped two bombs on #Gaza. A 21 year old was killed. http://tinyurl.com/mlqhahb ’ #AIPAC14.”

On November 15, 2013, SJP UMD shared an article from the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) praising Yasser Arafat’s 1988 declaration of Palestinian independence. The story showed photos of ISM agitators joining Palestinian militants to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Arafat’s declaration — by breaching Israel’s security fence, using sledgehammers and bolt cutters.

Yasser Arafat was the former leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and is known by some as the “father of modern terrorism.” Under Arafat, the goal of the PLO was the violent destruction of Israel.

The post also slandered Israel with unsupported allegations that Israeli forces used Palestinian civilians as human shields in its three-week Operation Cast Lead (OCL) against Hamas in 2008-2009. To support its claim, SJP UMD cited unsubstantiated and anonymous testimonies from the discredited anti-Israel organization, Breaking the Silence.

SJP UMD - Spreading Propaganda on Campus

On October 22, 2015, SJP UMD hung posters on campus of a map that showed lands that were controlled by Britain, Egypt and Jordan as autonomous “Palestinian Land” stolen by Israel.

In February of 2016, publisher McGraw-Hill Education recalled and destroyed copies of a college level textbook that contained the fraudulent maps. In October 2015, the United States cable news network MSNBC apologized for airing a similar series of maps and retracted them.

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.