Nada Khalil

Overview

Nada Khalil has spread incitement and expressed supportfor terrorists. She has also spread hatred of Israel on social media.

Khalil was an activist with Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) at the University of Ottawa (UOttawa), and a member of the SPHR UOttawa’s Facebook group: “SPHR Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights uOttawa 2018-2019.”

SPHR is an alternative name for Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).

Khalil promoted the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement on the UOttawa campus.

As of May 1, 2018, Khalil’s LinkedIn page said that she was a Chemical Engineering undergraduate student at UOttawa, slated to graduate in 2019.

Spreading Incitement

On July 23, 2017, Khalil shared an Al Jazeera interview of anti-Israel activist Ali Abunimah, where Abunimeh alleged [00:01:00] that Israeli extremist groups seek “to take over the Al Aqsa mosque compound.”

Abunimah also downplayed a terrorist attack that killed two Israeli soldiers at the Al Aqsa mosque, stating [00:03:14] that metal detectors installed outside the mosque are “useless” and “not really there for security.”

Abunimah also stated [00:00:44] that “Palestinians see Israel inevitably encroaching and wanting to take over the Al Aqsa mosque compound, and the metal detectors are another sign of that.”

On July 14, 2017, terrorists murdered two Israeli police officers outside the entrance to the Al-Aqsa compound, reportedly following claims that the Al-Aqsa Mosque was in danger. In response to the terror attack, Israel installed metal detectors and security cameras at the entrance to the holy site, which the authorities later removed, after further rioting and escalation in violence.

Support for Terrorists

On May 15, 2017, Khalil shared a Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) post to Facebook celebrating a Canadian Labour Congress’ Emergency Resolution in support of “Palestinian prisoners’ #DignityStrike.” Khalil added emojies of clapping hands: “

”

“Dignity Strike” refers to a hunger strike initiated by Marwan Barghouti on April 16, 2017. More than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners participated in the strike – most them also convicted for acts of terrorism. Barghouti headed the Palestinian Authority (PA) terrorist Tanzim force and founded the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. He was sentenced to five consecutive life terms by an Israeli civilian court for some of his crimes, including his role in the Sbarro Cafe bombing.

On May 13, 2017, Khalil shared the “Ottawa Rally in Solidarity with Palestinian Political Prisoners” event on her Facebook page. The event was co-hosted by the anti-Israel organization Independent Jewish Voices Canada (IJV).

Demonizing Israel

As of May 1, 2018, Khalil’s Facebook profile photo featured a Handala illustration.

Handala is a cartoon representing a demand known as the Palestinian “right of return” to Israel. The “right of return” is a demand discredited as a means to eliminate Israel.

On March 30, 2018, Khalil shared a post to Facebook defending the Hamas-organized “Great Return March.” The post also claimed that “Israeli snipers were given the green light ahead of time to execute unarmed Palestinians who are simply marching home.”

On March 30, 2018, some 30,000 Gazan Palestinians approached Israel’s border to take part in “Land Day Protests” to kick off the “March of Return” — funded by Hamas and organized as a six-week campaign of violent protests along the border until May 15, 2018.

The march aimed to spotlight the demand of Palestinians to return to parts of Israel their families were forced to flee during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

The “right of return” is a Palestinian demand discredited as a means to eliminate Israel.

March participants sent scores of kites bearing explosive devices across Israel’s border to burn Israeli crops and homes. Participants also attempted to breach the border fence, which caused Israeli security forces to respond with live fire.

Agitators reportedly shot firearms and threw molotov cocktails, firebombs and rocks under the cover of smoke from burning tires.

On March 31, 2018, Khalil shared a post to Facebook that called on students to “make the connection between white supremacy and political Zionism” and condemned “anti-racism activists who fight white supremacy and call themselves ‘progressive,’ yet vote down BDS” resolutions.”

On March 11, 2017, Khalil shared to Facebook an article criticizing publisher McGraw-Hill Education’s decision to recall copies of a college level textbook that contained a series of maps suggesting that Israel stole Palestinian land.

The article also accused Israel of “colonial expansionism, land theft and ethnic cleansing,” and suggested that McGraw-Hill was “effectively burning books to placate the censorship demands of right-wing anti-Palestinian bigots.”

The maps claim that lands once controlled by Britain, Egypt and Jordan as autonomous “Palestinian land” were purportedly stolen by Israel. In February 2016, publisher McGraw-Hill Education recalled copies of a college textbook containing the fraudulent maps. In October 2015, American cable news network MSNBC apologized for airing a similar series of maps and retracted them.

On February 28, 2016, Khalil posted to Facebook a JVP poster demonizing Israel, under the title “Ten Days in Palestine, A Unique Holiday experience!”

“Attractions” listed included ‘a tear-gas filled weekend in an East-Jerusalem ghetto,” “activities for the kiddies, including...all night Shin Bet interrogation session” and a first aid-kit for “settler-inflicted beating.”

On February 24, 2016, Khalil shared a JVP post to Facebook that read: “Next-level Israeli apartheid needs next-level #BDS by international allies.” Attached to the post was link to an article titled “Beyond South Africa: Understanding Israeli Apartheid.”

On December 7, 2017, Khalil shared to Facebook the “Ottawa Rally: Hands Off Jerusalem” event, protesting U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and to relocate the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Pushing BDS on Campus

In March 2018, Khalil actively promoted an SPHR UOttawa co-sponsored divestment resolution against Israel.

On March 12, 2018, Khalil shared a “Say Yes to BDS!” event to her Facebook page. The Facebook event encouraged students to attend the Student Federation at the University of Ottawa (SFUO) General Assembly (GA) the following day and push the SFUO “to adopt the BDS as part of its policy manual.”

The divestment proposal failed to garner the required two-thirds majority to pass, with 241 votes for and 231 votes against.

On that same day, following the vote, Khalil shared to Facebook a speech promoting the resolution, given by IJV UOttawa-Carleton co-president Genevieve Nevin.

On March 25, 2018, SPHR UOttawa attempted to push the failed BDS motion at the SFUO BOA meeting following the SFUO GA’s winter assembly.

On that day, Khalil promoted on Facebook an event titled “Say yes to BDS: The Next step at the BOA.” The event description called on supporters to send “over 200 emails” in favor of the BDS motion to BOA members prior to the meeting.

The divestment vote again failed to reach the two-thirds majority necessary to pass the resolution.

SPHR UOttawa

As of June 2007, Students for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) at UOttawa (SPHR UOttowa)’s Mission Statement said the group was committed to the “struggle against the colonialist and imperialist policies of the Israeli government and the ideology upon which the state was formed.”

Since 2008, SPHR UOttawa has hosted and co-hosted Israel Apartheid Week (IAW) on UOttawa’s campus.

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.

As of May 3, 2018, SPHR UOttawa’s Facebook group description said that SPHR would advocate for UOttawa to adopt “the academic boycott of Israel” and divest “from all economic ties and investments in Israel by the uOttawa or its associated subsidiaries.”

In 2018, SPHR UOttowa worked closely with Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) and the Revolutionary Students Movement (RSM) at UOttawa to host anti-Israel campus events. These events included Israel Apartheid Week (IAW) and a divestment initiative.

On March 29, 2018, as part of IAW, SPHR UOttawa promoted on Facebook a film screening hosted by RSM that celebrated terrorist Leila Khaled.

SPHR UOttawa's Facebook post referred to Khaled as a “Palestinian revolutionary who became a household name after she became the first woman to hijack a plane.”

Leila Khaled is a leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and participated in the hijacking of TWA Flight 840 in 1969 and El Al Flight 219 in 1970. As of 2017, Khaled was a member of PFLP's Political Bureau. Khaled has said that the second intifada failed because it was not violent enough, advocated [00:36:07] for the use of children in terror activities and compared Zionists to Nazis.

On April 20, 2016, SPHR UOttawa posted to Facebook messages of solidarity to Palestinian prisoners from two Palestinian women involved in terror activity — Lina Jarbouni and Khalida Jarrar, in honour of Palestinian Prisoners day.

As of January 2016, Jarbouni was serving a 17-year prison sentence for aiding Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists during the second intifada and for conspiring to commit terrorist attacks.

Khalida Jarrar is a senior member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror organization. She has reportedly been the head of the PFLP in the West Bank since 2016. In 2015, an Israeli military court sentenced Jarrar to 15 months in prison for calling to kidnap Israeli soldiers. Israel arrested Jarrar again in 2017 “on suspicion of involvement with terrorist activities and violent public disturbances.” In 2019, she was arrested by Israel with 50 other PFLP operatives following a deadly 2018 bombing attack.

SPHR UOttawa - Co-opting the SFUO

In January 2017, the Students Federation at the University of Ottawa (SFUO) co-hosted IAW with SPHR UOttawa. Dhilal Alhaboob — an administrator for SPHR UOttawa’s Facebook group — served as SFUO’s “Campaigns Organizer” from August 2016 through March 2017.

At the beginning of the 2017-2018 academic year, Leila Moumouni-Tchouassi — a member of SPHR UOttawa’s Facebook group and Vice-President of Equity (VP Equity) for the SFUO — attempted [00:18:37] to strip Hillel Ottawa (UOttawa Hillel) and the Israeli Awareness Committee (IAC) of their club status.

After UOttawa Hillel and the IAC informed [01:32:41] the SFUO that [00:20:10] they would take legal action against it, their club status was reinstated.

On March 13, 2018, during the SFUO General Assembly (GA)’s winter session, Moumouni-Tchouassi explained that she tried to shut [01:34:20] the clubs down for “being pro-Israeli.”

Moumouni-Tchouassi defended [01:34:36] her decision to remove their club status "because of the stance that the SFUO has taken over time [...] for BDS" adding [01:43:11] that the SFUO “has taken pro-BDS stances in the past.”

When asked for clarification, Moumouni-Tchouassi said [01:43:19] “the SFUO has had actions, has made statements, has done pro-BDS work.” When pressed, Moumouni-Tchouassi added [01:43:26] “actions meaning protests, meaning statements - through the SFUO statements have been made, things like that.”

SPHR/IJV/RSM UOttawa - Pushing BDS

On November 5, 2017, Moumouni-Tchouassi — a member of SPHR UOttawa’s Facebook group and SFUO Vice-President of Equity — proposed [00:02:45] a Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) resolution during a SFUO Board of Administration (SFUO BOA) meeting.

Students were notified of the upcoming resolution vote only two days prior, on a Friday, hours before the onset of the Jewish Sabbath.

The resolution sought to amend the SFUO policy handbook to explicitly adopt and promote BDS. The initial BDS motion read, “The Student Federation of the University of Ottawa will support [the BDS] movement as well as take a Pro-Palestine stance.”

However, before the vote took place, Moumouni-Tchouassi proposed an amendment, changing the wording of the resolution to read “the SFUO will divest from industries and companies who actively support war and occupation including the apartheid regime of the State of Israel against the Palestinian population.”

The BOA rejected the amendment. Following pushback, Moumouni-Tchouassi amended [01:14:00] the resolution to remove all references to BDS. The amended resolution committed the SFUO to do “all in its power to peacefully resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

On March 13, 2018, SPHR, IJV and RSM at UOttawa jointly proposed a divestment initiative, during the SFUO General Assembly (SFOU GA)’s winter session.

This divestment proposal called on the SFUO to revise its policy manual and mandate that the SFUO “support this [BDS] movement as well as take a Pro-Palestine stance.” The proposal also called for the SFOU to “put pressure on the Board of Governors of UOttowa to support BDS campaigns.”

The proposal called for the SFUO to divest from companies “complicit in violation of Palestinian human rights,” to boycott Israeli artists and to “work for the cancellation of all forms of cooperation with Israeli academic institutions.”

The divestment proposal failed to garner the required two-thirds majority to pass, with 241 votes for and 231 votes against.

After the vote, SPHR posted on Facebook ”... this moment remains a victory for all students who stand in solidarity with Palestinian human rights.”

On March 25, 2018, SPHR UOttawa attempted to push the failed BDS motion at another SFUO BOA meeting. Once more, it failed to reach the two-thirds majority necessary to pass the resolution.

The following day, UOttawa President and Vice-Chancellor, Jacques Frémont, released a statement strongly denouncing the SFUO BDS campaign:

“This issue is divisive and a detriment to an open and welcoming campus environment,” said Frémont. “The University of Ottawa will have no part of the BDS movement nor any movement that boycotts academic institutions.”

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.