Nasreen Abd Elal
Nasreen Abd Elal’s Participation in the Pro-Hamas Encampment at Columbia University (Columbia)
Nasreen Abd Elal participated in the pro-Hamas encampment at Columbia in April 2024. Elal has also expressed support for terrorism and spread hatred of Israel.
Nasreen Abd Elal is an anti-Israel activist who linked arms [slides 1 and 4] outside Columbia’s Hamilton Hall after protesters illegally forced their way into the university’s building on April 30, 2024.
Protesters smashed [00:00:55] through a glass-paneled door, broke security cameras, threw university property out of the windows and unfurled [00:00:01] a banner in the building’s wall that read: “INTIFADA,” a term in Arabic for uprising or insurrection that carries the connotation of violence.
While barricading themselves in the building, agitators kept three Columbia custodians hostage and stopped them from leaving.
The encampment was also in support of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Columbia is located in New York, New York.
Activists protested Israel’s war against Hamas and demanded that Columbia “divest from companies and institutions that profit from Israeli apartheid, genocide and occupation…”
The action had reportedly been planned for months and was organized by the Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) coalition. The encampment was also organized by Columbia’s banned pro-Hamas activist group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the university chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). Activists reportedly received training from National SJP and other anti-Israel organizations.
Among the encampment leaders was Columbia student Khymani James who had said [00:00:25]: “Zionists…They are nazis!... They’re supporters of genocide! Why would we want people who are supporters of genocide to live?... Be glad, be grateful that I am not just going out and murdering Zionists.” Aidan Parisi, another encampment leader, responded to Columbia’s demand to disband the encampment by declaring online that: “COLUMBIA WILL BURN.”
The encampment was forcibly dismantled at the directive of Columbia’s president and administration. The NYPD [New York Police Department] entered the area, cleared the encampment and arrested more than 100 protestors, approximately 80 of whom were Columbia students. The students were charged with trespassing and suspended from Columbia indefinitely.
The next day, activists created a new encampment. When divestment negotiations with Columbia failed, protesters illegally forced their way into the university’s Hamilton Hall on April 30, 2024. They smashed [00:00:55] through a glass-paneled door, broke security cameras, threw university property out of the windows and unfurled [00:00:01] a banner in the building’s wall that read: “INTIFADA,” a term in Arabic for uprising or insurrection that carries the connotation of violence.
While barricading themselves in the building, agitators kept three Columbia custodians hostage and stopped them from leaving. When the NYPD raided and dismantled the encampment a second time, they arrested more than 100 students, nearly half of whom were reportedly not affiliated with Columbia.
NYPD shared on Twitter photos of objects the police found in Hamilton Hall. These included knives, hammers, gas masks, ropes and a pamphlet that read [video 1]: “...DISRUPT/RECLAIM/DESTROY zionist business interests everywhere! DEATH TO ISRAELI REAL STATE! DEATH TO AMERICA!...LONG LIVE THE INTIFADA!”
Just outside the encampment area, Jewish students were called [slide 2]: “Uncultured a** b**ches!” and were told to “Go back to Europe!” Activists also said [slide 3] to them: “Yahoodim [Jews], yahoodi [Jew], f**k you!” and “Stop killing children!” as they walked from campus to their dorm rooms.
Also just outside the encampment area, anti-Israel activists chanted [slide 5]: “Ya Hamas, ya habib, odrob, odrob Tel Aviv! [Oh Hamas, oh loved one, strike, strike Tel Aviv!]”, a chant that celebrates Hamas rocket attacks against Israel.
An activist just outside the encampment area held [photo 4] a sign that said, referring to the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing: “AL-QASAM’S NEXT TARGETS.” Her sign contained an arrow pointing to a pro-Israel crowd.
On May 31, 2024, Columbia SJP announced that its activists had set up a third encampment at the university. At the encampment, protesters reportedly displayed on a big screen a video that portrayed Hamas as a peace-seeking organization and made a sign that contained an inverted red triangle, a symbol in support of Hamas.
The Columbia encampment reportedly inspired a wave of protest encampments across North American campuses, where pro-Israel students were blocked or restricted from campus facilities. Jewish students were reportedly harassed in several other ways.
Protesters harassed Jewish students, blocked Jews from campus facilities and shouted anti-Semitic slogans. They occupied campus grounds, in many cases illegally, caused property damage, violently took over buildings, celebrated terrorism and promoted the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Activists set up encampments to oppose Israel’s right to wage war against the Hamas terror group following October 7, 2023, when Hamas murdered approximately 1,200 people, including 32 American and 8 Canadian citizens. Hamas also kidnapped 252 people, including 11 Americans and the bodies of 2 murdered Canadians. As of May 26, 2024, 125 hostages remained in Hamas captivity.
Elal continued: “In 2018…Palestinians in Gaza staged the Great March of Return, a series of peaceful weekly demonstrations along the Gaza boundary fence…”
During the 2018 March of Return, Hamas routinely directed its members to infiltrate the border between Gaza and Israel to train for an attack on Israeli communities in the area, leading to the October 7, 2023 massacre. For more information, see the Canary Mission page on Hamas.
On May 15, 2023, Elal wrote an article titled: “100 Years of Palestinian Popular Resistance” published in The Nation magazine. She wrote: “In the present day, commemoration of the Nakba elicits outrage and denialism. This dehumanization [of Palestinians] colors understandings of Palestinian resistance. Opposition to colonial rule—regardless of the form it takes, or the structural oppression that drives it—is systematically maligned as terrorism.”
Anti-Israel activists use the term “resistance” to refer to violence and terror perpetrated against Israeli civilians and their allies. It is used to glorify and encourage anti-Israel and anti-Semitic violence. Anti-Israel activists chant slogans such as: “Resistance by any means necessary!” and “Resistance is justified when people are occupied!” in response to terror attacks.
The article concluded: “...on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Nakba, the Palestinian Youth Movement will teach a free, three-part course, “100 Years of Palestinian Popular Resistance…”
On October 31, 2023, Elal contributed to an article titled: “Dispatches on the War on Gaza” and wrote: “In recent years, Zionist activists have responded to the campaign for boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israel with hundreds of bills across dozens of states that seek to chip away at the constitutional right to enage in political boycotts…”
Elal continued: “They have also pushed to legally redefine anti-Semitism to include criticism of Zionism and Israel…”
The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement falls under the definition of anti-Semitism set by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) which says: “Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.”
As of July 2023, over 40 countries have adopted the same definition.
As of October 2024, Elal worked as a graphic designer, illustrator, and researcher forVisualizing Palestine since 2021.
As of July 2024, Elal had been a member of PYM since at least 2023.
In 2021, Elal spoke at a rally and teach-in organized by the anti-Israel organization Within Our Lifetime (WOL).
On December 11, 2019, the Middle East Eye reported that Elal was a “student organizer” at Columbia with the anti-Israel organization Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). Columbia is located in New York, New York.
Elal graduated from Columbia with a bachelor’s degree in Middle Eastern Studies in 2020. Elal’s LinkedIn Profile said she attended Columbia from 2016 through 2020.
As of July 2024, Elal was located in New York City, New York.
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/nasreen-abd-elal-696579148/
Clubhouse:https://www.clubhouse.com/@nasguls
Nasreen Abd Elal is an anti-Israel activist who linked arms [slides 1 and 4] outside Columbia’s Hamilton Hall after protesters illegally forced their way into the university’s building on April 30, 2024.
Protesters smashed [00:00:55] through a glass-paneled door, broke security cameras, threw university property out of the windows and unfurled [00:00:01] a banner in the building’s wall that read: “INTIFADA,” a term in Arabic for uprising or insurrection that carries the connotation of violence.
While barricading themselves in the building, agitators kept three Columbia custodians hostage and stopped them from leaving.
The encampment was also in support of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Columbia is located in New York, New York.
Pro-Hamas Encampment at Columbia University
On April 17, 2024, Columbia students and anti-Israel activists set up a pro-Hamas “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” on the university's main lawn. Many participants were arrested and the encampment featured multiple violent incidents, including taking over a campus building and taking a university worker hostage.Activists protested Israel’s war against Hamas and demanded that Columbia “divest from companies and institutions that profit from Israeli apartheid, genocide and occupation…”
The action had reportedly been planned for months and was organized by the Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) coalition. The encampment was also organized by Columbia’s banned pro-Hamas activist group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the university chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). Activists reportedly received training from National SJP and other anti-Israel organizations.
Among the encampment leaders was Columbia student Khymani James who had said [00:00:25]: “Zionists…They are nazis!... They’re supporters of genocide! Why would we want people who are supporters of genocide to live?... Be glad, be grateful that I am not just going out and murdering Zionists.” Aidan Parisi, another encampment leader, responded to Columbia’s demand to disband the encampment by declaring online that: “COLUMBIA WILL BURN.”
The encampment was forcibly dismantled at the directive of Columbia’s president and administration. The NYPD [New York Police Department] entered the area, cleared the encampment and arrested more than 100 protestors, approximately 80 of whom were Columbia students. The students were charged with trespassing and suspended from Columbia indefinitely.
The next day, activists created a new encampment. When divestment negotiations with Columbia failed, protesters illegally forced their way into the university’s Hamilton Hall on April 30, 2024. They smashed [00:00:55] through a glass-paneled door, broke security cameras, threw university property out of the windows and unfurled [00:00:01] a banner in the building’s wall that read: “INTIFADA,” a term in Arabic for uprising or insurrection that carries the connotation of violence.
While barricading themselves in the building, agitators kept three Columbia custodians hostage and stopped them from leaving. When the NYPD raided and dismantled the encampment a second time, they arrested more than 100 students, nearly half of whom were reportedly not affiliated with Columbia.
NYPD shared on Twitter photos of objects the police found in Hamilton Hall. These included knives, hammers, gas masks, ropes and a pamphlet that read [video 1]: “...DISRUPT/RECLAIM/DESTROY zionist business interests everywhere! DEATH TO ISRAELI REAL STATE! DEATH TO AMERICA!...LONG LIVE THE INTIFADA!”
Just outside the encampment area, Jewish students were called [slide 2]: “Uncultured a** b**ches!” and were told to “Go back to Europe!” Activists also said [slide 3] to them: “Yahoodim [Jews], yahoodi [Jew], f**k you!” and “Stop killing children!” as they walked from campus to their dorm rooms.
Also just outside the encampment area, anti-Israel activists chanted [slide 5]: “Ya Hamas, ya habib, odrob, odrob Tel Aviv! [Oh Hamas, oh loved one, strike, strike Tel Aviv!]”, a chant that celebrates Hamas rocket attacks against Israel.
An activist just outside the encampment area held [photo 4] a sign that said, referring to the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing: “AL-QASAM’S NEXT TARGETS.” Her sign contained an arrow pointing to a pro-Israel crowd.
On May 31, 2024, Columbia SJP announced that its activists had set up a third encampment at the university. At the encampment, protesters reportedly displayed on a big screen a video that portrayed Hamas as a peace-seeking organization and made a sign that contained an inverted red triangle, a symbol in support of Hamas.
The Columbia encampment reportedly inspired a wave of protest encampments across North American campuses, where pro-Israel students were blocked or restricted from campus facilities. Jewish students were reportedly harassed in several other ways.
Background on Pro-Hamas Encampments
The encampment was one of over 140 pro-Hamas and anti-Israel college encampments set up in North America, and over 20 more globally, in the spring of 2024. The first began on April 17, 2024, at Columbia University. The encampments were unofficially known as the “student intifada,” borrowing a term associated with terrorist violence.Protesters harassed Jewish students, blocked Jews from campus facilities and shouted anti-Semitic slogans. They occupied campus grounds, in many cases illegally, caused property damage, violently took over buildings, celebrated terrorism and promoted the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Activists set up encampments to oppose Israel’s right to wage war against the Hamas terror group following October 7, 2023, when Hamas murdered approximately 1,200 people, including 32 American and 8 Canadian citizens. Hamas also kidnapped 252 people, including 11 Americans and the bodies of 2 murdered Canadians. As of May 26, 2024, 125 hostages remained in Hamas captivity.
For more information on the October 7, 2023 terror attacks, see the Canary Mission page on Hamas.
Nasreen Abd Elal’s Support for Terrorism
On October 31, 2023, Elal contributed to an article titled: “Dispatches on the War on Gaza”published in The Drift magazine. Elal wrote: “During the First Intifada, between 1987 and 1993, Palestinians took to the streets in overwhelmingly nonviolent demonstrations…”The first intifada lasted from 1987 to 1991 and resulted in over 120 Israeli civilian casualties. Palestinian terrorists hijacked multiple buses and carried out shooting, stabbing and bombing attacks against Israelis, including the bombing of the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem.
Elal continued: “In 2018…Palestinians in Gaza staged the Great March of Return, a series of peaceful weekly demonstrations along the Gaza boundary fence…”
On March 30, 2018, about 30,000 Gazans approached Israel’s border fence to join in “Land Day Protests,” which were also called the “March of Return.” The march was organized and funded by Hamas as a campaign of violent protests to spotlight the “right of return,” a policy 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 the Israeli Defense Forces to respond with live fire. Agitators also threw Molotov cocktails and firebombs, shot firearms and threw rocks.
During the 2018 March of Return, Hamas routinely directed its members to infiltrate the border between Gaza and Israel to train for an attack on Israeli communities in the area, leading to the October 7, 2023 massacre. For more information, see the Canary Mission page on Hamas.
On May 15, 2023, Elal wrote an article titled: “100 Years of Palestinian Popular Resistance” published in The Nation magazine. She wrote: “In the present day, commemoration of the Nakba elicits outrage and denialism. This dehumanization [of Palestinians] colors understandings of Palestinian resistance. Opposition to colonial rule—regardless of the form it takes, or the structural oppression that drives it—is systematically maligned as terrorism.”
The term “Nakba” is generally translated as “catastrophe” in Arabic, referring to the outcome of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It is a term used to delegitimize the creation of the State of Israel by drawing a comparison to the Holocaust, known in Hebrew as the Shoah, meaning “catastrophe.”
Anti-Israel activists use the term “resistance” to refer to violence and terror perpetrated against Israeli civilians and their allies. It is used to glorify and encourage anti-Israel and anti-Semitic violence. Anti-Israel activists chant slogans such as: “Resistance by any means necessary!” and “Resistance is justified when people are occupied!” in response to terror attacks.
The article concluded: “...on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Nakba, the Palestinian Youth Movement will teach a free, three-part course, “100 Years of Palestinian Popular Resistance…”
Nasreen Abd Elal’s Hatred of Israel
On August 7, 2024, Capire, “a feminist people’s media portal that fosters a militant point of view…” published on its YouTube channel an interview with Elal, who said: “ [00:00:47]: “For Palestinian women, there is no liberation from patriarchy without liberation from Zionism.”Zionism is the belief that Jews have the right to self-determination in their own national home, and the right to develop their national culture. Zionism is a core part of the identity of most Jews.
On October 31, 2023, Elal contributed to an article titled: “Dispatches on the War on Gaza” and wrote: “In recent years, Zionist activists have responded to the campaign for boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israel with hundreds of bills across dozens of states that seek to chip away at the constitutional right to enage in political boycotts…”
Elal continued: “They have also pushed to legally redefine anti-Semitism to include criticism of Zionism and Israel…”
The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement falls under the definition of anti-Semitism set by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) which says: “Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.”
As of July 2023, over 40 countries have adopted the same definition.
Nasreen Abd Elal’s Anti-Israel Activism, Work and Education
Nasreen Abd Elal is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.As of October 2024, Elal worked as a graphic designer, illustrator, and researcher forVisualizing Palestine since 2021.
As of July 2024, Elal had been a member of PYM since at least 2023.
In 2021, Elal spoke at a rally and teach-in organized by the anti-Israel organization Within Our Lifetime (WOL).
On December 11, 2019, the Middle East Eye reported that Elal was a “student organizer” at Columbia with the anti-Israel organization Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). Columbia is located in New York, New York.
Elal graduated from Columbia with a bachelor’s degree in Middle Eastern Studies in 2020. Elal’s LinkedIn Profile said she attended Columbia from 2016 through 2020.
As of July 2024, Elal was located in New York City, New York.
Social Media and Weblinks
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/nas.abdelalLinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/nasreen-abd-elal-696579148/
Clubhouse:https://www.clubhouse.com/@nasguls
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Infamous Quotes
“For Palestinian women, there is no liberation from patriarchy without liberation from Zionism.”
