Neda Awwad

Overview

Neda Awwad is a member of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) and has organised fundraising events for SJP.

Awwad is heavily involved in the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement on the UC Davis Campus.

Awwad is a student at UC Davis, majoring in Community and Regional Development. She also serves on the Associated Students at UC Davis (ASUCD) Committee for Student Health and Wellness.

BDS on Campus 2014

Awwad was a co-author of the student senate divestment resolutions at UC Davis in January 2015 and in May 2015.The January 2015 resolution was introduced after a student senate divestment resolution at UC Davis failed in April 2014.In May 2014, Awwad was one of several pro-divestment students, who signed an open letter condemning the ASUCD Senate for not passing the April 2014 resolution described below. The letter intoned that those voting against the resolution considered 'the tears of the anti-divestment community' worth more than 'Palestinian blood.

The April 2014 resolution called on the University of California’s Board of Regents to divest from corporations “that aid in the Israeli occupation of Palestine...”

The resolution also referred to divestment as “a time-honored tactic that contributed significantly to ending apartheid in South Africa.” The resolution failed to pass, with the ASUCD evenly divided. The ASUCD Vice President refused to break the tie.

In January 2015, another hearing was called to push an expanded version of the resolution, which added additional companies doing business in Israel to the divestment lists.

Following speeches from those supporting and opposing the bill, the anti-divestment advocates — about a third of the attendees — participated in a walk-out. As they left, a large group of pro-divestment promoters chanted “Allahu Akhbar!” The January 2015 resolution passed, 8-2-2.

Following the passage of the divestment bill, Azka Fayyaz, one of the council members who voted for the resolution, posted on Facebook “Hamas & Sharia law have taken over UC Davis. Brb crying over the resilience.”

Later, in an open letter to the student community, Fayyaz insisted her comment was “satirical” and attacked “the leadership of AEPi, the Jewish fraternity at UC Davis, and Aggies for Israel,” claiming they reported the contents of her profile to “the Zionist lobby groups which they have been paid to represent.”

A week after the resolution passed, unidentified vandals spray-painted two large swastikas on a house belonging to the Jewish fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi).

On January 30, 2015, UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi issued a statement that the resolution to divest did not reflect the position of UC Davis or the University of California system.

On February 19, 2015, the university’s Court of Associated Students overturned the January 2015 resolution as unconstitutional, on the grounds that it was "primarily a political document" with insufficient relevance to student welfare on campus.

In May 2015,a revised resolution was submitted alleging that "enabling Israel’s occupation of Palestine compromises the integrity of students’ education." The May 2015 resolution passed, 10-0-2.

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.