Otra El-Miaari

Overview

Otra El-Miaari is a member of the General Union of Palestine Students (GUPS) at San Francisco State University (GUPS SFSU).

On Feb 10, 2013, El-Miaari tweeted "My Econ teacher is from "Israel" this should be fun.."

El-Miaari is a senior at San Francisco State University (SFSU).

Creating a Hostile Campus Environment

On April 6, 2016, El-Miaari and a large group of anti-Israel protesters shouted down Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, while he was speaking at SFSU.

The group — some carrying pro-Palestinian flags and wearing checkered kaffiyehs, raised their fists — bellowing: "Get the f**k of our campus!" and “Intifada, Intifada!” as well as “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free!” — a call for Israel’s destruction. The protesters continued, yelling: “If we don’t get no justice, then you don’t get no peace.”

Barkat’s personal security guards sprang to ensure his safety and a campus police officer arrived while student leaders from the event attempted to dialogue with the protesters. The protesters persisted in their disruption, forcing Barkat to move from the podium to sit with the audience, in an attempt to continue his talk.

On April 7, 2016, SFSU President Les Wong issued a statement condemning the protesters for the disruption and promised to open an investigation of the incident.

Spreading Hate and Disinformation

In September of 2014, El-Miaari took part in a GUPS SFSU campus event commemorating victims of the 1982 Sabra and the Shatila massacre, who were killed by Lebanese Christian militiamen.

After the 2014 event, GUPS SFSU made clear it blamed Israel and the West for the killings, posting on Facebook that the commemoration was for those Palestinians "who lost their lives due to Israeli and Western Terror. Especially to the lives lost in Sabra and Shatila Refugee Camp in Lebanon." That post continued: “A Free Palestine, means the end to Racism, Zionism, Capitalism, Liberalism, and all the isms that continue to oppress the people. May we always stand side by side, Hand in Hand, and our fits [sic.] pumped to the sky. FREE THE LAND! FREE THE PEOPLE! FREE PALESTINE!”

GUPS SFSU reportedly met Hillel and I-Team members, who presented an alternative perspective on the massacre, with "finger-pointing and name-calling." GUPS President Lubna Morrar added the claim that “our tax dollars go to fund these [Israeli] massacres.”

GUPS SFSU

The General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS) at San Francisco State University (GUPS SFSU) was founded in 1973. GUPS was officially founded in Cairo, Egypt, in 1959, to promote the political program of Fatah (also founded in 1959), among Palestinian Arab youth. GUPS is currently headquartered in Ramallah.

GUPS Promoting Incitement

On October 14, 2015 — during a month of spiraling Palestinian violence, directed mainly against Israeli civilians — GUPS SFSU posted on Facebook that it "supports the uprising in Palestine." The post continued: “We Stand with our Brothers and Sisters in the streets, and we will find victory!” The post also urged:” End to the colonist empire! We will not be silenced!” and called for an “End to the Zionist State!”

The following day, GUPS SFSU called on its Facebook followers to "echo the rage of our Palestinian people." The group fueled its call with a series of libels that have been historically violence-provoking, claiming “hundreds of Zionist settlers have stormed into Al-Aqsa,” “Zionist forces continue to violate and damage al-Aqsa by burning down doors, setting fire to the rugs … leading to the murder of 27 Palestinian youth within the past week and over 2000 injured.”

Similar propaganda incited the upsurge of Palestinian Arab violence in Israel, in late 2015. Hamas also called to violently "rise up and defend Al-Aqsa" and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas praised those willing to “martyr” themselves for Al-Aqsa — declaring that Jews would not be allowed to “desecrate” Al Aqsa with their “filthy feet.”

Referring to terrorists who were neutralized by Israeli forces and whose homes were later ordered demolished, Ereikat’s post said: "Along with the murder of our youth, Zionist forces have also demanded the demolition of their family homes in Ramallah, Surdah and Nablus. Ereikat’s post concluded with the claim that “Palestinian men and women have been surrounding each and every city day and night to protect the homes of their fellow people and to protect their cities from Zionist invasion."

In August 2013, then-GUPS President Mohammad G. Hammad posted a picture of himself on one of his Tumblr accounts, holding a knife — with the caption, "I seriously can not get over how much I love this blade. It is the sharpest thing I own and cuts through everything like butter and just holding it makes me want to stab an Israeli soldier."

News sources said that Hammad then identified a female Israeli soldier and said, “The only ‘peace’ I’m interested in is the head of this f*cking scum on a plate, as well as the heads of all others like her, and all others who support the IDF.”

GUPS Celebrating Murder

On November 7, 2013, GUPS SFSU celebrated a Palestinian mural on SFSU’s campus by setting up an art station for students to create their own placards, using a pre-made stencil with the words "MY HEROES HAVE ALWAYS KILLED COLONIZERS."

An article appearing on the Northern California International Solidarity Movement (ISM) website confirmed that GUPS SFSU provided an additional stencil, featuring an image of convicted airline hijacker Leila Khaled.

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 November 19, 2013 SFSU President Les Wong released a statement condemning the GUPS mural event as anti-Semitic. California State legislators issued a letter thanking President Wong for condemning "[c]elebrations of violence" and “hateful demonstrations [that] foster prejudice and bigotry” and “seek to intimidate the Jewish community.”

However, GUPS doubled-down. On March 9, 2016, the group posted on Facebook a photo of a mural featuring Leila Khaled — with the comment "Happy International Women's Day to all of the fierce women resisting colonial powers and repression every day!"

On February 21, 2016, GUPS held an event in support of hunger-striking Muhammad al-Qiq, whom Israel detained for Hamas terror-related activities. The GUPS event misleadingly characterized al-Qiq merely as a "journalist."