Pearson Bolt
Overview
Pearson Bolt [Pearson L Bolt] has called for the destruction of America, expressed support for violent protesters, demonized Israel and engaged in anti-Israel activism.Bolt was an activist with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Florida State University (FSU) in 2019 and 2020.
In June 2020, Bolt supported FSU SJP member Ahmad Daraldik, while Daraldik was embroiled in an anti-Semitism controversy.
In August 2020, Bolt was the “Organizing Chair” of FSU’s Graduate Assistants United (GAU).
As of July 2021, Bolt’s LinkedIn page said he was a “Visiting Instructor” at the University of Central Florida (UCF) since August 2016, where he graduated with a master’s degree in 2016, as well as a bachelor's degree in 2013.
Bolt’s LinkedIn also said he was a Graduate Teaching Assistant at UCF from “Aug 2015 - May 2016.”
Also, as of July 2021, Bolt was listed as the Assistant Director of the Center for Participation Education (CPE) at FSU and hosted a weekly podcast called “Coffee With Comrades” since July 7, 2018.
In February 2020, Bolt was reportedly a doctoral student in FSU’s Literature, Media and Culture program in the English Department at FSU. As of July 2021, Bolt indicated on Twitter that he was a “PhD candidate.”
Calling for the Destruction of America
The term “Amerikkka” uses the initials of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) as a way to demonize America as “fascist or racist.”
On March 26, 2020, Bolt tweeted: “nothing like a good cuppa death to AmeriKKKa to get the day started…”
Bolt’s tweet was in response to another tweet that said: “It’s a good morning to say death to america.”
On March 30, 2018, some 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza approached Israel’s border to take part in “Land Day Protests” or the “March of Return.” The violent demonstrations were instigated by Hamas on the Israeli-Gaza border. Participants declared their intention to harm Jews across the border under the pretext of “peaceful resistance.”
March participants sent scores of kites bearing explosive devices across Israel’s border to burn Israeli crops and homes. Rioters also made numerous attempts to breach Israel’s border fence, which caused the Israeli Defense Forces to respond with live fire.
On May 14, 2018, Bolt tweeted: “Israeli troops kill dozens of Palestinian protesters as U.S. embassy opens in Jerusalem. The U.S. funnels billions of dollars into the Israeli military. U.S. tax dollars helped kill these protesters and hundreds more just like them since March.”
In December 2017, the U.S. government announced its decision to formally recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and to relocate the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Also on May 14, 2018, Bolt tweeted: “Thousands more Palestinians have been wounded by Israeli snipers—1,700 have been injured today alone! The genocidal occupation of Palestine is one of the gravest crises of our time, a deliberate, inhuman campaign of bloodshed. Love & solidarity to those courageously protesting.”
On May 15, 2018, Bolt tweeted: “The U.S. sponsors a rogue, genocidal, apartheid state with billions of dollars in arms and ammunition and then blocks the United Nations’ call for an independent probe into the massacre yesterday in Gaza.”
On May 16, 2018, a Hamas senior official, Salah al-Bardawil, stated that 50 out of 62 protesters killed during the May 14 Gaza border protest were Hamas operatives. Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) also claimed that three of its members were killed at the same protest.
The tweet referred to a July 5, 2020 anti-Israel protest, co-hosted by FSU SJP and titled “Day of Rage.”
The Facebook event description page said: “In the wake of global uprisings against police brutality and white supremacy, our police departments continue participating in the Deadly Exchange: learning ‘counter-terrorism’ strategies from the IDF to militarize Black and brown communities here, and teaching stop-and-frisk strategies to the Israeli police to harass Black and brown communities in occupied Palestine.”
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 December 3, 2019, Bolt published a “Coffee With Comrades” podcast called: "From the River to the Sea" featuring FSU SJP’s then-president, Shelby Shoup. The description read “We talk about the Palestinian struggle against the apartheid ethnostate of Israel...”
Shoup was arrested and charged with battery in 2018. Shoup has also defended terrorists, supported violent protesters and demonized Zionism.
During the podcast, Shoup instructed [01:17:51] listeners on how to get “plugged in with an SJP.” She also described [00:32:13] her experience at the second National SJP conference as “really cool.”
Bolt claimed [00:38:38] that Israel carried out apartheid in Palestine and referred to Israel’s Operation Black Belt as [00:39:04] “a string of IDF [Israel Defense Force] murders.”
Also on December 3, 2019, Bolt tweeted: “Currently workin’ on an @FSU4Palestine zine with @SerenaViolaart, @teenfoamparty, and others and I couldn’t be more stoked for what we’re cookin’ up.””
On October 21, 2019, FSU SJP hosted an event titled: “GBM: Socialism in Palestine: Past, Present and Future.” On the same day, FSU SJP thanked Bolt in a Facebook post for “giving us the lowdown on the Democratic Socialists of America endorsement of #BDS! 🇵🇸✊.”
On October 10, 2019, Bolt posed in an FSU SJP group photo. The Facebook post read: “WE’RE GOING TO THE NSJP CONFERENCE 🙌 After 50 minutes of tense debate, the Student Senate voted to pass Resolution 42 with no amendments, granting us $1,344 in travel assistance! Thank you so much to everyone who came out, your presence really made a difference. Onto the next victory! ✊.”
On October 7, 2019, FSU SJP shared a photo to Facebook that featured Bolt and other activists referred to as “SJP fam [family]” from an event titled “GBM [General Board Meeting]: Apartheid 101: Palestine, South Africa & the Jim Crow South.”
The Facebook event description said: “Although supporters of Israel balk at the application of the term ‘apartheid’ to the situation in Palestine, nothing could more aptly describe Palestinian life… The parallels are so stark that the infamous Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian civil and human rights is modeled after boycotts against apartheid South Africa.”
The description also said: “Angela Davis, Cornel West, Robin Kelley and many other prominent public figures have evoked the Jim Crow analogy -- some claiming that the conditions in the West Bank are sometimes even worse than those in the 1950s South.”
Robin Kelley is a leader within the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and an advisory board member of the U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI).
Bolt signed a June 2020 FSU SJP statement in support of Daraldik.
On June 12, 2020, Bolt tweeted: “I urge folks—especially those who go to FSU or call Tallahassee home—to sign this letter in support of and in solidarity with Ahmad Daraldik, FSU’s Student Senate President. From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free!”
On June 17, 2020, Bolt tweeted: “I urge everyone to do this. I wrote a letter in support of Ahmad Daraldik, which you can read at length here… From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free!”
Bolt addressed his letter to FSU’s Student Government Association (SGA) Senators “affirming the character of Daraldik” as “kind and gentle” and also encouraging them [senate body] to “vote ‘no’ in the event that a vote of no confidence be raised against Ahmad.”
According to FSU's website, the SGA provides students “with representation, services, and advocacy within the university structure.”
On December 3, 2019, FSU SJP held a meeting about launching a divestment campaign against Israel. The event description said: “We are preparing to launch a campaign to pressure Florida State University to divest from companies that knowingly profit off of Palestinian oppression. Please come out to our new weekly Divestment working group meetings to strategize and build together!”
On November 26, 2019, FSU SJP held an event titled “Divestment Working Group Meeting.” The Facebook description for the event said participants would “research Divestment campaigns on other North American campuses, including the language of their Divestment resolutions and what tactics they employed to win student support.”
The event description also said “It's going to be a long and difficult road to introducing and passing a Divestment resolution to the Student Senate this year, but we think it's possible if we all do our part!”
On November 13, 2018, FSU SJP held an event promoting BDS. The event description said: “Come get your BDS shopping list of all the products & brands that you should be boycotting NOW! Boycott Israel, bring down the occupation!”
FSU SJP’s Facebook event description said: “Rather than self-defense, Israeli airstrikes are a form of collective punishment against Gaza's 2 million inhabitants” and that “The mainstream media and prominent politicians repeat the Israeli ‘self-defense’ trope over and over...”
At the protest, FSU SJP President Shelby Shoup said [00:02:05]: “I cannot imagine how dehumanizing it is to hear American journalists and politicians discussing Israel’s ‘right to self defense,’ insinuating that Palestinians are terrorists.” Activists also chanted [00:00:46] “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
The chant “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free” has also been employed by Hamas leader Khaled Mashal to call for the replacement of Israel with an Islamic state. It is a chant calling to dismantle the State of Israel.
On October 8, 2018, FSU SJP hosted an event titled:“Palestinian Revolutionaries.” The Facebook event description said: “Come screen some videos of Palestinian revolutionaries like Ghassan Kanafani and Leila Khaled! The revolutionaries that come out of liberation-resistance movements are who we look up to and who exemplify what it means to organize.”
Kanafani was a leading member and spokesperson for the terrorist organization, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) during their formative years. Kanafani was also involved in the Lod Airport Massacre near Tel Aviv, for which PFLP took responsibility.
Leila Khaled participated in the hijacking of TWA Flight 840 in 1969 and El Al Flight 219 in 1970. She was a leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
On October 6, 2018, FSU SJP promoted the event on Facebook and wrote: “We'll also be discussing the PLO & PFLP!!!”
Yasser Arafat, known as the “father of modern terrorism,” was the former leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). During the second intifada, Arafat encouraged children to carry out “martyrdom” operations against Israel.
Arafat reportedly told Arab diplomats in a secret meeting in 1996: "We will make life unbearable for Jews by psychological warfare and population explosion. Jews will not want to live among Arabs. I have no use for Jews. They are and remain Jews."
#FreePalestine.”
Rock throwing is a deadly form of violence, despite being romanticized as a form of “popular resistance.”
On November 26, 2019, FSU SJP held an event titled: “Divestment Working Group Meeting.” The event cover photo on its Facebook page was a poster featuring an individual holding a slingshot with text that said “Free the land 'by any means necessary.’”
On March 30, 2019, FSU SJP co-hosted an event to commemorate one year since the beginning of the March of Return.
On April 8, 2018, FSU SJP wrote on Facebook: “we've seen the IOF [Israel Occupation Forces] deploy at least 100 snipers in anticipation of unarmed demonstrators attending the Great Return March who, after being shot by said snipers, are being smeared in American media as terrorists and pawns for nonviolently asserting their dignity and human rights--specifically their Right of Return.”
On April 6, 2018, FSU SJP held a “Vigil for Gaza” which the Facebook event description said was “to memorialize those killed by the IDF” in the Gaza March of Return riots.
An April 2, 2018 post by FSU SJP on the Facebook page for the event said: “Reem & Tyler will be speaking on Gaza & the 17 martyrs that we lost.”
The majority of Gazans who died from March 30, 2018 to April 6, 2018 were confirmed as terror operatives, killed while rioting against Israeli forces, carrying out terrorist attacks or trying to infiltrate Israel by destroying the border fence on its border with Gaza.
The allegation that Jews “threaten” to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque served as the excuse for an upsurge in Palestinian violence that flared in the fall of 2015 and incited Palestinians to attempt mass casualty attacks on Israeli civilians in July 2016.
Such propaganda has been a traditional pretext for Arab attacks on Jews long before the existence of the modern Jewish state.
On December 16, 2019, FSU SJP posted on Facebook “Proud to co-sign ✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽✊🏼✊🏻” and linked to a National SJP statement condemning then-U.S. President Trump’s executive order on combating anti-Semitism.
National SJP’s statement said they “explicitly condemn” the Trump administration’s “adoption of the IHRA [anti-Semitism] definition, which conflates anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism.”
Several examples of anti-Semitism given in the IHRA’s definition relate to Israel, however the definition states: “criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic.”
The IHRA’s definition was adopted by the U.S. State Department in 2016. Canada, Australia, Israel, Argentina and twenty-eight European countries have also adopted the definition.
Trump’s “Executive Order On Combating Anti-Semitism,” issued on December 11, 2019, stated that the IHRA anti-Semitism definition would be considered when enforcing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as protection for Jews discriminated against based on ethnic, racial or national characteristics.
On July 7, 2020, FSU SJP posted on Facebook urging students to oppose FSU’s 72nd Student Senate Resolution #: 59 that would recognize the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism. The Facebook post called for students to join a Student Life & Academic Affairs (SLAA) committee Zoom meeting to express their opposition to the resolution.
The Facebook post also linked to a Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) letter that urged “governments, municipalities, universities and other institutions to reject the IHRA definition” of anti-Semitism.
Later on July 7, 2020, FSU SJP posted on Facebook that the resolution passed through the SLAA. The post said: “Settler-colonialism is racism. Apartheid is racism. Zionism is racism.”
On July 8, 2020, FSU SJP posted to Facebook a “call-to-action email toolkit” to urge FSU student senators to vote no to the resolution.
FSU SJP’s call-to-action toolkit claimed that implementing the IHRA definition “legitimizes the silencing and blacklisting of Palestinian students, allies and solidarity organizations” and that the definition’s examples of anti-Semitism related to Israel is “a way to shut down any criticism of Israel’s racist policies.”
On July 14, 2020, FSU SJP promoted on Facebook an open letter by FSU students & alumni that called for the resolution to “Replace the IHRA definition with a serious analysis of antisemitism that affirms the centrality of ending white supremacy in the struggle to end all related systems of oppression.”
On July 15, 2020, the FSU student senate held another Zoom meeting to vote on the 72nd Student Senate Resolution #: 59 which passed, with 26 votes in favor and 14 against resolution.
Following the passage of the resolution on July 15, 2020, FSU SJP wrote on Facebook the FSU senate “affirms… the censorship of pro-Palestine speech on campus.”
The Facebook event page description said: “our police departments continue participating in the Deadly Exchange: learning ‘counter-terrorism’ strategies from the IDF to militarize Black and brown communities here, and teaching stop-and-frisk strategies to the Israeli police to harass Black and brown communities in occupied Palestine.”
Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) launched the “Deadly Exchange” campaign in 2017. The campaign claimed that American Jewish organizations promoted human rights abuses. A video for the campaign by JVP accused American Jewish organizations of planning programs between American and Israeli security personnel, to advance“racist policies.”
On September 23, 2019, FSU SJP hosted a meeting titled “ICE vs. IDF: Detention, Deportation & Family Separation.” An event flyer said: “ICE & THE IDF HAVE MORE IN COMMON THAN YOU MIGHT THINK.” The meeting also included a presentation about the “deadly exchange.”
On June 17, 2019, FSU SJP tabled on campus to educate about “pinkwashing” and promote anti-Israel materials. One of the items FSU SJP promoted was a booklet titled “Israel’s Worldwide Role in Repression.”
The booklet was published by the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN), which claims to “struggle against Zionism” and accuses Israel of the “ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.”
The booklet claimed that Israel’s military campaigns “serve as an [sic] laboratory
to develop weapons, surveillance technology, and tactics of population control that are then marketed across the globe.” It also alleged Israel was “at the forefront of a global industry of repression” and that “In the Middle East, Israel is the primary aggressor.”
The description also said: “There are countless arguments that whitewash Israeli apartheid… Let's discuss what narratives we usually hear in defense of Israel and learn how to respond to some of the most common hasbara talking points!”
On October 7, 2019, FSU SJP held an event titled “GBM:Apartheid 101: Palestine, South Africa & the Jim Crow South.” The Facebook event description claimed about the description of Israel as apartheid: “nothing could more aptly describe Palestinian life..”
On September 23, 2019, FSU SJP held an event titled “ICE vs. IDF: Detention, Deportation & Family Separation.” The Facebook event page description claimed that “Detentions, deportations and family separations are routine aspects of Palestinian life. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) uses borders, walls and widespread abusive detention of Palestinians…”
On May 15, 2019, FSU SJP held a “Nakba Day” event. The Facebook event description said: “Nakba Day is the anniversary of the ethnic cleansing of May 15, 1948 in which Zionist militias forcefully expelled 800,000 Palestinians from their homeland” and that Nakba “also refers to the ongoing, 71-year long legacy of Israeli military occupation and apartheid.”
Nakba is an Arabic term for “catastrophe” and refers to the outcome of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It is a term often used to delegitimize the creation of the State of Israel.
On the same date, FSU SJP posted photos from the event on Facebook, including of their “mock apartheid wall,” with a panel claiming to show maps of Israel’s “LAND THEFT.”
Lands previously controlled by Jordan, Egypt and Britain are shown as autonomous “Palestinian land,” which the maps suggest were stolen by Israel.
In 2016, copies of a college textbook containing the misleading maps were recalled by publisher MCGraw-Hill.
On April 4, 2019, FSU SJP promoted an event on Facebook where they would “be delving further into the topics that you all saw on our wall and we will be going deeper into the issues surrounding Palestine, Gaza, the Great Return March, Zionism, & Israel.”
On April 2, 2019, FSU SJP displayed their “mock apartheid wall” on the FSU campus.
On December 3, 2019, FSU SJP held a meeting about launching a divestment campaign against Israel. The event description said: “We are preparing to launch a campaign to pressure Florida State University to divest from companies that knowingly profit off of Palestinian oppression. Please come out to our new weekly Divestment working group meetings to strategize and build together!”
On November 26, 2019, FSU SJP held an event titled “Divestment Working Group Meeting.” The Facebook description for the event said participants would “research Divestment campaigns on other North American campuses, including the language of their Divestment resolutions and what tactics they employed to win student support.”
The event description also said “It's going to be a long and difficult road to introducing and passing a Divestment resolution to the Student Senate this year, but we think it's possible if we all do our part!”
On November 13, 2018, FSU SJP held an event promoting BDS. The event description said: “Come get your BDS shopping list of all the products & brands that you should be boycotting NOW! Boycott Israel, bring down the occupation!”
Twitter 2:https://twitter.com/coffeewcomrades
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coffeewithcomrades/
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/pearson-bolt-38a58713b
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/whenaugustburns
Blog: https://hellopoetry.com/pearsonbolt/
Supporting Violent Protesters
On March 30, 2018, Bolt tweeted: “Israeli officers open fire, killing 12 Palestinian protesters and injuring dozens more. #FreePalestine.”On March 30, 2018, some 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza approached Israel’s border to take part in “Land Day Protests” or the “March of Return.” The violent demonstrations were instigated by Hamas on the Israeli-Gaza border. Participants declared their intention to harm Jews across the border under the pretext of “peaceful resistance.”
March participants sent scores of kites bearing explosive devices across Israel’s border to burn Israeli crops and homes. Rioters also made numerous attempts to breach Israel’s border fence, which caused the Israeli Defense Forces to respond with live fire.
Agitators also threw Molotov cocktails, firebombs, shot firearms and threw rocks under the cover of smoke from burning tires.
On May 14, 2018, Bolt tweeted: “Israeli troops kill dozens of Palestinian protesters as U.S. embassy opens in Jerusalem. The U.S. funnels billions of dollars into the Israeli military. U.S. tax dollars helped kill these protesters and hundreds more just like them since March.”
In May 2018, terror organization Hamas instigated the “March of Return.” Thousands of violent rioters attempted numerous breaches of Israel’s border fence with Gaza, seeking to harm Jews across the border. Media reports confirmed [00:00:20] protesters’ breaches and attempted breaches of the fence, some by armed Palestinians. On May 15, 2018, senior Hamas official Mahmoud Al-Zahhar said the Gaza protests were only a pretext of “peaceful resistance.”
In December 2017, the U.S. government announced its decision to formally recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and to relocate the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Also on May 14, 2018, Bolt tweeted: “Thousands more Palestinians have been wounded by Israeli snipers—1,700 have been injured today alone! The genocidal occupation of Palestine is one of the gravest crises of our time, a deliberate, inhuman campaign of bloodshed. Love & solidarity to those courageously protesting.”
On May 15, 2018, Bolt tweeted: “The U.S. sponsors a rogue, genocidal, apartheid state with billions of dollars in arms and ammunition and then blocks the United Nations’ call for an independent probe into the massacre yesterday in Gaza.”
On May 16, 2018, a Hamas senior official, Salah al-Bardawil, stated that 50 out of 62 protesters killed during the May 14 Gaza border protest were Hamas operatives. Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) also claimed that three of its members were killed at the same protest.
Demonizing Israel
.”“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free” is a chant calling to dismantle the State of Israel. It has also been employed by Hamas leader Khaled Mashal to call for the replacement of Israel with an Islamic state.
On May 14, 2018, 70 years since the Israeli Declaration of Independence and the day that the U.S Embassy moved to Jerusalem, Bolt tweeted: “Big day for genocide. Congratulations!”
On September 30, 2015, Bolt promoted and shared a YouTube video to Twitter titled “ISIS [Islamic State of Iraq and Syria], The New Israel.” The YouTube video featured anti-Israel activist and BDS supporter, Chris Hedges.
In the video, Hedges equated [00:21:38] Israel with ISIS and claimed that the “one difference” between them is that Israel was “able to survive because of primarily American, but outside military and financial support. The Islamic State does not have that.”
On July 1, 2015, one year after Israel’s Operation Protective Edge (OPE), Bolt tweeted: “A year after the genocide.*” His tweet was in response to a tweet that said: “Gaza is still in ruins a year after the war…”
Israel commenced OPE in July 2014 to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.
On July 26, 2014, during OPE, Bolt tweeted: “Israel is bombing Gaza under false pretenses. Surprise, surprise...” Bolt’s tweet included a link to an article titled “It Turns Out Hamas May Not Have Kidnapped and Killed the 3 Israeli Teens After All [Updated].”
In August 2014, Hamas admitted responsibility for the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers at a bus stop on June 12th of that year. The bodies of the abducted boys were found buried in Palestinian-controlled territory on June 30, 2014.
On July 21, 2014, Bolt tweeted: “Congratulations! Your tax dollars are financing genocide. http://ifamericansknew.org/stat/usaid.html.”
Bolt’s tweet included a link to an article titled “U.S. Military Aid and the Israel/Palestine Conflict” that was published by If Americans Knew (IAK), an anti-Semitic organization which has been condemned for anti-Semitism by both the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the anti-Israel U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR).
Also, on July 21, 2014, Bolt tweeted: “If it doesn't make you sick that your [American] government is funding the genocidal massacre in Gaza, then you're the f**king problem.”
On September 30, 2015, Bolt promoted and shared a YouTube video to Twitter titled “ISIS [Islamic State of Iraq and Syria], The New Israel.” The YouTube video featured anti-Israel activist and BDS supporter, Chris Hedges.
In the video, Hedges equated [00:21:38] Israel with ISIS and claimed that the “one difference” between them is that Israel was “able to survive because of primarily American, but outside military and financial support. The Islamic State does not have that.”
On July 1, 2015, one year after Israel’s Operation Protective Edge (OPE), Bolt tweeted: “A year after the genocide.*” His tweet was in response to a tweet that said: “Gaza is still in ruins a year after the war…”
Israel commenced OPE in July 2014 to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.
On July 26, 2014, during OPE, Bolt tweeted: “Israel is bombing Gaza under false pretenses. Surprise, surprise...” Bolt’s tweet included a link to an article titled “It Turns Out Hamas May Not Have Kidnapped and Killed the 3 Israeli Teens After All [Updated].”
In August 2014, Hamas admitted responsibility for the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers at a bus stop on June 12th of that year. The bodies of the abducted boys were found buried in Palestinian-controlled territory on June 30, 2014.
On July 21, 2014, Bolt tweeted: “Congratulations! Your tax dollars are financing genocide. http://ifamericansknew.org/stat/usaid.html.”
Bolt’s tweet included a link to an article titled “U.S. Military Aid and the Israel/Palestine Conflict” that was published by If Americans Knew (IAK), an anti-Semitic organization which has been condemned for anti-Semitism by both the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the anti-Israel U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR).
Also, on July 21, 2014, Bolt tweeted: “If it doesn't make you sick that your [American] government is funding the genocidal massacre in Gaza, then you're the f**king problem.”
Anti-Israel Activism
On July 4, 2020, Bolt’s “Coffee With Comrades” podcast Twitter account tweeted: “Tomorrow. From Tallahassee to Palestine, the struggle against colonization is deeply interlinked...From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free!”The tweet referred to a July 5, 2020 anti-Israel protest, co-hosted by FSU SJP and titled “Day of Rage.”
The Facebook event description page said: “In the wake of global uprisings against police brutality and white supremacy, our police departments continue participating in the Deadly Exchange: learning ‘counter-terrorism’ strategies from the IDF to militarize Black and brown communities here, and teaching stop-and-frisk strategies to the Israeli police to harass Black and brown communities in occupied Palestine.”
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 December 3, 2019, Bolt published a “Coffee With Comrades” podcast called: "From the River to the Sea" featuring FSU SJP’s then-president, Shelby Shoup. The description read “We talk about the Palestinian struggle against the apartheid ethnostate of Israel...”
Shoup was arrested and charged with battery in 2018. Shoup has also defended terrorists, supported violent protesters and demonized Zionism.
During the podcast, Shoup instructed [01:17:51] listeners on how to get “plugged in with an SJP.” She also described [00:32:13] her experience at the second National SJP conference as “really cool.”
Bolt claimed [00:38:38] that Israel carried out apartheid in Palestine and referred to Israel’s Operation Black Belt as [00:39:04] “a string of IDF [Israel Defense Force] murders.”
In November 2019, Israel launched Operation Black Belt to stop Palestinian rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel. The attacks were carried out in response to Israel’s elimination of Baha Abu al-Ata [Bahaa Abu Al-Atta], a senior commander of terror group Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) who was reportedly planning new terror attacks.
Also on December 3, 2019, Bolt tweeted: “Currently workin’ on an @FSU4Palestine zine with @SerenaViolaart, @teenfoamparty, and others and I couldn’t be more stoked for what we’re cookin’ up.””
On October 21, 2019, FSU SJP hosted an event titled: “GBM: Socialism in Palestine: Past, Present and Future.” On the same day, FSU SJP thanked Bolt in a Facebook post for “giving us the lowdown on the Democratic Socialists of America endorsement of #BDS! 🇵🇸✊.”
On October 10, 2019, Bolt posed in an FSU SJP group photo. The Facebook post read: “WE’RE GOING TO THE NSJP CONFERENCE 🙌 After 50 minutes of tense debate, the Student Senate voted to pass Resolution 42 with no amendments, granting us $1,344 in travel assistance! Thank you so much to everyone who came out, your presence really made a difference. Onto the next victory! ✊.”
On October 7, 2019, FSU SJP shared a photo to Facebook that featured Bolt and other activists referred to as “SJP fam [family]” from an event titled “GBM [General Board Meeting]: Apartheid 101: Palestine, South Africa & the Jim Crow South.”
The Facebook event description said: “Although supporters of Israel balk at the application of the term ‘apartheid’ to the situation in Palestine, nothing could more aptly describe Palestinian life… The parallels are so stark that the infamous Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian civil and human rights is modeled after boycotts against apartheid South Africa.”
The description also said: “Angela Davis, Cornel West, Robin Kelley and many other prominent public figures have evoked the Jim Crow analogy -- some claiming that the conditions in the West Bank are sometimes even worse than those in the 1950s South.”
Angela Davis made the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitive List in 1970 after being charged as a principal in an aggravated kidnapping and first-degree murder, for purchasing the shotgun used in the abduction and killing of a judge.
Robin Kelley is a leader within the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and an advisory board member of the U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI).
Supporting Ahmad Daraldik
In the summer of 2020, Bolt expressed support for FSU SJP member, Ahmad Daraldik, who reportedly spread anti-Semitism online and created a website in 2016 that compared Israel to Nazi Germany.Bolt signed a June 2020 FSU SJP statement in support of Daraldik.
On June 12, 2020, Bolt tweeted: “I urge folks—especially those who go to FSU or call Tallahassee home—to sign this letter in support of and in solidarity with Ahmad Daraldik, FSU’s Student Senate President. From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free!”
On June 17, 2020, Bolt tweeted: “I urge everyone to do this. I wrote a letter in support of Ahmad Daraldik, which you can read at length here… From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free!”
Bolt addressed his letter to FSU’s Student Government Association (SGA) Senators “affirming the character of Daraldik” as “kind and gentle” and also encouraging them [senate body] to “vote ‘no’ in the event that a vote of no confidence be raised against Ahmad.”
According to FSU's website, the SGA provides students “with representation, services, and advocacy within the university structure.”
FSU SJP - Promoting BDS
On February 1, 2021 the FSU Student Life Academic Affairs Committee (SLAA) voted against a BDS bill written and sponsored by FSU SJP member Ahmad Daraldik. that called on FSU to divest from a number of companies doing business with Israel.On December 3, 2019, FSU SJP held a meeting about launching a divestment campaign against Israel. The event description said: “We are preparing to launch a campaign to pressure Florida State University to divest from companies that knowingly profit off of Palestinian oppression. Please come out to our new weekly Divestment working group meetings to strategize and build together!”
On November 26, 2019, FSU SJP held an event titled “Divestment Working Group Meeting.” The Facebook description for the event said participants would “research Divestment campaigns on other North American campuses, including the language of their Divestment resolutions and what tactics they employed to win student support.”
The event description also said “It's going to be a long and difficult road to introducing and passing a Divestment resolution to the Student Senate this year, but we think it's possible if we all do our part!”
On November 13, 2018, FSU SJP held an event promoting BDS. The event description said: “Come get your BDS shopping list of all the products & brands that you should be boycotting NOW! Boycott Israel, bring down the occupation!”
FSU SJP - Glorifying Terrorists
On November 17, 2019, FSU SJP organized a protest titled: “Emergency Demo: #GazaUnderAttack.” The Facebook event page said: “Israeli airstrikes are not ‘self-defense.’ By the Israel Defense Forces' own admission, Israel initiated the latest wave of aggression with the illegal, extra-judicial execution of resistance fighter Bahaa Abu al-Atta and his wife.”In November 2019, Israel launched “Operation Black Belt” to stop rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip. The rockets were sent by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terror group on November 12-14, 2019, targeting Israel’s biggest civilian population centers.
FSU SJP’s Facebook event description said: “Rather than self-defense, Israeli airstrikes are a form of collective punishment against Gaza's 2 million inhabitants” and that “The mainstream media and prominent politicians repeat the Israeli ‘self-defense’ trope over and over...”
At the protest, FSU SJP President Shelby Shoup said [00:02:05]: “I cannot imagine how dehumanizing it is to hear American journalists and politicians discussing Israel’s ‘right to self defense,’ insinuating that Palestinians are terrorists.” Activists also chanted [00:00:46] “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
The chant “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free” has also been employed by Hamas leader Khaled Mashal to call for the replacement of Israel with an Islamic state. It is a chant calling to dismantle the State of Israel.
On October 8, 2018, FSU SJP hosted an event titled:“Palestinian Revolutionaries.” The Facebook event description said: “Come screen some videos of Palestinian revolutionaries like Ghassan Kanafani and Leila Khaled! The revolutionaries that come out of liberation-resistance movements are who we look up to and who exemplify what it means to organize.”
Kanafani was a leading member and spokesperson for the terrorist organization, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) during their formative years. Kanafani was also involved in the Lod Airport Massacre near Tel Aviv, for which PFLP took responsibility.
Leila Khaled participated in the hijacking of TWA Flight 840 in 1969 and El Al Flight 219 in 1970. She was a leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
On October 6, 2018, FSU SJP promoted the event on Facebook and wrote: “We'll also be discussing the PLO & PFLP!!!”
Yasser Arafat, known as the “father of modern terrorism,” was the former leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). During the second intifada, Arafat encouraged children to carry out “martyrdom” operations against Israel.
Arafat reportedly told Arab diplomats in a secret meeting in 1996: "We will make life unbearable for Jews by psychological warfare and population explosion. Jews will not want to live among Arabs. I have no use for Jews. They are and remain Jews."
FSU SJP - Promoting Violence
On July 12, 2019, FSU SJP posted a graphic on Instagram depicting Palestinians holding rocks and slingshots. FSU SJP wrote: “Anyone know the artist? #FreePalestine.”Rock throwing is a deadly form of violence, despite being romanticized as a form of “popular resistance.”
On November 26, 2019, FSU SJP held an event titled: “Divestment Working Group Meeting.” The event cover photo on its Facebook page was a poster featuring an individual holding a slingshot with text that said “Free the land 'by any means necessary.’”
FSU - SJP Supporting Violent Protesters
On March 30, 2020, FSU SJP posted on Facebook commemorating the “Great March of Return,” describing it as “a protest movement to demand the Right of Return to their stolen lands” and claiming Palestinians were “shot at by Israeli snipers for exercising their right to assembly.” The post said: “... we commemorate… the hundreds of martyrs of the Great Return March.”On March 30, 2018, some 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza approached Israel’s border to take part in “Land Day Protests,” or the “March of Return.” The march was organized and funded by Hamas as a campaign of violent protests to spotlight the Palestinian demand to “return” to Israel. The “right of return” has since been 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.
On March 30, 2019, FSU SJP co-hosted an event to commemorate one year since the beginning of the March of Return.
On April 8, 2018, FSU SJP wrote on Facebook: “we've seen the IOF [Israel Occupation Forces] deploy at least 100 snipers in anticipation of unarmed demonstrators attending the Great Return March who, after being shot by said snipers, are being smeared in American media as terrorists and pawns for nonviolently asserting their dignity and human rights--specifically their Right of Return.”
On April 6, 2018, FSU SJP held a “Vigil for Gaza” which the Facebook event description said was “to memorialize those killed by the IDF” in the Gaza March of Return riots.
An April 2, 2018 post by FSU SJP on the Facebook page for the event said: “Reem & Tyler will be speaking on Gaza & the 17 martyrs that we lost.”
The majority of Gazans who died from March 30, 2018 to April 6, 2018 were confirmed as terror operatives, killed while rioting against Israeli forces, carrying out terrorist attacks or trying to infiltrate Israel by destroying the border fence on its border with Gaza.
FSU SJP - Spreading Incitement
On August 11, 2019, FSU SJP alleged in a Facebook post that “Israeli soldiers and settlers have raided and desecrated #AlAqsa Mosque” and “The Israeli police then cleared the compound of Palestinian Muslims and allowed Jewish Israelis to storm Al Aqsa for Tisha B’Av prayers.”Tisha B’Av is a Jewish day of mourning for the destruction of the First and Second Temples, which stood on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
On August 11, 2019, Palestinian rioters threw stones at police and threw chairs and other objects at Jewish visitors to the compound after police allowed them to enter the site, to commemorate Tisha B’Av.
The allegation that Jews “threaten” to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque served as the excuse for an upsurge in Palestinian violence that flared in the fall of 2015 and incited Palestinians to attempt mass casualty attacks on Israeli civilians in July 2016.
Such propaganda has been a traditional pretext for Arab attacks on Jews long before the existence of the modern Jewish state.
FSU SJP - Opposing the IHRA Definition of Anti-Semitism
In December of 2019, FSU SJP launched a campaign to combat the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism.On December 16, 2019, FSU SJP posted on Facebook “Proud to co-sign ✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽✊🏼✊🏻” and linked to a National SJP statement condemning then-U.S. President Trump’s executive order on combating anti-Semitism.
National SJP’s statement said they “explicitly condemn” the Trump administration’s “adoption of the IHRA [anti-Semitism] definition, which conflates anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism.”
Several examples of anti-Semitism given in the IHRA’s definition relate to Israel, however the definition states: “criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic.”
The IHRA’s definition was adopted by the U.S. State Department in 2016. Canada, Australia, Israel, Argentina and twenty-eight European countries have also adopted the definition.
Trump’s “Executive Order On Combating Anti-Semitism,” issued on December 11, 2019, stated that the IHRA anti-Semitism definition would be considered when enforcing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as protection for Jews discriminated against based on ethnic, racial or national characteristics.
On July 7, 2020, FSU SJP posted on Facebook urging students to oppose FSU’s 72nd Student Senate Resolution #: 59 that would recognize the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism. The Facebook post called for students to join a Student Life & Academic Affairs (SLAA) committee Zoom meeting to express their opposition to the resolution.
The Facebook post also linked to a Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) letter that urged “governments, municipalities, universities and other institutions to reject the IHRA definition” of anti-Semitism.
Later on July 7, 2020, FSU SJP posted on Facebook that the resolution passed through the SLAA. The post said: “Settler-colonialism is racism. Apartheid is racism. Zionism is racism.”
On July 8, 2020, FSU SJP posted to Facebook a “call-to-action email toolkit” to urge FSU student senators to vote no to the resolution.
FSU SJP’s call-to-action toolkit claimed that implementing the IHRA definition “legitimizes the silencing and blacklisting of Palestinian students, allies and solidarity organizations” and that the definition’s examples of anti-Semitism related to Israel is “a way to shut down any criticism of Israel’s racist policies.”
On July 14, 2020, FSU SJP promoted on Facebook an open letter by FSU students & alumni that called for the resolution to “Replace the IHRA definition with a serious analysis of antisemitism that affirms the centrality of ending white supremacy in the struggle to end all related systems of oppression.”
On July 15, 2020, the FSU student senate held another Zoom meeting to vote on the 72nd Student Senate Resolution #: 59 which passed, with 26 votes in favor and 14 against resolution.
Following the passage of the resolution on July 15, 2020, FSU SJP wrote on Facebook the FSU senate “affirms… the censorship of pro-Palestine speech on campus.”
FSU SJP - Promoting Conspiracy Theories
On July 5, 2020, FSU SJP co-hosted an anti-Israel protest titled “Day of Rage.”The Facebook event page description said: “our police departments continue participating in the Deadly Exchange: learning ‘counter-terrorism’ strategies from the IDF to militarize Black and brown communities here, and teaching stop-and-frisk strategies to the Israeli police to harass Black and brown communities in occupied Palestine.”
Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) launched the “Deadly Exchange” campaign in 2017. The campaign claimed that American Jewish organizations promoted human rights abuses. A video for the campaign by JVP accused American Jewish organizations of planning programs between American and Israeli security personnel, to advance“racist policies.”
On September 23, 2019, FSU SJP hosted a meeting titled “ICE vs. IDF: Detention, Deportation & Family Separation.” An event flyer said: “ICE & THE IDF HAVE MORE IN COMMON THAN YOU MIGHT THINK.” The meeting also included a presentation about the “deadly exchange.”
On June 17, 2019, FSU SJP tabled on campus to educate about “pinkwashing” and promote anti-Israel materials. One of the items FSU SJP promoted was a booklet titled “Israel’s Worldwide Role in Repression.”
The booklet was published by the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN), which claims to “struggle against Zionism” and accuses Israel of the “ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.”
The booklet claimed that Israel’s military campaigns “serve as an [sic] laboratory
to develop weapons, surveillance technology, and tactics of population control that are then marketed across the globe.” It also alleged Israel was “at the forefront of a global industry of repression” and that “In the Middle East, Israel is the primary aggressor.”
FSU SJP - Spreading Hatred of Israel-Supporters
On March 11, 2020, FSU SJP posted a photo on its Facebook page of pro-Israel students tabling on campus and wrote that “The Zionist Organization of America… is a right-wing, Islamophobic org… The normalization of Zionism on campus = normalization of the alt-right. Why are they tabling at Market Wednesday?”The policy of “anti-normalization” aims to ensure that all interactions between Israelis and Palestinians align only with the Arab agenda, including ending the occupation and a full right of return for Palestinians, which is a Palestinian demand discredited as a means to eliminate Israel. The policies are shared with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
FSU SJP - Demonizing Israel
On November 18, 2019, FSU SJP held an event titled “Hasbara: Debunking Zionist myths.” The Facebook event description claimed: “Hasbara refers to public relations efforts to disseminate positive information about the State of Israel that whitewashes its apartheid regime and military occupation.”The description also said: “There are countless arguments that whitewash Israeli apartheid… Let's discuss what narratives we usually hear in defense of Israel and learn how to respond to some of the most common hasbara talking points!”
On October 7, 2019, FSU SJP held an event titled “GBM:Apartheid 101: Palestine, South Africa & the Jim Crow South.” The Facebook event description claimed about the description of Israel as apartheid: “nothing could more aptly describe Palestinian life..”
On September 23, 2019, FSU SJP held an event titled “ICE vs. IDF: Detention, Deportation & Family Separation.” The Facebook event page description claimed that “Detentions, deportations and family separations are routine aspects of Palestinian life. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) uses borders, walls and widespread abusive detention of Palestinians…”
On May 15, 2019, FSU SJP held a “Nakba Day” event. The Facebook event description said: “Nakba Day is the anniversary of the ethnic cleansing of May 15, 1948 in which Zionist militias forcefully expelled 800,000 Palestinians from their homeland” and that Nakba “also refers to the ongoing, 71-year long legacy of Israeli military occupation and apartheid.”
Nakba is an Arabic term for “catastrophe” and refers to the outcome of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It is a term often used to delegitimize the creation of the State of Israel.
On the same date, FSU SJP posted photos from the event on Facebook, including of their “mock apartheid wall,” with a panel claiming to show maps of Israel’s “LAND THEFT.”
Lands previously controlled by Jordan, Egypt and Britain are shown as autonomous “Palestinian land,” which the maps suggest were stolen by Israel.
In 2016, copies of a college textbook containing the misleading maps were recalled by publisher MCGraw-Hill.
SJP groups on campuses have constructed mock “apartheid” walls to draw attention to alleged Israeli human rights violations against Palestinians
On April 4, 2019, FSU SJP promoted an event on Facebook where they would “be delving further into the topics that you all saw on our wall and we will be going deeper into the issues surrounding Palestine, Gaza, the Great Return March, Zionism, & Israel.”
On April 2, 2019, FSU SJP displayed their “mock apartheid wall” on the FSU campus.
FSU SJP - Promoting BDS
On February 1, 2021 the FSU Student Life Academic Affairs Committee (SLAA) voted against a BDS bill written and sponsored by FSU SJP member Ahmad Daraldik. that called on FSU to divest from a number of companies doing business with Israel.On December 3, 2019, FSU SJP held a meeting about launching a divestment campaign against Israel. The event description said: “We are preparing to launch a campaign to pressure Florida State University to divest from companies that knowingly profit off of Palestinian oppression. Please come out to our new weekly Divestment working group meetings to strategize and build together!”
On November 26, 2019, FSU SJP held an event titled “Divestment Working Group Meeting.” The Facebook description for the event said participants would “research Divestment campaigns on other North American campuses, including the language of their Divestment resolutions and what tactics they employed to win student support.”
The event description also said “It's going to be a long and difficult road to introducing and passing a Divestment resolution to the Student Senate this year, but we think it's possible if we all do our part!”
On November 13, 2018, FSU SJP held an event promoting BDS. The event description said: “Come get your BDS shopping list of all the products & brands that you should be boycotting NOW! Boycott Israel, bring down the occupation!”
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.
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- Last Modified:
- 05/04/2026
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