Rael Almonte

Overview

Rael Almonte is the social media coordinator for Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at John Jay College of Criminal Justice (John Jay), part of City University of New York (CUNY), for the 2016-2017 academic year.

Almonte is a Sophomore at John Jay majoring in Political Science. In addition to his activism with John Jay SJP, he is a Student Government Association (SGA) Representative and president of the JJC Dominican Students Association.

Demonizing Israel

On August 10, 2016, Almonde posted on Facebook an article titled ‘’Google Sparks Outrage by Abolishing Palestine on Maps’’ which claimed that "Journalists and activists have excoriated Google for wiping Palestine completely off its map app"

The article featured interactive maps that presented lands once controlled by Britain, Egypt and Jordan as "Palestinian lands," purportedly confiscated by Israel.

In February of 2016, publisher McGraw-Hill Education recalled and destroyed copies of a college level textbook that contained similar maps. In October 2015, the United States cable news network MSNBC apologized for airing a similar series of maps and retracted them.

Promoting Propaganda

On January 8, 2015, Almonte posted on Facebook a video featuring Janna Jihad Ayyad. Ayyad is a relative of Palestinian propagandist and provocateur Bassem Tamimi. 

Bassem Tamimi has exploited young children as political props in staged confrontations with Israeli soldiers. In 2011, he was jailed for organizing violent rallies and inciting minors to commit violent crimes such as rock-throwing.

Tamimi’s United States visa was revoked in 2015, for his failure to disclose his prior arrest and conviction. Prior to the revocation of his U.S. visa, Tamimi delivered a controversial presentation to third-graders in Ithaca, New York. The presentation was geared to foster hatred of Israel and Tamimi concluded by encouraging [00:11:29] the children to become “freedom fighters for Palestine.” 

John Jay SJP - Calling for the Destruction of the Jewish State

On April 27, 2016, John Jay SJP posted a graphic on Facebook, showing the map of Israel overlaid entirely with the colors of the Palestinian Flag and superimposed with the text "Je Suis One State."

On October 6, 2015, John Jay SJP posted an NYC SJP statement on the BDS movement” which stated that the goal is the “the eventual establishment of a single Palestinian national state covering all of historic Palestine.”

On October 22, 2012, John Jay SJP founder and President Leena Widdi launched the group’s first event expressing her excitement to introduce speakers who would promote a "re-set" and a “very important shift” from focusing upon the “occupation of 1967…” to focusing on what she called the “Zionist Apartheid state that exists in all of Palestine” by insisting upon a Palestinian “right of return” — and the dissolution of the Israel as a Jewish State.

Widdi opined that the right of return is “the biggest threat” to Israel — therefore “advocating for the Palestinian right of return is central to the struggle to dis-assemble the Apartheid state and replace it with a single state throughout historic Palestine.”

John Jay SJP - Supporting Hamas

On October 8, 2014, John Jay SJP members organized a "die-in" at John Jay, where SJP members expressed unqualified support for Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist organizations’ so-called “resistance in attacking Israeli soldiers ” The SJP agitators also spread the blood libel that Israel committed “genocide” against Palestinians in Operation Protective Edge.

Chants at the die-in included "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free." 

“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.

Other SJP members held posters claiming that “U.S. dollars kill one child in Gaza every hour” and urging “Intifada,” another call for violence against Jews.

Shortly after the die-in, John Jay President Jeremy Travis issued an announcement to all students, alumni, faculty and staff, stating that he was "deeply troubled, both personally and professionally, by recent reports that Jewish students at John Jay College have felt intimidated and harassed on our campus."

John Jay SJP - Embracing Violence

On October 10, 2015, John Jay SJP shared an NYC SJP “statement of solidarity” with a “Day of Rage” rally held at the Israeli consulate in New York on October 6, 2015. The event was co-sponsored by a number of Israel-hating organizations including NY4Palestine, American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) and NYC SJP and urged support for a “Day of Rage” called for by “Palestinian forces.” At the bottom of that statement was a graphic of a Palestinian throwing a rock, with the caption “Let the Intifada pave the way for People’s war!” 

The “Days of Rage” in October of 2015 were heralded by Hamas as the advent of a new intifada. They directly resulted in the deaths of Israeli civilians by shootings, stabbings and car rammings.

Protesters at the rally alternately screamed slogans “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”,  “Long Live the Intifada! Intifada! Intifada!” and “Settler settler go back home, Palestine is ours alone!"

On March 8, 2016, John Jay SJP shared photos to “honor and celebrate the women of Palestine who have been resisting the colonial occupation and leading the people's uprising.” The photos showing numerous Palestinian woman firing slingshots, collectinglarge rocks and holdingguns.  

John Jay SJP - Spreading Lies

On April 3, 2016, John Jay SJP shared a post by Lamis Deek, claiming that “Black Palestinians...are doubly attacked by zionists for being Black and Palestinian.” The post continued that “The buildings they call home are 900-year old structures which became known as “The Blood Prison” a century ago, when the Ottoman Empire converted them into a prison for jailing and executing the condemned.”

On December 18, 2015, John Jay SJP posted on Facebook a misleading AJ+ video demonizing Israel. The video’s presenter, Dena Takruri, mischaracterized Israel’s security fence — 97% of which is a low chain link barrier — as an 8 meter-high wall running 280 miles. The video also falsely insinuated that a non-binding advisory opinion on the security fence issued by the International Court of Justice is binding international law.

On January 23, 2016, John Jay SJP shared an article from Iranian government propaganda mouthpiece PressTV on Facebook, with the fraudulent headline “Israeli doctors torturing Palestinians.” The article misquoted Israel Medical Association (IMA) representative Dr. Ze'ev Feldman who stated during a Knesset Science and Technology Committee meeting on the subject of boycotts against Israeli academic institutions that “the professional British journals have adopted the idea of letters to the editor that libel Israel doctors...They claim our doctors perform medical torture on Palestinian patients.” The PressTV article also misleadingly used a photo from a raid to capture a Hamas-linked terrorist to support the blood libel.

On May 14, 2016, John Jay SJP posted an Al-Jazeera video, titled: "Where did the Palestinians Go?" — subsequently exposed as featuring serial falsehoods. The video fraudulently implied that Palestinians have no political representation, and that Palestinian Arabs were not offered Israeli citizenship until 1967. In fact, Arabs enjoyed citizenship and full rights from the very first Israeli election in 1948.

John Jay SJP - Supporting Terrorists

On April 25, 2016, John Jay SJP shared on Facebook a BDS South Africa post featuring pictures of Dima Al-Wawi, — a 12-year-old attempted-murderer who said she had dreamed of becoming a “martyr” — after she was released from Israeli custody. The post characterized Al-Wawi as a “political prisoner” commenting: "To date, al-wawi was one of the youngest Palestinian prisoners, many others (including over 400 other Palestinian children) still languish as political prisoners in Israeli prisons, torture centers and detention facilities.”

Al-Wawi was arrested on February 9, 2016 for trying to stab an Israeli security guard. Al-Wawi admitted that she intended to kill the security guard, hoping to be killed in the process. “I was dreaming that I was going to be martyred,” she said.

Al-Wawi claimed she was influenced by other young Palestinians who stabbed or tried to stab Israeli soldiers and civilians. 

In October 2015, there was an upsurge in violence across Israel incited by Palestinian political and religious leaders. The wave of stabbings, known as the “Knife Intifada,” was characterized by young Palestinians throughout the country stabbing and attempting to stab Israeli civilians.

John Jay SJP - Hosting Anti-Israel Agitator Lamis Deek

On April 18, 2016, John Jay SJP co-hosted an event featuring Lamis Deek, a board member of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in New York.

On November 15, 2012, Deek said: "It is only through the Israeli Zionist entity that the colonialism, the oppression, can be furthered against all of the Arab people. It is only when Palestine returns as a natural part of the Arab world that the Arab people can be united." (1:07)

On May 10, 2010, Deek stated: "The maintenance of an Israeli state that is not Arab ends the liberties, controls the liberties, affects the daily lives of all Arabs in the Arab world." (4:47)

In July 2015, Deek called on President Obama to release "Political Prisoners" — including five individuals convicted by a U.S. federal jury for financing terrorism. The convicted individuals were all members of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, who funneled millions of dollars to Hamas.

Also In 2012, Deek fabricated a conspiracy theory during a "Know Your Rights" presentation at a CAIR leadership conference, asserting that agents of Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, posed as FBI agents in America in order to entrap Muslim Americans.

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.

Social Media and Weblinks

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/Rael.Almonte3 [Deleted]

Twitter:https://twitter.com/RaelAlmonte [Deleted]

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rael-almonte-reyes-269514122/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rael-almonte-269514122 [Deleted]