Rami Ebrahim

Overview

Rami Ebrahim has expressed support for terrorists as an activist with Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE), a chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (UM Ann Arbor).

Ebrahim promoted anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) initiatives on campus and spread hatred of Israel on Twitter.

As of November 14, 2016, Ebrahim was reportedly the social justice and activism chair of the Muslim Students Association (MSA) at UM Ann Arbor.

As of November 2019, Ebrahim’s posted on Facebook that he “Graduated from University of Michigan” in May 2019, where he studied “Biopsychology & Cognitive Science”.

Support for Terrorists

On May 15, 2017, Ebrahim was featured on SAFE’s Facebook page, introducing SAFE’s “#SaltWaterChallenge” event.

The “Saltwater Challenge” was held in solidarity with hunger-striking Palestinian prison inmates convicted of terrorism. The strike was initiated by Marwan Barghouti, who was serving five consecutive life sentences for his role in suicide bombings that killed five Israelis during the second intifada. Aarab Barghouti, the son of Marwan Barghouti, launched the "Saltwater Challenge."

On October 4, 2015, Ebrahim retweeted a tweet that referred to Palestinian terrorists Muhannad Halabi and Fadi Aloon as “PIJ [Palestinian Islamic Jihad] martyrs.”

Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) is a terror group “whose objective is the destruction of the State of Israel and the establishment of a sovereign, Islamic Palestinian state.” PIJ is backed by Iran and has killed dozens of Israelis in suicide bombings and other attacks.

On October 3, 2015, Muhannad Halabi stabbed to death two Israelis. One victim was a father, murdered in front of his wife and two young children - whom Halabi also attacked...Halabi also stabbed the mother and the couple’s two-year-old child before Israeli security forces shot Halabi dead.

One day earlier, Halabi reportedly posted on his Facebook page:“[t]he third Intifada is here” and urged “[w]ake up from your slumber and save al-Aqsa. Let the revolution erupt.”

Fadi Aloon was shot by Israeli security forces after he stabbed a 15-year-old Israeli boy. Several hours before the attack, Aloon posted “Either martyrdom or victory” on his Facebook page.

On October 5, 2015, Rami Ebrahim retweeted a tweet, “The 3rd intifada has started...#intifadaAlAqsa #FreePalestine.”

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

The attacks were sparked and fueled by Palestinian leaders propagating the libel that Israel intended to desecrate the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

SJP Activism

Ebrahim is an activist with SAFE, a chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at UM Ann Arbor, and has indicated on Facebook that he has attended various events of theirs.

Ebrahim indicated on Facebook that he was “going” to a SAFE and SJP demonstration on April 17, 2018, in support of the “Great Return March” by “the righteous resisters in Gaza,” to “proclaim we will never surrender the right of return.”

The demonstration’s event page stated: “we must come together in collectively asserting our right to return and our dream of the total liberation of our people and homeland. There will be no solution without the total end of the Zionist colonization of Palestine--return is our right, and demand: we will return! Palestine will be free!”

The “right of return” is a Palestinian demand discredited as a means to eliminate Israel.

Ebrahim indicated on Facebook that he “went” to a SAFE event, screening and Q&A with anti-Israel propagandist Sabry Wazwaz on November 8, 2017. Wazwaz has a history of tweeting anti-Jewish imagery, various anti-Israel conspiracy theories and imagery that equates Israel with Nazi Germany.

Ebrahim indicated on Facebook that he “went” to a SAFE and MSA lecture by Hatem Bazian on November 20, 2015. Ebrahim requested on the event page that a recording be posted online, as “There are quite a few people I want to send it to.”

Hatem Bazian is the founder of the anti-Israel organizations SJP and American Muslims for Palestine (AMP). Bazian has a decades-long history of incitement and of using classic anti-Semitic tropes to demonize Israel.

Promoting BDS

On November 7, 2017, Ebrahim promoted SAFE’s BDS divestment campaign #UMDivest on Facebook, urging: “SUPPORT DIVEST. Change your profile pictures to this and sign our statement of support.”

On November 15, 2017, UM Ann Arbor’s Central Student Government (CSG) representatives voted [02:54:06] for a secret ballot that allowed them to vote on the SAFE divestment resolution without transparency or accountability to their electorate.

Twenty eight representatives in total voted for the secret ballot, while seven voted against and nine abstained. The divestment resolution ultimately passed [3:07:22] with 23 votes for, 17 against and five abstentions.

SAFE launched unsuccessful BDS initiatives in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Ebrahim promoted [00:00:08] the 2016 #UMDivest campaign in a November 7, 2016 SAFE video. He also promoted the campaign on Facebook, on November 8 and November 15, 2016.

Spreading Hatred of Israel

On January 16, 2016, Ebrahim tweeted describing himself as “Anti-Israel.”

On March 23, 2016, Ebrahim tweeted a photo he described as “Our counter-protest to the ‘Israel day on the diag’ at the University of Michigan.”

On August 31, 2015, he tweeted: “I'd be proud to be banned from Israel, it's be like a badge of honor.”

#UMDivest 2017 - SAFE - Pushing BDS at UM Ann Arbor

In October 2017, Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE) at UM Ann Arbor launched a BDS campaign, #UMDivest, to pass a BDS resolution on campus. Similar SAFE resolutions in 2014, 2015 and 2016 all failed. As of May 2018, SAFE’s university web page said it was a Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter.

SAFE’s resolution called for the UM Regents to “appoint a committee … to investigate the ethical and moral implications of our investments” in Boeing, HP and United Technologies, claiming that the companies “are involved in humans rights violations against the Palestinian people according to international law.”

On November 7, 2017, the CSG held a meeting on the resolution. The next week, the CSG held a vote on the BDS resolution, which passed.

#UMDivest 2017 - Bringing Anti-Semite Sabry Wazwaz to UM

At the November 7, 2017 CSG meeting, Sabry Wazwaz — a BDS activist from Minnesota who is unaffiliated with UM — spoke [2:02:43] in support of #UMDivest.

Wazwaz has a history of tweeting anti-Jewish imagery, various anti-Israel conspiracy theories and imagery that equates Israel with Nazi Germany. Less than three months before the meeting, he tweeted: “#ZionismIsNazism.” At the meeting, Wazwaz compared [2:05:40] Palestinians in Israel to Jews killed by the Nazi regime.

Wazwaz directly addressed [2:05:16] pro-Israel students and said that, as a Muslim, he condemned “oppressive” Arab governments.

He then said [2:05:30]: “Just like I say ‘condemn them,’ what’s wrong with saying we’re against the racist policies of the state of Israel? … Just like what happened to the Jewish people in the Holocaust was a tragedy, why should the Palestinians also suffer a tragedy?”

These comments drew cheering and applause from #UMDivest supporters.

#UMDivest 2017 - Demonizing Jewish Students

At the November 7, 2017 CSG meeting, former SAFE leader Devin Jones addressed attendees, saying [1:55:36]: “If you believe your Jewishness is tied to the oppression of another people, it is not the problem of being Palestinian that needs to be called into question.”

On November 14, 2017, SAFE posted a pro-BDS article on Facebook written by the UM Ann Arbor chapter of the anti-Israel Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) organization. The post included an excerpt from the article addressed to pro-Israel Jewish students: “And as long as Israel and its supporters attempt to use our identities to deny Palestinian rights, we will continue to say: You do not speak for us."

On November 21, 2017, the CSG president Anushka Sarkar signed the resolution into effect. She wrote that she did it with “discretion and caution” and wrote: “We need to discuss why some people found it appropriate to hold up signs that say ‘Stop Silencing Me’ when a student shared a personal story of how their grandparents survived the Holocaust.”

#UMDivest 2017 - Promoting Terrorists

SAFE’s 2017 BDS resolution accused [p.4] Israel of “the unlawful execution of Palestinians” and cited to a report portraying terrorists as victims. Among them were terrorists Fadi Aloon and Mustafa Al-Khatib [p.5-6], who both died during stabbing attacks.

The report claimed [p.1] that “Israeli forces” carried out over 200 “unlawful killings” of Palestinians in Israel since 2015, but admitted that “most of these killings – more than 150 of them – came during alleged, attempted, or actual attacks by Palestinian individuals against Israeli soldiers, police and civilians.”

On November 1, 2017, SAFE posted a photo on Facebook of a mock Israeli security barrier alongside an image of terrorist Leila Khaled. SAFE wrote: “We’re back. #UMDivest.”

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.

#UMDivest 2017 - Denying That #UMDivest is BDS

Throughout its divestment campaign, #UMDivest followed a strategy outlined by leading BDS activists while denying that the campaign was part of the broader BDS movement.

In April 2017, Omar Barghouti — the BDS movement founder — said [00:58:53]: “If you join a campaign for justice and freedom, it doesn’t have to carry the BDS logo. It doesn’t have to say ‘boycott’ and it doesn’t have to say ‘BDS.’ There are many creative ways how to do things without labeling it as BDS.”

On November 14, 2017, during the CSG vote on #UMDivest, Yara Gayar, an author of SAFE’s divestment resolution, told [00:51:35] the CSG: “This is not part of the BDS movement.”

Reema Kaakarli, a SAFE activist, spent [00:53:32] nearly two minutes trying to distinguish UMDivest’s resolution from BDS and specified [00:54:28]: “We really want to distinguish ourselves from the leaders of the broader BDS movement.”

On November 7, 2017, Arwa Gayar, another SAFE activist, told [1:35:03] the CSG: “We are not BDS, we are just divestment.”

However, SAFE activists Arwa Gayar and Reem Al-Khatib, who spoke [1:40:42] at both [00:38:19] CSG hearings, posed for a photo supporting BDS at the 2017 National SJP Conference (NSJP 2017) in Texas from October 27-29.

The NSJP 2017 schedule explicitly identified campus divestment efforts with BDS, and held workshops to: “... envision pathways to achieving sanctions in the future and work towards getting our institutions to follow through on commitments to divest.”

On November 22, 2017, SAFE posted a Facebook photo of BDS activist Roger Waters celebrating the #UMDivest victory.

Upon signing the resolution, CSG president Sarkar condemned SAFE’s tactic of obfuscating the resolution’s connection to BDS. She also condemned SAFE for preventing a Jewish professor from speaking against the resolution, because the group had argued that the debate should remain a “student-to-student” issue.

However, SAFE activist and CSG representative Hafsa Tout invited BDS activist Kristian Davis Bailey and former SAFE leader Farah Erzouki to speak for #UMDivest, neither of whom were students.

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.

MSA

The MSA was established by members of the Muslim Brotherhood in January 1963 at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, with the goal of "spreading Islam as students in North America." A 2004 FBI investigation uncovered an internal Muslim Brotherhood document in which a brotherhood leader identified the MSA as "one of our organizations."

The MSA reportedly has “nearly 600 chapters” located in the United States and Canada, and is “the most visible and influential Islamic student organization in North America,” boasting conferences, special events, publications, websites and other activities.

The organization includes a number of previous chapter presidents with explicit links to terrorist groups. Included are al-Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki (Colorado State University), Somali al-Shabaab militant leader Omar Shafik Hammami (University of South Alabama) and Pakistani Taliban recruiter Ramy Zamzam of the MSA's Washington, D.C. council.