Rana Abdelhamid

Rana Abdelhamid spread hatred of Israel and America at the pro-Hamas encampment at Columbia in April 2024. She was also arrested for protesting Israel’s war against Hamas less than three weeks after the terror group attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.

Rana Abdelhamid is a self-defense instructor who spoke at the encampment on April 19, 2024. Addressing its participants, she urged [03:39:02] them to: “Speak on the fact that Columbia University is the extension of a settler colonial entity [United States] when it has displaced thousands of black people from Harlem [in New York].”

Abdelhamid then said [03:39:16], referring to Columbia: “It is no surprise that they would support a violent settler colonial state [Israel] when they are an extension of that state.”

Abdelhamid ended [03:40:49] her speech by quoting domestic terrorist Assata Shakur, saying: “It is our duty to fight for our freedom! It is our duty to win... We have nothing to lose but our chains!”

Assata Shakur was convicted of killing a New Jersey state trooper and wounding another in 1973 while a member of the separatist Black Liberation Army (BLA). She escaped from prison in 1979 and fled to Cuba in 1984, where she resides today. She is listed on the FBI Most Wanted Terror List under her legal name, Joanne Deborah Chesimard.

The encampment was in support of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Pro-Hamas Encampment at Columbia University

On April 17, 2024, Columbia students and anti-Israel activists set up a pro-Hamas “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” on the university's main lawn. Many participants were arrested and the encampment featured multiple violent incidents, including taking over a campus building and taking a university worker hostage.

Activists protested Israel’s war against Hamas and demanded that Columbia “divest from companies and institutions that profit from Israeli apartheid, genocide and occupation…”

The action had reportedly been planned for months and was organized by the Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) coalition. The encampment was also organized by Columbia’s banned pro-Hamas activist group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the university chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). Activists reportedly received training from National SJP and other anti-Israel organizations.

Among the encampment leaders was Columbia student Khymani James who had said [00:00:25]: “Zionists…They are nazis!... They’re supporters of genocide! Why would we want people who are supporters of genocide to live?... Be glad, be grateful that I am not just going out and murdering Zionists.” Aidan Parisi, another encampment leader, responded to Columbia’s demand to disband the encampment by declaring online that: “COLUMBIA WILL BURN.”

The encampment was forcibly dismantled at the directive of Columbia’s president and administration. The NYPD [New York Police Department] entered the area, cleared the encampment and arrested more than 100 protestors, approximately 80 of whom were Columbia students. The students were charged with trespassing and suspended from Columbia indefinitely.

The next day, activists created a new encampment. When divestment negotiations with Columbia failed, protesters illegally forced their way into the university’s Hamilton Hall on April 30, 2024. They smashed [00:00:55] through a glass-paneled door, broke security cameras, threw university property out of the windows and unfurled [00:00:01] a banner in the building’s wall that read: “INTIFADA,” a term in Arabic for uprising or insurrection that carries the connotation of violence.

While barricading themselves in the building, agitators kept three Columbia custodians hostage and stopped them from leaving. When the NYPD raided and dismantled the encampment a second time, they arrested more than 100 students, nearly half of whom were reportedly not affiliated with Columbia.

NYPD shared on Twitter photos of objects the police found in Hamilton Hall. These included knives, hammers, gas masks, ropes and a pamphlet that read [video 1]: “...DISRUPT/RECLAIM/DESTROY zionist business interests everywhere! DEATH TO ISRAELI REAL STATE! DEATH TO AMERICA!...LONG LIVE THE INTIFADA!”

Just outside the encampment area, Jewish students were called [slide 2]: “Uncultured a** b**ches!” and were told to “Go back to Europe!” Activists also said [slide 3] to them: “Yahoodim [Jews], yahoodi [Jew], f**k you!” and “Stop killing children!” as they walked from campus to their dorm rooms.

Also just outside the encampment area, anti-Israel activists chanted [slide 5]: “Ya Hamas, ya habib, odrob, odrob Tel Aviv! [Oh Hamas, oh loved one, strike, strike Tel Aviv!]”, a chant that celebrates Hamas rocket attacks against Israel.

An activist just outside the encampment area held [photo 4] a sign that said, referring to the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing: “AL-QASAM’S NEXT TARGETS.” Her sign contained an arrow pointing to a pro-Israel crowd.

On May 31, 2024, Columbia SJP announced that its activists had set up a third encampment at the university. At the encampment, protesters reportedly displayed on a big screen a video that portrayed Hamas as a peace-seeking organization and made a sign that contained an inverted red triangle, a symbol in support of Hamas.

Background on Pro-Hamas Encampments

The encampment was one of over 140 pro-Hamas and anti-Israel college encampments set up in North America, and over 20 more globally, in the spring of 2024. The first began on April 17, 2024, at Columbia University. The encampments were unofficially known as the “student intifada,” borrowing a term associated with terrorist violence.  

Protesters harassed Jewish students, blocked Jews from campus facilities and shouted anti-Semitic slogans. They occupied campus grounds, in many cases illegally, caused property damage, violently took over buildings, celebrated terrorism and promoted the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. 

Activists set up encampments to oppose Israel’s right to wage war against the Hamas terror group following October 7, 2023, when Hamas murdered approximately 1,200 people, including 32 American and 8 Canadian citizens. Hamas also kidnapped 252 people, including 11 Americans and the bodies of 2 murdered Canadians. As of May 26, 2024, 125 hostages remained in Hamas captivity.

Rana Abdelhamid’s Arrest

On October 28, 2024, Abdelhamid posted on Instagram: “Thank you to the many incredible organizers of @jvpny and @jfrejnyc for helping us build our collective power yesterday…” Included in the post was a video of her arrest the day before with the caption: “I got arrested yesterday at grand central…” as she protested Israel’s war against Hamas alongside members of the New York chapter of the anti-Israel organization Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP).

Rana Abdelhamid’s Work and Education

As of September 2024, Abdelhamid’s Instagram bio said she was an “Organizer, writer, and self defense instructor” and the founder and executive director of Malikah, a “grassroots antiviolence and wellness nonprofit.”

As of May 2023, a Google Outreach Initiatives blog titled: “The global impact of Women Techmaker Ambassadors” reported that Abdelhamid was the “global marketing and partnerships lead for Google’s women in tech brand, Women Techmakers."

On February 12, 2022, the New York Post reported that Abdelhamid’s Financial Disclosure Report showed she had been a Google employee since September 2017.

On April 14, 2021, The Hill news site reported that Abdelhamid, then a candidate for the U.S. Congress for the state of New York, District 12 was “a member of the Democrat Socialists of America (DSA).”

Abdelhamid graduated from the Kennedy School of Government with a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government (Harvard Kennedy School) in 2017.

As s of September 2024, Abdelhamid’s Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok accounts indicated she was located in Queens, New York.