Raneem Abubars

Overview

Raneem Abubars was the co-president of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Wayne State University (WSU) for the 2017-2018 academic year.

Abubars was involved in anti-Israel activism as early as March 2015, when she indicated on Facebook that she “went” to an American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) event in Dearborn, MI that featured Hatem Bazian and Joshua Ruebner.

In October 2015, Abubars was reportedly a student at Oakland University (Oakland), in southeast MI.

As of February 2018, Abubars was a member of two Facebook groups for the Muslim Students Association (MSA) at WSU.

In a September 24, 2017 post on the SJP WSU Facebook page, Abubars stated that she worked at the 47th District Court of Michigan in Farmington Hills, Michigan, and that she was an intern at Zaman International. In the same post, Abubars said that was pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Global Studies. 

On May 9, 2018 Abubars posted a Facebook profile picture of herself in a graduation cap.  

SJP WSU - Anti-Semitic Tweets  

SJP WSU founder and 2015-2017 president Summer Baraka and 2017-2018 president Mayssa Masri have both expressed forms of anti-Semitism on social media.

On June 24, 2015, Masri tweeted: “We need to open our eyes to who controls the media. We need to open our eyes to #WhiteSupremacy and #Zionism.”

On August 21, 2013, Baraka tweeted: “Allah yin3an al yahood ou bas [May Allah curse the Jews, and that's all.]" Masri liked the tweet.

SJP WSU - Leadership Idolizing Terrorists  

On March 29, 2016, Baraka referred to terrorist Ghassan Kanafani, tweeting: “Just tryna marry a modern day Kanafani.”

Kanafani was a leading member and spokesperson for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) during the terrorist organization’s early years. Kanafani announced the PFLP’s responsibility for the Lod Airport Massacre of May 1972 and was linked to the airport attackers. The attack killed 26 people and wounded 80 others.

On October 4, 2015, Rafeef Hamad — the 2016-2017 SJP WSU vice president — tweeted: “يارب تكتبهم عندك من الشهداء 🇵🇸🙏   #فلسطين_تنتفض [Please O god inscribe them as martyrs #Palestine_Revolting]”

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.

SJP WSU - Supporting Terrorists  

On November 11, 2016 and 2017, SJP WSU posted photos to Facebook memorializing terrorist Yasser Arafat on the anniversary of his death.

The 2017 post included an Arafat quote, reading: “The victory march will continue until the Palestinian flag flies in Jerusalem and in all of Palestine.”

Yasser Arafat was the leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and is known by some as the "father of modern terrorism." Arafat called for children to “martyr” themselves during the second intifada. In 1996, he told Arab diplomats: "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."

On April 8, 2017, SJP WSU posted a photo to Facebook of a painting honoring terrorist Leila Khaled, displayed at an SJP Palestinian cultural event.

Khaled was 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. In a 2014 interview, Khaled opined that the Palestinian second intifada failed because it was not violent enough.

On November 25, 2016, SJP WSU tweeted and posted on Facebook in support of terrorist Rasmea Odeh.

Odeh was a key military operative with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization. In 1969, she masterminded a PFLP supermarket bombing that killed two college students. She also attempted to bomb the British consulate in Jerusalem. Odeh later moved to the United States but was deported to Jordan in 2017 for immigration fraud.

SJP WSU - Denying Jerusalem’s Jewish History

On December 8, 2017, SJP WSU shared a Facebook video of Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas stating [00:00:15]: “Jerusalem is a city that is Palestinian, Arab, Christian, Islamic and the eternal capital of Palestine.“

Abbas was protesting U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and to relocate the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

On October 19, 2016, SJP WSU tweeted a picture taken at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, stating: “Victory of Palestine against Israel: Jerusalem Holy Site Declared Muslim, Not Jewish, in United Nations Resolution.”

SJP WSU - Nazi Propaganda Methods  

On April 9, 2017, SJP WSU officers posed for a Facebook photo before a mock Israeli security wall that featured a call to boycott Israel and a quote associating Israel with Nazi propaganda methods.

The “separation wall” bore a quote often attributed to Nazi Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels: “If you repeat a lie enough times, it becomes the truth.”

SJP WSU revised the quote, by replacing the word “truth” with the word “politics” and then crossed out “politics” and substituted the word “Israel,” written with blood dripping from the letters. Below the quote appeared the hashtag: “#BOYCOTTISRAEL.”

The quote embodied an anti-Semitic idea known as the “Big Lie,” which was used by Nazi Germany to demonize Jews and to promote the boycott of Jewish businesses."

SJP WSU used the wall as early as March 2016.

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.



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.