Last updated: Mar. 4, 2025

Rawan Toom

Rawan Toom [Rawan Toom Hamideh] has expressed support for terrorism and spread hatred of Israel.

In October 2015, Rawan Toom attended the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) national conference as a member of the New York City SJP chapter (NYC SJP).

NYC SJP is now known as Within Our Lifetime (WOL).

Rawan Toom is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

As of February 2025, Rawan Toom's LinkedIn profile said she attended New York City College of Technology (City Tech) in 2013.

As of March 2025, Toom's LinkedIn said she was located in San Marcos, California.

On October 17, 2015, Toom posted on Facebook: "Share far & wide! Out in big numbers!! Come out & show your support." Included in the post was a flyer titled: "SOLIDARITY WITH THE PALESTINIAN UPRISING: COUNTER RALLY THE ZIONIST PROTEST."

The flyer text read: "In response to the justified uprising of the Palestinian people, Zionist activists have chosen to organize a 'Jewish Lives Matter' rally...Join us loudly in proclaiming that Resistance is not Terrorism...!"

Among Palestinians and anti-Israel activists, the term “resistance” is a euphemism for nationalistic terror and is used to glorify and encourage anti-Israel and antisemitic violence.

On August 17, 2015, Toom posted on Facebook a flyer for a protest in support of Mohammad Allan.

Allan is a member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), a terror group “whose objective is the destruction of the State of Israel and the establishment of a sovereign, Islamic Palestinian state.” Allan was first jailed by Israel in 2006 for trying to recruit a suicide bomber to carry out an attack in Israel. He was detained in 2014 for similar reasons. PIJ is backed by Iran and has killed dozens of Israelis in suicide bombings and other attacks.

In May 2016, Toom’s profile photo on her Twitter account showed her wearing a t-shirt printed with: "resistance is not terrorism" under an image of Leila Khaled.

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.

On April 25, 2016, Toom shared on Facebook a post that featured pictures of Dima Al-Wawi.

12-year-old Al-Wawi was imprisoned for attempting to stab a security guard at the Israeli community Karmei Tzur. Al-Wawi later claimed she intended to kill the guard and hoped she would be killed in the process. “I was dreaming that I was going to be martyred,” she said.

On October 4, 2015, NYC SJP issued a statement titled: "The BDS Ceiling." The statement said: "... we should aim to aid in the struggle to confront and defeat Zionism...Taken to the logical conclusion, this means the eventual establishment of a single Palestinian national state covering all of historic Palestine." The statement concluded with a quote from Leila Khaled saying: "BDS, of course, on the international level, is very effective. But it doesn't liberate the land."

Zionism is the belief that Jews have the right to self-determination in their own national home, and the right to develop their national culture. Zionism is a core part of the identity of most Jews.

On October 7, 2015, Toom posted on Facebook: "New York City Students for Justice in Palestine stands in solidarity with the oppressed people of Palestine on the Palestinian Day of Rage."

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.

Included in the post was a link to the statement, which included a graphic of a Palestinian man with his head wrapped in a keffiyeh, next to a fire, throwing rocks. The graphic text read: "PALESTINE / LET THE INTIFADA PAVE THE WAY FOR PEOPLE'S WAR!" and "A WORLD TO WIN" 1988/11."

The term “intifada,” which translates from Arabic as “uprising” or “insurrection,” carries the connotation of violence. Palestinian intifadas waged against Israel have been marked since 1987 by hundreds of hijackings, shootings, stabbings, bombings and suicide missions.

On November 12, 2015, Toom posted on Facebook: "Millions student March [sic] happening now! Abolish the board of trustees. LIBERATE CUNY FOR THE PEOPLE." CUNY is the acronym for the City University of New York (CUNY) school system.

Included in the post was a photo of protesters holding Palestinian flags and banners, one of which read: "RSCC NYC." The Revolutionary Student Coordinating Committee (RSCC) was founded in 2012 to unite "revolutionary-minded youth and students throughout the CUNY system in NYC."

On November 13, 2015, a video was posted to YouTube titled: "CUNY Hunter Chants" which recorded march participants who chanted: “Zionists out of CUNY,” and “Intifada! Intifada! Long live the intifada!”

On April 27, 2016, NYC SJP posted on Twitter (now X) a graphic of a map of Israel overlaid with the colors of the Palestinian flag, captioned: "Je Suis One State." The post read: "From the river to the sea Palestine will be free.✊🏼 #1948”

“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free!” is a chant used to call for the elimination of the State of Israel. In April 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning the chant as antisemitic.