Riley Hsieh

Overview

Riley Hsieh has defended terrorism, expressed support for violent protests and promoted hatred of Israel, as well as an anti-Israel agitator.

He has also expressed hatred of America, is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and was an activist with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), in 2018-2019.

As of July 2020, Hsieh’s Facebook page said he was a Sociology and Asian American Studies student at UCSB.

Defending Terrorism

On September 18, 2018, Hsieh shared to Facebook a post by the Queer Palestinian Empowerment Network QPEN that justified the murder of Israeli-American citizen Ari Fuld. The post said: “Colonialism comes with consequences.”

On September 16, 2018, Khalil Jabarin fatally stabbed American-Israeli Ari Fuld in the back outside a shopping mall south of Jerusalem and attempted to stab another civilian before he was shot by Fuld.

Following the attack, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) released statements praising Jabarin’s stabbing attack as a “heroic operation” in response to Israeli "violations" against the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The allegation that Jews “threaten” to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque has been a traditional pretext for Arab attacks on Jews long before the existence of the modern Jewish state.

Supporting Violent Protests

On May 14, 2018, Hsieh shared a post to Facebook that said: “How repulsive that...members of Trump’s administration are sipping wine and enjoying a lavish event at the new US embassy in Jerusalem...while Palestinian demonstrators are being massacred by IDF soldiers.”

In May 2018, terror organization Hamas instigated the “March of Return.” Thousands of violent rioters attempted numerous breaches of Israel’s border fence with Gaza, seeking to harm Jews across the border. Media reports confirmed [00:00:20] protesters’ breaches and attempted breaches of the fence, some by armed Palestinians. On May 15, 2018, senior Hamas official Mahmoud Al-Zahhar said the Gaza protests were only a pretext of “peaceful resistance.”

That same day, Hsieh tweeted: “the spilled blood of the arab is treated like the blood of a dog in this sickening nation.” Hsieh attached a May 14, 2018 tweet by the Associated Press that said: “White House says responsibility for Gaza deaths 'rests squarely with Hamas,’ supports Israel's 'right to defend itself.’”

Again on May 14, 2018, Hsieh tweeted: “these are war criminals” and shared a tweet that said: “These split-screens showing the smiling faces inside the US Embassy opening in Jerusalem and the Palestinian protesters being fired upon by Israeli forces are sickening.”

On May 18, 2018, Hsieh shared an event Facebook co-hosted by UCSB SJP, titled: “Great Return March: Vigil for Palestinian Lives.” The event’s Facebook description said: “A Vigil will be held….for those have been massacred by the state of Israel from the Great Return March of May 14, 2018.”

That same day, Hsieh wrote on Facebook: “the brutal and merciless treatment of gazans inflicted by the murderous israeli regime brings me to my knees.”

On May 16, 2018, a Hamas senior official, Salah al-Bardawil, stated that 50 out of 62 protesters killed during the May 14 Gaza border protest were Hamas operatives. Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) also claimed that three of its members were killed at the same protest.

On June 14, 2018, Hsieh shared to Facebook an article titled: “UN General Assembly condemns Israel for ‘excessive use of force’ on Gaza border” and commented: “@ everyone at ucsb lol.”

Promoting Hatred of Israel

On November 21, 2019, Hsieh tweeted: “if u support israel u can go and suck my d**k.”

On June 6, 2018, Hsieh shared an Op-Ed to Facebook titled: “Argentina Won’t Play Israel in Soccer Because Slaughtering Palestinians Has Consequences.” The Op-Ed said: “By pressing the Argentine soccer team to avoid Israel after the country’s military used snipers to shoot thousands of unarmed Palestinian protesters in recent weeks, the activists pressing for a boycott have forced Israelis to suffer at least some consequences.”

On June 5, 2018, Hsieh wrote a tweet that accused Israel of apartheid.

That same day, Hsieh wrote on Twitter: “apartheid state that we fund every year y’all.”

On December 22, 2017, Hsieh wrote on twitter: “ah what the f**k not santa” and shared a tweet that said:“A Palestinian protester dressed as Santa Claus was among the more than 700 injured by Israeli forces on Friday.”

Promoting an Anti-Israel Agitator

On October 1, 2018, Hsieh said: “excellent” in a post on Facebook and shared an article titled: “Real Madrid football club honours Palestine activist Ahed Tamimi.”

Ahed Tamimi has a long history of physically attacking Israeli soldiers. Tamimi is the daughter of Bassem Tamimi, who is known for exploiting young children as political props in staged confrontations with Israeli soldiers.

Expressing Hatred of America

On November 25, 2018, Hsieh wrote on Twitter: “i would have spelled amerikkka with the triple k but i ran out of characters.”

On January 20, 2017, Hsieh wrote on Twitter: “amerikkka.”

SJP Activism

On November 20, 2019, Hsieh led [00:00:25] a chant calling for “Intifada” at an SJP USCB “Vigil For Gaza” and die-in, at the Arbor in front of the Davidson Library: “in honor of the victims who lost their lives this past week due to Israeli bombings of Gaza.”

Since the early 2000s, the term “intifada,” which translates from Arabic as “uprising” or “insurrection,” has carried the connotation of violence.

The second intifada (2000-2005) was characterized by more than 120 suicide bombings targeting Israeli civilians on buses and in cafes.

During the event, Hsieh and demonstrators chanted [00:00:24] “Long live the Intifada [violent uprising]” and “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.

The event’s Facebook description said: “Gaza is under attack and the death toll is rising. Its time to hold Israel accountable for their war crimes!”

On November 3, 2019, SJP at UCSB posted to Facebook defending their call to intifada.

On November 19, 2018, Hsieh posed for a group photo taken at the 2018 National SJP conference.

National SJP 2018 Snippet for non-UCLA Students

On October 7, 2018, Hsieh shared to Facebook a fundraiser for the 2018 National SJP conference.

The 2018 National SJP conference was held on November 16-18, 2018 at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The conference was themed “Radical Hope: Resistance in the Face of Adversity.” The conference website stated: “[t]he reason we can have hope is that Zionism...can be destroyed.”

Promoting BDS

On April 4, 2019, Hsieh posted to Facebooka USCB Divest poster that was issued by SJP at UCSB.

That same day, Hsieh posted to Facebook promoting SJP at UCSB’s Divest 2019 divestment resolution: “Call to the Associated Students of the University of California, Santa Barbara to Divest from Human Rights Violations in Israel/Palestine (2019).”

The resolution Hsieh posted accused Israel of committing “crimes against humanity.” and referenced all communities dismantling structures of oppression on a global scale.”

The resolution also supported the Palestinian “right of return” and suggested that “settlement buildings [sic]” and “checkpoints and roadblocks” were crimes against humanity.

The “right of return” is a Palestinian demand discredited as a means to eliminate Israel. International law mandates no absolute right of return and UN Resolution 194, which defined principles for “refugees wishing to return to their homes,” was unanimously rejected by Arab nations following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

SJP at UCSB indicated that they would be presenting their divestment resolution to the Associated Students (AS) at UCSB in the spring of 2019.

2018 National SJP - Celebrating Violence

During the 2018 National SJP conference, anti-Israel activist Mohammed Nabulsi led the attendees in the chant [00:00:52] “Long Live the Intifada! Intifada! Intifada!”

Since the early 2000’s, the term “intifada” has carried the connotation of violence. The second intifada was characterized by more than 120 suicide bombings targeting Israeli civilians on buses and in cafes.

Anti-Israel activist Omar Zahzah also reportedly [00:00:07] led National SJP attendees in chanting, in Arabic, “With our bodies and our blood, we will free Palestine.”

As of November 2018, the 2018 National SJP website glorified “radical hope and upfront defiance of Zionism,” citing as examples the “early revolts through the Intifadas to the Great Return March.”

The Great Return March of 2018 was organized and funded by the terror group Hamas as a campaign of violent protests along Israel’s border to spotlight the demand of Palestinians to “return” to Israel.

Tens of thousands of rioters gathered on Israel’s Gaza border, attempting numerous breaches of Israel’s border fence, with leaders andparticipants declaring their intention to harm Jews.

National SJP originally promoted a conference logo featuring a keffiyeh-wearing bear, looking toward a kite bearing the colors of the Palestinian flag.

On October 27, 2018, National SJP said the kite signified “the power in the Gaza March of Return.”

Since March 2018, March of Return participants and Hamas’s “Kite Unit” have sent hundreds of kites bearing incendiary devices and IEDs (improvised explosive devices) across the border into Israel to terrorize Israelis. The kites are often marked with swastikas.

By the time National SJP produced its 2018 conference logo highlighting the kites in October 2018, Gazan terror kites and balloons had ignited more than 1,300 fires in Israel, over seven months.

2018 National SJP - Undermining U.S. Support for Israel

On November 18, 2018, the US Palestine Community Network (USPCN) posted on Facebook the 2018 National SJP keynote speech by Hatem Abudayyeh, USPCN’s co-founder.

Abudayyeh has supported [00:08:45] convicted terrorists, praised terror organizations, called for Israel’s destruction and is an activist in theBoycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

In his 2018 National SJP Keynote, Abudayyeh said [00:53:01] that the “specific role” of Palestinian and Arab students was to organize [00:53:42] in order to weaken “Zionist Israel” and force [00:54:23] the U.S. to “no longer provide it with diplomatic, political, financial and military cover and support.”

Abudayyeh predicted [00:55:37] that once U.S. support to Israel ends, National SJP attendees would return to Palestine as “conquering heroes,” end [00:54:38] the “occupation and colonization of all Arab lands including the Golan Heights” and replace “Zionist Israel” with a Palestinian state.

2018 National SJP - Whitewashing Terror Organizations

During his keynote speech, Abudayyeh also painted [00:14:01] terrorist organizations as “liberation movements” and “resistance organizations,” stating [00:14:21] “what we also know is that the majority of the resistance organizations in Palestine are on the U.S. state department list of foreign terrorist organizations.”

Abudayyeh also celebrated [00:52:00] that all of the “armed resistance” organizations in Gaza are part [00:52:14] of a “unified resistance in Gaza, that includes all of the resistance organizations, working together under a unified military command.”

2018 National SJP - Defending Terrorist Rasmea Odeh

During his keynote speech, Abudayyeh claimed [00:08:28] that pro-Israel organizations “go after students like you,” adding [00:08:20] “just like they went after my friend and colleague, 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.

Abudayyeh added that he was asked [00:08:45] to talk about Odeh’s case, and praised SJP and SDS students who organized [00:09:15] “absolutely valuable” events on behalf [00:9:11] of Odeh, “as she was fighting to stay in the U.S.”

2018 National SJP - Demonizing Israel and Jews

During his keynote speech, Abudayyeh defended [00:27:25] the “Irvine 11” — eleven Muslim Student Union (MSA) members who were arrested in 2010 for repeatedly shouting down former Israeli ambassador Michael Oren during an address at the University of California at Irvine (UC Irvine).

Abudayyeh referred [00:27:37] to Oren as a “racist fascist speaker, representative of a racist, fascist country.”

Abudayyeh went on to claim [00:29:48] that “today, even in the United States, Israel is finally being seen as the criminal, apartheid, racist state that it is.”

Abudayyeh also called for increased action in the face of President U.S. Donald Trump, and referred [00:48:41] to Jared Kushner, Trump’s Jewish son-in-law and senior advisor, as “that pig son-in-law of his.”

2018 National SJP - Excluding Students

The 2018 National SJP Conference welcomed only students who were verified and vouched for by an SJP (or otherwise named campus Palestine solidarity group). Media requests needed to be “approved by the NSJP press team” prior to the conference.

A November 7, 2018 Columbus Jewish News article reported that the Los Angeles City Council unanimously passed a resolution calling on UCLA to cancel the 2018 NSJP conference, stating that a “public university should not allow any group to implement a litmus test for event participation on their campus.”

On November 12, 2018, UCLA Chancellor Gene Block published an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times that criticized National SJP’s exclusion of members of pro-Israel student groups.

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.