Rosco Abushi

Overview

Rosco Abushi [Rosco Abboushi] has spread anti-Semitism, promoted incitement and is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Abushi is also a gun enthusiast.

As of June 2023, Abushi was a co-owner of Abushi, an “Automotive Customization Shop” located in Queens, New York, New York. The company reportedly opened in the fall of 2020.

As of June 2023, Abushi’s Instagram bio indicated that he was located in New York City.

Also as of June 2023, Abushi went by the username “Raw Abushi” and used the handle “@RoscoTheSquare” on Facebook. He used the handle “@rawscooo” on Instagram. In August 2022, Abushi used the handle “@rawwwwsco” on Twitter.

Spreading Anti-Semitism

On July 13, 2015, Abushi shared on Facebook a post that said: “...What are some similarities between #Israel and #Nazi #Germany? They both use concentration camps; #Hitler had #Auschwitz, Israel has #Gaza…”The post had an image comparing the situation of the Palestinians in Gaza with that of the Jews in the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II.

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) highlights as one possible contemporary example of anti-Semitism: “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.” The U.S. State Department adopted the IHRA’s working definition of anti-Semitism in 2016. Over 40 countries have adopted the definition as well.

On December 27, 2015, Abushi tweeted: “I wanna know what Jews did @LeoDiCaprio piss off that he can't win an Oscar?”

On March 10, 2016, Abushi tweeted: “America wants to be Israel soooooo bad! A uniform race, modern day slavery for the minorities and oppress the indigenous people. 50% there.”

On June 9, 2016, Abushi tweeted: “... Israel is always 1 step ahead of you media sheep.”

The assertion that Jews control the media has been traced to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, an anti-Semitic fabricated text that depicts wealthy Jews conspiring to take over the world.

Spreading Incitement

Abushi retweeted a June 7, 2017, tweet that said: “... the day Israel destroys Al-Aqsa will be its final moments as a country.”

The allegation that Jews “threaten” to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque has been a pretext for Arab attacks on Jews long before the existence of the modern Jewish state. Such propaganda has led to multiple periods of violence against Israeli civilians.

On March 8, 2016, Abushi tweeted: “In honor of international women's day. #FreePalestine

” The tweet featured a photo of a masked Palestinian woman holding a pistol and a Palestinian flag.

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.