Safiya O'Brien
Overview
Safiya O’Brien was an officer of a Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter that celebrated Hamas terrorism in October 2023, two days after Hamas led a series of terror attacks where they murdered 1,200 Israeli Jews and committed other war crimes.O’Brien has engaged [slides 15 and 16] in pro-Hamas and anti-Israel activism. On social media, she has also spread [slide 69] hatred of Israel and expressed [slide 63] support for terrorists.
As of March 20, 2024, O’Brien’s LinkedIn profile said she had been an “organizing member” of the SJP chapter at Columbia University (Columbia SJP) since September 2021. Columbia is located in New York, New York.
Officer in an SJP that Celebrated Hamas Terrorism
On October 9, 2023, while O’Brien served as an “organizing member” of Columbia SJP, the group wrote: “Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine stands in full solidarity with Palestinian Resistance against over 75 years of Israeli settler-colonialism and apartheid. Palestinians have been subjected to the longest ongoing military occupation in modern history and their right to resist is enshrined in international law.”Among Palestinians and anti-Israel activists, the term “resistance” can be a euphemism for nationalistic terror. It is often used to excuse or even glorify anti-Israel and anti- Semitic violence.
Pro-Hamas and Anti-Israel Activism
On October 8, 2023, one day after Hamas terrorists attacked Israel, O’Brien posted [slides 15 and 16] multiple photos on her Instagram Stories Highlights, indicating that she participated in an anti-Israel protest.Hatred of Israel and Support for Terrorists
On January 13, 2024, O’Brien shared [slide 63] on her Instagram Stories Highlights a photo from an anti-Israel protest in Port of Oakland, California, where an activist held a sign that said: “
Be like Yemen.”Following the outbreak of Israel’s 2023 war against Hamas, Houthi terrorists attacked commercial ships off Yemen’s Red Sea coast and launched missiles into southern Israel. Like Hamas, the Houthi movement is backed by Iran, and is designated as a terror group by the United States, Saudi Arabia and other countries. The Houthi slogan translated into English reads: “God is the Greatest / Death to America / Death to Israel / A Curse Upon the Jews / Victory to Islam.”
On January 15, 2024, O’Brien shared [slide 66] on her Instagram Stories Highlights a photo from an anti-Israel protest, where an activist held a sign that said: “The Main Difference BETWEEN ‘Terrorist’ AND ‘SOLDIER’ IS POWER + INDOCTRINATION.”
On February 10, 2024, O’Brien shared [slide 69] on her Instagram Stories Highlights a video from a post that claimed that “Israel has been engaged in a ‘deliberate propaganda campaign’ since October 7 in order to justify its brutal war on Gaza.”
The video showed Hamas terrorists as they invaded Israel and proceeded to kill Israeli civilians. A narrator in the video said [00:00:01]: “Within hours of these attacks happening, the [Israeli prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu government began to craft a very deliberate propaganda campaign to sell the United States, other Western leaders and the global public on a scorched earth war of annihilation against Gaza.”
The video also said [00:00:40]: “And it’s very, very clear that they sold this fraud and the White House laundered it…This is one of the most epic frauds in modern history…”
Denial of the Hamas war crimes of October 7, 2023, among anti-Israel activists has been likened to Holocaust denial among neo-Nazis.
Biographical Information
O’Brien is a supporter [00:00:04] of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.As of March 20, 2024, O’Brien’s LinkedIn said she had been studying for a bachelor’s degree in political science and human rights at Barnard College (Barnard), which is part of Columbia. She is slated to graduate in 2025.
Full Profile Coming Soon
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.
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.
Social Media and Weblinks
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/safi.obrienInstagram:https://www.instagram.com/safiyaobrien/
TikTok:https://www.tiktok.com/@safiiob
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/safiya-o-brien-12aa951b6/
YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@safiyaobrien1073
