Salah Abdelrahman

Overview

Salah Abdelrahman has expressed support for Hamas and other terrorists. He has also called for intifada violence, spread hatred of Israel and engaged in anti-Israel activism.

Abdelrahman was the president of Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) at McMaster University (McMaster SPHR) in January 2013. He was affiliated with the group in 2011 and 2012. SPHR is an alternative name for Students For Justice In Palestine (SJP).

For more information, see the McMaster SPHR Chapter Profile.

Abdelrahman led a Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement campaign at McMaster in 2015.

As of August 2023, Abdelrahman’s LinkedIn profile said he was an Operations Department Manager at Procter & Gamble, based in Belleville, Ontario since June 2019.

Abdelrahman’s LinkedIn also said he was Chemical Engineering & Co-op Student at McMaster from September 2009 to May 2015, during which time he was “Executive on various student bodies including the McMaster Students Union.” It also said he was an MSU “Elected Assembly member” from September 2011 to November 2013.

As of the same date, Abdelrahman’s LinkedIn said he graduated from Copenhagen Business School with a Certification in strategic management in 2021 and from McMaster with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering in 2014.

Also as of August 2023, Abdelrahman’s LinkedIn said he was located in Hamilton, Ontario.

As of the same date, Abdelrahman used the name “Salah F Khalaf” on Facebook. He also went by the username “salah khalaf” and used the handle “@salahkhalaf91” on Twitter.

On November 22, 2023, Abdelrahman tweeted indicating that he was applying to law school at York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Support for Hamas Terrorists

On November 14, 2012, Abdelrahman tweeted: “...So, you support collective punishment?! The people of Palestine have chosen Hamas as their representative.” Abdelrahman’s tweet was in response to a report about an Israeli airstrike on Hamas chief of staff Ahmed Jabari.

Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S., Canada, European Union, Israel and other countries. Founded in 1987, it has killed thousands of Israeli civilians through mass shootings and suicide bombings. Hamas has also kidnapped children, families and the elderly and held them hostage in Gaza. It has desecrated [slide 2] dead bodies and launched numerous rocket attacks against Israeli civilians.

On August 9, 2014, Abdelrahman gave a speech at an anti-Israel protest in Hamilton during Israel’s Operation Protective Edge (OPE) against Hamas. He said [00:00:01] that Palestinians should “defend themselves using any means necessary.” He then referenced Jews who fought against the Nazis in Poland, saying [00:00:21] “so did the heroes of the Warsaw ghetto and so are doing today the Palestinian people in Gaza…”

Israel commenced OPE in July 2014 to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.

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.

In the same speech, Abdelrahman also called [00:04:37] for BDS against Israel and said [00:05:36]: “brick by brick we will bring down the wall…we will go from the tunnels to the skies and we will end the siege in Gaza.” He continued [00:06:51]: “it is not only Hamas fighting back, it is the whole Palestinian people…” and concluded [00:08:53]: “we will never stop resisting, resistance is a right.”

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.

At the protest, stickers were distributed that said: “The Media has been lying 2 YOU / Holocaust happening RIGHT NOW.” Protesters held signs that accused Israel of genocide and compared Gaza to Auschwitz.

Support for Terrorists

Abdelrahman retweeted a June 28, 2015 tweet that said: “#KhaderAdnan ends 55 days of hunger strike after #Israel decided 2 release him on the 12 July 2015. A true Hero, pray he gets back his health.”

Khader Adnan was a senior member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist organization. A 2007 YouTube video showed Adnan praising and encouraging suicide bombings: "Who among you will carry the next explosive belt? Who among you will fire the next bullets? Who among you will have his body parts blown all over?” In May 2023, Adnan died in prison after refusing medical treatment during a hunger strike.

On June 6, 2021, Abdelrahman tweeted: “This is 13 years old Ahmad Monsarah. He was convicted with 12 years in prison. This is how #IsraeliApartheid treats Palestinian children. Palestinians one day will be free of this. We will continue fighting until we take our freedom back.”

Ahmed Manasra (sometimes spelled Mansara) and his 15-year-old cousin Hassan went on a stabbing spree in Jerusalem on October 12, 2015, during the Knife Intifada. The pair critically wounded a 13-year-old Israeli boy and moderately wounded a 25-year-old man. Manasra later admitted to investigators: “I went there to stab Jews,” and was convicted on two counts of attempted murder.

Abdelrahman retweeted a November 12, 2023 tweet that claimed: “... Illegitimate ‘Israeli’ courts sentenced Nofouz Hammad, 16 years old, from the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in occupied Jerusalem, to 12 YEARS in prison.”

In December 2021, 14-year-old Nofouz Hammad [Nafoz Hamad] stabbed a Jewish woman, Moriah Cohen, with a foot-long knife as Cohen walked her five children to daycare. Hammad fled the scene but was sentenced to 12 years in prison for attempted murder in November 2023. She was released that same month in a prisoner exchange between Israel and the Hamas terror group.

Abdelrahman retweeted a November 23, 2023 that whitewashed terrorist Shorouq Dwayyat.

On October 7, 2015, at the peak of the “Knife Intifada,” Shorouq Dwayyat stabbed one Jewish man and attempted to stab another in Jerusalem’s Old City. Prior to the attack, Dwayyat reportedly posted to her Facebook saying: “I’m going to become a shahid [martyr].” In December 2016, Dwayyat was sentenced to 16 years in prison by the Jerusalem District Court for her terror attack.

Dwayyat was later released in the same November 2023 prisoner-hostage exchange.

Calling for Intifada Violence

On February 5, 2012, Abdelrahman tweeted: “The struggle for a free Palestine continues. #intifada.”

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 February 7, 2012, Abdelrahman tweeted: “...mesh bs intifada, thawra [not only intifada, also revolution].”

On June 30, 2014, Abdelrahman tweeted: “#إنتفاضة [intifada] #intifada.”

On July 12, 2014, during OPE, Abdelrahman tweeted: “مشان الله تنتفض الضفة! انتفاضة تزيح الخرا. إنتفاضة عشان اهلنا في غزة، هيك بنخفف شوي عنهم.. خرا على عباس. #غزة_تحت_القصف [Please Allah make the intifada happen, an intifada that will get rid of the s**t. Intifada for our brothers / family in Gaza. It will make it easier for them. S**t on [Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud] Abbas #Gaza_isunder_attack].”

Hatred of Israel

On July 26, 2014, during OPE, Abdelrahman gave a speech at the Toronto Al Quds Day rally in which he accused [00:01:24] Israel of “crimes against humanity.” He led protesters in chanting [00:01:56] “resistance is a right” and said [00:02:06]: “let’s not forget the heroes of the warsaw ghetto, they fought against Nazi Germany in Poland in Warsaw…they were heroes and so are the people fighting in Gaza are heroes.”

The Iranian government initiated International Quds Day in 1979, as an annual protest against Israel’s existence. The protest has historically been a platform for anti-Semitism.

Protesters chanted [00:05:31]: “Zionism is racism, down with Zionism” and held signs that said [00:02:03] “Zionism is Nazism” and [00:02:25] “resistance is justified when people are occupied.”

On May 23, 2021, Abdelrahman tweeted: “This is apartheid. This is apartheid. This is apartheid. This is apartheid. This is apartheid. This is apartheid. This is apartheid. This is apartheid. This is apartheid. This is apartheid. This is apartheid. This is apartheid. This is apartheid. This is apartheid. Pass it along.” The tweet referred to Israel arresting rioters in Lod.

On May 11, 2021, during OGW, violent Arab riots broke out in Israel’s mixed Jewish-Arab city of Lod and in other Israeli cities with large Arab populations. The Lod rioters reportedly raised Hamas and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) flags, and attacked Israeli civilians with slabs and rocks, firebombs and metal rods. Rioters also torched synagogues, cars and businesses, and vandalized hospital medical equipment, schools and government buildings.

In May 2021, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists fired over 4,300 rockets from Gaza at major population centers in Israel. Israel responded by launching “Operation Guardian of the Walls (OGW),” carrying out targeted military strikes in Gaza.

Anti-Israel Activism (BDS, SJP)

On November 26, 2015, Abdelrahman was the featured speaker representing McMaster BDS for a lecture titled: “Teach In for Palestine-A History of Apartheid, Genocide, & Aggression.” The event was co-hosted by SJP at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology Durham College.

On March 23, 2015, Abdelrahman gave a speech at the MSU general assembly against a proposed amendment to a BDS resolution that would have made it apply to all countries and companies equally, not just Israel. After Abdelrahman’s speech, the MSU rejected the amendment.

On the same date, Abdelrahman posted a group photo on Facebook that he featured in, and captioned it: “The team that made it happen. Team BDS at McMaster.”

On March 21, 2015, Abdelrahman posted on Facebook a banner urging students to “vote YES to BDS” at the general assembly.

On March 13, 2015, Abdelrahman was a key speaker at a “die-in” held to protest a delegation of Israeli students who were visiting the campus to promote dialogue.

On March 26, 2014, at MSU’s general assembly, Abdelrahman moved a motion calling for the agenda to be re-ordered so that his proposed [00:00:15] BDS motion would be discussed first, as he “stated that the majority of people were present to talk about the BDS motion.”

The first item on the agenda called for MSU to “refrain from taking political and polarizing stances on international crises, conflicts and concerns so as to remain a credible and representative voice of the entire student body” since “the purpose of the MSU is to unite students and foster a positive academic experience.”

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.

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.