Salma Hamamy

Overview

Salma Hamamy called for violence and spread hatred of Zionists at a 2023 rally while serving as a Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) officer at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor (UMich-Ann Arbor). The university’s SJP chapter is known as Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE).

The rally was co-organized by various SJP chapters and was held on UMich-Ann Arbor campus in January 2023.

In November 2021, Hamamy served as co-president of SAFE.

As of January 2023, Hamamy’s Facebook page said she was studying “Biology, Health and Society” at UMich-Ann Arbor and was slated to graduate in 2023.

As of the same date, Hamamy’s Facebook said she was located in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

As of January 2023, Hamamy used the handle “@salmahmy_” on Instagram.

Calling for Violence at an Anti-Israel Rally

On January 12, 2023, Hamamy, along with fellow UMich students Joseph Fisher and Nooralhuda Sami, led anti-Israel chants during a rally and march.

The event was organized in protest against a visit that day by U.S. vice president Kamala Harris. Harris was due to appear on the UMich-Ann Arbor campus for “a conversation about the climate crisis.”

The rally was co-organized by SAFE, University of Detroit Mercy SJP (UDM SJP); Wayne State University SJP (SJP WSU) and Students United for Palestinian Rights (SUPR) at Michigan State University (MSU).

SUPR is the name of MSU’s SJP chapter.

Other participants in the rally included Seliman Ali, Yousef Turk and Lina Mahmoud.

As rally participants marched toward the auditorium in which Vice President Harris was scheduled to speak, Fisher and Sami led [00:00:01] the chants: “Justice is our demand, no peace on stolen land!” and [00:00:07]: “Intifada, intifada! Long live the 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.

Hamamy marched alongside Fisher and Sami holding [00:00:01] a sign that read: “THERE IS ONLY ONE SOLUTION, Intifada Revolution!”

Sami and Fisher then led [00:00:22] the chants: “There is only one solution, intifada revolution!” and [00:00:28]: “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.

When the crowd arrived outside the auditorium, Fisher and Hamamy led rally participants in chanting [00:00:01]: “Hey hey, ho ho, the Zionists have got to go!”

Fisher then gave a speech where he called [00:00:17] Israel “the violent Zionist entity” and accused [00:00:36] Israel of being “one of the most vicious perpetrators” of environmental destruction.

Fisher also claimed [00:01:02] Israel was continuing to “murder Palestinians and steal more of their land,” calling [00:01:27] Israel a “violent settler apartheid regime.”

Sami also referred [00:01:06] to Israel as “the Zionist entity,” claiming [00:01:08] Israel was engaging in “ethnic cleansing.”

Upon leaving the auditorium, rally participants walked along a public street chanting [00:00:01]: “Resistance is justified when people are occupied!”

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.

Sami led [00:00:01] the chant: “Not another nickel, not another dime, no more money for Israel’s crimes!” She and Fisher then led [00:00:13] the chant: “Kamala, Kamala, you can’t hide, you’re committing genocide!”

Fisher and Sami also led rally participants in chanting [00:00:01]: “Kamala, Kamala, don’t you know, greenwashing has got to go!”

"Greenwashing" is a claim by anti-Israel activists that Israel manipulates the environmentalist agenda to deflect international attention from Israel's alleged "persecution of the Palestinians."

Hamamy and Mahmoud held [slide 3] a sign with the claim: “ISRAEL DUMPS WASTE IN PALESTINIAN NEIGHBORHOODS EXPOSING PALESTINIANS TO HAZARDOUS TOXINS.”

Turk held [slide 4] a sign that said: “Israel is a settler colonial state.” Another activist held [slide 7] a sign that read: “RESISTANCE IS JUSTIFIED! WHEN PEOPLE ARE OCCUPIED!”

Ali wore [00:00:04] a Palestinian flag as a cape [slide 5] while waving another Palestinian flag and marching with demonstrators.

SAFE UMich’s Instagram post promoting the rally claimed: “The Biden-Harris administration has unwaveringly stood with Israel, an apartheid entity that has caused immense ecological destruction as it continues to commit crimes against humanity.”

Included in the same Instagram post was a flyer that said: “IN PROTEST OF KAMALA HARRIS’S APPEARANCE IN ANN ARBOR AND SUPPORT FOR ISRAELI APARTHEID.”

Anti-Israel Activism (SJP, SAFE)

On November 17, 2021, Hamamy was a featured speaker at a UMich Intersectional Feminist Coalition event. An Instagram post said she would discuss “how Zionist settler-colonialism is a part of a gendered/sexual violence and oppression where colonized women…are subject to attacks against their sexuality and bodily rights.”

On June 29, 2022, Hamamy shared on Instagram [slide 9] a group photo where she sat among SAFE UMich activists next to a giant painted boulder with text that read [slide 3]: "Conflict It's Apartheid. It's Occupation."

On January 1, 2023, Hamamy wrote on Instagram: “Favorite moment of 2022?? Displaying this wall of course…” Hamamy was referring to the “mock apartheid wall,” which is meant to demonize Israel’s security barrier.

The “mock apartheid wall” is a series of panels meant to represent Israel's security barrier, which was built as a deterrent to Palestinian terror attacks and in response to Palestinian sniper attacks. Panels feature misleading information and graphics intended to demonize Israel. The “mock apartheid wall” is often featured at Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) events organized annually by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapters on many North American university campuses.

Hamamy included in her post photos and videos on Instagram taken during SAFE UMich’s Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) held March 22-31, 2022.

Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) is presented internationally as a “series of events that seeks to raise awareness of…Israel’s settler-colonial project and apartheid system over the Palestinian people.” One of its goals is to build support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. IAW has been renamed Palestine Awareness Week.

In the same post, Hamamy featured [slide 2] in a video where she gave a speech in front of the “mock apartheid wall.”

The right-most panel of the mock apartheid wall featured [slide 7] a graphic showing terrorist Leila Khaled holding an assault rifle and text reading: “Power To Our Freedom Fighters Glory To Our Martyrs.”

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.

Another panel said [slide 9]: “We will return,” alluding to the Palestinian “right of return.”

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.

Hamamy’s post also included [slide 7] a photo of herself in front of the mock apartheid wall. The photo also showed a panel depicting a series maps of Israel, supposedly representing Israeli “land theft” of Palestinian territory.

The maps claim that lands once controlled by Britain, Egypt and Jordan as autonomous “Palestinian land” were purportedly stolen by Israel. In February 2016, publisher McGraw-Hill Education recalled copies of a college textbook containing the fraudulent maps. In October 2015, American cable news network MSNBC apologized for airing a similar series of maps and retracted them.

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.