Sara Halimah

Overview

Sara Halimah has shown support for terrorists and spread hatred of Israel as an activist with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at the University of Minnesota (UMN).

Halimah was listed on SJP UMN’s student organization website as an Officer of SJP UMN in 2016, and on SJP UMN’s Facebook page as a board member of the group in 2015.

Halimah promoted the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement on campus and was an activist with American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) in 2019.

As of December 2019, Halimah’s LinkedIn page said she was studying at UMN Law school from “2017 - 2020,” and that she studied International/Global Studies and Anthropology at UMN from “2013 - 2017.”

Halimah’s LinkedIn also said that she was a “Student Attorney” with UMN’s James H. Binger Center for New Americans, since September 2018.

Support for Terrorists

On October 16, 2015, during the Knife Intifada, Halimah featured in SJP UMN Facebook photos, participating in a vigil for the Palestinian lives lost “in the recent attacks.”

In October 2015, there was an upsurge in violence across Israel incited by Palestinian political and religious leaders. The wave of stabbings, known as the “Knife Intifada,” was characterized by young Palestinians throughout the country stabbing and attempting to stab Israeli civilians.

On October 14, 2015, Halimah was featured on Facebook participatingin an SJP UMN die-in event described by the group as part of an “International Day of Solidarity.”

During the event, SJP UMN activist Motaz Nashawaty spoke, accusing [00:00:05] Israel of an escalation in “state violence” and [00:00:32] of “extrajudicial murders.”

Nashawaty continued [00:00:41]: “We will pay respects to the Palestinian martyrs executed by Israeli forces” and recited [00:01:57] the names of Palestinian terrorists, such as Fadi Aloon and [00:02:03] Muhannad Halabi.

Fadi Aloon stabbed a 15-year-old Israeli boy after posting “Either martyrdom or victory” on his Facebook page and Halabi murdered two Israelis and injured two others, including a 2-year-old, during a stabbing spree. Muhannad Halabi posted on his Facebook page “[t]he third Intifada is here…Let the revolution erupt.”

Nashawaty continued [00:02:43] “our people are dying in streets now in Palestine, but they are not helpless - they are resisting.”

Spreading Hatred of Israel

On April 5, 2016, Halimah featured in an SJP UMN Facebook group photo standing in front of a mock apartheid wall.

In April 2016, SJP UMN built a “mock apartheid wall” for its “Divest Week 2016,” which the group called a “divestment special edition of our annual Israeli Apartheid Week,” promoting the 2016 UMN Divest BDS campaign.

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.

On December 8, 2015, Halimah tweeted: “Israel didn't 'used to be a great place and then it got bad', its always been a racist state built on ethnic cleansing and oppression.”

On April 9, 2015, Halimah published a letter to the editor of the Minnesota Daily, promoting SJP UMN’s IAW. Halimah wrote: “we would like to make clear what the aim of this week is: to raise awareness about the apartheid system in the occupied Palestinian territories.”

Halimah also stated that: “To be Jewish is to follow the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions. To be a Zionist is to support the establishment of a Jewish-only state in historic Palestine.”

Halimah went on to say: “IAW and SJP are here to raise awareness about how Zionism has created a system of institutional segregation that harms Palestinians in Israel.”

On April 4, 2015, Halimah featured in an SJP UMN Facebook group photo participating in a 5K run. SJP UMN wrote that it was the “first event of the IAW 2015.”

On April 11, 2014, Halimah featured in a photo posted on Facebook by SJP UMN taken during IAW, holding a sign that read: “I support Palestine Because… it is my heritage #IAWUMN.”.

Promoting BDS on Campus

On February 15, 2016, Halimah changed her Facebook cover photo to a graphic that read: “UMN DIVEST 2016” and wrote: “UMN Divest is a grassroots, student-led campaign calling on University of Minnesota to divest from corporations that are profiting off of human rights violations in Palestine.#UMNDivest.”

That day, SJP UMN launched UMN Divest, a campaign suggesting [00:01:53] Israel was like Apartheid South Africa and demanding [00:01:10] that the Minnesota Student Association (MSA) and UMNdivest from all companies “complicit in the Israeli occupation of Palestine.”.

On February 16th, SJP UMN issued a press releaseclaiming UMN’s divestment from four companies explicitly targeted by the campaign “would neutralize the University of Minnesota in this conflict [sic] …” and that “The call to divest is a response to the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.”

UMN’s Chief Investment Officer reportedly told The Minnesota Republic, a student-run newspaper at UMN, that the university had “no direct exposure” to the four companies highlighted by the UMN Divest campaign.

On March 1, 2016, Halimah featured [00:00:44] in a UMN Divest promotion video posted on Youtube by SJP UMN.

On March 7, 2016, Halimah changed her Twitter profile photo to the UMN Divest graphic.

On March 8, 2016, the MSA voted [00:26:24] to strike the divestment resolution from the MSA agenda.

In April 2016, the MSA passed a heavily amended resolution that removed all references to Israel and any specific corporations. The amended resolution endorsed divestment generally from “corporations involved in human rights violations,” and from “companies profiting from human rights abuses and violations of international law.”

AMP Activism

On April 11, 2019, Halimah featured in group Facebook photos that were taken during American Muslims for Palestine (AMP)’s “5th annual Palestine Advocacy Day” in Washington, D.C.

The Facebook event page said the event was titled: “Palestine Advocacy Day and Training 2019 and was scheduled for April 5, 2019 and “open to all who…” support “the Call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions.”

On April 11, 2019, AMP Minnesota also wrote on Facebook that the day comprised “2 full days of advocacy training followed by a day on Capitol Hill in which we met with the offices of our elected officials. We met with the offices of - Senator Tina Smith - Senator Amy Klobuchar - Rep. Dean Phillips (CD 3) - Rep. Betty McCollum (CD 4) - Rep. Ilhan Omar (CD 5) - Rep. Tom Emmer (CD 6).”

The post went on to say that the delegation, of which Halima was one of 35 delegates, presented to lawmakers as one of its “main issues,” opposing “bills that violate the constitutional right to boycott for Palestinian rights.”

The post also said the event concluded with a talk by Rashida Tlaib, who emphasized the importance of connecting Palestinian advocacy “with other social justice movements” in the U.S.

Rashida Tlaib was elected to the U.S. Congress in November 2018. She has advocated for a one-state solution, endorsed the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and called for reduced foreign aid to Israel. In July 2019, Tlaib co-sponsored a pro-BDS bill in the U.S. Congress introduced by Rep. Ilhan Omar.

On August 27, 2019, Halimah featured in photos which AMP Minnesota posted on Facebook, running a training session at a “Youth for Palestine event: Bringing Palestine to Your Classroom!”

The Facebook event page said the event was a “weekend long program for high school students to give them resources and skills to be able to present on Palestine in their classrooms” that took place on August 16 - 18, 2019.

On August 27, 2019, AMP Minnesota shared photos from the event, including a photo of students who wrote on a large piece of paper a heading that said: “ABUSE OF CHILDREN,” followed by bullet points that said: “Putting children in Prison,” and “Isolation/torture.”

SJP UMN Spreading Incitement: 2015

On November 1, 2015, SJP UMN tweeted: “Israel is a colonial bully, trying to take Al Aqsa under the guise of ‘sharing.’”

The allegation that Jews will destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, has been applied to Jews as a pretext for attacks by Arabs, even before the existence of Israel.

Such propaganda was the excuse for an upsurge in Palestinian violence in the fall of 2015, with Palestinian leaders fueling violence by promoting the libel that Israel intends to desecrate the Al Aqsa Mosque.

Hamas called on Palestinians to “take up arms” to defend Al Aqsa and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas praised those willing to martyr themselves. He also declared Jews would not be allowed to “desecrate” Al Aqsa with their “filthy feet.”

In October 2015, SJP UMN posted a photo on Instagram of their section on the Washington Avenue Bridge. One of their panels featured a map that erased Israel, portraying the whole country with no internal borders and entirely covered by a keffiyeh.

SJP UMN Campaigning Against a Jewish Heritage Trip: 2015

In February 2015, SJP UMN launched a campaign against the Jewish heritage trip to Israel, Birthright. Campaign flyers said: “FREE TRIP TO ISRAEL BUT WHO PAYS THE PRICE?”

The campaign condemned Birthright for presenting “a depoliticized image of Israel” and programming a trip that is “overall tailored to be pleasant experience devoid of conflict.” The campaign claimed that the program “would not discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict” and that “topics such as illegal settlements in the West Bank and restrictions on Gaza will not be covered.”.

SJP UMN encouraged Birthright participants to extend their trip and join tours with political groups such as Breaking the Silence (BTS) and The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), whose director Jeff Halper has called for the end of Israel.

Breaking the Silence was discredited by Israeli investigative TV show, HaMakor, in July 2016, in a report revealing that a substantial number of BTS testimonies are untrue or distorted.

SJP UMN Disrupting an Israeli Speaker: 2015

On November 3, 2015, SJP UMN endorsed the disruption of an event where three activists were reportedly arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and trespassing.

The event was a talk on ethics and the law of war by Israeli law professor, Moshe Halbertal. The disruption was organized by the Anti-War Committee (AWC), whose campaigns mainly to end US aid to Israel.

Protesters reportedly sat in the audience and then stood and shouted chants, preventing Halbertal from speaking and accusing him of being a “war crimes apologist.” FightBack News said: “The lecture was scheduled for one hour, but most of that time was taken up by interruptions.”

The article also said that after protesters were removed from the hall by university police, they continued disrupting the event by shouting [00:00:01] chants including “free, free Palestine” and [00:01:55] “Israel is an apartheid state” in the hallway, which were audible from inside the lecture hall. Anti-Israel propagandist Sabry Wazwaz, who has called for the destruction of Israel and the U.S., spread anti-Semitism, compared Zionists to Nazis and expressed support for a terrorist, led the chants.

SJP UMN Demonizing Israel: 2015-2016

In April 2016, SJP UMN built a “mock apartheid wall” for its “Divest Week 2016,” which the group called a “divestment special edition of our annual Israeli Apartheid Week,” promoting the 2016 UMN Divest BDS campaign.

IAW is a series of events on university campuses that promote Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel and claim to “raise awareness of Israel’s settler-colonial project and apartheid system.”

On April 22 2015, SJP UMN wrote on Facebook that “Israel’s ‘birthday’ is established on the occupation and exile of an entire people,” in a post which also denied SJP involvement in the vandalism of a pro-Israel group’s display celebrating Israeli independence.

The next day, Rula Rashid, SJP UMN treasurer, reportedly approached a table set up by a pro-Israel campus group to educate students about Israel’s independence and said “you stole our land.”

On April 9, 2015, SJP UMN tweeted: “‘If it's centered around Judaism, why are only white Jews allowed to live in Israel? It's not a case about religion and Judaism.’ @MnarMuh.”

On March 4, 2015, SJP UMN hosted an event with Dan Cohen, a journalist with the anti-Israel Mondoweiss, speaking about his experiences reporting from Gaza during Israel’s Operation Protective Edge (OPE). OPE was launched by Israel to stop Hamas rocket attacks and destroy Hamas attack tunnels.

During his talk, Cohen reportedly said the war was “not an attack on Hamas....it was an attack on Palestinian society.” He also claimed that “Israeli soldiers were allowed to take revenge” and that they intentionally shot civilians.

SJP UMN Opposing Normalization: 2015

On April 23, 2015, SJP UMN posted on Facebook a “definition of normalization.” The definition said that normalization was “gathering (either directly or indirectly) Palestinians (and/or Arabs) and Israelis, whether individuals or institutions; that does not explicitly aim to expose and resist the occupation and all forms of discrimination and oppression against the Palestinian people.”

The policy of “anti-normalization” aims to ensure that all interactions between Israelis and Palestinians align only their agenda, including ending the occupation and a full right of return for Palestinians, which is a Palestinian demand discredited as a means to eliminate Israel. The policies are shared with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

SJP UMN Promoting BDS: 2011-2012

On October 14, 2012, SJP UMN promoted a petition on Facebook calling on Minnesota’s NBA team, the Timberwolves, to boycott Israel and cancel a scheduled game against the Israeli team, Maccabi Haifa.

The petition was part of a campaign organized by Minnesota Break the Bonds (MN BBC), which sent a letter to each Timberwolves player. The letter said: “Don’t normalize apartheid!” and urged them to boycott the game. It also said they were being used by Israel’s “propaganda machine.”

MN BBC was reportedly formed in 2006 to pressure the State of Minnesota to break economic ties with Israel.

On November 29, 2011, SJP UMN posted on Facebook promoting an MN BBC Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.

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.

AMP

American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) was founded by UC Berkeley Professor Hatem Bazian as a vehicle to generate mainstream support in the United States for the Palestinian national cause.

On its website, the organization lists Bazian as the chairman of its national board and describes itself as “a national education and grassroots-based organization, dedicated to educating the American public about Palestine and its rich cultural, historical and religious heritage.”

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has accused AMP of promoting “extreme anti-Israel views and has at times provided a platform for anti-Semitism under the guise of educating Americans” about Palestinians. The ADL further stated that AMP is directly involved in campus-based anti-Israel activity through Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).

Prior to founding the AMP in 2006, Dr. Bazian created SJP together with fellow UC Berkeley Professor Snehal Shingavi in 2001. The close working relationship between AMP and SJP has been documented several times over the years by several organizations, including NGO Monitor and StandWithUs.

In addition to providing financial, public relations and legal assistance to SJP, AMP has also been accused of having connections to Hamas. The AMP national board includes former members of both the Islamic Association of Palestine (IAP) and Holy Land Foundation (HLF), both of which were found liable for aiding and abetting Hamas. The IAP was founded by Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, a senior member of Hamas.