Sarah Soliman

Overview

Sarah Soliman [Sarah M. Soliman] has spread hatred of Israel as an activist for Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA), an affiliate of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at George Mason University (GMU).

As of June 2019, Soliman’s Facebook page said that she “manages National SJP.”

Soliman was a member of the Steering Committee at the 2018 National SJP Conference. In November 2018, Soliman updated her Facebook cover photo to a group photo at the conference captioned: “NSJP 2018 steering; I love you all, such an inspiring and resilient family.”

The 2018 National SJP conference was held on November 16-18, 2018 at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The conference was themed “Radical Hope: Resistance in the Face of Adversity.” The conference website stated: “[t]he reason we can have hope is that Zionism...can be destroyed.”

Soliman also attended the 2016 National SJP Conference on November 4-6, at GMU.

As of June 2019, Soliman’s LinkedIn page said she received a bachelor’s degree in Information Technology from GMU in 2016. Her LinkedIn also said she was a Cyber Security Consultant within GPS Cyber Risk practice at Deloitte, in Washington, D.C.

Soliman is also a freelance photojournalist.

Spreading Hatred of Israel

In 2015, Soliman created a Prezi presentation, titled “Israeli Occupation and Palestinian Resistance,” that featured slides on “the importance of armed resistance,” “anti-normalization” and SAIA activity at GMU.

As of June 2019, Soliman’s presentation is still hosted on the GMU server.

The presentation featured a quote claiming that Israel is an “abusive foreign army that enforces a social system indistinguishable from Apartheid.” The quote also alleged that there are roads prohibited to “non-Jewish residents of the West Bank.”

Slide 40 promoted the “anti-normalization” of relations between Israelis and Palestinians, while Slide 41 listed a set of words and phrases associated with normalizing such as pro-peace, coexistence, compromise and understanding.

Proponents of the “anti-normalization” policy seek to police all interactions between Israelis and Palestinians and shut down all conversations, interactions and speech that they perceive as being ideologically unaligned with their own agenda.

Soliman’s presentation also incorporated a BDS propaganda video on slide 54 that claimed that Israel was created [00:00:01] through the “ruthless and well planned ethnic cleansing” [00:00:04] of Palestinians.

On August 2, 2014, during Operation Protective Edge (OPE), Soliman participated with other SAIA members in an anti-Israel rally titled, “National March on the White House: End the Massacre in Gaza!”

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

The event’s Facebook description said that “initial co-sponsors” included anti-Israel groups such as American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and Al-Awda: Palestine Right to Return Coalition.

On July 10, 2014, Soliman promoted a rally against OPE on the GMU Arab Student Union Facebook page. The rally, which was scheduled to take place on July 11th at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., was co-sponsored by US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) and CODEPINK.

In her post, Soliman described OPE as “an ongoing massacre launched by Israel against the people of Gaza.” Soliman also photographed other SAIA members at the rally.

At the rally, one protester held a sign saying “Israel is the real terrorist,” and another held a flag of terrorist organization Hezbollah. Another sign likened Israelis to Nazis: “Zionist = Nazi, Israel = the 4th Reich, Netanyahu = The Fuhrer, Gaza = the Warsaw Ghetto, Operation Protective Edge = The pogrom.”

Attending the 2018 National SJP Conference

On November 22, 2018, Soliman was featured in a photo of the 2018 National SJP Conference steering committee members.

Attending the 2016 National SJP Conference

On August 5, 2016, Soliman posted on the National SJP (NSJP) Facebook page that she was “so excited” that GMU would be hosting the 2016 National SJP Conference. On November 2, 2016, Soliman tweeted that she would be leading “internal media and photography” at NSJP 2016.

2018 National SJP - Celebrating Violence

During the 2018 National SJP conference, anti-Israel activist Mohammed Nabulsi led the attendees in the chant [00:00:52] “Long Live the Intifada! Intifada! Intifada!”

Since the early 2000’s, the term “intifada” has carried the connotation of violence. The second intifada was characterized by more than 120 suicide bombings targeting Israeli civilians on buses and in cafes.

Anti-Israel activist Omar Zahzah also reportedly [00:00:07] led National SJP attendees in chanting, in Arabic, “With our bodies and our blood, we will free Palestine.”

As of November 2018, the 2018 National SJP website glorified “radical hope and upfront defiance of Zionism,” citing as examples the “early revolts through the Intifadas to the Great Return March.”

The Great Return March of 2018 was organized and funded by the terror group Hamas as a campaign of violent protests along Israel’s border to spotlight the demand of Palestinians to “return” to Israel.

Tens of thousands of rioters gathered on Israel’s Gaza border, attempting numerous breaches of Israel’s border fence, with leaders andparticipants declaring their intention to harm Jews.

National SJP originally promoted a conference logo featuring a keffiyeh-wearing bear, looking toward a kite bearing the colors of the Palestinian flag.

On October 27, 2018, National SJP said the kite signified “the power in the Gaza March of Return.”

Since March 2018, March of Return participants and Hamas’s “Kite Unit” have sent hundreds of kites bearing incendiary devices and IEDs (improvised explosive devices) across the border into Israel to terrorize Israelis. The kites are often marked with swastikas.

By the time National SJP produced its 2018 conference logo highlighting the kites in October 2018, Gazan terror kites and balloons had ignited more than 1,300 fires in Israel, over seven months.

2018 National SJP - Undermining U.S. Support for Israel

On November 18, 2018, the US Palestine Community Network (USPCN) posted on Facebook the 2018 National SJP keynote speech by Hatem Abudayyeh, USPCN’s co-founder.

Abudayyeh has supported [00:08:45] convicted terrorists, praised terror organizations, called for Israel’s destruction and is an activist in theBoycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

In his 2018 National SJP Keynote, Abudayyeh said [00:53:01] that the “specific role” of Palestinian and Arab students was to organize [00:53:42] in order to weaken “Zionist Israel” and force [00:54:23] the U.S. to “no longer provide it with diplomatic, political, financial and military cover and support.”

Abudayyeh predicted [00:55:37] that once U.S. support to Israel ends, National SJP attendees would return to Palestine as “conquering heroes,” end [00:54:38] the “occupation and colonization of all Arab lands including the Golan Heights” and replace “Zionist Israel” with a Palestinian state.

2018 National SJP - Whitewashing Terror Organizations

During his keynote speech, Abudayyeh also painted [00:14:01] terrorist organizations as “liberation movements” and “resistance organizations,” stating [00:14:21] “what we also know is that the majority of the resistance organizations in Palestine are on the U.S. state department list of foreign terrorist organizations.”

Abudayyeh also celebrated [00:52:00] that all of the “armed resistance” organizations in Gaza are part [00:52:14] of a “unified resistance in Gaza, that includes all of the resistance organizations, working together under a unified military command.”

2018 National SJP - Defending Terrorist Rasmea Odeh

During his keynote speech, Abudayyeh claimed [00:08:28] that pro-Israel organizations “go after students like you,” adding [00:08:20] “just like they went after my friend and colleague, Rasmea Odeh.”

Odeh was a key military operative with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization. In 1969, she masterminded a PFLP supermarket bombing that killed two college students. She also attempted to bomb the British consulate in Jerusalem. Odeh later moved to the United States but was deported to Jordan in 2017 for immigration fraud.

Abudayyeh added that he was asked [00:08:45] to talk about Odeh’s case, and praised SJP and SDS students who organized [00:09:15] “absolutely valuable” events on behalf [00:9:11] of Odeh, “as she was fighting to stay in the U.S.”

2018 National SJP - Demonizing Israel and Jews

During his keynote speech, Abudayyeh defended [00:27:25] the “Irvine 11” — eleven Muslim Student Union (MSA) members who were arrested in 2010 for repeatedly shouting down former Israeli ambassador Michael Oren during an address at the University of California at Irvine (UC Irvine).

Abudayyeh referred [00:27:37] to Oren as a “racist fascist speaker, representative of a racist, fascist country.”

Abudayyeh went on to claim [00:29:48] that “today, even in the United States, Israel is finally being seen as the criminal, apartheid, racist state that it is.”

Abudayyeh also called for increased action in the face of President U.S. Donald Trump, and referred [00:48:41] to Jared Kushner, Trump’s Jewish son-in-law and senior advisor, as “that pig son-in-law of his.”

2018 National SJP - Excluding Students

The 2018 National SJP Conference welcomed only students who were verified and vouched for by an SJP (or otherwise named campus Palestine solidarity group). Media requests needed to be “approved by the NSJP press team” prior to the conference.

A November 7, 2018 Columbus Jewish News article reported that the Los Angeles City Council unanimously passed a resolution calling on UCLA to cancel the 2018 NSJP conference, stating that a “public university should not allow any group to implement a litmus test for event participation on their campus.”

On November 12, 2018, UCLA Chancellor Gene Block published an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times that criticized National SJP’s exclusion of members of pro-Israel student groups.

SAIA 2016 - Spreading Lies

On October 25, 2015, SAIA posted an article on Facebook claiming that “peace activist” Hashem Azzeh was “assassinated” by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). In October 2015, Al Azzeh died following a battle with a cardiac condition. Palestinian news sources later claimed Al Azzeh’s death was caused by the IDF’s use of tear gas nearby.

On October 3, 2015, SAIA shared a video on Facebook and commented: “An Israeli Zionist lynch mob cheers the cold-blooded murder of 19 year old Fadi Alloun.”

Fadi Aloon was shot by Israeli security forces after he stabbed a 15-year-old Israeli boy. Several hours before the attack, Aloon posted “Either martyrdom or victory” on his Facebook page.

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.

GMU SAIA - Whitewashing a Terrorist

On October 3, 2015, SAIA shared a video on Facebook and commented: “An Israeli Zionist lynch mob cheers the cold-blooded murder of 19 year old Fadi Alloun.”

Fadi Aloon was shot by Israeli security forces after he stabbed a 15-year-old Israeli boy. Several hours before the attack, Aloon posted “Either martyrdom or victory” on his Facebook page.

SAIA 2016 - Demonizing Israel

On October 5, 2015, SAIA posted on Facebook a photograph of a small child next to photographs of Israeli soldiers and claimed that "today, Israeli occupation soldiers arrested a three year old. For throwing stones."

On October 25, 2015, SAIA posted an article on Facebook claiming that “peace activist” Hashem Azzeh was “assassinated” by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). In October 2015, Al Azzeh died following a battle with a cardiac condition. Palestinian news sources later claimed Al Azzeh’s death was caused by the IDF’s use of tear gas nearby.

On October 3, 2015, SAIA shared a video on Facebook and commented: “An Israeli Zionist lynch mob cheers the cold-blooded murder of 19 year old Fadi Alloun.”

Fadi Aloon was shot by Israeli security forces after he stabbed a 15-year-old Israeli boy. Several hours before the attack, Aloon posted “Either martyrdom or victory” on his Facebook page.

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.