Sarah Zeidat

Overview

Sarah Zeidat disrupted a campus event, demonstrated in support of terrorists and demonized Israel as an officer with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at the University of Houston (UH).

In December 2016, Zeidat was an administrator for the SJP UH Facebook group.

In November 2019, Zeidat was tagged as an “organizer” and performer at the 2019 National SJP Conference.

National SJP held their conference at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities (UMN), from November 1-3, 2019. The conference was themed: “Beyond Struggle: From Roots to Branches Towards Liberation.”

On November 22, 2018, Zeidat posed for a photo with fellow 2018 National SJP Conference Steering Committee members.

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.”

Zeidat addressed the opening plenary of the 2017 National SJP Conference, as well as attend the gathering.

Zeidat also attended the 2016 National SJP Conference, held at George Mason University (GMU).

As of October 3, 2017, Zeidat was a member of the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) Facebook group.

PYM supports and has glorified terrorists, including Hamas, promotes incitement to violence, as well as anti-Israel conspiracy theories and advocates for the dissolution of the State of Israel. PYM also supports BDS, demonizes Israel, supports anti-Israel agitators and praises violent protesters.

As of December 2016, Zeidat was a member of the closed Facebook group “Houston Palestinian Underground Resistance.”

In 2016, Zeidat was a member of the Muslim Students Association (MSA) at UH and she was also the 2016-2017 vice president of United Muslim Relief (UMR), Houston.

As of December 2020, Zeidat indicated on her LinkedIn page that she was a Pharmacy Intern at Walmart since March 2020, and a Pharmacy Technician at Walmart from August 2016 - March 2020.

Zeidat said on her LinkedIn that she was a “Licensed Pharmacy Intern” by the Texas State Board of Pharmacy in June 2019, expiring in November 2022, as well as a Certified Pharmacy Technician.

As of April 2017, Zeidat was reportedly a student at UH. Zeidat stated on her LinkedIn that she was a second-year doctoral candidate at the UH College of Pharmacy, slated to graduate in 2022 and that she completed pre-pharmacy at UH in 2017

As of March 2019, Zaidat used the name “Sarah Nidal” on Facebook.

Disrupting a Campus Event

On November 3, 2017, Zeidat led fellow SJP activists in disrupting a lecture at UH given by Conservative writer, David Horowitz. Zeidat initiated the disruption and yelled [00:07:00]: “David! We reject your bigotry and we reject your presence on our campus!”

SJP activists stood up and yelled [00:07:04] at Horowitz: “Zionists! Off our campus! Racists! Off our campus! Islamophobes! Off our campus!” and walked out [00:07:59] of the lecture hall, as they continued to chant.

The protesters included members of other campus organizations that comprised the Cougar Voice Coalition (CVC), such as the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the Muslim Students Association (MSA), United Muslim Relief (UMR) Houston and Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) Houston.

Supporting Terrorists

On May 25, 2017, Zeidat joined [00:13:25] an SJP UH demonstration titled: “Houston Stands with Palestinian Prisoners on Hunger Strike.”

Terrorist Marwan Barghouti was sentenced to five consecutive life terms for some of his crimes, including his role in the Sbarro Cafe bombing. In 2017, he initiated the hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners known as the “Dignity Strike.” He headed the Palestinian Authority (PA) terrorist Tanzim force and founded the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which carried out many terror attacks against Israeli civilians.

The event’s Facebook description said: “University students, human rights advocates, and concerned members of the Houston community will undertake a symbolic hunger strike.”

Zeidat and fellow SJP UH demonstrators stood outside the Israeli consulate in Houston and chanted [00:22:28]: “1234, open up the prison doors… We will fight day and night… to support the hunger strike…”

Demonizing Israel

On April 12, 2018, Zeidat appeared in photos posted on Facebook by SJP UH during their Israel Apartheid Week (IAW) 2018.

Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) is presented as “an international series of events that seek to raise awareness of…Israel’s settler-colonial project and apartheid system over the Palestinian people” and build support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

On April 20, 2018, Zeidat shared a photo on Facebook of the SJP UH “mock apartheid wall” and wrote “my baby.” The wall was meant to represent Israel’s security barrier.

Israel’s security barrier, 97 percent of which is a low chain-link barrier, was built as a deterrent to Palestinian terror attacks. The concrete portions of the fence were built in response to Palestinian sniper attacks.

The wall featured a misleading series of maps known as the “Map that lies.”

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.

Zeidat also posed for group photos posted on Facebook by SJP UH in front of a “mock apartheid wall.”

On October 28, 2015, Zeidat tabled with SJP UH activists at a bake sale. The stall featured the misleading series of maps known as the “Map that lies.”

On August 10, 2014, Zeidat held a sign that demonized Israel at an anti-Israel protest that opposed Israel's Operation Protective Edge (OPE). The protest was titled: “Houston Supports Palestine: Day Of Rage.”

Israel commenced Operation Protective Edge (OPE) in July 2014, to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.

One demonstrator and speaker at the protest, wearing a kerchief with the colors of the Palestinian flag as a headband, held a sign that read: “Revelation 3:9 — I will make those who are of the synagogue of satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars...” Another demonstrator held a sign that read: “In any other country its [sic.] called Genocide.”

On July 21, 2014, during Israel’s OPE, Zeidat participated in an anti-Israel demonstration in Houston and held a sign that read “U.S. $$$ feed Israeli war crimes.”

Other signs displayed at the protest read: “Children buried alive, Holocaust revived” and “This is not war, this is Genocide.” Still, other signs stated: “Israel = Ku Klux Klan” and “Stop the Palestinian Holocaust/Genocide.”

A large banner at the protest read: “Stop the Palestinian every day Holocaust!”

Organizing the 2019 National SJP Conference

On November 11, 2019, National SJP performer Clarissa Bitar posted a photo of Zeidat alongside SJP activist Reem Zaitoon to her instagram stories, along with the caption: “Two of the many hardworking organizers that made NSJP happen this year

.”

On that same day, Zeidat appeared in a video in Bitar’s Instagram stories, performing music alongside Bitar during the National SJP conference.

Attending the 2018 National SJP Conference

On November 22, 2018, Zeidat was tagged in a group photo of the 2018 National SJP Conference Steering Committee members.

The photo was posted on Facebook by 2018 National SJP Steering Committee member Sarah Soliman. Soliman commented: “NSJP 2018 steering; I love you all, such an inspiring and resilient family. 🇵🇸”

The 2019 National SJP Conference was held at the University of Minnesota- Twin Cities (UMN), from November 1-3. The Conference themes centered on support for BDS as well as the rejection of Israel and Zionism.

The Conference partnered with numerous anti-Israel organizations and conducted their event in a clandestine manner.

Attending the 2017 National SJP Conference

Zeidat addressed the opening plenary of the 2017 National SJP Conference.

On November 2, 2017, Zeidat posed for a group photo with SJP UH activists at the 2017 National SJP Conference.

Zeidat also contributed to the 2017 NSJP newsletter.

2019 National SJP - Supporting BDS

The Conference website called to capitalize on shifts in the political climate, represented by the elections to the U.S. Congress of Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, who both support BDS. National SJP speakers also reportedly drew attention to Rep. Omar’s support for the BDS movement as the Representative for UMN’s Congressional district.

During the Conference, National SJP speakers reportedly “noted the success of past divestment campaigns at the University [UMN], which ultimately resulted in the passing of a campus-wide [BDS] referendum in 2018.”

The UMN resolution passed in 2018 by a margin of 3.4 percent of those students who voted, translating to approval by 6.18% of all eligible voters. Less than 13% of the eligible voters actually voted on UMN’s BDS referendum.

2019 National SJP - Rejecting Israel and Zionism

The 2019 National SJP Conference website indicated that the goal of their “solidarity movement” was to push for policies that “demanded the end of” the state of Israel, referred to as “the Israeli occupation.”

The website clarified that “the Palestinian struggle against Zionism, extends beyond the confines of 1967, and well before the Nakba,” and was based on the rejection of Jewish national self-determination in Israel.

Nakba is an Arabic term for “catastrophe” and refers to the outcome of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It is a term often used to delegitimize the creation of the State of Israel.

2019 National SJP - Heightened Secrecy

The 2019 National SJP Conference required attendees to be “verified and vouched for” by an SJP chapter to which they belonged and required each chapter to register as a group. The conference also required each group to be verified by a “reference––someone who is NOT going to this conference but who is or has recently been a part of your SJP.”

Members of allied student groups could register only as part of an SJP chapter delegation which, in turn, needed to be “vouched for by their campus’s SJP” for “security culture and accountability reasons.”

The Conference also restricted media access to journalists “registered and confirmed by our Media Committee in advance to attend the conference. Absolutely no exceptions will be made.”

During the Conference, National SJP reportedly covered the windows of the conference hall.

2019 National SJP - Partnering Organizations

National SJP partnered with other anti-Israel organizations to table, sell merchandise and lead workshops, including CODEPINK, Palestine Youth Movement (PYM), Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), Palestine Legal, Watan Palestine and the Adalah Justice Project.

Keynote speakers included Loubna Qutami, Chair of PYM, as well as Taher Herzallah of American Muslims for Palestine (AMP). Other speakers included Miko Peled, Sandra Tamari, Suhad Katib, Chris Gazaleh, Clarissa Bitar, Tariq Luthun, Maytha Alhassen and Sima Shakhsari.

SJP UH - Spreading Anti-Israel Propaganda

UH’s IAW featured a mock apartheid wall, erected on campus. Text on the wall read: “If you want to find a safe place in Gaza, do not stand beside a child.” Another piece of text read: “Israel uses sophisticated attack jets to bomb densely crowded refugee camps, schools, apartment blocks, mosques and slums to attack a population that has no airforce, no navy, army and calls it a war. It is not war, it is murder.”

SJP UH - Supporting Violence

On November 1, 2015, SJP UH shared a post on Facebook promoting demonstrations supporting anti-Israel violence. The rallies, held in both Houston and Austin, were co-organized by SJP UH and the Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC) at Austin, TX (PSCAT) and urged: “…Long Live the Resistance! Long Live the Intifada!”

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

On August 18, 2014, SJP UH and UH MSA co-organized an event featuring Sheikh Omar Suleiman. SJP UH’s Facebook announcement billed Suleiman as a “vocal human rights supporter.”

In 2014, Imam Omar Suleiman called on Twitter for a “Third Intifada” to destroy Israel. His tweet perpetuated the incendiary claim that Israel intended to desecrate the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

SJP UH - Pushing BDS

On November 1, 2015, SJP UH shared an event on Facebook announcing plans for a UH Divest campaign and new Facebook page. The event aimed to discuss “all potential strategies” to bring BDS to UH. Proposed strategies included:

Revamped tabling and silent demonstrations

Discussing BDS and ways to succeed/make an impact with friends from other campuses

BDS Workshops to teach the student body what BDS is and why we support it

Connecting with and helping other minority organizations on campus

SJP UH - Spreading Propaganda

On October 1, 2017, SJP UH shared a Facebook post that read: “17 years ago today, 12yr old Muhammad Al-Durra was shot dead on LIVE TV in his father's arms.
#Coogs4Palestine #FreePalestine.”

The Al-Durah hoax is an iconic piece of anti-Israel propaganda, fabricated on September 30, 2000 at the start of the Second Intifada by a France 2 reporter.

On May 8, 2017, SJP UH organized Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) on UH’s campus. One IAW event featured a mock “apartheid wall” erected on campus. Text on the wall read: “If you want to find a safe place in Gaza, do not stand beside a child.” Other text read: “Israel uses sophisticated attack jets to bomb densely crowded refugee camps, schools, apartment blocks, mosques and slums to attack a population that has no airforce, no navy, army and calls it a war. It is not war, it is murder.”

Throughout the summer of 2014 — during Operation Protective Edge (OPE) — Hamas’ continued deployment of human shields was extensively documented and publicized. Hamas encouraged gazans to act as human shields, to specifically frustrate Israeli efforts to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza. Israel commenced OPEin July 2014, to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.

SJP UH - Supporting Terrorists

On September 5, 2017, SJP UH shared a graphic on Facebook of an image and quote by Leila Khaled.

Khaled is a leader 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 for the use of children in terror activities and compared Zionists to Nazis.

The PFLP claimed credit for the 2014 Har Nof Massacre where six people were murdered during morning prayers in a Jerusalem synagogue. The PFLP also claimed credit for the 2001 assassination of the Israeli tourism minister.

On May 25, 2017, SJP UH rallied behind convicted Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails on hunger strike, by organizing a “symbolic hunger strike” and participating in a Saltwater Challenge. The event organizers wrote on the Facebook event page: “we demand that Israel end its policies of apartheid, colonization, military occupation, displacement, dispossession, and mass incarceration.”

The hunger strike was initiated by Marwan Barghouti, who was serving five consecutive life sentences for his role in suicide bombings — and shooting attacks that killed five Israelis during the second Intifada. Barghouti led the the Palestinian Authority (PA) terrorist Tanzim force and founded the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. Barghouti also financed the guitar-case bomb used in the Sbarro Cafe massacre where 15 civilians were killed and 130 injured.

More than 1,000 other Palestinian prisoners participated in the hunger strike — most of whom were also convicted for acts of terrorism.

According to CNN , the “Saltwater Challenge” appears to have been started by Aarab Marwan Barghouti, the son of Marwan Barghouti.

On May 26, 2017, SJP UH joined protesters outside the Israeli consulate chanting (1:46): “1234, open up the prison doors… We will fight day and night… to support the hunger strike…”

On March 28, 2016, SJP UH shared a post on Facebook supporting terrorist Rasmea Odeh.

Odeh was a key military operative [00:02:08]with the terrorist group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). In 1969, Odeh masterminded a PFLP bombing that killed two college students in a Jerusalem supermarket. Odeh also attempted to bomb the British consulate.

Odeh confessed, in a highly detailed account, the day following her arrest. In a 2004 documentary, one of Odeh’s co-conspirators directly implicated [00:10:53] Odeh as the mastermind.

In 1970, an Israeli court tried and convicted Odeh for her involvement in both bombings and sentenced her to life imprisonment. However, Odeh was released 10 years later, in a prisoner swap and emigrated to the United States.

On November 10, 2014, a Michigan federal jury convicted Odeh for immigration fraud because she failed to disclose her prior conviction and life sentence on her immigration application. On March 12, 2015, she was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

In 2017, after an appeal and a lengthy court battle, Odeh admitted to immigration fraud, was stripped of her U.S. citizenship, deported to Jordan and banned from re-entering the U.S.

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.

PYM

In 2012, the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM USA) released a statement saying: “Our liberation...will be gained with the path that was written with the blood of our martyrs. We reaffirm that the only path that we are concerned with is the path that explicitly heads towards the liberation of our land and the return of our people to Palestine.”

PYM organized rallies demonizing Israel where it displays propaganda posters supporting the terrorist organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and compared Israel to Nazi Germany.

On October 25, 2015, PYM called to support “intifada” during a period when Palestinian radicals across Israel stabbed and hacked to death scores of Israeli civilians. PYM alleged that “Al-Aqsa Mosque has been the target of particularly brutal assaults” and that “... arbitrary killings are committed daily by the Zionist military and settlers.”

On November 10, 2015, the PYM Facebook page displayed a photo of masked Palestinian radicals throwing rocks and firing rocks from slingshots. That photo was used to promote at least 25 anti-Israel rallies across the globe on or around November 29, 2015 under the banner of “Transnational mobilization for Palestinian resistance.”

On November 30, 2015, PYM displayed a photo on Facebook from one of the rallies showing a sign in support of PFLP member Khalida Jarrar, who confessed to inciting violence and calling for terrorists to abduct Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers.

Another sign showed support for PFLP Secretary-General Ahmad Sadat, who was convicted for the 2001 assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze'evi.

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.