Sayed Quraishi
Overview
Sayed Quraishi [Sayed Ahmad Quraishi] was charged under Illinois state law with committing a violent anti-Semitic hate crime in 2022, an offense punishable by sentences ranging from probation to five years in prison.Quraishi was affiliated with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) at the time of the incident.
On June 14, 2022, Quraishi was arraigned and released on a bond of $5,000. A pre-trial conference was set forNovember 30, 2022.
Also, on June 14, 2022, the Superior Court in Champaign County granted Quraishi permission to leave Illinois to travel to Massachusetts and warned that if he did not appear for trial, he would be sentenced “in absentia.”
According to university records, Quraishi graduated from UIUC with a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering in 2022.
In June 2022, following his arrest, Quraishi’s LinkedIn account was deleted. Quraishi’s deleted account had said he was a “Research Assistant” at UIUC since May 2021, and that he was a “Food Service Worker” at McDonald’s since February 2021.
Also, following his arrest, several new social media accounts were opened under the name of “Sayed Quraishi,” using a stock photo of a Pakistani actor and model, Ayaz Samoo.
Quraishi was arraigned on June 14, 2022, and released on a bond of $5,000. He entered a plea of “not guilty” and requested a jury trial. A pre-trial conference was set for August 10, 2022.
On April 18, 2022, while participating in an SJP UIUC anti-Israel protest titled: “Hands off Al Aqsa,” Quraishi threw a rock at Jewish students who gathered at the university’s Hillel chapter to celebrate the Jewish Passover festival.
Hillel International is a Jewish campus organization serving college students at 850 universities worldwide.
Passover is a Jewish holiday where Jews commemorate the story of the Israelites’ Exodus from slavery in ancient Egypt, to travel to the Promised Land.
Zionism is the belief that Jews have the right to self-determination in their ancestral homeland, Israel, and the right to develop their national culture.
One speaker said [00:17:02] “Israel is a settler colony, not a country. Zionism is genocidal… We stand unequivocally with the Palestinian people and support how they choose to resist their oppression.” At the protest, activists also chanted [00:10:04]: “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free!”
The event’s flyer honored multiple terrorists, including Ra’ed Abd al-Jalil who was serving four life sentences for his involvement in terror attacks during the second intifada. The flyer also honored a Hamas leader who planned a 1995 bus bombing and another terrorist who was also arrested during the second intifada.
The term “intifada” has carried the connotation of violence, since the early 2000’s.
Activists chanted [00:05:29]: “From Champaign to Gaza, globalize the intifada!” They also chanted [00:12:13] “You can run, you can hide, we’ll still charge you with genocide!”
Buthaina Hattab, then SJP UIUC President, said [00:02:29] at the protest: “On September 6, we celebrated the news that six Palestinian political prisoners being held at the so-called maximum-security, Zionist Gilboa prison facility, they escaped overnight through a tunnel that they dug with only a metal spoon. Their escape was one of the most successful jailbreaks in history.” The crowd cheered [00:02:50] in response.
On September 6, 2021, six Palestinian prisoners escaped from Israel’s Gilboa Prison and were eventually tracked down and imprisoned by Israeli authorities. The prisoners were members of the terror groups Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and had been convicted for their involvement in terror attacks carried out during the second intifada.
The complaint said [p.12]: “UIUC has also failed to combat anti-Semitism as vigorously as it has combated other forms of bigotry on its campus prohibited by Title VI.”
One cited incident [p.4] was from 2019 when SJP UIUC members and supporters approached pro-Israel students. At least one SJP supporter spat on a pro-Israel student. Other Israel supporters were called “Nazi” and “white supremacist” and were told they had “dual loyalty” since they were “not a true citizen of the United States.”
On June 14, 2022, Quraishi was arraigned and released on a bond of $5,000. A pre-trial conference was set forNovember 30, 2022.
Also, on June 14, 2022, the Superior Court in Champaign County granted Quraishi permission to leave Illinois to travel to Massachusetts and warned that if he did not appear for trial, he would be sentenced “in absentia.”
According to university records, Quraishi graduated from UIUC with a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering in 2022.
In June 2022, following his arrest, Quraishi’s LinkedIn account was deleted. Quraishi’s deleted account had said he was a “Research Assistant” at UIUC since May 2021, and that he was a “Food Service Worker” at McDonald’s since February 2021.
Also, following his arrest, several new social media accounts were opened under the name of “Sayed Quraishi,” using a stock photo of a Pakistani actor and model, Ayaz Samoo.
Violent Anti-Semitic Hate Crime
On June 7, 2022, Quraishi was charged under Illinois Statute 720 5/12-7.1(b-5)(6) with committing a hate crime at an SJP UIUC anti-Israel protest, a class 3 felony, punishable by sentences ranging from probation to five years in prison.Quraishi was arraigned on June 14, 2022, and released on a bond of $5,000. He entered a plea of “not guilty” and requested a jury trial. A pre-trial conference was set for August 10, 2022.
On April 18, 2022, while participating in an SJP UIUC anti-Israel protest titled: “Hands off Al Aqsa,” Quraishi threw a rock at Jewish students who gathered at the university’s Hillel chapter to celebrate the Jewish Passover festival.
Hillel International is a Jewish campus organization serving college students at 850 universities worldwide.
Passover is a Jewish holiday where Jews commemorate the story of the Israelites’ Exodus from slavery in ancient Egypt, to travel to the Promised Land.
The protest was in response to clashes between violent rioters and Israeli police at the Temple Mount compound in Jerusalem on April 15, 2022.
SJP UIUC promoted the protest on Instagram, claiming: “Zionist militia forces have once again raided Al-Aqsa mosque, brutalizing and detaining hundreds of worshippers during the holy month of Ramadan…”
The allegation that Jews “threaten” to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque has been a pretext for Arab attacks on Jews long before the existence of the modern Jewish state. Such propaganda has led to multiple periods of violence against Israeli civilians.
Ramadan is an Islamic holy month during which Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset and are meant to engage in self-reflection, repentance and the giving of charity. Ramadan is frequently marked by increased anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric throughout the Arab world, Palestinian violence in Israel and heightened tensions centered in the Old City of Jerusalem.
SJP UIUC promoted the protest on Instagram, claiming: “Zionist militia forces have once again raided Al-Aqsa mosque, brutalizing and detaining hundreds of worshippers during the holy month of Ramadan…”
The allegation that Jews “threaten” to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque has been a pretext for Arab attacks on Jews long before the existence of the modern Jewish state. Such propaganda has led to multiple periods of violence against Israeli civilians.
Ramadan is an Islamic holy month during which Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset and are meant to engage in self-reflection, repentance and the giving of charity. Ramadan is frequently marked by increased anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric throughout the Arab world, Palestinian violence in Israel and heightened tensions centered in the Old City of Jerusalem.
SJP UIUC posted to Facebook the itinerary of the protest before the event, which included [00:01:20] a planned stop at UIUC’s Hillel.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) tweeted that “SJP's targeting of a Jewish institution at @UofIllinois to protest Israeli policies is antisemitism.”
The ADL was founded in 1913 “To stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all.”
In an interview on the television news station WCIA, former SJP treasurer Lina Issa defended SJP’s targeting of the university’s Hillel, saying [00:00:01]: “Places like these are becoming complicit in it,” and [00:01:56]: “They obviously have a very direct connection to Israel, and that’s why we’re targeting that area in specific.”
Quraishi confessed after he was identified by police as throwing the rock in surveillance footage of the protest and reportedly said he “threw the rock in the direction of the Jewish students knowing that it is a sign of protest where a rock is used as a weapon.”
SJP UIUC - Hatred of Israel 2021-2022
On March 9, 2022, SJP UIUC held a protest where a speaker alleged [00:18:12]: “Zionism is the root cause of the social issues we see today.”Zionism is the belief that Jews have the right to self-determination in their ancestral homeland, Israel, and the right to develop their national culture.
One speaker said [00:17:02] “Israel is a settler colony, not a country. Zionism is genocidal… We stand unequivocally with the Palestinian people and support how they choose to resist their oppression.” At the protest, activists also chanted [00:10:04]: “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free!”
The chant “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free” has also been employed by Hamas leader Khaled Mashal to call for the replacement of Israel with an Islamic state. It is a chant calling to dismantle the State of Israel.
Four days earlier, SJP UIUC said on Instagram that it would cut ties with ISG since its divestment resolution was nullified because it did not follow proper procedure. Another speaker at the protest claimed [00:42:43] that SJP UIUC was “villified by racist Zionists on campus, in administration, in ISG [Illinois Student Government], in Hillel and Chabad.” Hillel and Chabad are Jewish campus groups.
SJP UIUC - Supporting Terrorists 2021-2022
On April 26, 2022, SJP UIUC hosted an event titled: “Martyrdom in Palestine” and alleged there was “recent violence inflicted by Israeli forces” during a wave of Palestinian terrorist attacks the previous two months where 14 Israelis were killed.The event’s flyer honored multiple terrorists, including Ra’ed Abd al-Jalil who was serving four life sentences for his involvement in terror attacks during the second intifada. The flyer also honored a Hamas leader who planned a 1995 bus bombing and another terrorist who was also arrested during the second intifada.
SJP UIUC - Supporting Intifada 2021-2022
On September 17, 2021, SJP UIUC hosted a protest titled “GLOBALIZE THE INTIFADA PROTEST IN SOLIDARITY WITH PALESTINIAN PRISONERS.”The term “intifada” has carried the connotation of violence, since the early 2000’s.
Activists chanted [00:05:29]: “From Champaign to Gaza, globalize the intifada!” They also chanted [00:12:13] “You can run, you can hide, we’ll still charge you with genocide!”
Buthaina Hattab, then SJP UIUC President, said [00:02:29] at the protest: “On September 6, we celebrated the news that six Palestinian political prisoners being held at the so-called maximum-security, Zionist Gilboa prison facility, they escaped overnight through a tunnel that they dug with only a metal spoon. Their escape was one of the most successful jailbreaks in history.” The crowd cheered [00:02:50] in response.
On September 6, 2021, six Palestinian prisoners escaped from Israel’s Gilboa Prison and were eventually tracked down and imprisoned by Israeli authorities. The prisoners were members of the terror groups Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and had been convicted for their involvement in terror attacks carried out during the second intifada.
SJP UIUC - Creating a Hostile Campus Environment 2015-2020
In October 2020, SJP UIUC was cited [pp. 3-8] in six different incidents in a civil rights legal complaint against UIUC documenting anti-Semitic incidents on campus as early as 2015. Jewish groups filed the complaint under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.The complaint said [p.12]: “UIUC has also failed to combat anti-Semitism as vigorously as it has combated other forms of bigotry on its campus prohibited by Title VI.”
One cited incident [p.4] was from 2019 when SJP UIUC members and supporters approached pro-Israel students. At least one SJP supporter spat on a pro-Israel student. Other Israel supporters were called “Nazi” and “white supremacist” and were told they had “dual loyalty” since they were “not a true citizen of the United States.”
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.
- Status:
- Unknown
- University:
- Illinois-Urbana-Champaign
- Organizations:
- SJP
- Related Profiles:
- Last Modified:
- 05/04/2026
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