Seema Sandhu
Overview
Seema Sandhu demonized Israel while she was the 2014-2016 vice president and co-secretary of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at the Ohio State University (OSU). SJP at OSU (SJP OSU) was formerly known as the Committee for Justice in Palestine (CJP).In 2019, Sandhu promoted SJP at Emory University’s demonization of both Israel and pro-Israel students.
Sandhu is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and was a 2015-2016 Organizing Committee member of the OSU Divest campaign.
As of December 2019, Sandhu’s LinkedIn page said she received a bachelor’s degree in PsychologyOSU in 2016. Her LinkedIn stated she was slated to graduate from Emory in 2019 with a master’s degree in Public Health.
Also as of December 2019, Sandhu’s LinkedIn page said she was a Graduate Research Assistant at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, since November 2018.
Demonizing Israel
On April 5, 2019, Sandhu posted to Facebook a link to Emory SJP’s statement and encouraged her Facebook followers to sign a petition in support of Emory SJP, adding “PLEASE sign!! we need all voices.”On April 2, 2019, Emory SJP posted mock eviction notices on the doors of Emory student dormitories and off-site complexes. The notices referenced “ethnic cleansing” and the destruction of Palestinian homes under “Israeli occupation.”
A spokesperson for Emory reportedly said that Emory SJP “did not comply with posting guidelines” and that the incident was under investigation.
Sandhu later tweeted: “Emory University has sent out at least two emails about the mock eviction notices that Students for Justice in Palestine placed on students doors. In the latest email, the president insinuated this act was anti-Semitic and offensive to Jewish students.
Sandhu further tweeted: “I am so angry. It’s honestly such bullsh*t.”
On March 29, 2019, Sandhu tweeted: “my heart is full, i went to a students for justice in Palestine meeting at the undergrad campus and they are so precious, Waheguru pls protect them from the ugly a** Zionists on this ugly a** campus.”
On November 6, 2014, Sandhu and executive members of then-CJP OSU (renamed SJP OSU in 2016) co-authored a Letter to the Editor for OSU’s student newspaper, The Lantern. The letter detailed CJP OSU’s executive committee attendance at the 2014 National SJP Convention, held at Tufts University, in Boston on October 24-26, 2014.
Clothing was sold at the 2014 conference, including a shirt with the image of airplane hijacker Leila Khaled, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), with the text: “resistance is not terrorism.”
The letter Sandhu co-authored accused Israel of “continued Israeli human rights abuses” and the “wanton killing of over 2,000 Palestinian — more than 70 percent of them civilians — ” during “Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza” in 2014.
Israel commenced Operation Protective Edge (OPE) in the summer of 2014, to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.
The letter also described Gaza as “the world’s largest open-air prison.”
Supporting BDS
On January 30, 2015, Sandhu changed her Facebook profile photo to OSU Divest’s poster. In the comment section, Sandhu added: “... so OSU can stop giving money to companies that benefit from the Israeli occupation in Palestine.”OSU Divest was established in January 2015: “in response to the ever-worsening human rights crisis in the occupied Palestinian territories.”
The group claimed that by “advocating for divestment from corporations, we are not condemning or attacking a country, a community, or a people,” and “does not support any particular political stance.”
In March 2015, OSU Divest introduced a BDS resolution at OSU’s University Student Government (USG). The divestment resolution was voted down.
In March 2016, OSU Divest worked closely with SJP OSU board members to present another divestment resolution to the USG.
On March 16, 2016, Sandhu posted a photo of herself to Facebook with the caption “#OSUDivest.”
On March 21, 2016, Sandhu wrote an article for the student newspaper, comparing OSU Divest to divestment efforts against South African Apartheid and Sudan.
Sandhu went on to claim that her viewpoint was not represented, nor heard because student senators chose to table the divestment resolution after more than five hours of debate, instead of voting in favor of her position.
Sandhu participated in the pre-vote discussion of the bill, where OSU Divest activists accused Israel of “apartheid.” One activist claimed that the United States presidential election candidates “all paraded to AIPAC to pledge allegiance to a foreign government.”
On March 23, 2016, the resolution failed in a secret ballot by 21-9 votes, with 15 abstentions.
In February 2017, OSU Divest pushed their 2016 divestment resolution again, this time promoted by the Muslim Students Association (MSA) at OSU, onto USG’s election ballot. The divestment bill targeted for divestment companies providing technology used for security purposes in Israel. The bill claimed the companies were “complicit in human rights abuses.”
On March 1, 2017, Sandhu posted to Facebook: “If you are against the oppression of any groups of people, you should vote YES in support of Issue 2. Issue 2 calls out corporations profiting off of private prisons and the illegal occupation of Palestine. To find out more information, check outhttp://www.osudivest.com/ VOTE YES FOR ISSUE 2.”
Sandhu attached a photo of herself, adding: “If you are against the oppression of any groups of people, you should vote YES in support of Issue 2.”
OSU Divest received the 1,895 signatures required for their 2017 divestment initiative to be placed on the USG ballot as a referendum. The 2017 divestment bill was ultimately defeated.
SJP OSU - Threatening Student Senators
On December 1, 2016, SJP OSU hosted an event objecting to a David Project-sponsored trip to Israel geared towards student government leaders. Yousef Yacoub, SJP OSU’s then-treasurer, threatened on Facebook to track student “senators, directors, and members of senior staff” who indicated interest in the trip.Yacoub wrote: “I see you, and I promise you that if you go on this trip without hearing our voices, I will take action. At the first General Assembly of next semester, I will bring forth a resolution for all of your impeachments.”
SJP OSU - Spreading Incitement 2013-2015
On September 23, 2015, SJP OSU promoted an event on Facebook titled: “#AlAqsaUnderAttack: The Treatment of Sacred Palestinian Places of Worship Under the Occupation.”The event’s Facebook description claimed that there have been “attacks of Masjid Al-Aqsa, the third-holiest site in the Islamic faith, by the Israeli Defense Forces.”
On September 13, 2015, masked Palestinian rioters barricaded themselves inside the Al Aqsa Mosque. They set off fireworks, starting a small fire, and threw stones and debris stored inside the mosque at Israeli police. The police later found pipe bombs the rioters had prepared to launch at Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount plaza.
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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. The attacks were incited by Palestinian leaders propagating the libel that Israel intended to desecrate the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
On November 3, 2014, SJP OSU co-sponsored and promoted on Facebook a “Hands Off Al Aqsa!” event.
The event’s Facebook description said: “When will we stop rallying? When Palestine is FREE! Religious freedom is under attack! As humans, we cannot stand around and watch as Palestinians are robbed of their religious freedom.”
On October 30, 2014, after a terrorist attempted [00:00:13] to assassinate Rabbi Yehuda Glick, triggering a temporary closure of the the Temple Mount, SJP OSU posted to Facebook an Al-Jazeera article titled: “Shutdown of Al-Aqsa mosque a ‘declaration of war’ say Palestinian leaders.”
SJP OSU - Spreading Hatred of Israel 2014-2016
On April 2, 2016, SJP OSU promoted on Facebook an event the group hosted as part of Birzeit University’s “Right to Education” tour.The Right to Education Tour brings Birzeit University students to U.S. campuses, where they claim that Israel is obstructing the rights of Palestinians to higher education. This claim mischaracterizes the sweeps Israeli security forces have made to shut down terror cells operating on the Birzeit campus, including cells linked to Hamas.
On November 6, 2015, SJP OSU posted an article on Facebook that claimed Israel harvested organs from the bodies of killed Palestinians. The accusation was made by the chief Palestinian delegate at the United Nations, Riyad Mansour. Israel’s then-U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon wrote to the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon demanding that he condemn the accusation.
On October 2, 2014, SJP OSU posted a graphic on Facebook that read: “#JSIL.”
The hashtag “#JSIL” means “Jewish State in the Levant” and is used as a way of comparing Israel to the Islamic State (ISIS), also known as the Islamic State in the Levant (ISIL).
SJP OSU’s Facebook post linked to an Al Jazeera social media stream post that spread an effort by Twitter users “to rebrand Israel as [Islamic State and the Levant] ISIL, renaming it ‘The Jewish State of Israel in the Levant.’”
On September 26, 2014, SJP OSU posted on Facebook a graphic featuring a series of misleading maps that presented lands once controlled by Britain, Egypt and Jordan as autonomous “Palestinian land,” purportedly stolen by Israel. SJP OSU also featured these maps as part of their mock “apartheid wall,” during Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) .
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.
SJP OSU - Demonizing Trips to Israel 2016
On December 1, 2016, SJP OSU hosted an event objecting to a trip to Israel geared towards student government leaders, sponsored by an Israel advocacy group.Yousef Yacoub, SJP OSU’s then-treasurer, wrote on Facebook that he would track student “senators, directors, and members of senior staff,” who indicated interest in the trip.
On November 18, 2016, Yacoub wrote on Facebook: “I see you, and I promise you that if you go on this trip without hearing our voices, I will take action. At the first General Assembly of next semester, I will bring forth a resolution for all of your impeachments.”
On April 4, 2016, SJP OSU shared to Facebook a quote from an article published anonymously a month earlier in the Tufts University student newspaper, that demonized Birthright-Israel.
Birthright Israel is a heritage trip to Israel for Jewish young adults from across the world.
The article claimed that Birthright was “violent” and that “To make Birthright fun and safe means eradicating an Arab populace.” The article also said that “Birthright is the erasure of our right to our homeland, and it promises our homeland to one in four students at this university.”
On February 22, 2016, SJP OSU promoted a poster on Facebook that condemned a free trip to Israel awarded to Oscar nominees. The poster suggested that laws distinguishing between Israeli citizens and foreign nationals were “a defining feature of an apartheid state” and said: “Free Trip To Israel At The Expense of Palestinians” and “#SkiptheTrip, Don’t endorse Israel Apartheid.”
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.
Social Media and Weblinks
LinkedIn:https://in.linkedin.com/in/seema-sandhu-669620133
Twitter:https://twitter.com/gimmeshawarma
https://twitter.com/seemathecr33p/ [Deleted]
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/seemathecr33p/ [Private]
- Status:
- Student
- University:
- Ohio-State,
- more...
- Organizations:
- BDS,
- SJP
- Related Profiles:
- Leila Elaqad,
- Last Modified:
- 05/04/2026
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