Shaheera Jalil Albasit

Overview

Shaheera Jalil Albasit demonized Israel as a co-sponsor of an anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement resolution, while she was a graduate senator in the George Washington University (GWU) Student Association (SA), in 2018.

Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at GWU (SJP at GWU) activists led the BDS campaign, known as #DivestThisTime.

As of June 2018, Albasit was a member of the SA Student Life Committee, which “advocates for improvements to on-campus issues outside of the classroom,” and has worked on projects dedicated to “improving school spirit.”

As of June 2018, Albasit’s LinkedIn page said she was a Fulbright Scholar at GWU and a candidate for a master’s degree in Public Administration. She graduated from Bahria University in Pakistan in 2015, with a bachelor’s degree in Geophysics.

Albasit’s LinkedIn page also said she was in the GW-USIP Mentorship Program, since October 2017.

Demonizing Israel

On April 23, 2018, Albasit spoke [01:44:23] before the GWU SA, where she promoted a BDS resolution that she co-sponsored. In her address, Albasit repeatedly [01:46:48] accused [01:47:46] Israel of “apartheid” and insisted [01:47:15] that Israel has a system of “occupation, racial segregation and suppression” that must be called “apartheid.”

Albasit read [01:47:23] from sections of a United Nations treaty on apartheid, alleging that Israel fit the description. This included claims that Israel is imposing [01:49:08] “forced labor” on Palestinians, has carried out [01:47:33] “murder” and forces [01:48:53] Palestinians to be “segregated into ghettos,” among other crimes.

The same treaty was quoted [p.3] in the BDS resolution.

During the amendment process, Albasit was one of three resolution cosponsors who voted [00:09:59] against an amendment [00:07:15] acknowledging that “Israel is a state and has the right to exist” and that Israelis have the “right to safety, security and self-determination.” The fourth co-sponsor abstained.

Albasit also defended [01:49:43] anti-Israel agitator Ahed Tamimi during the GWU SA hearing.  


On November 16, 2012, Albasit tweeted a graphic in Spanish accusing Israel of a “masacre [massacre]” during its Operation Pillar of Defense (OPD) against Hamas.  

Israel launched OPD to stop Hamas rocket attacks on Israeli civilians from Gaza. Over the course of eight days in November 2012, Palestinian terrorist groups fired more than 1,500 rockets at Israel. The majority struck Israel, damaging homes, schools and other civilian areas. Human Rights Watch noted: “Palestinian armed groups made clear in their statements that harming civilians was their aim.”

Promoting BDS

On April 24, 2018, Albasit voted [00:11:14] for a secret ballot to allow SA senators to vote on the BDS resolution she co-sponsored, titled “The Protection of Palestinian Human Rights Act.” The secret ballot allowed senators to vote without transparency or accountability to their electorate.

28 senators voted for the secret ballot, while one voted against and none abstained. The BDS resolution passed [00:21:53] with 18 votes for, six against and six abstentions.  

The resolution implied that “Israel is the worst apartheid regime” and that Israel imposes “forced labour” on Palestinians. It also implied that Israel divides “its population along racial lines by the creation of separate reserves and ghettos for the members of a racial group or groups.”

The resolution portrayed Israeli military campaigns against Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) as deliberate attempts to kill children and civilians. It also singled out Israel for alleged violations of the Geneva Convention and war crimes.

Israel commenced Operations Cast Lead (OCL), Pillar of Defense (OPD) and Protective Edge (OPE) in 2008-09, 2012 and 2014, respectively, in order to stop Hamas rocket fire from Gaza targeting Israeli civilians.

#DivestThisTime at GWU 2018 - Instigated by SJP at GWU 

On March 24, 2018, student groups at GWU launched the second BDS campaign in two years; both were titled “#DivestThisTime.” Activists with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at GWU (SJP at GWU) led both campaigns. 

On the campaign launch day, #DivestThisTime released a Facebook promotional video, in which activists alleged [00:01:23] that Israel has committed “crimes against humanity.” They also claimed [00:03:34] that Palestinians are “bombed every day” and blamed Israel [00:02:06] for police violence against black Americans in Ferguson, Missouri.

#DivestThisTime at GWU 2018 - Demonizing Israel

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.