Soumaya Zaadoud
Overview
Soumaya Zaadoud endorsed an anti-Israel agitator and helped push a Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) initiative as an activist with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Cornell University (Cornell) in 2018-2019.In September 2021, Zaadoud was listed as an “Officer” of the Islamic Alliance for Justice (IAJ) at Cornell. IAJ officially endorsed Cornell SJP’s divestment campaign in 2019.
As of March 2022, the International Students Union (ISU) at Cornell indicated that Zaadoud was on the ISU Advocacy Team. The ISU states on its website that the group promotes “cross-cultural understanding” and “international life by programming, sponsoring, and co-sponsoring international activities.”
In 2017, Zaadoud served on Cornell’s Student Assembly (SA). As of March 2022, Zaadoud’s LinkedIn page said she also served as an Administrative Assistant at Cornell’s Office of the Dean of Students from September 2017 to May 2020.
As of March 2022, Zaadoud’s LinkedIn page also said she was a “Talent Practice Leader” at Procter & Gamble since August 2020, and that she was located in Morocco.
Zaadoud’s LinkedIn said she graduated from Cornell with a bachelor’s degree in Computer and Information Sciences in 2020.
Endorsing an Anti-Israel Agitator
Also, on February 12, 2018, Cornell SJP posted photos of Zaadoud participating in their demonstration on behalf of Tamimi.
On February 15, 2018, Zaadoud posted a photo of herself holding a poster of Tamimi that read: “Free Ahed Tamimi and “Free Palestine,” commenting: “My wonder Woman. - at Cornell University.”
On February 21, 2018, Cornell SJP hosted a “letter writing for Ahed Tamimi” event. The same day, Cornell SJP posted to Facebook: “Letter writing for Ahed Tamimi happening right now on Ho Plaza! Stop by anytime before 4pm!!”
Cornell SJP also posted a photo of Zaadoud to their Facebook, tabling for the event.
Later that day, Cornell SJP posted to Facebook: “Thank you for all of you who stopped by to write some words of support in solidarity with Ahed Tamimi, who has become the symbol of the Palestinian resistance headed the youth and children against the occupation and apartheid in Palestinian Lands.”
Pushing BDS on Campus
Cornell SJP’s resolution called on Cornell to divest from Cornell Tech’s partnership with the Technion. Cornell Tech is Cornell’s technology, business, law and design campus.
Cornell SJP also called on the university to divest from Tata Motors, Ingersoll-Rand, Raytheon, G4S, Hewlett-Packard and any other companies SJP Cornell claimed “profit directly from Israeli military occupation.”
On February 18, 2019, Zaadoud came to Cornell’s President Martha Pollack’s office together with other Cornell SJP activists and delivered a letter calling on the University to “divest from companies profiting from morally reprehensible human rights violations in Palestine.”
On April 11, 2019, Cornell SJP presented their divestment initiative to Cornell’s Student Assembly (SA). During the discussion, Mahfuza Shovik, a resolution sponsor, denied [00:23:03] the resolution was part of the BDS movement.
Cornell SJP - Overview
Cornell SJP has dismissed anti-Semitism, supported anti-Israel violence and whitewashed terrorists. The student group has also disrupted Israel Day campus events multiple times, demonized Israel and campaigned for the BDS movement.Cornell SJP activists wrote an anti-Israel statement and presented it at Cornell’s Student Assembly (SA) in May 2021.
Cornell SJP - Glorifying Terrorist Ghassan Kanafani 2019-2020
On January 28, 2020, Cornell SJP shared to their Facebook a post from a local communist collective known as the Central Ohio Revolutionary Socialists (CORS), glorifying terrorist Ghassan Kanafani and promoting Kanafani’s rejection of any negotiations with Israel.Kanafani was a leading member and spokesperson for the terrorist organization, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) during their formative years. Kanafani was also involved in the Lod Airport Massacre near Tel Aviv, for which PFLP took responsibility.
Cornell SJP - Demonizing Israel 2020-2021
On April 21, 2021, Cornell SJP promoted an April 22, 2021 “virtual teach-in” on the “Deadly Exchange” and encouraged students to “tune in to find out what it will take to end the militarization of campus police and (one aspect of) Cornell's complicity in the occupation of Palestine!”Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) launched the “Deadly Exchange” campaign in 2017. The campaign claimed that American Jewish organizations promoted human rights abuses. A video for the campaign by JVP accused American Jewish organizations of planning programs between American and Israeli security personnel, to advance“racist policies.”
On December 13, 2020, Cornell SJP hosted a teach-in titled: “Health and the Israeli Occupation.”
The event description alleged: “The apartheid system imposed by the Israeli occupation of Palestine extends to all facets of life, including health and medical treatment…Hospitals in Gaza are frequently demolished by Israeli bomber planes.”
Hamas has used hospitals in Gaza as command centers, weapons storage and launch sites for missile and rocket attacks against Israel in violation of international humanitarian law in regard to armed conflicts.
Cornell SJP - Disrupting Israeli Independence Day2016-2017
On May 2, 2017, Cornell’s student newspaper, The Cornell Daily Sun, reported that Cornell SJP disrupted Cornell Hillel’s Israeli Independence Day celebration in Anabel Taylor Hall by holding a “die-in” protest in the middle of the event.Cornell SJP activists were granted entrance to the event venue after they assured campus police they would not disrupt the Hillel event. However, within minutes of entering the hall, four members of Cornell SJP held up a sign that read: “Celebrating 69 years of Genocide,” while others handed out flyers or lay on the floor, simulating corpses.
Cornell SJP members reportedly distributed flyers that said: “the modern day Jewish state was founded on the expulsion of the indigenous population.”
Cornell SJP - BDS Overview
In February 2019, Cornell SJP launched an anti-Israel divestment campaign, calling on the University to divest from Technion Israel Institute of Technology (Technion) and any companies which Cornell SJP claimed “profit directly from Israeli military occupation.”Cornell SJPmembers tried to [00:23:03] deny that the resolution was part of the larger BDS movement, a tactic encouraged [00:58:53] by BDS-founder Omar Barghouti. Cornell senators also used a secret ballot to vote on the bill. The bill ultimately failed to pass.
In October 2019, Cornell SJP moved to direct confrontation, disrupting the quarterly meeting of Cornell’s Board of Trustees and calling on the Board to “sever ties” with the Technion. Cornell SJP also called to eliminate the Board’s power of discretion in investments in “the occupation of Palestine.”
Cornell SJP - Divestment Campaign 2018-2019
In February 2019, Cornell SJP launched an anti-Israel divestment campaign, introducing and pushing S.A. Resolution 36, “Urging Cornell to Divest from Companies Profiting from the Occupation of Palestine and Human Rights Violation.”Cornell SJP’s resolution called on Cornell to divest from Cornell Tech’s partnership with the Technion. Cornell Tech is Cornell’s technology, business, law and design campus.
Cornell SJP also called on the university to divest from Tata Motors, Ingersoll-Rand, Raytheon, G4S, and Hewlett-Packard and any other companies SJP Cornell claimed “profit directly from Israeli military occupation.”
Cornell SJP also said: “We will publicly name endowment investments…and hold university leadership responsible for complicity in crimes of apartheid.”
On February 18, 2019, Cornell SJP delivered a letter to Cornell’s President Martha Pollack calling on the University to “divest from companies profiting from morally reprehensible human rights violations in Palestine.”
On April 11, 2019, Cornell SJP presented their divestment initiative to Cornell’s Student Assembly (SA). During the discussion, Mahfuza Shovik, a resolution sponsor, denied [00:23:03] the resolution was part of the BDS movement.
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
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/soumaya.9LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/soumaya-zaadoud-435607152/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soumaya.zaad/ [Private]
