Syria Lutfi

Syria Lutfi

Syria Lutfi has called for Israel’s destruction and spread incitement as the president of an anti-Israel activist group at the University of Central Florida (UCF).

Lutfi held leadership positions in the Palestinian Student Association at UCF (UCF-PSA). Her LinkedIn profile said she was the group's president from September 2022 to April 2023. UCF is located in Orlando, Florida.

In January 2022, UCF-PSA said that Lutfi was part of its executive board and that she was also planning to serve as its president. Her LinkedIn also said she began serving as the UCF-PSA vice president in September 2021.

As of January 2024, Lutfi’s LinkedIn said she graduated from UCF with a bachelor’s degree in communication sciences and disorders. As of the same date, her LinkedIn said she was “on the path to become a Speech-Language Pathologist.” She was also listed [p. 77] on the UCF website as having graduated in May 2023.

While a student at UCF, Lutfi worked as an “Undergraduate Research Assistant” in the Reading and Oral Comprehension in Kids and Teens Lab (ROCK&T) Lab at UCF.

As of the same date, Lutfi’s LinkedIn said she was located in Orlando, Florida.

On February 8, 2022, Lutfi was featured [slide 3] in a UCF-PSA Instagram video where she led [slide 13-14] other activists in chanting: “Free, free Palestine! From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”

“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free” is a chant used [00:02:47] to call for the elimination of the State of Israel. It has also been employed by Hamas leader Khaled Mashal to call for the replacement of Israel with an Islamic state. In April 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning the chant as antisemitic.

On March 2, 2022, Lutfi led chants calling for Israel’s destruction and promoting incitement at a UCF-PSA rally on campus.

Lutfi was featured [slide 6] in a UCF-PSA Instagram video where she helped lead other protesters in chanting: “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free!” At the same rally, activists chanted [slide 6] again: “From the river to the sea, Palestine...” Lutfi also led [slide 10] the chant: “Hey hey, ho ho! The occupation has got to go!”

Lutfi and the other activists led [00:00:01] protesters in chanting: “End Israeli apartheid! Free, free Palestine! Free, free Palestine! Free, free Sheikh Jarrah!”

In May 2021, Palestinian violence erupted in anticipation of an Israel High Court ruling on eviction proceedings concerning over 70 Palestinian tenants illegally residing in Jewish-owned properties in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.

Lufti then joined [00:00:15] in a chant about Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque: “Be-ruh be-dam nifdik ya Aqsa [With spirit, with blood, we will redeem you, Aqsa]!”

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.

The chant: “Be-ruh, be-dam, nifdik ya Aqsa بروح ودم نفديك يا اقصى [With spirit, with blood, we will redeem you, Aqsa]” can be heard [00:01:14] at anti-Israel rallies [00:02:19] in America. Yasser Arafat popularized the chant [00:00:23], which is invoked by anti-Israel protesters regarding a variety of causes.

The rally was titled: “ALL EYES ON SHEIKH JARRAH,” where UCF-PSA said activists would be “shedding light on the ongoing displacement & ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah.” The rally was called for one day after Israel’s High Court suspended planned evictions from Sheikh Jarrah.

Incitement surrounding Al-Aqsa and Sheikh Jarrah were leading factors in Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists firing over 4,300 rockets from Gaza at Israeli population centers from May 10 to 21, 2021. In response to rocket attacks from Gaza, Israel launched “Operation Guardian of the Walls (OGW),” striking military targets in the terrorist-controlled enclave.

Anti-Israel activist Rasha Mubarak also spoke at the same rally. Lutfi and Mubarak worked together in 2020 in the Orlando area with the Muslim Women’s Organization (MWO).

Calling for Israel’s Destruction and Spreading Incitement

Anti-Israel Activism (UCF-PSA)

Social Media and Weblinks