Tamara Khoury
Overview
Tamara Khoury is an anti-Israel activist who participated in the violent disruption of a pro-Israel event at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), alongside activists with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at UCLA, in May 2018.Khoury has demonized Israel and served asa 2013 board member of SJP at California State University, Fullerton (CSUF).
In 2010, Khoury was reportedly a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) at CSUF. In 2009, Khoury was reportedly an activist and member of the ANSWER Coalition (ANSWER) at CSUF.
As of October 2018, Khoury’s LinkedIn said she graduated from CSUF in 2013. In September 2011, Khoury was reportedly a second-year Nursing student at CSUF. As of August 2018, Khoury’s ZoomInfo listed her as a student at UCLA and CSUF.
SJP at UCLA - Violent Disruption of Pro-Israel Campus Event
On May 17, 2018, Khoury [00:42:00; 00:46:49; 00:47:32] along with SJP UCLA activists and affiliates disrupted [00:00:47] an event hosted by Students Supporting Israel (SSI) on the UCLA campus. The event, titled "Indigenous People Unite," provided a forum for Jewish, Kurdish, and Armenian indigenous communities “to share the stories of their people.”The disruptors were joined by activists with SJP at UCLA Alumni Association(SJP at UCLA Alumni),as well as activists from the group Southwest Asian and North Afrikan Los Angeles (SWANA-LA) and activists from the off-campus Antifa group Revolution Club L.A./ Refuse Fascism Los Angeles.
Approximately 41 minutes into the lecture, SJP at UCLA members and Antifa activists invaded [00:41:16] the forum. Protester Armen Adamian walked toward the speakers and tore the Armenian flag off the wall. Adamian then threw [00:41:24] the Armenian panelist’s notes off the speakers’ table and leaned over him.
Other protesters chanted [00:43:01]“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free!” as well as [00:42:29] “We don’t want two states, we want ‘48!” and [00:45:08] “1,2,3,4 Open up the prison doors; 5,6,7,8 Israel is a terrorist state!!”
Approximately 41 minutes into the lecture, SJP at UCLA members and Antifa activists invaded [00:41:16] the forum. Protester Armen Adamian walked toward the speakers and tore the Armenian flag off the wall. Adamian then threw [00:41:24] the Armenian panelist’s notes off the speakers’ table and leaned over him.
Other protesters chanted [00:43:01]“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free!” as well as [00:42:29] “We don’t want two states, we want ‘48!” and [00:45:08] “1,2,3,4 Open up the prison doors; 5,6,7,8 Israel is a terrorist state!!”
Protestor Natalie Kamajian ripped the Israeli flag from the wall. When asked to relinquish the flag, she refused [00:46:52].
Campus security eventually escorted [00:50:05] the protesters out of the classroom, into an adjacent hallway. There, the protesters pounded [00:521:2348] on the door and continued [00:08:32] chanting.
Later, when the door was reopened, the protesters continued their disturbance, screaming [00:33:15] obscenities, using [00:14:27] a megaphone and physically blocking [00:13:52] the door from being closed.
Following the disruption, students attending the SSI event reported feeling intimidated and fearing for their physical safety. SSI chapter president Hirmand Sarafian, the Armenian panelist, reported that he felt physically threatened “throughout the whole thing, from the beginning to the end.”
SJP at UCLA reportedly denied initiating or having “a significant hand in organizing the demonstration” and claimed that “none of our board members attended the event.”
However, SJP at UCLA’s 2018 primary signatory Robert Gardner was filmed taking a leadership role in the disruption, alongside SJP at UCLA signatory Gurutam Thockchom, and fellow SJP at UCLA activists Burkan Aranki, Sarena Khasawneh, John Abughattas, and Tamara Khoury.
On May 18, 2018, both SWANA-LA and the Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC) in Austin specifically praised SJP at UCLA and SJP at UCLA Alumni’s role in disrupting the SSI event. PSC is an alternative name for SJP.
On May 24, 2018, UCLA chancellors Jerry Kang and Monroe Gorden published anofficial denunciation of the incident in the Daily Bruin, UCLA’s campus newspaper.
The chancellors’ statement condemned the intimidation of panelists and audience members and declared that the university would “refer all evidence of wrongdoing” of non-UCLA students “to local prosecutors to determine whether they have broken the law.”
A June 14, 2018 article, published by the Jewish Journal, reported that half a dozen students said they would file formal complaints against the disruptors for “criminal disruption of a meeting, as well as disturbing the peace and conspiracy.”
An August 8, 2018 article in the Algemeiner reported that the Los Angeles city prosecutor was investigating the disruption, and had “requested additional investigative materials from the UCLA Police.”
Anti-Israel Activism
On December 30, 2008, Khoury led a protest against Israel’s Operation Cast Lead (OCL). During the protest, demonstrators held signs that said: “Stop US-Israeli Genocide” and “End the Massacre in Gaza.”Israel commenced OCL in 2008-09 in order to stop Hamas rocket fire from Gaza targeting Israeli civilians.
On January 10, 2009, Khoury led an anti-Israel demonstration protesting OPE while wearing a shirt that featured a likeness of terrorist Leila Khaled.
Khaled is a leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and participated in the hijacking of TWA Flight 840 in 1969 and El Al Flight 219 in 1970. As of 2017, Khaled was a member of PFLP's Political Bureau.
Khaled has said that the second intifada failed because it was not violent enough, advocated for the use of children in terror activities and compared Zionists to Nazis.
The PFLP claimed credit for the 2014 Har Nof Massacre where six people were murdered during morning prayers in a Jerusalem synagogue. The PFLP also claimed credit for the 2001 assassination of the Israeli tourism minister.
On June 6, 2009, during OCL, Khoury led an anti-Israel “Rally for Gaza” in the UN Plaza in San Francisco, organized by the ANSWER coalition. The rally’s main sign read: “Stop the US-Israeli Genocide!” as well as a sign that said “USA stop funding Israeli terrorism.”
On October 13, 2010, Khoury reportedly participated in the disruption of a CSUF Hillel and Stand With Us event, featuring Israeli Defense Force (IDF) soldiers providing personal accounts of their experiences.
On September 27, 2011, Khoury gave an interview with the Daily Titan student newspaper in which she stated that she was a protest organizer and leader and that she started attending anti-Israel protests since the start of the second intifada in 2000, when she was “10 or 11 years old.”
The second intifada, which began in September 2000, was characterized by more than 120 suicide bombings targeting Israeli civilians on buses and in cafes.
During her interview, Khoury said that she gave a speech on behalf of the “Irvine 11” - 11 Muslim Student Union (MSU) members who were arrested for repeatedly shouting down former Israeli ambassador Michael Oren during a February 2010 address at UC Irvine.
Khoury also noted that she would like to do medical missions, possibly with the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF).
The Palestine Children's Relief Fund (PCRF) is a nonprofit organization reportedly set up to “provide urgent humanitarian care for Gaza’s children.” It has been financially linked with the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF), which was shut down by the U.S. government for funneling donations to a terrorist organization.
On December 11, 2017, Khoury participated in a SWANA LA protest opposing United States President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and relocate the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
The protest was co-hosted by Al-Awda - The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, PYM and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP).
On December 8, 2017, Khoury posted to Facebook: “Trump can say whatever he wants because when it comes down to it, he won't be putting his body in the street defending Jerusalem like we always have and always will. Jerusalem IS Palestinian!”
Demonizing Israel
On March 31, 2018, Khoury changed her Facebook cover photo to a graphic in support of Gaza’s “March of Return.”On March 30, 2018, some 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza approached Israel’s border to take part in “Land Day Protests” or the “March of Return.” The March of Return was organized and funded by Hamas as a campaign of violent protests along Israel’s border to spotlight the demand of Palestinians to “return” to Israel.
On November 14, 2010, Khoury spoke on a PSL panel during the National Conference on Socialism, where she labeled Israel “Zionist colonizers,” backed by Western imperialism.
Khoury characterized the naval arms blockade placed on Gaza as a “siege,” claimed Israel was “an apartheid state” and that “Gazans are denied the most basic human rights.”
Khoury also vilified “Zionism” as “essentially a colonial project” and an “ideology that has justified ethnic cleansing, demolition of homes and apartheid.” She further claimed that Zionism was “a tool to try to claim historical presence in the land,” through the “colonization of Palestinian cities.”
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.
