Tasnim Benalla
Overview
Tasnim Benalla supported a Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement bill as an activist with the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at the University of Maryland (SJP UMD) in 2019.As of August 2023, Benalla’s LinkedIn profile said she was on the executive board of UMD’s Muslim Student Association (MSA), and in 2019 she was reportedly the group’s “public relations officer.” Benalla’s LinkedIn also said that she was the president of the MSA while she was in high school. Benalla graduated from UMD’s Robert H. Smith School of Business (Smith School) with a bachelor’s degree in finance in 2020.
Benalla’s LinkedIn also said that she had worked as a consultant with Accenture in the “Washington DC-Baltimore Area” since February 2021 and as the executive advisor for Free Uyghur Now since March 2021.
As of August 2023, Benalla’s Clubhouse bio included the hashtag “#freepalestine” and said she was located “in DC.”
Also as of August 2023, Benalla used the handle “@benallaroundd” on her Twitter account. She used the handle “@benallaround” on her Instagram and Clubhouse accounts.
BDS Activism
On April 24, 2019, Benalla spoke [02:40:16] at a meeting held by UMD’s Student Government Association (SGA) to support a BDS bill launched by #DivestUMD. At the meeting, she urged [02:40:45] SGA representatives to vote in favor of divestment.#DivestUMD was a campaign initiated by “UMD's students, faculty, and organizations.”
The BDS bill urged: “the UMCP [University of Maryland, College Park] Administration to Divest from Companies Engaged in Human Rights Violations in Palestine.”
On April 25, 2019, Divest UMD posted a statement on Facebook announcing that the BDS bill failed to pass with “a vote of 9 for, 25 against, and 2 abstentions.” However, the SGA’s Student Affairs Committee “met and voted to give the resolution a favorable committee report.”
SJP Activism
On May 14, 2019, Benalla featured [slide 1] in an SJP UMD photo, alongside other activists. The post read: “Last week, we boycotted Israel Fest and held a teach-in about Palestinian human rights! #boycottisraelfest #freepalestine.”“Israel Fest” at UMD is an annual campus event designed “to celebrate and educate students on Israeli culture,” hosted by UMD’s Jewish Student Union (Maryland JSU).
On May 9, 2019, SJP UMD co-hosted an event titled: “Boycott Israel Fest & Palestine Teach-In.” The Facebook event page read: “This year, choose NOT to be complicit in apartheid, genocide, and the illegal occupation of Palestine. Instead of normalizing Palestinian oppression, SJP is calling for a boycott of Israel Fest by the UMD community.”
The group also posted [slide 4] a photo of their mock “ISRAELI APARTHEID WALL.”
On March 6, 2019, Benalla featured in an SJP UMD Instagram photo posing with other activists alongside Eran Efrati, the director of campaigns and partnerships at Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP).
The post read: “It was eye-opening and intriguing to hear from Eran Efrati about the deadly exchange between US Police forces and the Israeli Defense Forces! #freepalestine.”
In 2017, JVP launched the “Deadly Exchange (DX)” campaign, which accused American Jewish organizations of promoting human rights abuses. JVP also released a video that blamed [00:04:04] U.S.-based Jewish organizations for violence that occurs against Black and Brown communities, immigrants and activists in the U.S.
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.
MSA
The MSA was established by members of the Muslim Brotherhood in January 1963 at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, with the goal of "spreading Islam as students in North America." A 2004 FBI investigation uncovered an internal Muslim Brotherhood document in which a brotherhood leader identified the MSA as "one of our organizations."
The MSA reportedly has “nearly 600 chapters” located in the United States and Canada, and is “the most visible and influential Islamic student organization in North America,” boasting conferences, special events, publications, websites and other activities.
The organization includes a number of previous chapter presidents with explicit links to terrorist groups. Included are al-Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki (Colorado State University), Somali al-Shabaab militant leader Omar Shafik Hammami (University of South Alabama) and Pakistani Taliban recruiter Ramy Zamzam of the MSA's Washington, D.C. council.
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/100003043844987Twitter:https://twitter.com/benallaroundd [Private]
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/tasnimbenalla/
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/benallaround/
Clubhouse:https://clubhousedb.com/user/benallaround
