Unis Barakat

Overview

Unis Barakat has led calls for “intifada” and endorsed the terror group Hamas. He has also spread hatred of Israel on campus and on social media.

As of April 2018, Barakat’s LinkedIn page said that he was a Community Service Committee Volunteer for the Muslim Students Association (MSA) the University of California, Berkeley (UCB MSA) since September 2012. Barakat is also affiliated with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at UC Berkeley (SJP UC Berkeley).

Barakat is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Barakat’s LinkedIn also said that he received a bachelor’s degree in Cognitive Science and Computer Science at UC Berkeley in 2016.

Barakat is an “iOS Software Engineer” at Weight Watchers in San Francisco, as well as a Co-Founder and CEO of two tech companies, Masar and Subliminal.

Calling for Intifada

On October 14, 2015, during an upsurge in violence across Israel known as the “Knife Intifada,” Barakat led an anti-Israel demonstration organized by SJP UC Berkeley and UCB MSA.

Barakat led protesters in chanting: “Intifada, Intifada! We support the Intifada!”

Since the early 2000s, the term “intifada,” which translates from Arabic as “uprising” or “insurrection,” has carried the connotation of violence.

Barakat also led [00:01:37] protesters in chanting: “No Justice No Peace!”

Supporting Hamas

On September 7, 2014, Barakat posted a photo on Instagram of Abu Obeida, the official spokesperson for the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades — the armed wing of Hamas. Barakat commented on the photo: “The real mvp [ Most Valuable Player]”

Spreading Hatred of Israel

On October 27, 2016, Barakat led a protest event called the “International Day of Action for Palestine” — a campus event co-organized by Bears for Palestine and SJP UC Berkeley.

Barakat led protesters who chanted: “1-2-3-4, Israel is racist to the core… 5-6-7-8 We divest from racist states,” and “How do you spell Justice? BDS!” Demonstrators handed out fliers calling Zionism “racism.”

Protesters at the front of the rally also displayed a sign claiming “Zionism IS Racism.”

On October 14, 2015, at an anti-Israel demonstration organized by SJP UC Berkeley and UCB MSA, Barakat led [00:01:17] chants of: “Netanyahu, what do you say...How many kids have you killed today?”

Barakat also yelled [00:01:09] “From the river to the sea Palestine will be Free!”

“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free” is a chant calling to dismantle 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.

On September 23, 2014, during SJP UC Berkeley’s “International Day of Action for Palestine” — Barakat spoke to a crowd at UC Berkeley and accused [00:00:13] Israel of “genocide of human bodies and human intellect.”

The event protested cooperation with Israeli academics and promoted BDS. SJP founder Hatem Bazian also spoke [00:00:38]at the demonstration.

On June 12, 2016, Barakat promoted on Facebook a trip to Turkey titled: “PALESTINE DE-COLONIAL SUMMER SCHOOL.”

The program demanded “that Palestine should be examined within a colonial paradigm and nothing else… and “Understanding Zionism, as a colonial, racial and Euro-centric Project.”

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.

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.