Veranda Armstead
Overview
Veranda Armstead [Veranda J Armstead] has called for the destruction of Israel and America, as well as demonized pro-Israel Jews. Armstead has also demonized Israel and Zionism, as well as expressed hatred of the police.Armstead has shown support for Student for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and other anti-Israel organizations like Jewish Voice For Peace (JVP).
Armstead is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
In 2021, Armstead showed solidarity with Yasmeen Mashayekh, a graduate student at the University of Southern California (USC) and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Senator who tweeted her desire to “kill every motherf**king Zionist.”
As of January 2022, Amstead’s LinkedIn page indicated that she graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism in 2021.
Also as of January 2022, Armstead’s Facebook page said she was located in Chicago.
Calling for the Destruction of Israel and America
On May 19, 2021, Armstead tweeted: “Death to israel.”On May 14, 2021, Armstead tweeted: “... Long story short we have to dismantle the settler-colonial state, US, and the settler colony, israel.”
On October 27, 2020, Armstead tweeted: “Free Palestine from the river to the sea
.”“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 8, 2020, Armstead tweeted: “I’m feeling risky today. I might put ’death to America’ on Facebook or something.”
Demonizing Pro-Israel Jews
Also on May 22, 2021, one day after the end of Israel’s Operation Guardian of the Walls (OGW), Armstead suggested in a tweet that Zionist Jews support “ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and white supremacy.”On May 15, 2021, during OGW, Armstead tweeted: “Jews on Facebook are saying ‘It’s a dark time for Jews,’ are your people dying? Are your children dying? Are your homes being bombed by the IDF [Israel Defense Forces]? No. It's a dark time for Palestinians.It is accountability time for Jews, though.”
Anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S. “more than doubled” during OGW and its aftermath, compared to the same time period in 2020, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
On May 14, 2021, Armstead tweeted about the Black and Jewish - Jews of Colour Facebook group: “This group is super zionist and I hate that so much for them.”
Zionism is the belief that Jews have the right to self-determination in their own national home, and the right to develop their national culture.
Demonizing Israel
On May 20, 2021, during OGW, Armstead tweeted: “#BabyKillerIsrael #BDS #Gaza_Under_Attack #FreePalestine.”On May 18, 2021, Armstead suggested in a tweet that Israel practices “colonialism and ethnic cleansing.”
On May 17, 2021, Armstead tweeted: “The two-state solution is dead. It never represented anything more than a way to rationalize an anti-democratic regime that continue to deprive millions of Palestinians of their basic rights. Support the right to return and one-state solution.”
The “right of return” is a Palestinian demand discredited as a means to eliminate Israel. International law mandates no absolute right of return and UN Resolution 194, which defined principles for “refugees wishing to return to their homes,” was unanimously rejected by Arab nations following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
On April 14, 2021, Armstead tweeted: “israel itself is rooted in white supremacy. It is white supremacy. israel supports the killings of Black and Brown ppl [people] in the us and kills unarmed ppl in Palestine.”
Demonizing Zionism
On August 26, 2020, Armstead tweeted: “... all I said was f**k Zionism. I don't see what the problem was
.”On March 9, 2021, Armstead tweeted: “... Zionism is antisemitic. Christian Zionists are also antisemitic...”
On May 22, 2021, Armstead tweeted: “I'm not going to be friends with or date anyone who is a zionist.”
Hatred of Police
On December 7, 2019, Armstead tweeted: “It's always been and will be f**k the police.”On March 16, 2021, Armstead tweeted: “We need funding put into these low-income communities. A good start would be to defund Chicago Police Department.”
On July 21, 2021, Armstead tweeted about the Chicago City Council decision to approve a civilian oversight panel giving the public more control over Chicago police. Armstead wrote: “I’m curious to see how this plays out in the next few years. It’s not defunding the police or abolition but a step in the right direction.”
Supporting SJP
On March 17, 2021, Armstead tweeted in support of an SJP Chicago campaign alleging that Israel denied Palestinians proper health treatment through “Medical Apartheid.”On September 18, 2020, Armstead tweeted: “I want to get more involved in SJP, but I don't want to take the opportunity away from someone else.”
Supporting Anti-Israel Organizations
On December 6, 2021, Armstead tweeted: Y’all so JVP is having a Hanukkah Party to raise money for Adovah [Adalah] Justice Project and they literally hit their 20K goal before we even logged into zoom
.” The Adalah Justice Project describes itself as a “Palestinian Advocacy Organization based in the U.S.” and its goal is to “shift policy & public discourse on Palestine.”
On May 17, 2021, Armstead tweeted a graphic promoting an anti-Israel protest during OGW that was organized by the Muslim American Youth Organization and promoted by SJP UIUC.
On November 25, 2020, Armstead tweeted a screenshot documenting a donation she gave that said: “Thank you for supporting Palestinian Youth Movement!”
Armstead’s tweet was written to anti-Israel activist Dunia Ghanimah, who had requested donations on Twitter that day. Armstead wrote: “Because I love you and Palestine
.”PYM supports and has glorified terrorists, promotes incitement to violence and spreads anti-Israel conspiracy theories. PYM also advocates for the dissolution of the State of Israel, supports BDS, demonizes Israel, supports anti-Israel agitators and praises violent protesters.
Solidarity with Yasmeen Mashayekh
In November and December 2021, Armstead retweeted multiple times in support of Mashayekh who was [00:11:08] in the middle of a national controversy over anti-Semitism she spread on social media that year.In October 2021, Mashayekh was listed as the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Senator for USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering (Viterbi). In May 2021, she tweeted: “I want to f**king kill every motherf**king Zionist.” She also tweeted: “yel3an el yahood [curse the Jews]
.” Mashayekh has also spread violent hatred of Israeli Jews, called for the destruction of Israel and America, expressed support for Hamas and glorified terrorists.
Mashayekh was condemned after Canary Mission exposed her anti-Semitic tweets.
Armstead retweeted a November 28, 2021 tweet from Mashayekh that said: “Sign this petition and help me shut down canary mission and stopantisemitism !!!!”
The tweet linked to a petition started by Meshayekh, titled: “Stop Targeted Abuse and Harassment of Palestinians on Social Media.” The petiton alleged: “Inaction towards stopping these attacks on Palestinians feeds into anti-Palestinian racism and is behavior complicit in our genocide.”
Supporting BDS
On October 7, 2021, Armstead tweeted: “General Mills is on the BDS list and Kellogg's workers are on strike. I guess we're not having cereal for breakfast anymore lol [laughing out loud].”On July 19, 2021, Armstead tweeted: “We’re not done with Ben and Jerry's until they completely divest from israel. #BDS #Palestine #FreePalestine”
On June 23, 2021, Armstead tweeted: “Calling all the besties [best friends]! If you want to learn more about BDS and anti-zionism, this is the event for you!”
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.
JVP
JVP was founded in Berkeley, California in 1996, as an activist group with an emphasis on the “Jewish tradition” of peace, social justice and human rights. The organization is currently led by Rebecca Vilkomerson and its board members include Israel critics Naomi Klein, Judith Butler, Noam Chomsky and Tony Kushner.
JVP, which generally employs civil disobedience tactics to disrupt pro-Israel speakers and events, consists of American Jews and non-Jewish “allies” highly critical of Israeli policies. A staunch supporter of the BDS movement, JVP claims to aim its campaigns at companies that either support the Israeli military (Hewlett-Packard) or are active in the West Bank (SodaStream).
Although several Jewish groups critical of Israeli policies, like J Street and Partners for a Progressive Israel, make efforts to operate within the mainstream American Jewish community, JVP functions outside. The group is often criticized for serving as a tokenized Jewish voice for the pro-Palestinian camp and is widely regarded as the BDS movement’s “Jewish wing.”
JVP denies the notion of “Jewish peoplehood” and has even gone so far as to refer to its own Ashkenazi (Jews who spent the Diaspora in European countries) leadership as “white supremacy inside of JVP.”
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has accused JVP of being “the largest and most influential Jewish anti-Zionist group in the United States,” and said the group “exploits Jewish culture and rituals to reassure its own supporters that opposition to Israel not only does not contradict, but is actually consistent with, Jewish value.”
The ADL also claimed that “JVP consistently co-sponsors rallies to oppose Israeli military policy that are marked by signs and slogans comparing Israel to Nazi Germany, demonizing Jews and voicing support for groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.”
According to the ADL website, JVP “uses its Jewish identity to shield the anti-Israel movement from allegations of anti-Semitism and provide it with a greater degree of legitimacy and credibility.”
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/veranda.armsteadTwitter: https://twitter.com/Its_Veranda
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/its_veranda_/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/veranda-armstead-127169125
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@its_veranda
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