Wala Habiby

Overview

While at UTK Wala Habiby was a member of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at UTK (SJP UTK). He remains actively involved in anti-Israeli activities.

Habiby works as a realtor at Coldwell Banker Wallace and Wallace Realtors in Knoxville, Tennessee. In 2012, Habiby received his master’s degree in Business Administration from Lincoln Memorial University.

Habiby is a 2009 graduate of University of Tennessee Knoxville (UTK), where he received his bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering.

Advocating Deportation of Jews

On October 13, 2015, Habiby shared a poster on Facebook that promoted deporting Israeli Jews to the United states as a panacea for all conflict in the Middle East. The text in the poster read "Solution for the Israel-Palestine conflict - Relocate Israel into the United States." The poster featured as one of the deportation proposal’s “highlights:” “Middle East will again be peaceful without foreign interference.”

The same post was once shared by the British Labour party politician Naz Shah, who was then suspended from the party for the anti-Semitic remark.

Lying to Slander Israel

In January 2016, Habiby was a member of a panelin a discussion following a performance of "Walls: A Play for Palestine," an incendiary anti-Israel play written by fellow SJP UTK member Summer Awad for her senior thesis.

The production featured a crass caricature of the Jews’ return to Israel — their ancestral homeland — personified by a brutish, shady character, who employs sexual innuendo in his attempts to seduce and abuse another character, portraying a Palestinian woman — a personification of Palestine.

In one scene about the first modern wave of Jewish immigration, known as the First Aliyah(1882), the female Palestinian character says: "the first one didn’t seem threatening. He encroached on my space and made me feel uncomfortable…" As she delivers this line, the evil character — portraying the Jews — closes in on the female character from behind. The actress continues— “he convinced me that that was how it was supposed to be. He touched me without my consent, he groped me and jeered at my name.” At this point the Jewish character wearing a black “hoodie” wraps his arms around the actress’ stomach. He says “I have a right to women like you.”

The Palestinian character then proceeds to characterize the Second Aliyah (1904). She describes these "boys" as being even “more aggressive.” The character representing the Jews returning in the Second Aliyah saysto the character personifying Palestine “You would look more beautiful if you were Jewish.”

In the play’s depiction of the 1948 war of Independence, the Jewish character chokes and rapesthe Palestinian woman — after having supposedly murdered her children.

In the panel discussion after the play Habiby was asked how the play reflected his experiences as a Palestinian Israeli. Habiby misrepresented Israeli security measures such as being checked and searched in the street and public places — an experience that everyone in Israel experiences in order to prevent terrorism — as if it were an unjustified form of discrimination. He said: "me walking around Jerusalem...for me it’s a horrible place to walk around, it's painful, anywhere I go I get searched."

Demonizing Israel’s Self Defense and Propagating Incitement

On July 10, 2014, Habiby joined anti-Israel demonstrators at a protest opposing Israel’s Operation Protective Edge (OPE). Israel implemented OPE to destroy Hamas’ attack tunnels and stop Hamas rocket attacks from Gaza targeting Israeli civilians — that increased dramatically in the weeks prior to the Operation.

SJP UTK member Jordan Welsh held a sign that read "End all aid to the racist state of Israel." Another protester held a sign that read “This is Genocide.”

On October 14, 2015, Habiby was listed as having attended an anti-Israel demonstration as part of an "International Day of Action on College Campuses" called for by American Muslims for Palestine (AMP). The event description on Facebook invited students to rally “in solidarity with Palestine as violence against Palestinian youth, civilians, and holy places is increasing in the West Bank.” The event description went on to say: “...the third holiest site in Islam (Al Aqsa mosque) as well as various other churches and holy sites are in danger by the violence of armed illegal Israeli settlers backed by the Israeli police and military forces.”

During that October, religiously incited Palestinians stabbed and hacked to death scores of Israeli civilians in a wave of terrorist violence, which swept across Israel.

One sign at the rally contained the inflammatory statement: "US Tax $Dollars$ Fund Israel’s Genocide…" Another sign had a drawing of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s face with word “Murderer” written in red across Netanyahu’s forehead.

One protester held a sign that read, fraudulently, "Palestinian child shot dead by Israel’s illegal occupation clutching onto his last breath. Israelis stand by and chant “die, die you son of a b**ch, die"!”

That sign referred to 13-year old attempted-murderer

Manasra was not killed. He was taken by Israeli police for treatment at an Israeli hospital. Manasra later admitted to investigators "I went there to stab Jews" and was tried and convicted for attempted murder.

Ahmed Manasra (sometimes spelled Mansara) and his 15-year-old cousin Hassan went on a stabbing spree in Jerusalem on October 12, 2015, during the Knife Intifada. They critically wounded a 13-year-old boy and moderately wounded a 25-year-old man. The spree ended when police shot Hassan and a passing motorist hit Ahmed. Ahmed was taken to an Israeli hospital. He admitted to investigators: “I went there to stab Jews.” He was later tried and convicted on two counts of attempted murder.

Embracing Terrorist Incitement as "Education"

On November 20, 2014, Habiby participated in an SJP UTK-organized program with two Palestinian students hosted by SJP UTK as part of Birzeit University’s so-called "Right to Education" tour.

In September of 2014, pro-Palestinian Haaretz reporter Amira Hass was thrown off of Birzeit’s campus — because Hass is Jewish.

In 2014, the Right to Education tour deceptively claimed on Tumblr that Israeli efforts to combat incitement to terrorist violence on Palestinian university campuses violated Palestinian rights, stating:"Israeli military systematically obstructs education in the West Bank and Gaza, which violates the human rights of individuals and also impedes the development of Palestinian society."

Birzeit University’s student body has been ridden with terrorists since at least 2003. The student government race that year featured models of exploding Israeli buses — as parties competed on the basis of which Palestinian faction had killed the most Israelis.

In 2015 and 2016, Birzeit University students elected Hamas’ student wing to power. As a result, Bilal Barghouti — who is serving 16 life terms in prison for his role in a series of suicide attacks against Israel — was made the "Honorary Chairman of the Bir Zeit University Student Council." Bilal Barghouti was the senior terrorist behind the Sbarro cafe bombing — which specifically targeted religious Jewish patrons and murdered 16 people — including 8 children and a pregnant woman — and wounded 130.

Birzeit University's Fatah-affiliated students also embrace terror. The Shabiba student group, in December 2015, posted Facebook pictures of themselves beside a Christmas tree adorned with the portraits of terrorist murderers — including one who had recently stabbed four Israeli civilians. The terrorists whose images decorated the Christmas tree were collectively responsible for thousands of murderous attacks against Israelis. Behind the Birzeit students was a sign that proclaimed: "The way to freedom is a bullet and a martyr... a crescent and a cross; Merry Christmas, [Fatah's] Shabiba student movement, Birzeit University."

In the autumn of 2015, Hamas incitement propaganda fueled and celebrated a wave of religiously incited terrorist violence, known variously as the "Knife Intifada" or the “Stabbing Intifada,” when Palestinian radicals across Israel stabbed and hacked to death scores of Israeli civilians.

In January of 2016, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) swept Birzeit’s campus, seizing Hamas propaganda. The University characterized the sweep as a "belligerent ...attack on the university and our right to education and all the principles involved in the freedom of education."

Another Palestinian university participating in the Right to Education campaign is Al Quds university. Brandeis University terminated its relationship with Al Quds in 2013, after Islamic Jihad held a Nazi-themed demonstration at Al Quds. After Brandeis’ president Lawrence contacted Al-Quds President Sari Nusseibeh and requested that he publish an unequivocal condemnation of the demonstrations. in both Arabic and English, Al Quds’ administration responded by skirting the issue and complaining of "vilification campaigns by Jewish extremists with the purpose of discrediting [the university’s] reputation."

Yet another terror-supporting Palestinian university participating in the Right to Education initiative is Al Najah University (Al Najah). Al-Najah — the largest Palestinian university in the West Bank — remains notorious for its triumphal exhibit lauding the Sbarro cafe suicide bombing.Al-Najah’s exhibit featured a mock-up of Sbarro’s, including gnawed pizza crusts and bloody plastic body parts suspended from the ceiling, as if they were blasting through the air.

Embracing Anti-Israel Haters

On October 25, 2015, Habiby is listed as having attended an SJP UTK-hosted event featuring New York-based poet, Remi Kanazi. Kanazi tours widely, presenting aggressively anti-Israel poetry and spoken-word performances.

SJP UTK

The leadership and general membership of SJP UTK is fraught with virulent anti-Semites, Hitler and Nazi sympathizers, promoters of terrorist incitement, homophobes and bigots. These individuals propagate Jew-hatred, often — but not always— under the guise of attacking "Israelis" and “Zionists.”

SJP UTK Members - Spreading Homophobia and Transphobia

On June 12, 2013, SJP UTK member Mohamed Ali — who also ran for the position of UTK MSA Public Relations Head — tweeted: "you feggity feg feg. I have so much sweg on my dik biches melt for me.... — Briana why u such a salty fag lol."

In April 19, 2016, Ameen Abdel-Khalek a member of SJP UTK tweeted "If only people here cared as much for children dying in Syria Palestine Iraq instead of f**king faggot rights maybe wed get somwhere in life."

On December 18, 2015, Abdel-Khalek tweeted "Transphobic? Are we making up words now. Come on niggas you got me f**ked up if Im gonna acknowledge a transgender. Seriously shoot me if I do."

On June 23, 2016 Abdel-Khalek tweeted a drawing of a baby locked in a cage, being spoken to by an adult standing outside the cage: "You can come out when you’re done being a little faggot."

On October 19, 2014, Abdel-Khalek tweeted a picture of Spiderman, with the caption "This is exactly the kind of sh** that makes people think you’re a faggot."

SJP Members - Praising Hitler and Promoting Jew-Hatred

On August 29, 2012, SJP UTK member Mohamed Ali — who also ran for the position of UTK MSA Public Relations Head — tweeted: "Had to write about a leader for DCL class. Wrote about Hitler. Cuz he's a boss."

On March 15, 2014, Ali tweeted: "Im gonna put #PeaceInTheMiddleEast, #ThotNation, &#FreePalestine at the end of my senior quote. The last 1 as a f**k u 2 the Jewish teachers."

On July 31, 2013, Ali tweeted — "Make like a Jew and take control."

On August 15, 2015, SJP UTK member Jenine Omari liked a tweet by UTK MSA member and virulent anti-Semite, Eyad Hijer, who tweeted — "F**k Jews."

Stori Nuri — a co-president of UTK MSA and president of SJP UTK on January 22, 2015, tweeted — "‘Jew test: throw a pen and if they pick it up they're a Jew!.” 

SJP UTK Member - Propagating Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theories

On July 27, 2012, SJP UTK member Mohamed Ali — who also ran for the position of UTK MSA Public Relations Head — tweeted: — "Zion or Zionism, is the belief that Jews are the rightful inhabitants or Israel/Palestine. Lol Illuminati."

On July 5, 2014, Ali tweeted — "When it comes down to it, Israel is the world's super power, not the USA. They control everything behind the curtains...they control so much from the film industry to franchises to pentagon communications to Wall Street to White House lobbies."

On the same day, Ali tweeted — "I'm not surprised. America d**krides Israel so hard. They're scared. Israel controls them."

On June 17, 2013, Ali tweeted — "I feel like all the current problems in the world are linked to the U.S, Israel, & all their d**kriding countries- most of Europe."

SJP UTK Leaders - Spreading Hatred of Israel and Zionists 

 Stori Nuri — president of SJP UTK and a co-president of UTK MSA — tweeted on April 6, 2016: "Your daily reminder that Israel is a piece of s**t."

On April 7, 2015, SJP UTK member Mohamed Ali — who also ran for the position of UTK MSA Public Relations Head — tweeted — "I feel so incredibly irritable right now. No idea why...Just feel like kicking a Zionist tbh."

SJP UTK Founder - Calling for a Third Intifada

On December 8, 2013, Amira Sakalla the founder of SJP UTK tweeted — "“@PalAnonymous: Today marks the 26th anniversary of the First #Intifada #Palestine " About time for another one..” More than 10,000 Israelis were maimed or murdered by the Palestinian terrorist violence of the First and Second Intifadas — mostly in the suicide suicide bombings that characterized the Second Intifada.

SJP UTK Leader - Glorifying Anti-Semitic Terrorist Incitement

On October 16, 2015, Fatima Itmaizah, the vice presidentof SJP UTK, updated her Facebook profile picture to a graphic promoting violence against Jews. It suggested that Jewish presence on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is akin to a peel that needs to be cut way with a knife. The image depicted the Dome of the Rock, appearing as a fruit covered in blue skin, emblazoned with a star of David, a Jewish symbol. The picture showed the blue skin being cut and peeled away with a knife — blood dripping down the hand of the peeler as the blade stripped away the peel.

During that month, a wave of religiously incited terrorist violence — known variously as the "Knife Intifada" or the “Stabbing Intifada” — swept across Israel. Palestinian radicals stabbed and hacked to death scores of Israeli civilians.

The attacks were sparked and fueled by the libel that Israel intended to desecrate the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Spread by Palestinian leaders, the fraudulent claim led directly to deadly anti-Semitic violence.

The "threat" of “attacks Al Aqsa” has been a pretext for Arab attacks on Jews well before the existence of Israel.

SJP UTK Members - Drawing Inspiration From Advocates of Genocide

On April, 21, 2016, SJP UTK member Ameen Abdel-Khalek retweeted a tweet by the anti-Semitic Islamist leader Yusuf al-Qaradawi.

Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi is the president of the European Council for Fatwa and Research. In August 2005, The Wall Street Journal reported that the council has used the anti-Semitic Protocols of the Elders of Zion as a basis for some of its legal-theological deliberations.

In a January 9, 2009 sermon broadcasted on Al-Jazeera, Qaradawi said [00:10:23]: "O Allah, take this oppressive, tyrannical band of people. O Allah, take this oppressive, Jewish Zionist band of people. O Allah, do not spare a single one of them. O Allah, count their numbers, and kill them, down to the very last one."

In a statement that aired on Al-Jazeera TV on January 28, 2009 Al-Qaradawi said: "Throughout history, Allah has imposed upon the Jews people who would punish them for their corruption ... The last punishment was carried out by Hitler...This was divine punishment for them.... Allah Willing, the next time will be at the hand of the believers."  

On March 22, 2016, Abdel-Khalek retweeted a tweet from the Hamas info Twitter account — the official Twitter account of the terrorist organization that read — "When will Hamas give up its armed struggle? Watch this debate b/w Sheikh Yasin and a foreign reporter…"

Sheikh Ahmed Yassin has been described as the “mastermind of Palestinian terror” behind many suicide bombings against Israeli civilians on buses and in cafes during the second intifada. In January 2003, Yassin said in an interview: “Suicide attacks and jihad reinforce national unity in the ranks…Our voice is one of struggle, of jihad and of suicide…”  

On September 10, 2015, Abdalla Husain — the Tayseer Seminary’s liaison to UTK MSA, and member of SJP UTK, tweeted — "I HAVE THE SAME BIRTHDAY AS YASSER ARAFAT!!!!!!!!!!! #PALESTINE #AAAYYWAAAAAAA I am very happy right now!” 

Yasser Arafat was the former leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and is known by some as the “father of modern terrorism.” Arafat reportedly told Arab diplomats in a secret meeting in 1996: "We will make life unbearable for Jews by psychological warfare and population explosion. Jews will not want to live among Arabs. I have no use for Jews. They are and remain Jews."

SJP Member- Comparing Israel to Nazis

On July 21, 2014, Abdalla Husain — the Tayseer Seminary’s liaison to UTK MSA, and member of SJP UTK, — who serves to link MSA with other community efforts in Knoxville — compared Israel to Nazis, tweeting — "Like father like son. Germany in the 30s and 40s is Israel now."

SJP UTK - Hosting Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theorist Alison Weir

On April 18, 2013, SJP UTK hosted a speaking event featuring anti-Israel agitator Alison Weir.

SJP UTK - Lying to Demonize Israel

On March 2, 2016, as part of Israeli Apartheid Week, SJP UTK featured a mock apartheid wall.

The display misrepresented Israel’s security fence — built as a non-violent deterrent to Palestinian terrorist attacks carried out by Palestinian suicide bombers. The display also lied that Israel’s barrier was "25-feet high, and 403 miles long." In fact, 97% of Israel’s fence is a low chain link barrier. The atypical concrete portions of the fence were built only in response to Palestinian sniper attacks. The mock wall text also lied that “1661 KM of roads were only accessible by Israeli settlers.”

The display falsely accused Israel of practicing apartheid. The mock wall also featured a deliberately misleading map of Palestine, with the terror-whitewashing headline "To Exist is to Resist." SJP UTK’s map is similar to another widely debunked map — dubbed “The Map That Lies” — that fraudulently presented lands once controlled by Britain, Egypt, and Jordan as autonomous “Palestinian land,” purportedly stolen by Israel.

SJP used the deceptive mock wall display as a tool to promote a boycott of Sabra Hummus, an Israeli-owned hummus brand, owned by the Osem group. Writing on the wall called for stores to "deshelve" Sabra.

SJP UTK - Comparing Israel to Nazi Germany

On January 16, 2015, SJP UTK retweeted an anti-Semitic tweet that read: "Zionism is Terrorism," featuring an iconic photo of a Jewish child held at gunpoint by a Nazi soldier during the Holocaust, next to a photo of a Palestinian child being arrested by the IDF. The caption on the SJP montage read: “They Act Like NaZis, Because They WERE The NaZis.”

"Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis" is a contemporary manifestation of anti-Semitism as defined by the U.S. State Department.

SJP UTK - Spreading Libels at Demonstrations

On July 18, 2014, SJP UTK co-hosted a demonstration with the Muslim Students Association (MSA) at UTK, (UTK MSA), opposing Israel’s Operation Protective Edge (OPE). Israel launched OPE to destroy Hamas attack tunnels and stop Hamas rocket attacks from Gaza targeting Israeli civilians. Hamas increased suchrocket attacks dramatically following Israel’s crackdown on Hamas in Judea and Samaria — after a Hamas cell kidnapped and murdered three Israeli high-schoolers on June 12, 2014.

The Facebook announcement for the demonstration deceptively claimed "Israel has targeted homes, HOSPITALS, mosques, and other civilian infrastructure. These crimes must be exposed to the world!"

This deception was compounded by at least two signs featured at the demonstration. One sign read fraudulently: "The USA funds Israel to Bomb Gaza’s hospitals." A second sign lied: “58 Palestinian Children Murdered by Israel.”

Multiple news sources exposed Hamas’ exploitation of civilian infrastructure and its use of human shields. Additionally, on August 13, 2014, the Palestinian Ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Council, Ibrahim Khraishi admitted during a live television interview that Hamas had committed a double war crime by launching rockets at Israeli civilians, from densely populated civilian areas in Gaza — including schools, homes, mosques and hospitals — throughout OPE.

Social Media and Weblinks

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/whabiby

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/walahabiby