Yarah Qasem

Overview

Yarah Qasem was an activist with Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) at the University of Ottawa (UOttawa). She is also an affiliate of Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) at Carleton University (Carleton). SAIA and SPHR are alternative names for Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).

Qasem is an administrator of the SPHR UOttawa Facebook group: “SPHR Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights uOttawa 2018-2019,” and a member of SAIA at Carleton’s Facebook group “Students Against Israeli Apartheid-Carleton.”

As of April 2018, Qasem listed on Facebook that she was studying for a Juris Doctorate and an Honours Bachelor of Social Sciences at UOttawa.

As of the same date, Qasem’s LinkedIn said that she was an undergraduate student at UOttawa studying for a bachelor’s degree in International Development and Globalization, slated to graduate in 2020.

Anti-Israel Activism

Qasem has been a member of the Facebook group “Americans Against Genocide In Gaza (AAGG)” since March 2015.

Qasem indicated on Facebook that she “went” to SAIA Carleton’s Israel Apartheid Week (IAW) in 2014, as well as SAIACarleton and SPHR’s co-hosted IAW, in 2015.

Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) is presented internationally as a “series of events that seeks to raise awareness of…Israel’s settler-colonial project and apartheid system over the Palestinian people.” One of its goals is to build support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. IAW has been renamed Palestine Awareness Week.

On July 22, 2014, during Operation Protective Edge (OPE), Qassem reportedly helped organize an anti-Israel protest and march in downtown Ottawa, Ontario. The march culminated in a sit-in in front of the Israeli embassy.

Israel commenced Operation Protective Edge (OPE) in July 2014, to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.

During the protest, a reporter tweeted a photo of Qasem at the protest, writing: “Yarah Qasem is taking international law so she can dedicate her life fighting to free Palestine.”

During the protest, one demonstrator held [00:00:27] a sign that read “Israel = Nazis.” Demonstrators chanted [00:00:43] “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.

In a July 23, 2014 article written about the protest, Qasem was quoted saying that she was “a regular at Palestinian protests.” She also said that “much of her life is about activism, and it’s one of the reasons she’s taking international law in university. ‘I want to dedicate my career to this case.’”

SPHR UOttawa

As of June 2007, Students for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) at UOttawa (SPHR UOttowa)’s Mission Statement said the group was committed to the “struggle against the colonialist and imperialist policies of the Israeli government and the ideology upon which the state was formed.”

Since 2008, SPHR UOttawa has hosted and co-hosted Israel Apartheid Week (IAW) on UOttawa’s campus.

As of May 3, 2018, SPHR UOttawa’s Facebook group description said that SPHR would advocate for UOttawa to adopt “the academic boycott of Israel” and divest “from all economic ties and investments in Israel by the uOttawa or its associated subsidiaries.”

In 2018, SPHR UOttowa worked closely with Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) and the Revolutionary Students Movement (RSM) at UOttawa to host anti-Israel campus events. These events included Israel Apartheid Week (IAW) and a divestment initiative.

On March 29, 2018, as part of IAW, SPHR UOttawa promoted on Facebook a film screening hosted by RSM that celebrated terrorist Leila Khaled.

SPHR UOttawa's Facebook post referred to Khaled as a “Palestinian revolutionary who became a household name after she became the first woman to hijack a plane.”

Leila Khaled is a leading member 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 [00:36:07] for the use of children in terror activities and compared Zionists to Nazis.

On April 20, 2016, SPHR UOttawa posted to Facebook messages of solidarity to Palestinian prisoners from two Palestinian women involved in terror activity — Lina Jarbouni and Khalida Jarrar, in honour of Palestinian Prisoners day.

As of January 2016, Jarbouni was serving a 17-year prison sentence for aiding Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists during the second intifada and for conspiring to commit terrorist attacks.

Khalida Jarrar is a senior member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror organization. She has reportedly been the head of the PFLP in the West Bank since 2016. In 2015, an Israeli military court sentenced Jarrar to 15 months in prison for calling to kidnap Israeli soldiers. Israel arrested Jarrar again in 2017 “on suspicion of involvement with terrorist activities and violent public disturbances.” In 2019, she was arrested by Israel with 50 other PFLP operatives following a deadly 2018 bombing attack.

SPHR UOttawa - Co-opting the SFUO

In January 2017, the Students Federation at the University of Ottawa (SFUO) co-hosted IAW with SPHR UOttawa. Dhilal Alhaboob — an administrator for SPHR UOttawa’s Facebook group — served as SFUO’s “Campaigns Organizer” from August 2016 through March 2017.

At the beginning of the 2017-2018 academic year, Leila Moumouni-Tchouassi — a member of SPHR UOttawa’s Facebook group and Vice-President of Equity (VP Equity) for the SFUO — attempted [00:18:37] to strip Hillel Ottawa (UOttawa Hillel) and the Israeli Awareness Committee (IAC) of their club status.

After UOttawa Hillel and the IAC informed [01:32:41] the SFUO that [00:20:10] they would take legal action against it, their club status was reinstated.

On March 13, 2018, during the SFUO General Assembly (GA)’s winter session, Moumouni-Tchouassi explained that she tried to shut [01:34:20] the clubs down for “being pro-Israeli.”

Moumouni-Tchouassi defended [01:34:36] her decision to remove their club status "because of the stance that the SFUO has taken over time [...] for BDS" adding [01:43:11] that the SFUO “has taken pro-BDS stances in the past.”

When asked for clarification, Moumouni-Tchouassi said [01:43:19] “the SFUO has had actions, has made statements, has done pro-BDS work.” When pressed, Moumouni-Tchouassi added [01:43:26] “actions meaning protests, meaning statements - through the SFUO statements have been made, things like that.”

SPHR/IJV/RSM UOttawa - Pushing BDS

On November 5, 2017, Moumouni-Tchouassi — a member of SPHR UOttawa’s Facebook group and SFUO Vice-President of Equity — proposed [00:02:45] a Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) resolution during a SFUO Board of Administration (SFUO BOA) meeting.

Students were notified of the upcoming resolution vote only two days prior, on a Friday, hours before the onset of the Jewish Sabbath.

The resolution sought to amend the SFUO policy handbook to explicitly adopt and promote BDS. The initial BDS motion read, “The Student Federation of the University of Ottawa will support [the BDS] movement as well as take a Pro-Palestine stance.”

However, before the vote took place, Moumouni-Tchouassi proposed an amendment, changing the wording of the resolution to read “the SFUO will divest from industries and companies who actively support war and occupation including the apartheid regime of the State of Israel against the Palestinian population.”

The BOA rejected the amendment. Following pushback, Moumouni-Tchouassi amended [01:14:00] the resolution to remove all references to BDS. The amended resolution committed the SFUO to do “all in its power to peacefully resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

On March 13, 2018, SPHR, IJV and RSM at UOttawa jointly proposed a divestment initiative, during the SFUO General Assembly (SFOU GA)’s winter session.

This divestment proposal called on the SFUO to revise its policy manual and mandate that the SFUO “support this [BDS] movement as well as take a Pro-Palestine stance.” The proposal also called for the SFOU to “put pressure on the Board of Governors of UOttowa to support BDS campaigns.”

The proposal called for the SFUO to divest from companies “complicit in violation of Palestinian human rights,” to boycott Israeli artists and to “work for the cancellation of all forms of cooperation with Israeli academic institutions.”

The divestment proposal failed to garner the required two-thirds majority to pass, with 241 votes for and 231 votes against.

After the vote, SPHR posted on Facebook ”... this moment remains a victory for all students who stand in solidarity with Palestinian human rights.”

On March 25, 2018, SPHR UOttawa attempted to push the failed BDS motion at another SFUO BOA meeting. Once more, it failed to reach the two-thirds majority necessary to pass the resolution.

The following day, UOttawa President and Vice-Chancellor, Jacques Frémont, released a statement strongly denouncing the SFUO BDS campaign:

“This issue is divisive and a detriment to an open and welcoming campus environment,” said Frémont. “The University of Ottawa will have no part of the BDS movement nor any movement that boycotts academic institutions.”

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.