Yasmine Abusaif

Overview

Yasmine Abusaif has compared Israel to Nazi Germany, spread anti-Semitism, promoted incitement and encouraged hatred of Israel on social media. 

In March 2016, she was listed as the treasurer for the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities (UMN), known as SJP UMN.

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

Abusaif has also been an activist with the American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) chapter in Minnesota (AMP-Minnesota).

As of April 2020, Abusaif’s LinkedIn page said she was a program manager at BamRec [Bay Area Muslim Recreation] in the San Francisco Bay Area, since March 2019 to November 2019.

As of the same date, Abusaif’s LinkedIn page also said she graduated from UMN with a master’s degree in “Elementary Education and Teaching,” in 2017 and that she received a bachelor’s degree from UMN in “Foundations of Elementary Education K-6th,” in 2016.

Comparing Israel to Nazi Germany

As of March 9, 2016, Abusaif shared an image to Pinterest equating Israel with Nazi Germany. The image featured a sign that said: “Apartheid It wasn't okay in South Africa It wasn’t okay in Nazi Germany, why is it okay in Palestine.”

As of March 8, 2016, Abusaif posted an image to Pinterest showing Palestinians next to the Israeli security barrier waiting to go through an Israeli checkpoint. The photo caption said: “21st Century Concentration Camp? No Just Palestinians Coming Home From Their Israeli Slave Jobs.”

Spreading Anti-Semitism

As of March 9, 2016, Abusaif shared a post to Pinterest denying that Israeli Jews are Jewish. The post said: “Those who were named Jews desired to take up residence in places of significance because of pride and also because of a desire to force the fulfillment of some things written in prophecy.” 


The post continued: “This is not possible to force such a thing by pretending to be one people when in truth you are not that people or knowingly taking actions in a way that is believed to falsely fulfill a prophecy. This is why those who are named jews have such a continued warring state and unable to have a true settlement.”

Promoting Incitement

On October 17, 2014, Abusaif wrote on Facebook: “النور كيف ظهوره إن لم يكن دمنا الوقود والقدس كيف نعيدها إن لم نكن نحن الجنود… [how will the light appear if our blood isn’t the fuel and Jerusalem how do we get it back if we weren’t the soldiers].”

In the fall of 2014, Palestinian leaders and media incited a wave of violence against Israelis with the lie that Israel intended to desecrate the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. This resulted in the November 18, 2014 Har Nof massacre, in which terrorists murdered six people in a Jerusalem synagogue during morning prayers.

Encouraging Hatred of Israel

On December 6, 2017, Abusaif posted a photo of her to Facebook with a caption that said in Arabic: “Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine.” The caption was in protest to the U.S. government’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and relocate its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. 

As of March 8, 2016, Abusaif posted an image to Pinterest that equated the destruction caused to parts of Gaza during Israel’s Operation Protective Edge (OPE) against Hamas, to the devastation caused by American atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan at the end of World War II.

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

As of March 8, 2016, Abusaif shared an image on Pinterest that accused Israel of “65 Years of Land Theft” and was a variation of a map known as the “Map That Lies.”.

The maps claim that lands once controlled by Britain, Egypt and Jordan as autonomous “Palestinian land” were purportedly stolen by Israel. In February 2016, publisher McGraw-Hill Education recalled copies of a college textbook containing the fraudulent maps. In October 2015, American cable news network MSNBC apologized for airing a similar series of maps and retracted them.

Anti-Israel Activism

On April 2, 2016, Abusaif appeared in a Twitter photo speaking at an event hosted by AMP-Minnesota called the “15th Annual Palestine Day.” In the photo, above Abusaif was an image that promoted AMP and said: “AL AQSA- THE TURNING POINT.”

The allegation that Jews “threaten” to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque has been a traditional pretext for Arab attacks on Jews long before the existence of the modern Jewish state. Such propaganda served as the excuse for an upsurge in Palestinian violence that flared in the fall of 2015 and incited Palestinians to attempt mass casualty attacks on Israeli civilians in July 2016.. 
On February 16, 2016, Abusaif posted an image on Facebook promoting a BDS campaign at UMN. The image said: “UMN Divest.” 

That same day, Abusaif posted to Facebook: “SJP UMN is finally launching its DIVESTMENT campaign!!!!! This will be the best semester of my 4 years of college! Make sure you change your profile pics and spread the word like crazy.” 

Her post also included a link to a petition supporting UMN Divest.

On April 6, 2015, Abusaif posted two photos to Facebook from an SJP UMN display on campus portraying Israel’s security barrier as an “apartheid” wall. 

Israel’s security barrier, 97 percent of which is a low chain-link barrier, was built as a deterrent to Palestinian terror attacks. The concrete portions of the fence were built in response to Palestinian sniper attacks.

SJP UMN - Praising Violence  

On October 20, 2017, SJP UMN shared on Instagram a graphic that featured a Palestinian woman carrying an assault rifle. The graphic was based on a poster originally published by the terror group, the Palestinian Front for Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). 

The graphic shared by SJP UMN had the caption: “Glory to the Women of the Intifada.” 

“Intifada” has carried the connotation of violence since the early 2000’s.

SJP UMN wrote on their Instagram post: “..come learn about Palestinian women’s resilience, contribution to the movement, and what a Palestinian feminist vision for liberation looks like…”

SJP UMN - Supporting a Terrorist 2018 

On July 8, 2018, SJP UMN shared to Facebook a post that read: “This week marks the anniversary of the assassination of Ghassan Kanafani. A writer, intellectual, and spokesperson for the Palestinian resistance, he is remembered as one of the most significant literary and political figures of the 1960s-70s Palestinian revolution.”

SJP UMN - Promoting BDS 2018  

The 2018 UMN Divest campaign launched a petition calling to “demand that the University of Minnesota Investment Committee and any other responsible bodies authorized to make investment decisions divest fully from the companies mentioned in the UMN Divest campaign.” 

On February 25, 2018, SJP UMN shared to Instagram a post launching the UMN Divest 2018 campaign that said: “UMN Divest is back and this time we’re doing a campus wide referendum. March 5-7 all undergraduate and graduate students can vote ‘yes’ to divest.”

SJP UMN’s “explanation statement” in support of its proposed “campus-wide” referendum claimed that UMN had investments in companies “that violate human rights” and called on UMN to divest from G4S, Boeing and Raytheon and Elbit Systems for being “complicit in Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights,  2) maintaining and establishing private prisons and immigrant detention centers, or 3) violating Indigenous sovereignty.”

In March 2018, the divestment referendum reportedly was passed by the UMN “All Campus Elections Commission” and sent to the UMN Board of Regents for review.

SJP UMN Honoring Terrorists: 2015 - 2016  

On January 27, 2016, SJP UMN posted on Facebook support for Muhammad Al-Qiq. Al-Qiq was detained by Israel for his involvement in Hamas terror activity.

On October 14, 2015, SJP UMN held a “die-in” in support of Palestinians who were conducting a wave of stabbing attacks on Israelis, known as the “Knife Intifada.”

During the die-in, SJP UMN activists lay on the ground, while SJP UMN activist Motaz Nashawaty, spoke accusing [00:00:05] Israel of an escalation in “state violence” and [00:00:32] of “extrajudicial murders.” 

Nashawaty continued: [00:00:41] “We will pay respects to the Palestinian martyrs executed by Israeli forces” and recited [00:01:57] the names of Palestinian terrorists, such as Fadi Aloonand [00:02:03] Muhannad Halabi, who he described [00:02:07] as “young Palestinians whose lives were unjustly taken away from them by Israeli security forces.” 

Aloon stabbed a 15-year-old Israeli boy after posting “Either martyrdom or victory” on his Facebook page, and Halabimurdered two Israelis and injured two others, including a 2-year-old, during a stabbing spree. Halabi posted on his Facebook page “[t]he third Intifada is here…Let the revolution erupt.”

SJP UMN Spreading Incitement: 2015  

On November 1, 2015, SJP UMN tweeted: “Israel is a colonial bully, trying to take Al Aqsa under the guise of ‘sharing.’” 

The allegation that Jews will destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, has been applied to Jews as a pretext for attacks by Arabs, even before the existence of Israel.

Such propaganda was the excuse for an upsurge in Palestinian violence in the fall of 2015, with Palestinian leaders fueling violence by promoting the libel that Israel intends to desecrate the Al Aqsa Mosque. 

Hamas called on Palestinians to “take up arms” to defend Al Aqsa and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas praised those willing to martyr themselves. He also declared Jews would not be allowed to “desecrate” Al Aqsa with their “filthy feet.”

SJP UMN Campaigning Against a Jewish Heritage Trip: 2015  

In February 2015, SJP UMN launched a campaign against the Jewish heritage trip to Israel, Birthright. Campaign flyers said: “FREE TRIP TO ISRAEL BUT WHO PAYS THE PRICE?”

The campaign condemned Birthright for presenting “a depoliticized image of Israel” and programming a trip that is “overall tailored to be pleasant experience devoid of conflict.” The campaign claimed that the program “would not discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict” and that “topics such as illegal settlements in the West Bank and restrictions on Gaza will not be covered.”.

SJP UMN encouraged Birthright participants to extend their trip and join tours with political groups such as Breaking the Silence (BTS) and The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), whose director Jeff Halper has called for the end of Israel.

SJP UMN Disrupting an Israeli Speaker: 2015  

On November 3, 2015, SJP UMN endorsed the disruption of an event where three activists were reportedly arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and trespassing.

The event was a talk on ethics and the law of war by Israeli law professor, Moshe Halbertal. The disruption was organized by the Anti-War Committee (AWC), whose campaigns mainly to end US aid to Israel.

Protesters reportedly sat in the audience and then stood and shouted chants, preventing Halbertal from speaking and accusing him of being a “war crimes apologist.” FightBack News said: “The lecture was scheduled for one hour, but most of that time was taken up by interruptions.”

SJP UMN Demonizing Israel: 2015-2016  

In April 2016, SJP UMN built a “mock apartheid wall” for its “Divest Week 2016,” which the group called a “divestment special edition of our annual Israeli Apartheid Week,” promoting the 2016 UMN Divest BDS campaign.

IAW is a series of events on university campuses that promote Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel and claim to “raise awareness of Israel’s settler-colonial project and apartheid system.” 

On April 22 2015, SJP UMN wrote on Facebook that “Israel’s ‘birthday’ is established on the occupation and exile of an entire people,” in a post which also denied SJP involvement in the vandalism of a pro-Israel group’s display celebrating Israeli independence. 

The next day, Rula Rashid, SJP UMN treasurer, reportedly approached a table set up by a pro-Israel campus group to educate students about Israel’s independence and said “you stole our land.” 

On April 9, 2015, SJP UMN tweeted: “‘If it's centered around Judaism, why are only white Jews allowed to live in Israel? It's not a case about religion and Judaism.’ @MnarMuh.”

On March 4, 2015, SJP UMN hosted an event with Dan Cohen, a journalist with the anti-Israel Mondoweiss, speaking about his experiences reporting from Gaza during Israel’s Operation Protective Edge (OPE). OPE was launched by Israel to stop Hamas rocket attacks and destroy Hamas attack tunnels.

SJP UMN Opposing Normalization: 2015  

On April 23, 2015, SJP UMN posted on Facebook a “definition of normalization.” The definition said that normalization was “gathering (either directly or indirectly) Palestinians (and/or Arabs) and Israelis, whether individuals or institutions; that does not explicitly aim to expose and resist the occupation and all forms of discrimination and oppression against the Palestinian people.”

SJP UMN Promoting BDS: 2016  

On February 15, 2016, SJP UMN launched a divestment campaign, calling for the Minnesota Student Association (MSA) and UMN to support divestment from companies that SJP UMN claimed “profit from human rights violations in Palestine/Israel.” 

SJP UMN’s statement announcing the campaign said UMN’s investment in the companies targeted by the campaign showed “implicit support for…the killing of civilians, and violations of their basic human rights.”

UMN’s Chief Investment Officer reportedly told The Minnesota Republic, a student-run newspaper at UMN, that the university had “no direct exposure” to the four companies targeted by the campaign.

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.

AMP

American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) was founded by UC Berkeley Professor Hatem Bazian as a vehicle to generate mainstream support in the United States for the Palestinian national cause.

On its website, the organization lists Bazian as the chairman of its national board and describes itself as “a national education and grassroots-based organization, dedicated to educating the American public about Palestine and its rich cultural, historical and religious heritage.” 

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has accused AMP of promoting “extreme anti-Israel views and has at times provided a platform for anti-Semitism under the guise of educating Americans” about Palestinians. The ADL further stated that AMP is directly involved in campus-based anti-Israel activity through Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).

Prior to founding the AMP in 2006, Dr. Bazian created SJP together with fellow UC Berkeley Professor Snehal Shingavi in 2001. The close working relationship between AMP and SJP has been documented several times over the years by several organizations, including NGO Monitor and StandWithUs. 

In addition to providing financial, public relations and legal assistance to SJP, AMP has also been accused of having connections to Hamas. The AMP national board includes former members of both the Islamic Association of Palestine (IAP) and Holy Land Foundation (HLF), both of which were found liable for aiding and abetting Hamas. The IAP was founded by Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, a senior member of Hamas.

 

Social media and Weblinks

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/100001243323700/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/abusaif829 [Deleted]

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/abusaif921/ [Private]

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/yasmine-abusaif-6a308316a/

Pinterest:https://www.pinterest.com/simsim921/