Yazun Issawi
Overview
Yazun Issawi was the vice president of a Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter that showed support for Hamas terrorists in October 2023, less than a week after the October 7, 2023 terror attacks where Hamas murdered 1,200 Israelis.Issawi has also spread hatred of Israel and engaged in anti-Israel activism.
As of June 2024, Issawi served as the vice president of the SJP chapter at Kent State University (KSU SJP) in Kent, Ohio.
As of the same date, Issawi’s Instagram bio said he was a student at KSU, slated to graduate in 2026.
10/12/2023 - Support for Hamas Terrorists at an Anti-Israel Rally
On October 12, 2023, Issawi participated [slides 1, 3, 5] in an anti-Israel protest titled: “Protest for Palestine on the K” on KSU’s campus. The protest, co-organized by KSU SJP was held to “make our support of the Palestinian people known!”At the protest, Issawi wore [00:00:50] a Palestine flag and keffiyeh while marching with other anti-Israel activists. The protest was held in the wake of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.
“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free” is a chant used [00:02:47] to call for the elimination of 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 April 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning the chant as antisemitic.
Protesters also held signs that said: “FREE PALESTINE” and “END APARTHEID!”
Hatred of Israel
On November 25, 2023, Issawi was featured [slides 1, 2, 3] in photos, presenting a series of maps popular among anti-Israel activists. The photos were from a November 20, 2023, event titled: “Palestine 101.”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.
On December 25, 2023, during Israel’s war against Hamas, KSU SJP posted to Instagram a statement promoting [slide 7] a BDS campaign.
The statement accused [slide 7] Israel of having an “apartheid regime” and claimed [slide 8]that Israel’s response to the Hamas terror attacks in early October represented an “impending genocide in Gaza.” The statement further claimed that Israel was engaged in the “ongoing colonization and military occupation of Palestine” and the “ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people.”
Anti-Israel Activism (SJP, BDS)
On March 24, 2024, Issawi was featured [slide 3] in a photo from a KSU SJP event titled: “APARTHEID WEEK 2024.”On April 14, 2024, Issawi was featured [slides 1 and 2] in photos from a KSU SJP event titled: “Blackout Poetry.”
On May 12, 2024, Issawi was featured [slide 7] speaking to a crowd with a megaphone in a photo from a protest organized by KSU SJP on the KSU campus, titled: “All Out for May 4th!” The purpose of the protest was to pressure KSU to adopt BDS.
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.
Social Media and Weblinks
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/yazunm/ [Private]Threads:https://www.threads.net/@yazunm [Private]
