Overview
Yumna Zehra Rizvi was
active in pushing a failed anti-Israel divestment resolution that marginalized many pro-Israel students at George Washington University (GWU), in 2017.
Rizvi has promoted and attended multiple protests against Israel, including one that headlined a Holocaust denier.
Rizvi is
listed on Facebook as having attended the 2016 National SJP Conference at George Mason University (GMU) and as an
attendee the 2014 National SJP Conference at Tufts University (TU).
As of June, 2017, Rizvi’s LinkedIn profile
said that she is a 2016
graduate of GWU, where she majored in International Relations and Affairs.
Pushing BDS at GWU
Rizvi was active in promoting the 2017 Divest This Time
campaign, urging GWU to divest from companies that provided technologies used for Israeli security.
Rizvi featured in a video promoting the campaign. Rizvi said: “As a GW alum, I refuse to donate until GW takes a stance against the illegal occupation of Palestine and puts people over profit.” On March, 29, 2017, Rizvi shared the campaign video on Facebook and wrote: “GW failed South Africa, don't fail Palestine Be on the right side of history...#DivestThisTime.”
On March 30, 2017, Rizvi shared photos on Facebook from an SJP at GWU-organized “die-in.” Rizvi commented that the die-in was “to demonstrate the human cost of GW’s investment in corporations that profit off of the occupation of Palestine.” Per Rivzi, the signs attached to each student participating in the die-in provided an example of “how each corporation directly contributes to violence against and the death of Palestinians.”
On March 27, 2017, SJP at GWU
launched the Divest This Time
campaign. The campaign’s name
alluded to GWU’s declining to “divest from apartheid in South Africa” and called “for GWU not to make the same mistake with Palestine.”
On March 28, 2017, SJP at GWU
held an event titled “Why Divest?” in order to recruit support for divestment.On March 29, 2017, Divest This Time
released a video that cameoed SJP at GWU student activists and their supporters promoting the campaign. Students featured in the video
invoked “the Occupation of Palestine” to demonize Israel and companies that provided Israel with security technology. In the video, SJP at GWU student activists also
equated Israel with Apartheid South Africa and
accused Israel of “using the identities” of Transgender people to prove that Israel respects human rights.
The
text of the divestment resolution was
introduced to the student senate on April 24, 2017. It was then “leaked to the general public,” just ahead of Israeli and International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Successive “whereas” clauses of the
resolution blamed Israel for crimes against humanity, “deliberately” causing “suffering to Palestinian populations,” discriminating against women, “deliberately” killing “Palestinian civilians” and causing an “epidemic of homelessness” among the Palestinians. The resolution also condemned Israel’s detention of Palestinian children for violating Israeli Military Order 1651 which criminalized
rock throwing with up to 20 years of prison time.
On April 25, 2017, the bill’s co-sponsor —
Jack Jomarron — and others claimed the resolution did not target Israel for boycott, divestment and sanctions. However, the resolution’s third “whereas” clause stated: “The act of divesting creates political pressure on corporations to withdraw their involvement in the occupation…” The bill’s fourth “whereas” clause specifically invoked the
Rome statute of the International Criminal Court, calling for criminal responsibility and punishment for ”crimes against peace, humanity, and of war.”
The resolution’s
primary sponsor —
Keiko Tsuboi — also
attempted to distance the bill from BDS and
claimed it was not meant to “paint some skewed vision of Israel,” but to “describe the situation on the ground, that palestinian students are talking about.” Tsuboi appealed to the
infamous Goldstone Report to buttress paragraphs 7 through 18 of the resolution’s allegations. Although Judge Goldstone himself publicly
retracted the central thesis of his report, in April of 2011, Tsuboi, insisted “these are the facts on the ground and they are not up for a debate for the purposes of this resolution.”
Some GWU students
noted that the resolution was “one sided.” The bill exclusively singled out for divestment companies that supplied Israel with security technology — and demonized the use of that technology. One student suggested the resolution looked to “alienate pro Israel students from the GW community” and reflected a “hidden agenda.”
Co-sponsor Jomarron
admitted that he understood the “fear of a hidden agenda” and went on to observe: “the national BDS movements and the national SJP groups are frankly super troublesome to me.” However, Jomarron continued to
insist that the resolution was not connected with the agenda of the BDS movement.
On Saturday, April 27, 2017 — Holocaust Remembrance Day — BDS co-founder
Omar Barghouti delivered
a talk on behalf of the Jerusalem Fund/Palestine Center about the “Successes and Challenges of BDS.” During the Q & A session that followed, Barghouti
said: “... if you join a campaign for justice and freedom, it doesn't have to carry the BDS logo. It doesn’t have to say ‘boycott,’ it doesn't have to say ‘BDS.’ There are many creative ways how to do things without labeling it as ‘BDS.’”
On May 1, 2017, GWU’s Student Association
voted down the resolution 15-14, in a sharply divided session.
Following the resolution’s defeat, SJP at GWU organizer —
Henry Rosh —
said: “we will not stop calling for BDS on this campus.”
Another SJP at GWU student activist —
Maryam Alhassani —
posted on Facebook to label those who opposed the resolution as “PEP (Progressive Except Palestine)” and “just outright racist.”
SJP at GWU also
released a statement on Facebook that read: “At GWU, this action has only just begun — SJP will continue the fight for Palestinian human rights and for those who are oppressed around the world. The Divest This Time coalition is passionate about the GW community and thus looks to further justice on campus.”
The campaign’s Facebook page also
released a statement that said, among other things, “The Divest This Time coalition and SJP at GWU will continue to uplift these voices as we move forward in our campaign to end GW complicity in one-sided violence.”
On May 4, 2017,
Abby Brook — Divest This Time
founder and SJP at GWU student activist —
told The GW Hatchet student newspaper that SJP at GWU would push for a referendum vote, in which the entire student body would vote on divestment.
On May 15, 2017, the Editorial Board of the GW Hatchet
published an article titled: “Divestment referendum would marginalize part of the student body.” The article recalled the sharply divided Student Association Senate vote and criticized SJP at GWU’s announcement to push for a vote rather than increase dialogue and understanding concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on campus.
SJP at GWU student activist
Maryam Alhassani shared the editorial board’s article on Facebook and
commented: “This is a huge f**k you to all the Palestinians on campus and in Palestine. The GW Hatchet thank you for showing us how sh**ty you are and how Palestinians don't matter…”
Aligning with Anti-Semites and Holocaust Deniers
As part of SJP at GWU’s 2017 PAW, SJP at GWU
participated in and
promoted a
demonstration scheduled for March 26, 2017, organized by
Al-Awda — The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, in Washington, D.C.
The rally demonized the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and featured a lineup of speakers who have spread anti-Semitism. Among the speakers was the rally’s lead organizer, Al-Awda co-founder
Abbas Hamideh, who has been
called out for promoting anti-Semitism on his Twitter account, by a prominent pro-Israel blog. Hamideh personally
thanked SJP at GWU for promoting the event on Facebook.
The rally’s Facebook page accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing” and demanded: “End the illegal occupation of Palestine from the River to the Sea!.” The chant “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free” — which Hamideh
confirmed as a call to eliminate Israel — was a constant
refrain at the rally.
Another speaker at the rally was
Ryan Dawson — a
denier of Nazi gas chambers. Dawson
mocked ancient Jewish Scriptures and
attacked Jewish historical claims to the Land of Israel. Dawson’s comments were greeted with cheers. Dawson also
said: “If I can give something across to the scumbags inside … AIPAC is a virus … AIPAC is a parasite.” Those comments were also
greeted with shouts of approval.
Anti-Israel activist and author
Miko Peled also spoke at the rally,
claiming: “We know very well that the Palestinian resistance is not terrorism. Palestinian resistance is legitimate resistance. And all of us today are part of that resistance.” Peled’s comments were met with applause and
shouts of approval from the crowd.
On March 27, 2017, SJP at GWU
shared a
video on Facebook produced by Al Jazeera with footage from the rally including David Feldman, a member of the
Neturei Karta — a
marginal, anti-Zionist, fringe Jewish group. He has helped to
tokenize the radically anti-Zionist Neturei Karta members — and has falsely portrayed their anti-Zionism as emblematic of mainstream Judaism.
Promoting a “Right to Education” Tour
On April 4, 2016, Rizvi
shared a post on Facebook that read: "TOMORROW!! Come hear first hand accounts of life as a college student under the Israeli Occupation." The post linked to an Facebook
event page for SJP GWU's hosting of “two Palestinian students from Birzeit University in the West Bank” (Birzeit), traveling across the U.S. on the “Right to Education Tour” (R2E).
The Facebook event page also linked to a video “to learn more about R2E,” by Birzeit University students, published in 2013. The video
celebrated the creation of the Palestinian curriculum and attacked what it
called “a Jewish-American organization,”
The Center for Monitoring The Impact of Peace, for exposing that curriculum’s indoctrination of children to terror.
The R2E campaign brings students to U.S. campuses, who accuse Israel of obstructing the rights of Palestinians to higher education.
Birzeit is a hotbed of anti-Israel agitation. The university has been accused of
radicalizing students as well as
promoting and
encouraging political violence. R2E representatives often mischaracterize Israeli security
sweeps taken to shut down terror cells based on Birzeit’s campus as interference with Palestinian education.
On January 10, 2016 — after Birzeit’s student body
elected Hamas to power for the third time — Israeli Defense Forces
conducted a raid on Birzeit university, directed at terror cells believed to be operating from the campus. During the operations, soldiers arrested 15 terror suspects and seized weapons stockpiles, materials linked to local terror cells and 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."
Promoting Propagandists
On March 1, 2015, Rizvi
tweeted: “#DC activists: Join @GWUSJP and @mikopeled tomorrow (3/2) for a talk on #Zionism, #Palestine, #Israel and peace! https://www.facebook.com/events/729724837142906 … …”
The Facebook event page description for the SJP GWU event
hosting anti-Israel author Miko Peled titled: “Palestine Beyond Zionism - Hope for Peace and Co-Existence,” read: “Zionism, the ideology upon which Israel was established and calls for the colonization of Palestine by Jewish people and the establishment of a state with exclusive rights for Jews, is that root cause… In South Africa removing Apartheid was the key to ending the plight of black South Africans, in Palestine removing Zionism is the key to resolving the plight of the Palestinians.”
On the same day, Rizvi
tweeted: “@joshruebner compares situation of #Palestinians in #Israel to the #JimCrow South. Says ‘it may be even worse.’” Rizvi also
tweeted from the event: “If we're going to end this conflict, we have to end this state of #apartheid’ @joshruebner on #Israel #Palestine at @elliottschoolgw.”
On October 23, 2013, Rizvi
promoted on Twitter an SJP at GWU-organized event hosting
anti-Semitic journalist Max Blumenthal.
On October 25, 2013, Rizvi
tweeted: “@MaxBlumenthal at #GWU on ‘Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater #Israel’ discussing African migrants.” The tweet featured a photo of Blumenthal at an SJP at GWU speaking event.
Blumenthal’s 2013 book “Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel” was
dubbed “The Israel Hater’s Handbook” by Eric Alterman of progressive magazine The Nation.
Spreading Hatred of Israel
One of the
speakers at the protest was
Kareem El Hosseiny — the Government Relations Coordinator for
American Muslims for Palestine (AMP). On February 16, 2017, El Hosseiny and
Taher Herzallah, the Associate Director of Outreach & Grassroots Organizing of AMP —
disrupted U.S. Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman’s confirmation hearing, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The pair were
arrested and charged with unlawful conduct and disrupting the U.S. Congress.
On January 12, 2016, Rizvi
shared a video on Facebook produced by JVP featuring activists from
Dream Defenders (DD). The video One of the activists featured footage from DD’s first trip to Israel,
led by its co-founder
Ahmad Abuznaid. One of the activists in the video said: “We come to a land that has been stolen by greed and destroyed by hate. We come here and we learn laws that have been co-signed and written in the blood of the innocent. And we stand next to people who continue to courageously struggle and resist the occupation…”
On November 9, 2015, Rizvi was
listed on Facebook as having attended a demonstration protesting against the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House. The protest was organized by the
answercoalition.org, which has
supported Palestinian terrorists, like
Ahmed Sa’adat, the General Secretary of the PFLP.
The Facebook event page
called Netanyahu a “War Criminal...Wanted for Torture, Murder, Ethnic Cleansing, Racist Apartheid.”
The event description went on to claim: “Netanyahu presides over a racist apartheid system that has jailed, tortured and killed thousands of Palestinians…”
Boycotting Israeli Musicians
On April 21, 2017, Rizvi retweeted a
tweet by DC for Palestine that read: “Thanks to @DMVblackLives & @NLGnews DC 4 joining our letter to @Wolf_Trap not to host artist/Israeli army fundraiser.”
On April 26, 2017,
DC for Palestine —
organized a
protest against Israeli musician Idan Raichel performing at
Barns of Wolf Trap in Virginia. DC for Palestine —
posted photos from the event including of literature accusing Israel of practicing Apartheid, promoted boycotting of Israeli products and accused Raichel of being a “propagandist for the Israeli government.”
One of the signs held at the protest
read: “Idan let us set you straight, Israel is a racist state.”
Kudaimi has
promoted incitement to
violence a
ga
in
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I
sr
ae
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s,
urged platforms to include Holocaust deniers among mainstream voices and, on July 16, 2016,
called for the destruction of Israel — tweeting: “F**k Israel every day until the fall of the zionist regime.”
Also in
attendance was
Ariel Gold — a staff member of Code Pink — In November 2015, Gold was
arrested while participating in a Palestinian riot. In
March 2015 and
2016, Gold was arrested for blocking the entrance to the American Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC) annual conference.
Demonizing AIPAC
On February 28, 2015, Rizvi was
listed on Facebook as having attended a “Shut Down AIPAC!” protest in Washington DC to oppose AIPAC’s conference at the DC Convention Center. The protest was organized by Code Pink and several other anti-Israel organizations, including SJP East and
If Americans Knew (IAK) —founded by anti-Israel agitator
Alison Weir — On August 8, 2009, Weir
wrote an article supporting a
blood libelpu
bl
is
he
d by a Swedish newspaper — about Israel harvesting Palestinian organs.
On May 18, 2016, Abuznaid
posted an image to Facebook of infamous airline hijacker
Leila Khaled, holding an AK-47 assault rifle. Abuznaid said in the post that “she taught us how to fight.”
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.
MSA
The MSA was established by members of the Muslim Brotherhood in January 1963 at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, with the goal of "spreading Islam as students in North America." A 2004 FBI investigation uncovered an internal Muslim Brotherhood document in which a brotherhood leader identified the MSA as "one of our organizations."
The MSA reportedly has “nearly 600 chapters” located in the United States and Canada, and is “the most visible and influential Islamic student organization in North America,” boasting conferences, special events, publications, websites and other activities.
The organization includes a number of previous chapter presidents with explicit links to terrorist groups. Included are al-Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki (Colorado State University), Somali al-Shabaab militant leader Omar Shafik Hammami (University of South Alabama) and Pakistani Taliban recruiter Ramy Zamzam of the MSA's Washington, D.C. council.
CAIR
CAIR describes itself as a “grassroots civil rights and advocacy group” and “America's largest Muslim civil liberties organization, with regional offices nationwide.” Its official mission is “enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.”
CAIR reportedly has “significant ties” to the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as Hamas. A number of former CAIR employees have been convicted on fraud and terrorism-related charges that resulted monetary fines, jail terms and, sometimes, deportation.
CAIR was founded in 1994 and opened its first office in Washington, DC, with the help of a $5,000 donation from the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF), a charity founded by Mousa Abu Marzook.
Marzook, who was listed as a "Specially Designated Terrorist" by the U.S. Treasury Department in 1995, is reportedly a senior member of Hamas.
In May 2007, CAIR was listed as an “unindicted co-conspirator” in a U.S.-filed action against the HLF for providing funds to Hamas.
CAIR was also listed as a terrorist entity by the United Arab Emirates, in 2014.
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
