Yusra Oweis

Overview

Yusra Oweis has expressed support for a terrorist, demonized Israel, showed support for violent protests and engaged in anti-Israel activism. 

Oweis was an activist with the anti-Israel organization General Union of Palestine Students (GUPS) at San Francisco State University (SFSU) in 2016 and 2018. GUPS is an affiliate of the national campus group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).

Oweis also acted as a GUPS Associated Students Representative on the SFSU Ad Hoc Work Group on Equity & Social Justice Educational Outreach in the 2017-2018 academic year. 

In 2017, Oweis was a youth coordinator for the anti-Israel organization Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC). 

Oweisgraduated from SFSU with a bachelor’s degree in History in 2017. Oweis received [p. 50] a master’s degree from SFSU in History in 2019. 

As of July 2023, Oweis was listed as a part-time professor teaching “History of the United States to 1877” online at Laney College in Oakland, California. 

As of the same date, Oweis was listed on SignalHire as a “Recruiting Coordinator” at Pilot.com since November 2021. Pilot.com’s LinkedIn page described itself as a company that provides “accounting, CFO, and tax services for startups and small businesses.”

Also as of July 2023, Oweis was located in Oakland, California.

As of the same date, Oweis used the handle “@givemechnafa” on Twitter and Instagram. She went by the username “Yusra EO” on Facebook.

Terror Support (PFLP)

On August 17, 2017, Oweis appeared in an AROC Facebook group photo standing in front of a mural at a local bakery honoring Rasmeah Odeh. The post said: “AROC's AYO-Arab Youth Organization honoring Rasmeah today at Reem's!.” 

Odeh was a key military operative [00:02:08]with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization. In 1969, she masterminded a PFLP supermarket bombing that killed two college students. She also attempted to bomb the British consulate in Jerusalem. Odeh later moved to the United States but was deported to Jordan in 2017 for immigration fraud.

Demonizing Israel

On February 10, 2019, Oweis wrote a post on Facebook where she called Israeli Independence Day an “immoral day.” 

Oweis wrote that Israeli Independence Day was “The day that Palestinians commemorate the exile & ethnic cleansing of over 750,000 Palestinians who's families are still waiting for their right to return to their homeland.” 

The “right of return” is a Palestinian demand discredited as a means to eliminate Israel. International law mandates no absolute right of return and UN Resolution 194, which defined principles for “refugees wishing to return to their homes,” was unanimously rejected by Arab nations following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

Also in the same post, which was about SFSU, Oweis wrote: “The history of Zionist support in this institution is not new, just like racism in not new to this country.”

Supporting Violent Protests

On April 14, 2018, during Gaza’s violent border protests known as “the Great March of Return,” Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) tweeted a photo of Oweis leading a protest. 

The JVP post said: “Reps from @GUPS_SFSU condemn violence in #Gaza, where 30+ Palestinian protestors have been murdered by the IDF in the past 3 weeks #GreatReturnMarch.”


Most of the Gazans who died between March 30 and April 6, 2018, were identified as terror operatives who were killed while carrying out terrorist attacks, rioting against IDF forces or attempting to breach the border fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip.

Anti-Israel Activism (GUPS, AROC, AMP)

In December 2017, Oweis spoke at a protest titled: “All Out For Palestine: Hands Off Jerusalem!” The protest was was against the United States government’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and to relocate its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.