Zachary Schultz

Overview

Zachary Schultz has expressed support for terrorism, demonized Israel and Zionism and worked closely with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) to defend the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement at Florida State University (FSU).

He has been a member of the Facebook group “Americans Against Genocide In Gaza (AAGG)” since October 21, 2015 and has been a member of the closed Facebook group “Tallahassee United for Justice in Palestine”since August 30, 2013.

As of March 29, 2018 Schultz’s Twitter cover photo featured a banner that read: “All day I dream about socialism and Death to America!” His Twitter bio read: “communist in tallahassee organizing with students and workers @NewSDS.”

As of January 20, 2017, Schultz was an organizer with Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at FSU. He is also a member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization/Fightback and a contributor to its radical Marxist-Leninist online news source “FightBack!News.”

As of October 20, 2016, Schultz was reportedly a senior at FSU, studying sociology.

As of July 2018, Schultz”s Facebook page said he studied at FSU.

Supporting Terrorism

Schultz retweeted a December 7, 2017 tweet that commended Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah for acting “very statesmanlike” in calling for “financial & military support for Palestinian Intifada.”

Schultz retweeted a December 6, 2017 tweet that said: “‘This decision clarifies further the nature of U.S. imperialism as the primary sponsor of Zionist terror in the region.... The @PFLP_info calls on Palestinians to unite their efforts and respond collectively, practically and forcefully to this decision.’”

Schultz retweeted a December 5, 2017 tweet criticizing President Donald Trump’s decision to move the United States embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The tweet said: “It's no coincidence that Iran & Hizbullah are the only actors who haven't officially protested Trump's plan to move US embassy to Jerusalem. No empty threats or vapid calls to convene summits; just behind scenes military aid, coordination & strategizing w/Palestinian resistance.”

Schultz retweeted a March 23, 2017 tweet that read: “The start of the Third Intifada. Solidarity with the Palestinian resistance. #FreePalestine.”

The tweet linked to an article that stated “Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh calling for a ‘new intifada’ against Israel.”

On November 29, 2016, Schultz indicated on Facebook that he “went” to “Justice For Rasmea Rally” and “Justice 4 Rasmea Rally@FloridaStateUniversity.”

Odeh was a key military operative 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.

On January 26, 2016, Schultz updated his Facebook profile to a poster featuring Rasmea Odeh, promoting a #justiceforRasmea social media day of action.

On June 11, 2015, Schultz indicated on Facebook that he “went” to two “Live Stream: Rasmea Odeh Speaks!” events featuring a live stream of Odeh, as well as updates regarding her appeal of her immigration fraud conviction.

On November 14, 2014, posted a photo of himself to Facebook holding a “Free Rasmea” sign.

Demonizing Israel and Zionism

On August 21, 2017, Schultz tweeted: “PFLP stands with anti-racist protesters in Charlottesville, and connects racism in the US with Zionism.”

Schultz linked to a PFLP statement that blamed the murder of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville on Zionism, the “crisis of U.S. capitalism and imperialism” and the United States’ “genocide of Indigenous people.”

The statement claimed the “far right in Europe, the United States and the Zionist movement share information, resources and propaganda against Black, Arab and other movements, peoples and communities.”

The piece Schultz shared went on to urge: “We must also be united to fight racism, Zionism, capitalism and imperialism in all of our diverse, connected struggles for justice and liberation.”

The PFLP statement then stated that Palestinian terrorism is “resistance” to “occupation, oppression and colonialism” and “a just fight for liberation against a brutal colonizer.”

On August 24, 2016, Schultz shared to Facebook an SDS article that trivialized Gaza missile attacks on Israel and condemned Israeli responses.

The article accused “apartheid Israel” of carrying out “collective punishment … aimed at wiping out the colonized population.”

The article accused Israel of having perpetrated the “colonization of Palestine” and “the ethnic cleansing of over 750,000 Palestinians” and “dozens of massacres.”

On December 5, 2017, Schultz called Israel imperialist and colonialist in a tweet criticizing President Donald Trump’s decision to move the United States’ embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

In the same thread, Schultz added: “I hope Israel is dissolved.”

He also tweeted: “And Israel kills children.”

Schultz also retweeted a December 6, 2017 tweet that labeled the embassy move “legitimizing land theft/apartheid.”

BDS Activism

On February 4, 2016, Schultz disrupted the Florida House State Affairs Committee alongside other members of SJP and SDS. Draken was protesting Florida House Bill 527, which proposed to limit state government investment in companies that boycott Israel.

On February 3, 2016, Schultz promoted the event on Facebook, adding “If anybody is interested in coming, let me know!”

On February 4, 2016, SDS and FSU SJP members appeared at the Florida House State Affairs Committee speaking against the bill.

Following the allotted speaking time, the demonstrators then disrupted the vote, chanting, “Not another nickel, not another dime, no more money for Israel’s crimes!” and attempted to raise a banner saying “Stop funding Israeli apartheid.”

The protesters were eventually removed from the committee room by security guards.

On that same day, Schultz posted to Facebook a photo of the protesters holding the “Stop funding Israeli apartheid” banner, adding: “SDS members outside the Capitol, standing against Israeli Apartheid along with CAIR and SJP.”

Schultz also published an article to “FightBack!News” about the event, where he referred to HB 527 as a “bill to blacklist companies that boycott Israeli apartheid.”

SJP Activism

Aside form the February 4, 2016 disruption at the Florida House State Affairs Committee, Schultz indicated on Facebook that he “went” to eleven other events hosted and co-hosted by FSU SJP from 2015-2017.

One such event was FSU SJP’s September 23, 2016 “Media Literacy Workshop.”
The workshop’s cover photo depicted a massive hand controlling many newspapers like marionettes. The event description advertised “a guided discussion on media representation of the Dakota Access Pipeline as well as Palestine” and a “brief history of FSU SJP messaging.”

On October 14, 2016, Schultz indicated on Facebook that he “went” to FSU SJP’s event “US-Israeli Imperialism: FSU SJP Lecture.”

The event description claimed: “Israel and the US's system of aggression towards Palestinians is extremely predictable in the context of ethnic cleansing.”

On February 23, 2016, Schultz indicated on Facebook that he “went” to an SJP-hosted lecture featuring the anti-Israel “liberation” theologian Dr. Marc Ellis, who has compared Israel to the Nazi regime.

The event description invited students to learn about American funding for “Israel’s settler colonial project.”

On October 7, 2017, Schultz indicated on facebook that he “went” to an anti-Columbus day protest called “Decolonize Columbus Day.”

The event description implied Columbus day commemorations were a celebration of genocide, and claimed: “Columbus killed, enslaved and tortured the native americans that helped him and his crew. They bragged in journals about the way they would kidnap and rape young native boys, feed babies to dogs, and brutalize people for fun.”

The description went on to say: “Israel is currently committing such violence against the indigenous people of Palestine and claimed Israel is a “modern day ethnocentric government” in which Palestinian families “are brutalized on a regular basis as Israel continues to systematically expel and ethnically cleanse Palestinians.”

FSU SJP Incitement to Terror

On October 27, 2015, FSU SJP shared to Facebook a “PALESTINIAN YOUTH INTERNATIONAL CALL TO SUPPORT THE INTIFADA.”

The declaration called for an “international mobilization” of Palestinian youth in exile and their allies to “support the resistance,” and glorified the Knife Intifada terrorists as “heroic.”

October 2015 saw an upsurge in violence across Israel incited by Palestinian political and religious leaders. The wave of stabbings — known as the “Knife Intifada” — saw young Palestinians throughout the country stabbing and attempting to stab Israeli civilians.

The attacks were sparked and fueled by Palestinian leaders propagating the libel that Israel intended to desecrate the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

FSU SJP Defending the Knife Intifada

On October 5, 2015 — at the beginning of the Knife Intifada — FSU SJP shared an article to Facebook claiming a “Palestinian teen” was “executed” as a “death-chanting” mob rejoiced. The teen was Fadi Aloon.

Fadi Aloon was shot by Israeli security forces after he stabbed a 15-year-old Israeli boy. Several hours before the attack, Aloon posted “Either martyrdom or victory” on his Facebook page.

On November 5, 2015 — following the first month of the Knife Intifada — FSU SJP posted to Facebook: “October. Was. Scary. For. Palestinians. How are things looking for November? How about 2016? ... Something's gotta give!! #BDS.”

On November 7, 2015, FSU SJP shared a photo to Facebook of Dania Irsheid after she was shot, commenting: “Lost for words…”

Dania Irsheid was shot by an Israeli police officer after she attempted to stab him.

On November 24, 2015, FSU SJP shared a video misrepresenting terrorists Hadeel and Nurhan Awad, as having been “executed” by Israel. The video was titled “execution of civilians - what Israeli settlers do best.”|

Hadeel Awad and her cousin Nurhan Awad were shot after they stabbed two people — including a 70-year-old Palestinian resident of Bethlehem — near Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda market. Hadeel was shot by police as she was slashing at other Israeli civilians with scissors.

On November 22, 2015, during Israel’s “Knife Intifada,” Ashraqat Taha Qatanani was run over and shot during her attempt to stab ‎an Israeli woman. According to the Donia Al-Watan Palestinian newspaper, Qatanani died as “a Martyr as ‎she wished.”

On November 26, 2015, FSU SJP posted to Facebook: “Brutal military occupation uses violence to quell peaceful resistance. And we wonder why resitance [sic] turns to armed struggle? To knives?"

On April 25, 2016, FSU SJP shared to Facebook a post defending Dima Al-Wawi, adding “Her face says it all.”

On April 24, 2016, FSU SJP shared to Facebook a post in defence of Al-Wawi, presenting her arrest as “discrimination against Palestinians.”

On April 13, 2016, FSU SJP defended Al-Wawi on Facebook, claiming: “This is how the Israeli government and illegal settler forces demonize Palestinians and their children.”

12-year-old Al-Wawi was imprisoned for attempting to stab a security guard at the Israeli community Karmei Tzur. Al-Wawi later claimed she intended to kill the guard and hoped she would be killed in the process. “I was dreaming that I was going to be martyred,” she said.

On February 15, 2016, FSU SJP posted to Facebook a video of Yasmeen Rashad al Zaro after she was shot, adding: “Who's the terrorist now?”

Jasmine Rashad al-Zaru [Yasmeen Rashad al Zaro] attempted to stab an Israeli Border Policeman before she was shot.

FSU SJP Honoring Terrorist Rasmea Odeh

On April 13, 2017, FSU SJP posted to Facebook several photos of convicted terrorist Rasmea Odeh after a court ordered her deportation from the United States. FSU SJP referred to Odeh as a “Palestinian freedom fighter” and added the hashtag #HonorRasmea.

On February 13, 2015, FSU SJP hosted an event honoring Odeh. In the event description, FSU SJP called Odeh “the Rosa Parks of the liberation of Palestine.”

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.

FSU SJP Defending Terrorists

On December 12, 2015, FSU SJP commemorated the founding of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization, tweeting: “PFLP marks 48th establishment anniversary in Gaza.”

On December 13, 2015, FSU SJP shared to Facebook an article reporting the PFLP’s celebration in Gaza. the article added that during the festivities, the PFLP “re-asserted its commitment to the new Palestinian Intifada.”

On March 9, 2017, FSU SJP posted a photo of Leila Khaled to Facebook in honor of International Women’s Day.

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 March 14, 2017, FSU SJP posted an illustration of Basel Al Araj to Facebook with the caption “Long Live Basil Al-Araj! Long Live the Resistance! Until Victory.”

Basel Al Araj was killed in a shoot-out with Israeli troops during an arrest raid. He had been suspected of belonging to a terror cell planning to carry out attacks on Israeli targets. Two M-16 assault rifles and an improvised Carlo-style submachine gun were found inside his home.

On April 29, 2017, FSU SJP promoted on Facebook a hunger strike by Palestinian convicts. FSU SJP posted a photo of Marwan Barghouti with the comment: “Every prisoner is political” and referred to another “1500 fellow imprisoned freedom fighters.”

Terrorist Marwan Barghouti was sentenced to five consecutive life terms for some of his crimes, including his role in the Sbarro Cafe bombing. In 2017, he initiated the hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners known as the “Dignity Strike.” He headed the Palestinian Authority (PA) terrorist Tanzim force and founded the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which carried out many terror attacks against Israeli civilians.

On May 27, 2017, FSU SJP celebrated the end of the hunger strike on Facebook, commenting: “Victory to the #DignityStrike!”

FSU SJP Defending the 2017 Shooting Attack at al-Aqsa Mosque

On July 21 2017, FSU SJP claimed on Facebook that the al-Aqsa Mosque was “taken hostage by Israel” and that Israel was “murdering innocent devotees who dared question the seizure.”

FSU SJP also wrote “Palestinians and their supporters everywhere are expressing justified rage” and added “Muslims worldwide are being asked to stand together in a day of anger for al-Aqsa.”

On July 14, 2017, Arab terrorists murdered two Israeli police officers outside the entrance to the Al Aqsa mosque on Temple mount in Jerusalem. The perpetrators were Israeli Arab citizens from Umm el-Fahm, who reportedly feared that “Al Aqsa in danger” — the slogan of the banned northern branch of the Islamic Movement that ran the UMM el-Fahm municipality.

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.

Israel responded by placing metal detectors and security checks before allowing worshippers to the holy site, similar to other holy sites in Jerusalem.

Palestinian factions reacted by spreading incitement that resulted in further violence. Fatah threatened “Rage for the Al-Aqsa Mosque!” On July 21, 2017, Omar al-Abed, 19, broke into a Jewish family's home in Halamish and stabbed three family members to death while they were having a Sabbath meal. Before embarking, al-Abed wrote on Facebook: “Take up your weapon and resist, declare war for Allah...I have only a knife, and it will respond to Al-Aqsa's cry...The sons of monkeys and pigs do not open the gates of Al-Aqsa. I hope that men will come after me to strike me with an iron hand...We are all one, we have one blood, one enemy and one Al-Aqsa.”

The Israeli government removed the detectors on July 25, 2017.

Terrorists murdered two Israeli police officers on July 14, 2017, outside the entrance to the Al Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Israel responded by installing metal detectors and security checks at the entrance to the holy site.

The terrorists reportedly feared that “Al Aqsa is in danger,” which has long been a pretext for Arab attacks on Jews long before the State of Israel’s existence. Following rioting and further violence, the Israeli government removed the metal detectors on July 25, 2017.

FSU SJP Hosting Hate Speech

In November 2017, FSU’s Student General Assembly (SGA) considered suspending funding for an FSU SJP panel event featuring Nerdeen Kiswani, Noura Farouq and Dan Cione of New York City (NYC) SJP.

On November 9, 2017, FSU SJP members sat in at an FSU SGA meeting to protest the proposed defunding.

During the hearing, which FSU SJP posted on its Facebook page, the group’s secretary and treasurer Albert Kishek acknowledged FSU SJP was accused [00:42:45] of hate speech and anti-Semitism.

But Kishek claimed [00:46:00] that Kiswani and Farouk were “feminist organizers” of Palestinian background “who are playing a useful part to the building of the anti-war movement.”

FSU SJP’s post stated the group would “not tolerate infringement upon rights to school funding for our events and ended with the hashtags #RightToResist and #AIPACOutOfFSU.”

SGA voted 24-10 with 4 abstentions to provide funding to FSU SJP for the panel.

On November 16, 2017, during the panel, Kiswani accused Israel of committing [00:08:29] “mass rapes” and claimed that [00:9:08] “to this day there is daily assault and sexual harassment of Palestinian women by Zionists.”

Kiswani’s also stated that [01:45:52] “...we see in Israel, when Ethiopian Jews are trying to integrate themselves into the white settler colonial project of Israel, they put on the uniform and kill Palestinians and then their babies still get stabbed by Israelis and they still don’t see a day of justice in the court.”

Cione noted [00:26:14] that, after the Oslo accords, the U.S. gave the Palestinian Authority “over 32 billion dollars… for state building institutions.” Cione then condemned [00:25:36] the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for not funding radicals.

Cione said that [00:24:42] “when they were dumping all this money into Palestine” USAID included a “terror clause, which said that none of this money can go to “anyone that… is a terrorist organization as defined by Israel or who does not recognize the right of Israel to exist.”

At the end of the panel, the attendees and panelists chanted [01:48:48] “There is only one solution, Intifada revolution!”

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.