Zahraa Zedan

On July 21, 2017, Zedan posted on Facebook: “#FreePalestine #HandsoffAlAqsa #LongLivetheResistance,” along with a photo of demonstrators holding the sign: “End Israeli War Crimes.”


The allegation that Jews “threaten” to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque has been a pretext for Arab attacks on Jews long before the existence of the modern Jewish state. Such propaganda has led to multiple periods of violence against Israeli civilians.

Among Palestinians and anti-Israel activists, the term “resistance” can be a euphemism for nationalistic terror. It is often used to excuse or even glorify anti-Israel and anti-Semitic violence.  

Hatred of Israel

On April 3, 2016, Zedan shared on Facebook a blog post by Brant Rosen, co-founder of the Rabbinical Council of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), titled: “Yes, Zionism is Settler Colonialism.”

Zionism is the belief that Jews have the right to self-determination in their own national home, and the right to develop their national culture.

In her Facebook post, Zedan quoted the portion of Brant Rosen’s blog post that said: “Israel’s oppressive policies against the Palestinians do not exist in a vacuum. They are but part of a larger hegemonic system of white supremacy and institutionalized racism that exists in the US and throughout the world.”

On February 26, 2017, Zedan posted to Facebook an advertisement for Israel Apartheid Week (IAW) 2017, held on campus from March 6-17. Zedan added that IAW “seeks to raise awareness of Israel's settler-colonial project and apartheid system.”

Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) is presented as “an international series of events that seek to raise awareness of…Israel’s settler-colonial project and apartheid system over the Palestinian people” and build support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Promoting BDS at McMaster

On March 16, 2015, Zedan promoted on Facebook the McMaster Student Union (MSU) General Assembly (GA) vote on a BDS resolution scheduled for March 23, 2015. Zedan linked to a BDS movement video that accused [00:00:06] Israel of “ethnic cleansing” and [00:00:48] “apartheid.”

In 2015, McMasterBDS, a committee of pro-BDS students on campus, pushed for the passage of a divestment resolution that reportedly [p. 3] called on the student body to endorse the global BDS movement and “commit to identifying and divesting from companies that support or profit from Israeli war crimes, occupation and oppression of Palestinians.”

The resolution was endorsed by SPHR McMaster and the Hamilton chapter of Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) Canada, IJV Hamilton.

On March 23, 2015, the MSU GA voted on the BDS motion proposed by then-SPHR President Yara Shoufani. The BDS motion passed with a vote of 622 students for and 28 against. During the discussion preceding the vote, the motion was reportedly criticized as violating undergraduate student union’s bylaws.

Anti-Israel Activism (SPHR, BDS)

Zedan attended IAW in 2015 and promoted IAW in 2016 and 2017.

On March 1, 2015, during IAW, Zedan attended an SPHR event featuring David Sheen.

David Sheen is an anti-Israel activist and filmmaker who works to portray Israel as an extremist racist state. To this end, Sheen has been accused of purposefully mistranslating Hebrew articles and other media to make Israelis appear racist.

The event’s Facebook description said that Sheen would “give a lecture and slideshow about Israeli incitement to racist violence.”

On March 4, 2015, SPHR McMaster shared on Facebook a photo of a banner hung on campus during IAW 2015. McMaster SPHR wrote: “Oh hey there worlds cutest IAW banner… made by our very own and very talented team member Zara!”

On March 9, 2016, Zedan changed her Facebook cover photo to an advertisement for IAW 2016.

On that same day, Zedan attended an event titled: “Apartheid, Live!” as part of IAW 2016. The event showcased a poster that said “Gaza: An Open Air Prison” and referred to Israeli defensive operations as “attacks.” The event displayed a series of maps popular among anti-Israel activists.

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.

The event also featured a “mock apartheid wall.” One of the panels read: “Apartheid: Wrong For South Africa Wrong For Palestine.”


On March 8, 2017, Zedan attended an IAW 2017 event co-hosted by 2017 SPHR President Lina Assi that featured a screening of “The Lab.”

The event’s Facebook description said: “Since 9/11, the Israeli arms industries are doing bigger business than ever before. Large Israeli companies develop and test the vessels of future warfare, which is then sold worldwide by private Israeli agents, who manipulate a network of Israeli politicians and army commanders, while Israeli theoreticians explain to various foreign countries how to defeat civil and para-military resistance.”

On March 16, 2017, Zedan attended an event titled: “From Intifada to Liberation - Defeating Colonialism & Imperialism.”

The term “intifada,” which translates from Arabic as “uprising” or “insurrection,” carries the connotation of violence. Palestinian intifadas waged against Israel have been marked since 1987 by hundreds of hijackings, shootings, stabbings, bombings and suicide missions.

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.

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.

Social Media and Weblinks

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/zzedan7

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