Zaynab Elkolaly
Overview
Zaynab Elkolaly refused to condemn Hamas terrorist war crimes while on national television and was arrested [00:00:33] at an anti-Israel campus protest.The incidents occurred in the wake of Hamas atrocities against Israeli civilians, including mass murder, torture, rape, beheadings and kidnappings, which were executed on October 7, 2023. The attacks left over 1,200 Israelis dead, hundreds kidnapped and thousands wounded. Israel retaliated with a war called “Swords of Iron.”
In March 2023, Elkolaly was listed [slide 3] as the “activism co-director” of the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor (U-M Ann Arbor), known as Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE).
Elkolaly is also a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
4/2/2024 - Refusing to Condemn Hamas Terrorist War Crimes
On April 2, 2024, Elkolaly featured [00:08:59] as an anti-Israel activist on an episode of the television show Dr. Phil Primetime.Dr. Phil McGraw, the show’s host, asked [00:12:02] Elkolaly: “I’m asking you what you think, and you believe. Let's start with what happened on October 7. Do you endorse that?”
Elkolaly responded [00:12:09]: “I reject the premise of that question because I don't believe that the person asking me that question has the moral authority to ask it until they first and foremost condemn the violent formation of Israel and the ensuing Palestinian deaths.”
On Saturday, October 7, 2023, approximately 2,900 heavily armed Hamas terrorists breached Israel’s border with Gaza. They executed numerous war crimes on civilians, including mass murder, beheadings of children, rape of men and women, torture, kidnappings and mutilation. Hamas broadcast videos of their butchery on social media, often to victims’ accounts for families to see. Israel retaliated with a war called “Swords of Iron.” As of November 10, 2023, over 1,200 Israelis, the vast majority of them civilians, were murdered during the attacks. Hamas kidnapped 242 Israelis, including at least 30 children. At least 3,500 people were wounded, many severely.
During the show, Elkolaly also claimed [00:03:35]: “Hamas, however, is not the end-all, be-all, of Palestinian militant groups or resistance. In fact, Gaza is only a portion of Palestine. In fact, centering Hamas in this movement is detrimental to both me and you. We are simply against apartheid, genocide, ethnic cleansing, whoever is perpetrating it and whoever is being a victim of it.”
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.
Many Palestinian civilians, including women and children, participated in the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks. In several cases, Gazans who worked in the targeted Israeli communities gave intelligence to Hamas on where to strike. In a March 2024 poll, 71% of Gazans supported the terror attacks, up from 57% in December 2023. Among the Palestinian respondents in the West Bank, 71% supported the attacks, down from 82% in December 2023.
11/17/2023 - Arrested at an Anti-Israel Campus Protest
On November 17, 2023, during Israel’s war against Hamas after the October 7, 2023, terror attacks, Elkolaly was arrested [00:00:33] while participating in an anti-Israel protest on the U-M Ann Arbor campus. Elkolaly and other activists attempted to enter a central campus building to force a meeting with the university’s president.The SAFE Instagram post promoting the protest said: “For tomorrow’s Global Day of Action to #shutitdown4palestine , join us and our coalition in demanding that the university divest from companies that fund and participate in the genocide of the Palestinian people.”
Biographical Information
In March 2024, Elkolaly was listed [p. 69] as a student in the College of Engineering at U-M Ann Arbor, where she went by Zaynab Omar Elkolaly. In March 2023, she was listed [slide 3] as a “fourth year student studying nuclear engineering and political science” and a research assistant in the Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences (NERS) department.In May 2023, Elkolaly was elected [photo 1] as a “Steering committee member at large” of the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) at U-M Ann Arbor.
In May 2021, Elkolaly served [photo 2] as the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) coordinator for the U-M Ann Arbor Central Student Government (CSG).
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.
