Rahma Elmohd

Overview

Rahma Elmohd has spread incitement, showed support for a terrorist, demonized Israel and expressed support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

As of January 2016, Elmohd was listed as the president of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at the University of South Florida (USF). In March 2015, SJP USF posted on Facebook that she was the group’s president.

Also as of January 2016, Elmohd was listed as as a senator in the USF student government.

In 2016, Elmohd also used the name “Rahma Elmo Elmohd,” on Facebook.

Spreading Incitement

On November 20, 2014, Elmohd tweeted a message featuring the hashtag “#handsoffalaqsa.”

In the fall of 2014, Palestinian leaders and media incited a wave of violence against Israelis with the lie that Israel intended to desecrate the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. This resulted in the November 18, 2014 Har Nof massacre, in which terrorists murdered six people in a Jerusalem synagogue during morning prayers.

On November 25, 2014, Elmohd tweeted: “Tell the @UN: Don't reward #Israel for #Gaza massacre http://bdsmovement.net/?p=12833 #BDS #DontRewardIsrael
#handsoffalaqsa It just takes 1 second!”

Elmohd retweeted an October 12, 2015 tweet that said: “Pictures of clashing with Israeli Forces in Beit Hanoun crossing to the north of #Gaza this night. #ThirdIntifada.”

In October 2015, there was an upsurge in violence across Israel incited by Palestinian political and religious leaders. The wave of stabbings, known as the “Knife Intifada,” was characterized by young Palestinians throughout the country stabbing and attempting to stab Israeli civilians. The attacks were incited by Palestinian leaders propagating the libel that Israel intended to desecrate the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

Elmohd retweeted an October 12, 2015 tweet that said: “From the clashes in Nablus today. #FreePalestine #intifadaAlAqsa.”

Elmohd retweeted an October 24, 2015 tweet that said: “From the clashes in AlBirah few minutes ago #intifadaAlQuds #FreePalestine.”

Supporting a Terrorist

On March 13, 2015, Elmohd reportedly protested outside a Federal Courthouse in Tampa, Florida, in support of Rasmea Odeh, the day after she was sentenced to prison for immigration fraud.

Odeh was a key military operative [00:02:08]with the terrorist group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). In 1969, Odeh masterminded a PFLP bombing that killed two college students in a Jerusalem supermarket. Odeh also attempted to bomb the British consulate.

Odeh confessed, in a highly detailed account, the day following her arrest. In a 2004 documentary, one of Odeh’s co-conspirators directly implicated [00:10:53] Odeh as the mastermind.

In 1970, an Israeli court tried and convicted Odeh for her involvement in both bombings and sentenced her to life imprisonment. However, Odeh was released 10 years later, in a prisoner swap and emigrated to the United States.

On November 10, 2014, a Michigan federal jury convicted Odeh for immigration fraud because she failed to disclose her prior conviction and life sentence on her immigration application. On March 12, 2015, she was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

In 2017, after an appeal and a lengthy court battle, Odeh admitted to immigration fraud, was stripped of her U.S. citizenship, deported to Jordan and banned from re-entering the U.S.

On September 12, 2015, Elmohd reportedly joined with other members of the Bulls Dabke Club in a fundraiser for Odeh’s legal defense committee.

On January 25, 2016, Elmohd shared two Facebook posts in support of Odeh.

Demonizing Israel

On January 26, 2016, Elmohd claimed in two Facebook posts that Israel practices “apartheid.”

Elmohd retweeted an October 23, 2015 tweet that claimed: “@MaxBlumenthal: ‘Snuff’ videos coming out of Israel are ‘illustrations of Zionism in its terminal phase.’”

Max Blumenthal is an anti-Israel activist. Blumenthal’s 2013 book “Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel” was dubbed “The Israel Hater’s Handbook” by Eric Alterman of the progressive magazine The Nation.

Elmohd retweeted an October 22, 2015 tweet that showed a series of maps known as the “Map that Lies.”

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.

On May 24, 2015, Elmohd shared a Facebook post that said: “The only thing Zionists say which I absolutely cannot disagree with is ‘If you hate Israel, then you hate the United States!’” The post also called Zionism a “colonial” ideology.

On May 15, 2015, Elmohd posted an image on Facebook that said: “NAKBA Never Forget the Right of Return.”

The term “Nakba” is generally translated as “catastrophe” in Arabic, referring to the outcome of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It is a term often used to delegitimize the creation of the State of Israel by defining it as a catastrophe.

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.

On August 14, 2014, Elmohd tweeted during Israel’s Operation Protective Edge (OPE) against Hamas, writing: “Sign in support of an israeli kid who spoke up abt the genocide in Palestine.”

Israel commenced Operation Protective Edge (OPE) in July 2014, to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.

On August 2, 2014, Elmohd tweeted: “‘President Obama you cant hide, we charge you with genocide!’ #2DC4Gaza @BarackObama #FreePalestine our #s are inc!” She included a photo from an anti-Israel rally outside of the White House.

Supporting BDS

On November 20, 2014, Elmohd tweeted a photo of herself with a large banner that said: “SJP Welcomes Ron Paul End Foreign Aid to Israel.” She wrote: “END FOREIGN AID TO ISRAEL#USF4HUMANRIGHTS #celfié #sjp #bds #BDSIsrael #freepalestine @jeaninek13.”

On the same day, Elmohd tweeted a photo of the banner and wrote: “But we will not be silence #usf4humanrights #usfbulls #bds #freepalestine #RonPaul @RonPaul.”

Also that day, Elmohd tweeted another photo of the banner hanging and wrote: “When the posters first dropped … @SJP_USF #usf4humanrights #usfbulls #freepalestine #BDSIsrael#handsoffalaqsa.”

SJP USF - Spreading Anti-Semitism

On July 30, 2014, SJP USF posted an image to Facebook showing Adolf Hitler performing a Nazi salute with text reading: “WE ARE THE MASTER RACE,” next to an image of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with his hand raised and text reading: “WE ARE GOD’S CHOSEN PEOPLE.” SJP USF commented: “Justifications.”

On November 18, 2013, SJP USF reportedly hosted and sponsored a game show “about Palestinian culture, geography and history” modeled on the TV show, "Jeopardy!"

One question asked students to name the “type of poisons that Israeli settlers put in Palestinian water supplies to make them undrinkable,” a modern variation of an ancient blood libel. Another question suggested that Israel has been “snatching” Palestinian children from their beds.

SJP USF - Demonizing Israel

As of August 2019, an SJP USF Facebook post from February 14, 2015, remained on the group’s Facebook page. The original SJP USF shared an article and quoted the story’s headline: “Israeli authorities usually open the floodgates to their dams in the direction of the Gaza Strip - without prior notice - in order to discharge the enormous quantities of water that had accumulated due to the heavy rains in the region. #Gaza.”

Less than two weeks later, Al Jazeera retracted a similar story, noting: “In southern Israel, there are no dams of the type which can be opened.”

On February 25, 2016, SJP USF members reportedly joined with other BDS supporters to disrupt a talk at USF given by two Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers. One of the protesters called the soldiers “murderers and child killers” and was eventually was escorted out by police.

On September 5, 2014, SJP USF held an event titled: “The Hidden Genocide: The Story of Palestine.” The Facebook event page referred to Israel’s Operation Protective Edge (OPE) against Hamas earlier that year as a “summer of atrocious massacres.”

Israel commenced OPEin July 2014, to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.

One of the speakers at the event was Hamas supporter Sheikh Monzer Taleb, who was an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) terrorism finance trial. Taleb was not brought to trial.

However, five other defendants were brought to trial and were indicted for funneling funds to Hamas. These five, known as the Holy Land Five (HL5), were convicted and sentenced in 2009 to federal prison terms from 15 to 65 years.

SJP USF - Promoting BDS

On February 10, 2014, SJP USF posted a video to Vimeo promoting its “Divest 2014” campaign. The video claimed that USF invested in companies that made “fighter jets and rockets that the IDF uses against civilians in the Gaza strip.”

On May 28, 2014, the USF Foundation, which manages USF investments from donor contributions, reportedly rejected an SJP USF petition calling on the school to divest from multiple companies doing business with Israel.

On January 14, 2015, SJP USF purchased [00:05:18] space on a Tampa, Florida billboard to demand that USF stop its investments “in Apartheid Israel.”

On January 20, 2016, the USF Oracle, USF’s student newspaper, reported that a BDS resolution passed in the student government, as a result of SJP USF’s BDS campaigning the previous two years.

On January 25, 2016, SJP USF President Rahma Elmohd posted a Facebook video urging the USF student government president to sign the resolution.

On January 27, 2016, the USF Oracle reported that the USF student government president and vice president both vetoed the resolution.

On February 4, 2016, the USF Oracle reported that a second BDS resolution was submitted by USF student senator and member of SJP USF Hala Alkattan. That resolution was identical to the previous one which was supported by SJP USF but was categorized differently so that the USF student government president and vice president could not veto it.

On February 11, 2016, the USF Oracle reported that the second BDS resolution was struck down by the USF student government supreme court since it violated the USF Constitution’s equal protection clause. The USF Oracle reported that the university’s supreme court found that “the resolution violated the racial and national origin elements of the clause by specifically targeting companies that have business in Israel.”

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.