Students Against Israeli Apartheid

Demonizing Israel

On February 5, 2015, soon after their one-year suspension ended, SAIA York was back on campus, running anti-Israel programs and spreading propaganda that demonized Israel. SAIA York ran a program featuring Hammam Farah, an SAIA agitator, since 2003, who accused “zionist militias” of ethnic cleansing, mutilating women, putting Palestinians on a death march, and murdering the elderly and disabled.

As of January 2017, SAIA York has continued to feature Farah on its Facebook page.

Endorsing Terrorists

In November of 2012, SAIA York screened a film promoting Leila Khaled, a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist, who hijacked two passenger airplanes in 1969 and 1970, and as of April 3, 2014, still advocated violence to achieve her ends. In November of 2013, SAIA York also defended convicted terrorist Rasmea Odeh.

Odeh was a key military operative with the PFLP, a designated terrorist organization according to the United States, Canada, the European Union and Israel.

In 1969, the PFLP bombed a Jerusalem supermarket, killing two college students and attempted to bomb the Jerusalem British consulate. Odeh confessed to both bombings in a highly detailed account, the day following her arrest. One of Odeh’s co-conspirators also directly implicated Odeh as the mastermind in a 2004 documentary.

Odeh was tried and convicted for her involvement in both bombings and sentenced to life imprisonment by an Israeli court. After being released in a prisoner swap, she emigrated to the United States.

Assaulting Pro-Israel students

On February 11, 2009, members of SAIA York and other anti-Israel protesters verbally assaulted Jewish students at York, chanting, "Die, b**ch, go back to Israel," and "Die, Jew, get the hell off campus." Jewish students were forced to seek protection in the Hillel office. Eventually, police were called to escort Jewish students safely past the protesters.

Calling for an Intifada

In 2006, one year after the second intifada, SAIA YORK agitator Hammam Farah delivered a fiery speech at York, replete with anti-Israel rhetoric and calls for violence. The speech. Transcripts and video, posted on YouTube and the Facebook and Twitter pages of SAIA members, were punctuated with calls of: “Intifada, Intifada!” and “Amandla [Power to]! INTIFADA! Amandla! AL AWDA [Right of Return]!” Intifada refers to a violent armed uprising against Israelis.

In 2008, another demonstration calling for an Intifada was held by SAIA York.

Promoting Hatred of Israel

In early November of 2016, SAIA GMU hosted the sixth annual National SJP conference. During the conference, T-shirts promoting terrorist Leila Khaled were sold, An Israeli flag was reportedly used a doormat — and a conference attendee tweeted a photo of shoes piled atop the flag, with the caption, “Best doormat ever.”

Conference attendees reportedly spread a number of outwardly violent messages across social media. One attendee, for example, after discovering that pro-Israel activists were also on site, tweeted, “I’ll f**k up a Zionist.”

On September 30, 2016, SAIA GMU recycled on Facebook an iconic piece of anti-Israel incitement, dubbed the Al Durah hoax, which was fabricated during a riot in the Gaza Strip, at the start of the second intifada. A France 2 report — filmed by a Palestinian cameraman and narrated by France 2's editor, who was not at the scene — purported to show Jamal al-Durah and his 12-year-old son, Muhammad, crouching behind a concrete cylinder, shot by Israeli forces. The minute-long film clip showed the boy crying and the father waving. Following what sounded like a burst of gunfire, the video showed the boy slumped across his father's legs.

Subsequent review of the raw footage revealed that France 2 had edited out the final scenes captured by the Palestinian cameraman, which showed the boy peeking at the camera from beneath his raised arm. Film of the father and son from other news networks — indicating that the entire scene was staged — was also uncovered. The physical evidence also showed it was highly likely that the gunfire directed at the pair came from Palestinian gunmen situated behind the France 2 cameraman, and was in all ways inconsistent with shots coming from the IDF position.

Portraying Terrorists as Victims

On October 3, 2015, SAIA GMU shared a video of Palestinian terrorist Fadi Aloon on Facebook from a blog written by the anti-Israel hate site Electronic Intifada. The blog title claimed that Aloon was “executed.” In truth, Aloon was shot by Israeli security forces after he stabbed a 15-year-old Israeli boy. Several hours before his attempt at murder, Aloon posted “Either martyrdom or victory” on his Facebook page.

October 2015 saw a wave of religiously incited terrorist violence, known variously as the “Knife Intifada” or the “Stabbing Intifada” when Palestinian radicals across Israel stabbed and hacked to death scores of 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. That same claim led directly to deadly anti-Semitic violence in 2014.

Shutting down Dialogue

In June of 2013, SAIA GMU members interrupted a speech given by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert at the Wilson Center in Washington D.C.

The students screamed insults and accusations at Olmert, calling out “War Criminal” and “Murderer.” One individual accused Israeli soldiers of “playing soccer with the head of a dead two-year-old.”

SAIA’s repeated interruptions forced the Wilson Center Director, Jane Harman, to call for a tightening of security. Harman later commented: “I also defend free speech in this country...but it is unfortunate that people feel the need to disrupt a gathering where they could peacefully and civilly ask questions.”

For more information about the history of SJP, an alternative name for SAIA, see SJP.