Alaa Milbes
Overview
Alaa Milbes has spread hatred of Israel and promoted the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.Milbes was reportedly a member of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Columbia University (Columbia) (CSJP), in 2010.
As of January 2020, Milbes’s LinkedIn page said she was the Communications Coordinator for UNRWA [United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East], from Nov 2011 – Jan 2014 in East Jerusalem, where she led the development and implementation of communications and advocacy strategies for UNRWA and advocate for Palestine refugees.
Also as the same date, Milbes’s LinkedIn page said she was Communications Director at Jobs to Move America in Los Angeles, California, since July 2018 and an Instructor of Political Science at Long Beach City College (LBCC), since 2014.
Also as of January 2020, Milbes LinkedIn page said she received a master’s degree from Columbia in 2011 and a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Riverside (UCR) in political science and international studies, in 2009.
Milbes LinkedIn page also listed the Muslim Student Organization (MSA) under “Activities and Socities,” during her attendance at Chaffey College in 2006-2007.
Spreading Hatred of Israel
Milbes retweeted a December 24, 2019 tweet which read: “In churches all over the US tonight worshipers will sing about Bethlehem. Please, take a moment to remember today’s Bethlehem. It’s the home of 25,000 Palestinians who are living with limited human rights under Israeli military occupation. Free Palestine. Merry Christmas.”On September 14, 2018, Milbes tweeted a quote from an article written by anti-Israel activist Noura Erakat that read: “‘Since its establishment, Israel has equated the return of Palestinian refugees with its destruction. Not bc of capacity or security, but bc the return of Pals would undermine a myth of uninterrupted Jewish presence in Palestine…’ by the brilliant @4noura.”
The “right of return” is a Palestinian demand discredited as a means to eliminate Israel.
Milbes, during violent rioting then being conducted on Israel’s Gaza border, retweeted a May 14, 2018 tweet from Diana Buttu, a former lawyer for the Palestine Liberation Organization, that read: “Palestinians didn’t ‘die’ they were gunned down in a massacre. Please don’t victim blame or use passive voice: there is an aggressor (Israel) who deliberately chose to shoot unarmed protesters.”
On May 16, 2018, a Hamas senior official, Salah al-Bardawil, stated that 50 out of 62 protesters killed during the May 14 Gaza border protest were Hamas operatives. Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) also claimed that three of its members were killed at the same protest.
On December 9, 2017, Milbes tweeted: “...The #Palestinian people are an occupied people that are fighting settler colonialism and ethnic cleansing in 2017. History is on our side…We have nothing to prove.”
Milbes co-authored an article, originally published on April 12, 2010 and updated on March 29, 2013, with fellow CSJP activists, Fatimah Rimawi, Randa Wahbe, Matt Swagler and Dayana Khatib, titled: “The Palestinian Gandhis.”
The article claimed that “Israel has used aggression to crush the peaceful resistance methodically.” and went on to accuse Israel of “the occupation and colonization of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem.”
Promoting BDS
Milbes retweeted a January 6, 2019 tweet from U.S. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib which read: “...boycotting is a right & part of our historical fight for freedom & equality. Maybe a refresher on our U.S. Constitution is in order, then get back to opening up our government instead of taking our rights away.”
Milbes also retweeted a July 18, 2017 tweet from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) which read: “#HR1697, the Israel Anti-Boycott Act, would punish Americans for their political beliefs. Congress must reject this unconstitutional bill.”
The Israel Anti-Boycott Act (S.720/H.R. 1697) declared that U.S. policy opposes a March 24, 2016 U.N. Resolution which called to boycott and divest from Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Milbes co-wrote an article for the Columbia Spectator, originally published on March 2, 2010 and updated on March 27, 2013, with fellow CSJP activist Rahim Kurwa, as well as Khatib, Swagler, Rimawi and Wahbe, titled: “Israel, Peace not Apartheid.”
The article discussed CSJP’s “on-campus initiatives” during the sixth annual Israel Apartheid Week (IAW): “It is important to note that Israeli Apartheid Week is meant to raise awareness about the nature of Israeli apartheid.”
The article suggested that boycotting Israel was akin to boycotting Apartheid South Africa and promoted BDS, saying: “This week, people around the world will participate in the 6th Annual Israeli Apartheid Week and call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against Israel.”
Anti-Israel Activism
As of January 2020, Milbes’s LinkedIn page said she was the Communications Coordinator for UNWRA, based in Jerusalem, from November 2011 to January 2014. There, she “[l]ed the development and implementation of communications and advocacy strategies that sought to inform the public about UNRWA and advocate for Palestine refugees.”The United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) was created after Israel’s 1948 War of Independence to provide for the humanitarian needs of “Palestinian refugees,” which UNRWA defines as descendants of these displaced individuals worldwide. In late 2022, this number was close to 6 million.
Using its mandate, UNRWA has hired Hamas members as teachers in its schools and provided arms to the terror group. At least 42 UNRWA staff participated in the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack on Israel, with an estimated 10% of UNRWA’s Gaza staff having affiliation with Hamas or Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ). UNRWA staff kept hostages for Hamas in their homes, stored Hamas weapons in its facilities and provided electricity for Hamas’s data operations in Gaza tunnels from UNRWA headquarters.
On July 29, 2013, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators had resumed peace talks in Washington, D.C. The goal of the meetings reportedly was “to establish a Palestinian state alongside Israel with agreed-upon borders and security arrangements.”
The USPCN statement read: “Our rights – the rights of the Palestinian people – and our land – the entire land of Palestine – are not for sale or bartering at the negotiations table.”
The statement continued: “Our people have struggled for 65 years in order to achieve the liberation of the land and people of Palestine and the implementation of the right of Palestinian refugees to return their homes.”
On October 29, 2010, Milbes presented a workshop as part of a USPCN conference, titled: “Confronting Zionism & Normalization on Campus.”
CSJP’s Mock Israeli Checkpoint 2010
On November 20, 2010, CSJP uploaded a video to their YouTube channel, titled: “Mock Israeli Checkpoint at Columbia University”On November 18, 2010, CSJP activists staged [00:00:01] a mock Israeli checkpoint on Columbia’s Low Plaza.
Activists, dressed as Israeli soldiers blindfolded [00:01:08] and taped over the mouths of other activists, who were meant to portray Palestinians.
Israeli checkpoints were builtto prevent terror attacks, like suicide bombings, against Israel's civilian population.
The video claimed [00:02:21] that “91% of students at An-Najah University miss classes because of delays at checkpoints.”
Al-Najah (alternatively, An Najah) University is the largest Palestinian university in the West Bank and is notorious for its triumphal exhibit lauding the August 9, 2001 Sbarro cafe suicide bombing. The blast killed 15 civilians, including 7 children and a pregnant woman and wounded 130.
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.
Social Media and Weblinks
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/alaamilbesTwitter: https://twitter.com/alaamilb
- Status:
- Professor
- University:
- Columbia
- Organizations:
- BDS,
- SJP
- Related Profiles:
- Marianne Hirsch,
- Last Modified:
- 05/04/2026
Videos
Photos & Screenshots
