Idris Syed
Overview
Idris Syed [Idris Kabir Syed] has equated Israel with Nazi Germany and spread hatred of Israel and America.As of June 2024, Syed had been the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) faculty advisor at Kent State University (SJP-KSU) since 2021. He is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
As of June 2024, Syed was listed on the KSU website as an associate professor in the Department of Pan-African Studies.
Syed’s statements took place during Israel’s war against Hamas terrorists. Israel launched the war, called called “Swords of Iron,” after a series of Hamas terror attacks and war crimes against Israeli civilians, including mass murder, torture, rape, beheadings and kidnappings. The atrocities were executed on October 7, 2023, and left approximately 1,200 Israelis dead, hundreds kidnapped and thousands wounded.
Also as of June 2024, Syed’s LinkedIn profile said that he graduated from KSU with a master’s degree in ceramic arts and ceramics in 2014, and another master’s degree in mental health counseling in 2016.
As of the same date, Syed was listed online as having graduated from KSU with a bachelor’s degree in English and pan-African studies in 1994.
As of the same date, Syed’s LinkedIn said he was located in Kent, Ohio.
Equating Israel with Nazi Germany during a Hamas War
On December 19, 2023, Syed reposted on his Facebook page a photo featuring a Muslim woman holding a sign that read: “ONE HOLOCAUST DOES NOT JUSTIFY ANOTHER.”The post included a description that read below: “ We will NEVER stop sharing / FREE PALESTINE
.”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.
Hatred of Israel and America
On May 16, 2024, Syed posted to Facebook an image accusing Israel of carrying out a “GENOCIDE” in Gaza.On December 25, 2023, SJP-KSU posted on Instagram a statement promoting [slide 7] a BDS campaign.
The statement accused [slide 7] Israel of having an “apartheid regime” and claimed [slide 8] that Israel’s response to the Hamas terror attacks in early October represented an “impending genocide in Gaza.” The statement further claimed that Israel was engaged in the “ongoing colonization and military occupation of Palestine” and the “ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people.”
The statement also demonized [slide 3] multiple Israeli military operations at the Al Azhar University (Al Azhar), also known as the Islamic University of Gaza. The first instance SJP-KSU addressed: “On October 11 of this year, the Israeli Occupation Army targeted and bombed the Islamic University of Gaza.”
“Israeli Occupation Forces,” or “IOF,” is a derogatory name for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) used by anti-Israel activists to demonize Israel’s army.
On October 11, 2023, the Turkish news agency Anadolu Ajansi reported: “The Israeli army on Wednesday said it struck the Islamic University of Gaza, claiming it is an ‘important Hamas operational, political and military center…Hamas transformed a university into a training camp for weapons development and military intelligence.’”
Other news reports detailed the Israeli operations at Al Azhar that SJP-KSU alleged [slide 3] were examples of Israel’s “war against Palestinians in Gaza with complete disregard to their academic institutions and historical monuments.” SJP-KSU’s reference to the “Israeli Occupation Army” is a variation of “Israeli Occupation Forces,” a term anti-Israel activists use to demonize the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
On November 3, 2023, Syed posted on Facebook an image of a Muslim woman with Palestinian flags over her eyes and her mouth covered by four hands. Three hands represented social media platforms. The fourth hand, which was choking the woman, had an Israeli flag on it. Syed wrote, referring to the American flag: “The only thing missing is the Stars and Stripes…”
On October 19, 2023, Syed reposted a photo of two Neturei Karta men stepping on the Israeli flag while holding the Palestinian flag in their hands. The post included a description that said: “ Today’s Best Photo
/ Beautiful.”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
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/idris.k.syedTwitter:https://twitter.com/IdrisKabirSyed
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/idriskabirsyed/ [Private]
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/idris-kabir-syed-a992667/
University Website:https://www.kent.edu/afs/profile/idris-kabir-syed
Academia.edu:https://kentstate.academia.edu/IdrisKabirSyed
