Maha Nassar
Overview
Maha Nassar has spread incitement, expressed support for terrorists and promoted hatred of Israel. Nassar is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.Nassar is also a supporter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).
As of April 2023, Nassar was listed as a policy member of the anti-Israel group, Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network (Al-Shabaka).
Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network, is a pro-BDS group that supports the Palestinian “right of return” and levels accusations of ethnic cleansing, apartheid and genocide at Israel.
As of April 2023, Nassar was an associate professor of modern middle east history and Islamic studies in the School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies at the University of Arizona (Arizona).
As of the same date, Nassar was the Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP) inaugural Palestinian non-resident fellow in 2022.
Nassar is the author of the book, “Brothers Apart: Palestinian Citizens of Israel and the Arab World,” which was published in 2017.
Nassar received a PhD in near eastern languages and civilizations from the University of Chicago (UChicago) in 2006. She also graduated from UChicago with a master’s degree in middle eastern studies in 1999, and graduated from Benedictine University (BenU) with a bachelor’s degree in English language and literature in 1997.
As of the same date, Nassar used the handle “@mtnassar” on Twitter.
Spreading Incitement
On April 18, 2022, Nassar tweeted: “Palestinians on both sides of the Green Line have long been connected by their shared sense of duty to protect Jerusalem and its holy sites from Jewish extremists who wish to destroy the Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock. I explain this history here:”Nassar’s tweet linked to an August 6, 2021 article she wrote for the Berkley Forum at Georgetown University (Georgetown), titled: “‘Al-Aqsa Is in Danger’: How Jerusalem Connects Palestinian Citizens of Israel to the Palestinian Cause.”
In the article, Nassar accused the Israeli government of supporting “a growing network of extremist settler and religious Zionist groups seeking to establish full Israeli control over Occupied East Jerusalem, including the Old City.” She also claimed: “The most extreme among them wish to destroy the Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock and to rebuild the Third Jewish Temple.”
Terror Support (PFLP)
On August 18, 2022, Nassar tweeted: “...A clear-eyed report on the [Israeli] occupation’s violent attacks on seven Palestinian human rights groups. Explaining what happened w/o equivocation, centering Palestinian voices…#StandWithThe6.”In October 2021, Israel’s minister of defense declared six Palestinian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to be “terror organizations” operating “as an arm” for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The groups were accused of funneling donor aid to militants and employing senior PFLP members, “including activists involved in terror activity.” PFLP is designated as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) by the United States, the EU, Canada, the Gulf Cooperation Council, Australia and Israel.
On July 10, 2019, Nassar posted on Facebook, praising Ghassan Kanafani.
Kanafani was a leading member and spokesperson for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) during the terrorist organization’s early years. Kanafani announced the PFLP’s responsibility for the Lod Airport Massacre of May 1972 and was linked to the airport attackers. The attack killed 26 people and wounded 80 others.
On October 28, 2018, Nassar shared on Facebook a series of photos promotingthe Hamas - led March of Return riots on the Israel-Gaza border.
Hatred of Israel
On March 7, 2023, Nassar hosted a podcast, which was posted on YouTube, titled: “Backlash and Perseverance: The Berkeley LSJP [Law SJP] Bylaw and Its Aftermath,” featuring Berkeley LSJP members Malak Afaneh and Risa Nagel.Afaneh, who was president of Berkeley LSJP when the bylaw was adopted, has spread hatred of Zionists and expressed support for the PFLP terror group.
On August 6, 2022, Berkeley LSJP amended its group constitution to include a pro-BDS bylaw banning pro-Israel speakers from participating in club events. The bylaw explicitly excluded [p. 3] any speaker who had “expressed and continued to hold views…in support of Zionism, the apartheid state of Israel, and the occupation of Palestine.”
Zionism is the belief that Jews have the right to self-determination in their own national home, and the right to develop their national culture.
During the webinar, Nassar said [00:27:52]: “By saying anything you say that criticizes Israel’s structural formation as a racialized entity, as a settler-colony practicing apartheid, those things can easily lead one to being accused of anti-Semitism under the IHRA [International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance] definition.”
Several examples of anti-Semitism given in the IHRA definition relate to Israel. However, the definition states: “Criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic.” The U.S. State Department adopted the IHRA’s working definition of anti-Semitism in 2016. Thirty-four other countries have adopted the definition as well. Over 40 other countries have adopted the definition as well.
On October 25, 2022, Nassar published an article in the journal Critical Sociology, titled: “Exodus, Nakba Denialism, and the Mobilization of Anti-Arab Racism.”
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.
On February 2, 2019, Nassar tweeted, insinuating that Israel practices apartheid.
On December 4, 2018, Nassar shared an article on Facebook, promoting the “Deadly Exchange” campaign launched by the anti-Israel organization, Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP).
In 2017, JVP launched the “Deadly Exchange (DX)” campaign, which accused American Jewish organizations of promoting human rights abuses. JVP also released a video that blamed [00:04:04] U.S.-based Jewish organizations for violence that occurs against Black and Brown communities, immigrants and activists in the U.S.
On December 3, 2018, Nassar published an article in The Forward, titled: “‘From The River To The Sea’ Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Means,” which defended anti-Israel activist Marc Lamont Hill.
“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free” is a chant used [00:02:47] to call for the elimination of the State of Israel. It has also been employed by Hamas leader Khaled Mashal to call for the replacement of Israel with an Islamic state. In April 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning the chant as antisemitic.
In November 2018, Hill was fired from his contributor position at CNN (Cable News Network) after he gave an anti-Israel speech at the United Nations. He called [00:20:47] for a “free Palestine from the river to the sea,” a phrase associated with demands to dismantle the State of Israel. Hill also accused [00:16:19] Israel of “ethnic cleansing,” as well as [00:17:49] “white supremacy” and [00:17:56] “settler colonialism.”
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/maha.nassar.5439Twitter:https://twitter.com/mtnassar
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/maha-nassar-3240b715
Academia.edu:https://arizona.academia.edu/MahaNassar
University Website:https://menas.arizona.edu/people/maha-nassar
