Sophia Azeb
Overview
Sophia Azeb is a professor who expressed support for terrorism, spread hatred of Israel and engaged in anti-Israel activism.Azeb’s social media posts occurred in the wake of Hamas terror atrocities and war crimes against Israeli civilians, including mass murder, torture, rape, beheadings and kidnappings, which were executed on October 7, 2023. The Hamas terror attacks left over 1,200 Israelis dead, hundreds kidnapped and thousands wounded. Israel retaliated with a war called “Swords of Iron.”
As of May 2024, Azeb was listed as a member of the Faculty for Justice in Palestine (FJP)’s National Steering Committee. FJP is a pro-BDS national network of academic chapters that “exists to share resources and coordinate actions nationally” in support of “campus groups of faculty and staff who are organizing for Palestinian liberation.”
As of May 2024, Azeb was an assistant professor of Black Studies in the Department of Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, Humanities Division, at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) in 2022-2023.
Azeb was also listed as assistant professor in the Department of English Language & Literature at the University of Chicago (U of C) for 2023-2024.
Azeb was listed as a postdoctoral academic diversity faculty fellow in the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University from 2016-2018 and received a PhD in American Studies and Ethnicity from the University of Southern California (USC) in 2016.
Support for Terrorism
On September 2, 2023, Azeb tweeted a photo that showed Azeb in front of a photograph of Leila Khaled holding a rifle. Azeb wrote: “Lmfao [laughing my f**king a** off] love…Palestine.”Leila Khaled is a leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and participated in the hijacking of TWA Flight 840 in 1969 and El Al Flight 219 in 1970. As of 2017, Khaled was a member of PFLP's Political Bureau. Khaled has said that the second intifada failed because it was not violent enough, advocated [00:36:07] for the use of children in terror activities and compared Zionists to Nazis.
On October 7, 2023, the day Hamas terrorists murdered approximately 1200 Israelis, Azeb tweeted: “...[Decolonisation, which sets out to change the order of the world, is, obviously, a program of complete disorder] - Frantz Fanon
.”The watermelon has been appropriated by anti-Israel activists as a symbol of Palestinian "resistance" to "Israeli occupation," as it shares the colors with the flag of Palestine. It has been depicted in art, used on flags at protests and posted online.
Also on October 7, 2023, Azeb tweeted in Arabic and English: “we will return
.”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.
Also on October 7, 2023, Azeb tweeted: “from the river to the sea…
/ ‘On borders, war is declared on borders…’” “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.
Azeb retweeted a May 3, 2024 tweet from National Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) that read: “LONG LIVE THE STUDENT INTIFADA” with the words: ”Reject Normalization. Support the Resistance.” The poster included an image of a man with his head wrapped in a black-and-white Palestinian keffiyeh bearing a Palestinian flag.
Hatred of Israel
On October 18, 2023, Azeb tweeted: “the fact that ghouls like [U.S. president Joe] Biden and Hochul [then-governer of New York] are traveling to the Zionist entity [Israel] to cheer on genocide speaks volumes on their confidence they are in no danger within the borders of an apartheid state...”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.
On April 14, 2024, Azeb tweeted:”Biden spent 1 billion of our tax dollars protecting a fascist imperialist state from the consequences of their own f**ked up fascist imperialist actions.
“ On April 21, 2024, Azeb tweeted: “This is what a liberated Palestine - once the genocidaires are repatriated to their countries of origin to face restitution for this genocide - could sound like.”
Embedded in Azeb’s tweet was an April 20, 2024 video captioned: “Jewish students celebrate Shabbat in song at the Columbia Gaza Solidarity Encampment.” The video showed students at the Columbia University encampment singing and dancing in front of a banner that read: “Shabbat Shalom from the Liberation Zone.”
Azeb retweeted a May 14, 2024 tweet that said: “Never been so happy to see my tax dollars burn.” The tweet included a tweet with a video of a fire that broke out on the same day at a warehouse on the Tel Hashomer military base in Israel.
Anti-Israel Activism
On October 28, 2023, Azeb tweeted a photo of an anti-Israel protest and wrote: “Los Angeles
.”On January 13, 2024, Azeb tweeted a photo of a protest and wrote: “National March for Gaza in DC now…”
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
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brownisthecolor
Photos & Screenshots
