Anti-Israel UT Knoxville Alum Collaborates With Antifa

UT Knoxville alumnus Rev. Osagyefo Sekou credits antifa forces with whom he was “discussing tactics,” for “saving [his] life” while he was protesting in Charlottesville: Antifa saved my life. — Rev. Osagyefo Sekou (@RevSekou) August 15, 2017 It’s ironic that Sekou, an anti-Israel agitator who supports extreme anti-Israel groups like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the U.S. Campaign to End the Occupation (CEO), would be demonstrating against Neo-Nazis in Charlottesville. The Anti-Defamation League lists both organizations among the top 10 most influential and active anti-Israel groups in the United States. The CEO is led by Yousef Munayyer, who as former director of the Jerusalem Fund openly advocated for the BDS (Boycott, Divestment & Sanction) campaign against Israel which has continued under the new director. The Jerusalem Fund’s board Chairman is Dr. Subhi Ali from Waverly, Tennessee. His daughter, Samar Ali served in the Haslam administration. The BDS campaign attacks Zionism and seeks to demonize, delegitimize and eliminate the State of Israel, to wit, the slogan “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” used by BDS promoters to signal that if successful, there would be no Israel or Jews between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean. It is…

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Commentary: Refugees and Students of Middle Eastern Descent Fueling Anti-Semitism on Tennessee Campuses

Shortly after fall 2016 classes started at UT Knoxville, The Algemeiner, an online Jewish newspaper, posted a lengthy article describing a “ring of anti-Israel students” at UTK they claim has “created a ‘cesspool’ of antisemitism and racist behavior” initially discovered by an investigative group called “Canary Mission.” Students were identified mostly through their tweets spreading extreme racist and anti-Jewish messages through two campus groups – Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the Muslim Students Association (MSA). SJP is described by the Anti-Defamation League as the “primary organizer of anti-Israel events on U.S. college campuses.” The SJP chapter at UTK was started by Amira Sakalla born in the U.S. but describes herself as a Palestinian-American. The SJP chapter at Vanderbilt University was started by Arkansas native Hytham Al-Hindi whose father immigrated from Jordan to the U.S. Tweets from current and former students at MTSU, Memphis University and Southwest TN Community College were also discovered with messages like “Israel is a terror state we need a new Hitler”, “May Allah annihilate the Jewish dogs” and “contemplating if we should get another Hitler to put you in concentration camps and wipe you all out.” Some of the students were members of their…

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