Devin Jones

Overview

Devin Jones [Boulos Bathish] has demonized Zionists and spread hatred of Israel as an activist within the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

In 2015, Jones served as the education chair for the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (UM Ann Arbor), known as Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE).

After graduating in the summer of 2017, he remained active with SAFE and participated [01:49:57] in SAFE’s 2017 anti-Israel divestment campaign — #UMDivest.

As of May 2018, Jones’ LinkedIn page said he was a 2017 graduate of UM Ann Arbor, with a bachelor’s degree in “International & Comparative Studies” and Political Science. He also graduated from the University of Michigan-Flint (UM Flint) in 2013, with a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Political Science.

Jones’s LinkedIn page said he has been the executive director of the Arab American Heritage Council in Flint, Michigan, since July 2017.

As of May 2018, Jones went by the name “Boulos Bathish” on Twitter and “بولص بطحيش [Boulos Bathish] on Facebook. He went by “Devin Boulos Bathish” on LinkedIn.

Jones said [00:01:15] in a 2016 #UMDivest video that he was a “Palestinian citizen of Israel.”

Demonizing Zionists

On November 7, 2017, the UM Ann Arbor Central Student Government (CSG) held a meeting to discuss #UMDivest. During the meeting, Jones claimed [01:55:18] that Israel is a “regime of apartheid” and has committed “occupation” and “ethnic cleansing.”

Jones continued, saying [1:55:30]: “This state has functioned as a rogue state, that dehumanizes people and that’s what we are calling into question.”

Jones then called out Jewish supporters of Israel, saying [01:42:45] that what “needs to be called into question” is “why you believe your Jewishness is directly tied to a state that is oppressing people?”

On September 12, 2014, Jones posted on Facebook a condemnation of Birthright Israel trips, which are Jewish heritage trips to Israel. Jones wrote: “It's a crime that spoiled American teens are allowed to visit our home for "birthright…”

He continued: “If you have the audacity to praise your ‘birthright’ trip or even think aloud about going on one in my presence, I will immediately shut you down and tell you to excuse yourself from my presence.”

Spreading Hatred of Israel

On October 14, 2016, Jones led a SAFE “teach-in” on “settler colonialism” where he claimed [01:11:30] that Israel has “apartheid” policies. Jones’s slides referred to the Israeli security barrier the “Apartheid Wall.” He also accused [01:00:00] Israel of “ethnic cleansing.”

Jones also addressed the topic of Ashkenazi Jews — Jews in the European diaspora. Jones’s slides said [00:48:11] that Zionism “sought to allow a White European people to immigrate and dominate a foreign land.” Jones also said [00:52:48] that “Ashkenazim are white Europeans” and [00:50:18] that “Ashkenazim Jews were definitely white.”

On October 13, 2014, Jones shared a post from anti-Israel professor Sarah Schulman, In her post, Schulman wrote that “anti-semitism is an attitude with little material application” and blamed Israel for instigating anti-Semitism. Her post also promoted the anti-Israel Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) organization and BDS.

On August 4, 2014, during Operation Protective Edge (OPE), Jones shared an anti-Israel graphic on Facebook during Israel’s against Hamas. The graphic claimed that Israel intentionally bombed shelters full of civilians and then blamed the deaths on Hamas’s use of “human shields.”

Israel commenced Operation Protective Edge (OPE) in July 2014, to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.

Anti-Israel Campus Activism

On November 7, 2017, Jones spoke [01:50:01] before the CSG where he promoted #UMDivest and the BDS movement.

On October 4, 2016, Jones retweeted a SAFE tweet showing the organization’s mock-up of the Israeli security barrier. SAFE’s “Mock Wall” featured the likeness of terrorist Leila Khaled and a discredited map of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

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.

Jones was also a SAFE leader during the 2015 and 2016 divestment resolution campaigns.

SAFE - Creating an Atmosphere of Intimidation on Campus

On October 5, 2016, during the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah, SAFE staged an anti-Israel demonstration at UM Ann Arbor. SAFE members erected a mock checkpoint in a central campus area, as well as a wall display meant to represent Israel’s security fence, and claimed that Israel practices "apartheid."

SAFE members dressed up as Israeli security forces and “were seen yelling at passers-by near a cardboard wall.”

SAFE’s wall featured an image of international hijacker Leila Khaled.

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.

The Michigan Review reported that “[b]ecause Rosh Hashanah calls for attending service at the synagogue, many Jewish students were not on campus to express their feelings of anguish while the event occurred. Those students who remained on campus were left to cope with the demonstration without the support of many of their peers.”

In 2013, SAFE posted mock eviction notices, in violation of UM Ann Arbor policy, on the dorm rooms of approximately 1,500 students, “in order to have students momentarily experience the feeling of receiving an eviction notice upon waking up.”

SAFE - Pushing BDS at UM Ann Arbor

In 2014, 2015 and 2016, SAFE launched BDS initiatives that politicized UM Ann Arbor’s Central Student Government Assembly (CSGA) and called upon it to divest from companies allegedly involved in human rights violations against Palestinians.

On March 18, 2014, SAFE’s BDS resolution was indefinitely tabled for failing to fall within the purview of the CSGA. In response, SAFE members held a week-long "sit in " at the CSG’s chambers, as well as campus demonstrations, to force a vote on the resolution. On March 19, 2014, SAFE tweeted: “We have taken over and will remain as long as it takes.”

SAFE’s demonstrations were marked by violent rhetoric against those who did not support the resolution, well as anti-Semitic threats directed at pro-Israel students, which led to a police investigation. Then-CSGA senior Yazan Kherallah, the divestment chair of SAFE said: “We’re going to hold every person who voted against listening to student voices accountable.”

The CSGA voted down the resolution on March 25, 2014.

In January 2014, SAFE sponsored a talk with BDS founder Omar Barghouti at the University of Michigan Law School.

SAFE - Supporting Terrorist Rasmea Odeh

SAFE has, since 2014, supported Rasmea Odeh.

Odeh was a key military operative [00:02:08]with the terrorist group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). In 1969, Odeh masterminded a PFLP bombing that killed two college students in a Jerusalem supermarket. Odeh also attempted to bomb the British consulate.

Odeh confessed, in a highly detailed account, the day following her arrest. In a 2004 documentary, one of Odeh’s co-conspirators directly implicated [00:10:53] Odeh as the mastermind.

In 1970, an Israeli court tried and convicted Odeh for her involvement in both bombings and sentenced her to life imprisonment. However, Odeh was released 10 years later, in a prisoner swap and emigrated to the United States.

On November 10, 2014, a Michigan federal jury convicted Odeh for immigration fraud because she failed to disclose her prior conviction and life sentence on her immigration application. On March 12, 2015, she was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

In 2017, after an appeal and a lengthy court battle, Odeh admitted to immigration fraud, was stripped of her U.S. citizenship, deported to Jordan and banned from re-entering the U.S.

SAFE - Hosting Anti-Jewish Professor Steven Salaita

On December 22, 2014, SAFE hosted Professor Steven Salaita, the Edward Said Chair of American Studies at the American University of Beirut (AUB), at a UM Ann Arbor event.

SAFE’s former spokeswoman Mekarem Eljamal stated that the group "invited Salaita to the University because they felt his message of academic freedom was particularly relevant in light of the group’s UMDivest campaign."

In 2014, The University of Illinois withdrew an offer of employment to Salaita after becoming aware of his anti-Semitic tweets. One tweet, posted shortly after Hamas kidnapped three teenage Israeli high school students, read: "You may be too refined to say it, but I’m not: I wish all the f**king West Bank settlers would go missing.” In 2017, Salaita posted to Facebook: “People ask if I would go back in time and change anything. I would not…I will die unapologetic.” In February 2019, Salaita stated that he had become a school bus driver in the Washington, D.C., area.

Misrepresenting BDS

On October 24th, 2017, SAFE members announced the launch of their 2017 divestment campaign at a Central Student Government Assembly (CSG Assembly) meeting. SAFE activist and UM alumnus Devin Jones said that the goals of #UMDivest were the “goals of BDS movement.”

However, during a November 7, 2017 CSG Assembly meeting, Jones downplayed the resolution’s affiliation with BDS, announcing: [01:51:28] “this is part of the BDS movement… only the D in BDS.”

At the same meeting, SAFE activist Arwa Gayar also said: [01:34:53] “I would like to first reiterate that...we [#UMDivest] is “just divestment” and not aligned with the larger BDS movement. She added [01:35:00] that “we always have this statement that ‘we just want the D and no BS.’”

On November 10, 2017, a news article quoted “a SAFE representative” who claimed #UMDivest 2017 “is not affiliated with the BDS movement.”

#UMDivest 2017 - Bringing Anti-Semite Sabry Wazwaz to UM

At the November 7, 2017 CSG meeting, Sabry Wazwaz — a BDS activist from Minnesota who is unaffiliated with UM — spoke [2:02:43] in support of #UMDivest.

Wazwaz has a history of tweeting anti-Jewish imagery, various anti-Israel conspiracy theories and imagery that equates Israel with Nazi Germany. Less than three months before the meeting, he tweeted: “#ZionismIsNazism.” At the meeting, Wazwaz compared [2:05:40] Palestinians in Israel to Jews killed by the Nazi regime.

Wazwaz directly addressed [2:05:16] pro-Israel students and said that, as a Muslim, he condemned “oppressive” Arab governments.

He then said [2:05:30]: “Just like I say ‘condemn them,’ what’s wrong with saying we’re against the racist policies of the state of Israel? … Just like what happened to the Jewish people in the Holocaust was a tragedy, why should the Palestinians also suffer a tragedy?”

These comments drew cheering and applause from #UMDivest supporters.

#UMDivest 2017 - Demonizing Jewish Students

At the November 7, 2017 CSG meeting, former SAFE leader Devin Jones addressed attendees, saying [1:55:36]: “If you believe your Jewishness is tied to the oppression of another people, it is not the problem of being Palestinian that needs to be called into question.”

On November 14, 2017, SAFE posted a pro-BDS article on Facebook written by the UM Ann Arbor chapter of the anti-Israel Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) organization. The post included an excerpt from the article addressed to pro-Israel Jewish students: “And as long as Israel and its supporters attempt to use our identities to deny Palestinian rights, we will continue to say: You do not speak for us."

On November 21, 2017, the CSG president Anushka Sarkar signed the resolution into effect. She wrote that she did it with “discretion and caution” and wrote: “We need to discuss why some people found it appropriate to hold up signs that say ‘Stop Silencing Me’ when a student shared a personal story of how their grandparents survived the Holocaust.”

#UMDivest 2017 - Promoting Terrorists

SAFE’s 2017 BDS resolution accused [p.4] Israel of “the unlawful execution of Palestinians” and cited to a report portraying terrorists as victims. Among them were terrorists Fadi Aloon and Mustafa Al-Khatib [p.5-6], who both died during stabbing attacks.

The report claimed [p.1] that “Israeli forces” carried out over 200 “unlawful killings” of Palestinians in Israel since 2015, but admitted that “most of these killings – more than 150 of them – came during alleged, attempted, or actual attacks by Palestinian individuals against Israeli soldiers, police and civilians.”

On November 1, 2017, SAFE posted a photo on Facebook of a mock Israeli security barrier alongside an image of terrorist Leila Khaled. SAFE wrote: “We’re back. #UMDivest.”

#UMDivest 2017 - Denying That #UMDivest is BDS

Throughout its divestment campaign, #UMDivest followed a strategy outlined by leading BDS activists while denying that the campaign was part of the broader BDS movement.

In April 2017, Omar Barghouti — the BDS movement founder — said [00:58:53]: “If you join a campaign for justice and freedom, it doesn’t have to carry the BDS logo. It doesn’t have to say ‘boycott’ and it doesn’t have to say ‘BDS.’ There are many creative ways how to do things without labeling it as BDS.”

On November 14, 2017, during the CSG vote on #UMDivest, Yara Gayar, an author of SAFE’s divestment resolution, told [00:51:35] the CSG: “This is not part of the BDS movement.”

Reema Kaakarli, a SAFE activist, spent [00:53:32] nearly two minutes trying to distinguish UMDivest’s resolution from BDS and specified [00:54:28]: “We really want to distinguish ourselves from the leaders of the broader BDS movement.”

On November 7, 2017, Arwa Gayar, another SAFE activist, told [1:35:03] the CSG: “We are not BDS, we are just divestment.”

However, SAFE activists Arwa Gayar and Reem Al-Khatib, who spoke [1:40:42] at both [00:38:19] CSG hearings, posed for a photo supporting BDS at the 2017 National SJP Conference (NSJP 2017) in Texas from October 27-29.

The NSJP 2017 schedule explicitly identified campus divestment efforts with BDS, and held workshops to: “... envision pathways to achieving sanctions in the future and work towards getting our institutions to follow through on commitments to divest.”

On November 22, 2017, SAFE posted a Facebook photo of BDS activist Roger Waters celebrating the #UMDivest victory.

Upon signing the resolution, CSG president Sarkar condemned SAFE’s tactic of obfuscating the resolution’s connection to BDS. She also condemned SAFE for preventing a Jewish professor from speaking against the resolution, because the group had argued that the debate should remain a “student-to-student” issue.

However, SAFE activist and CSG representative Hafsa Tout invited BDS activist Kristian Davis Bailey and former SAFE leader Farah Erzouki to speak for #UMDivest, neither of whom were students.