The Nightmare is Over at San Francisco State University

The nightmare for Israeli students, Jewish students and pro-Israel students at San Francisco State University is finally coming to an end.  Mohammad G. Hammad,  President of the General Union of Palestinians students  (GUPS) at SFSU is no longer a student

From the AMCHA Initiative:

Thank you to all of you.  Because of your calls to San Francisco State University and multiple inquiries from reporters yesterday, university administrators have stated that Mohammad Hammad is no longer enrolled at SFSU and is no longer living on campus.  

In addition, today we spoke with the SF Police Department Office of Special Investigation, and the sergeant informed us that Hammad is being investigated by the Joint Terrorism Task Force and the FBI. 

We remain concerned that the terrorist ideology espoused by Hammad is embraced by other members of the student organization he ran, GUPS, and we will continue to closely monitor the investigation and the GUPS group. 

Thank you again for everything you did to help ensure the safety of Jewish students at SFSU. 

Tammi Rossman-Benjamin and Leila Beckwith

AMCHA Initiative Co-founders

Mohammad's reaction?

  
At least Hammad is self aware enough to realize that being investigated by the Joint Terrorism Task Force and the FBI is a rather "serious turn".

Of course, the real thanks are due to the team at AMCHA, who have tirelessly pursued this until its ultimate conclusion.

From the No Cal J Weekly: SFSU student allegedly threatens Israeli soldier

From the Jewish Weekly, the Bay area's  local Jewish newspaper.

SFSU student allegedly threatens Israeli soldier

The president of the General Union of Palestine Students at San Francisco State has directly threatened the life of a specific soldier in the Israel Defense Forces, according to the AMCHA Initiative.

AMCHA earlier this month reported that Mohammad G. Hammad, the president of the GUPS chapter at SFSU, had posted a picture of himself holding a large knife on his Tumblr social media site, along with the caption: “I seriously can not get over how much I love this blade. It is the sharpest thing I own and cuts through everything like butter and just holding it makes me want to stab an Israeli soldier.”

 Thats old news already.  But now  Mohammad's target has a name

In turn, the Simon Wiesenthal Center warned SFSU officials of a potential threat to its Jewish students.

Though the Tumblr post of Aug. 10 reportedly was removed, AMCHA, a nonprofit that works to combat anti-Semitism on college campuses, this week released a statement claiming that Hammad “has put a name and a face to the soldier he would like to kill in one of his [other] Tumblr posts” for allegedly killing a Palestinian teenager in Hebron.

It went on to quote the post: “I’m sitting here looking through pictures of that f—ing scum (name removed to protect the soldier) … Anyone who thinks there can be peace with animals like this is absolutely delusional, and the only ‘peace’ I’m interested in is the head of this f—ing scum on a plate, as well as the heads of all others like her, and all others who support the IDF. The Liberation of Palestine can only come through the destruction and decimation of this Israeli plague and it can’t possibly come soon enough.”

In that post, Hammad “encouraged his followers to harass the female IDF soldier” and linked to her Facebook page, according to AMCHA, which also said it had notified SFSU President Leslie Wong and other school officials.

Read it here

Mohammad G. Hammad's latest rant was profiled in the Jewish Press, as well.

In this post, Hammad discusses the death of an Arab 17 year old in Hebron last year. The 17 year old was shot by a female Israel Defence Forces soldier after the youth attacked her and pulled a realistic-looking toy gun on her. The post includes an entirely fabricated version of the actual events, one which portrays the Arab as a deaf teenager innocently out to get some birthday cake when he was shot to death by the IDF soldier, following an “altercation.”

Read more at: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/california-student-leader-wants-to-decapitate-all-who-support-the-idf/2013/12/11/

In this post, Hammad discusses the death of an Arab 17 year old in Hebron last year. The 17 year old was shot by a female Israel Defence Forces soldier after the youth attacked her and pulled a realistic-looking toy gun on her. The post includes an entirely fabricated version of the actual events, one which portrays the Arab as a deaf teenager innocently out to get some birthday cake when he was shot to death by the IDF soldier, following an “altercation.”


 Mohammad left out the part  where the 17 year old pulled a metal replica of a gun on the Israeli border patrol.

Lori Lowenthal Marcus continues with the questions we are all asking:

Can the SFSU environment be considered a safe one with a student leader – let’s say that again, a student leader! - who has already posed making threats while caressing a knife, and is now calling for the beheading of IDF soldiers and anyone who supports them? Surely any “dialogue with student groups and counseling resources” is a tack already taken, one revealed to be insufficient. Will SFSU make clear that threats against its population will not be tolerated? The SFSU administration is already on notice. Any action taken after someone is already harmed will not be defensible. We await a response from Dr. Wong. 

A new posting on Tumblr from Mohammad G. Hammad, president of San Francisco State University’s General Union of Palestine Students (GUPS), has been discovered by the AMCHA Initiative. It’s even more graphic than the earlier one. In this post, Hammad discusses the death of an Arab 17 year old in Hebron last year. The 17 year old was shot by a female Israel Defence Forces soldier after the youth attacked her and pulled a realistic-looking toy gun on her. The post includes an entirely fabricated version of the actual events, one which portrays the Arab as a deaf teenager innocently out to get some birthday cake when he was shot to death by the IDF soldier, following an “altercation.”

Read more at: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/california-student-leader-wants-to-decapitate-all-who-support-the-idf/2013/12/11/

A new posting on Tumblr from Mohammad G. Hammad, president of San Francisco State University’s General Union of Palestine Students (GUPS), has been discovered by the AMCHA Initiative. It’s even more graphic than the earlier one. In this post, Hammad discusses the death of an Arab 17 year old in Hebron last year. The 17 year old was shot by a female Israel Defence Forces soldier after the youth attacked her and pulled a realistic-looking toy gun on her. The post includes an entirely fabricated version of the actual events, one which portrays the Arab as a deaf teenager innocently out to get some birthday cake when he was shot to death by the IDF soldier, following an “altercation.”

Read more at: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/california-student-leader-wants-to-decapitate-all-who-support-the-idf/2013/12/11/

Zionist organization of America (ZOA) adds their voice

From the Zionist Organization of America, an open letter regarding the recent events at San Francisco State University

Dear President Wong,
We write on behalf of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), the oldest and one of the largest pro-Israel organizations in the U.S., whose mission includes fighting anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias and bigotry on college campuses.  The ZOA played a key role in ensuring that Jewish students at publicly-funded schools would be protected from anti-Semitic harassment and intimidation under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.  Publicly-funded schools that fail to take the necessary steps to remedy a hostile campus environment for Jewish students in violation of Title VI now risk losing their federal funding.

We were outraged to learn that on November 7, 2013, San Francisco State University’s General Union of Palestine Students (GUPS) was involved in a campus event at which students were encouraged to create their own placards with a pre-made stencil that read, “MY HEROES HAVE ALWAYS KILLED COLONIZERS.”  When a Palestinian Arab group makes a statement like this, the message is crystal clear:  The group is urging, promoting and glorifying the murder of Jews, which includes students on your campus.  This cannot help but cause Jewish students at San Francisco State to feel threatened and intimidated, and even fear for their lives.

You issued a statement which said that “there is no place at SF State for celebrating violence or promoting intolerance, bigotry, anti-Semitism or any other form of hate-mongering.”  While a step in the right direction, the statement was hardly strong enough.  You need to publicly name the students and student groups who are promoting and glorifying violence on the campus, and publicly condemn their conduct. They should be embarrassed and get the clear message that WE MEAN YOU.

There is no question that the term “colonizers” in the stencil was a reference to the Jewish people in Israel.  Indeed, Mohammad Hammad, the president of GUPS, made that clear when he wrote on his Web page:  “You know what? / Israelis ARE colonizers, there is literally no way around it / And you know what else? / My heroes HAVE always killed colonizers / I literally see nothing wrong with this and my only regret is that not all colonizers were killed / HMM.”

Mohammad Hammad and his group are promoting a second Holocaust, against all the Jews in Israel and maybe even elsewhere.  The fact that he is making this threat here in the U.S. is intimidating to Jews in the U.S. and on your campus. Just days ago, we learned about a shocking post on Mohammad Hammad’s Tumblr page.  Hammad posted a photo of himself holding a knife with its sharp blade in the air.  The photo caption read:  “I seriously can not get over how much I love this blade.  It is the sharpest thing I own and cuts through everything like butter and just holding it makes me want to stab an Israeli soldier.”
Hammad openly expressed his desire to stab an Israeli soldier.  That is a terrorist threat.  It is a direct threat to Jews and Israelis, including the Jews and Israelis on your campus.

Threatening an Israeli soldier is particularly heinous, because an Israeli soldier is not like a soldier in any other country.   Military service in Israel is compulsory for both men and women.   Even after they complete their service, soldiers must continue serving in the reserves into their early 50’s.  This is because Israel faces more threats than any other country on earth.  Israeli soldiers must be ready and able to protect this small country from the constant risk of war, terrorism, and threats to its very existence.
We must take every threat to an Israeli soldier seriously, because that soldier is risking his/her life at every moment, even in the most innocuous circumstances.  Just last month, a 19-year-old Israeli soldier named Eden Attias was repeatedly stabbed to death by a 16-year-old Palestinian Arab terrorist on a bus in Israel.  According to media reports, this Arab terrorist did not know Eden Attias, nor had Eden Attias done him any harm.  The Arab terrorist viciously murdered Eden Attias, who was seated and sleeping beside him on the bus, simply because Eden Attias was Israeli and wearing the uniform of the Israel Defense Forces.

There are Jews and Israelis on your campus; for their safety and protection, you must take strong and immediate action, required not only by Title VI, but also by San Francisco State’s own rules and policies, which prohibit “conduct that threatens or endangers the health or safety of any person within or related to the University community, including physical abuse, threats, intimidation, harassment, or sexual misconduct.”  We urge you to take the following steps:

1. We think this terrorist threat may be illegal.  We urge you to immediately report it to legal authorities.

2. You should immediately expel Mohammad Hammad from San Francisco State University.  If murderous threats were made to Arabs, or African Americans, or Hispanics, or gays, they would not be tolerated for one second.  Murderous threats against Jews should be treated no differently.  This student does not belong on your campus; he has shown that he is a danger to others.

3. You and other San Francisco State University leaders should hold a press conference at which all these recent horrific actions on the campus are more strongly condemned.  We are not simply talking about students “celebrating violence” or “promoting intolerance,” as your recent statement said.  A student is making murderous terrorist threats against Jews.  That conduct, and the perpetrator, should be publicly condemned.

4. To make sure that the university community understands that there will be a zero tolerance policy for such threats, you should publish an article in the university newspaper specifically condemning the conduct.  Everyone in your university community should have no doubt that when threats of violence against Jews or Israelis are made, they will not be tolerated and that the university will take the strongest possible measures.

We look forward to your prompt response.

Sincerely,
Morton Klein
National President of ZOA
Susan Tuchman
Director of ZOA Law and Justice Center
Sam Levine
Executive Director of ZOA Western Region

Chronology of recent hate speech at San Francisco State University

The AMCHA intiative was one of the first organizations to publicize the events at San Francisco State University, in keeping with their mission to investigate, document, educate about, and combat antisemitic behavior on campus and the institutional structures that legitimize it and allow it to flourish.
They have also published a helpful chronology of recent hate speech at SFSU.

December 3, 2013: Palestinian SFSU student’s photo condemned as ‘potential threat’

After discovering a potentially threatening photo on the social media Web site Tumblr posted by the president of a Palestinian student group at San Francisco State University (SFSU), the Simon Wiesenthal Center warned the university on Dec. 2 about “a potential threat to its Jewish students.”(Read more).

December 3, 2013: Did SFSU Student Post Selfie with Knife: ‘I Want to Stab an Israeli Soldier’
It appears the president of a university-funded student group at San Francisco State boasted how much he loved his knife and that it made him want to stab an Israeli soldier.(Read more).

December 2, 2013: Photo of Knief-Wielding SFSU Student Prompts Warning on ‘Potential Threat to Jewish Students’
A Jewish human rights organization sent a warning Monday to officials at San Francisco State University advising them of an alleged potential threat to its Jewish students.(Read more).

November 26, 2013: As Legislators Congratulate SF State University President for Standing up to Anti-Semitism, Student Group Hate Speech Exposed
As nine California legislators on Tuesday congratulated San Francisco State University President Dr. Leslie Wong for standing up to anti-Semitism on campus last week, online activity of the student group in question showed even more blatant displays of Jew hate.(Read more).

November 22, 2013: Anti-Semitic writing alleged at S.F. State event
Uproar over what some are calling an anti-Semitic stencil that showed up at a Nov. 7 San Francisco State University campus event has prompted the school’s president to issue a stern statement against advocating violence and hate. (Read more).

November 21, 2013: Outcry over anti-Semitism at mural event at S.F. State
The S.F.-based Jewish Community Relations Council and other Jewish groups are “outraged” over an event last week at San Francisco State University, during which some participants made and held signs that critics say glorified the killing of Jews. (Read more).

An open letter to Pres. Wong of San Francisco State University from the AMCHA Initiative

An open letter to Pres. Wong of San Francisco State University, by Tammi Benjamin of the AMCHA Initiative, a non-profit organization dedicated to investigating, documenting, educating about, and combating antisemitism at institutions of higher education in America.

 

Dear President Wong,

As you know, a posting from the Tumbler account of GUPS president Mohammad G. Hammad has recently been widely circulated.  The posting includes a photograph showing Mr. Hammad holding a large knife and a caption reading "I seriously cannot get over how much I love this blade. It is the sharpest thing I own and cuts through everything like butter and holding it makes me want to stab an Israeli soldier."  This is a horrifying image, all the more so because Mr. Hammad is the leader of a university-sanctioned and funded student organization that recently hosted an on-campus event glorifying the murder of Jews.

Following articles about Mr. Hammad's posting in several Jewish media outlets such as the Jewish Journal and the Jewish Press, members of the Jewish community throughout the state and across the country are understandably outraged at such behavior, and deeply concerned for the safety of Jewish students at SFSU.

In light of Mr. Hamad's post threatening violence against Jews and his organization's sponsorship of an event that included the glorification of the killing of Jews, we and many members of the Jewish community want to know what your action plan entails -- what concrete steps you have already taken, and what steps you intend to take in the immediate future -- to keep Jewish students safe from antisemitic harassment and attack on your campus.

We believe that if a registered student group or its leader threatened violence against any other student ethnic group, the university would take prompt and concrete actions.  We expect nothing less for Jewish students.

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

 

Tammi Rossman-Benjamin

Co-founder, AMCHA Initiative

 

 

GUPS President Mohammad Hammad Flails Wildly

On Nov. 21, Mohammad Hammad, the president of the General Union of Palestinian Students of San Francisco University revealed the GUPS plan for striking back.  Their secret weapon appears to be an on-line petition.

They will "attack the messenger", in an attempt to reflect attention from themselves. Tammi Benjamin of the AMCHA initiative is their intended scapegoat.  Mohammad referred to Tammi Benjamin, a courageous human rights activist, as a "bigoted piece of filth".
He writes:

Okay
So
As some of you may know, my group and I have been dealing with a lot of shit at school lately, and I keep saying that I’ll provide you all with an update, so HERE it finally is.
On November 7th, The General Union of Palestine Students [GUPS] hosted an event on campus meant to commemorate the inauguration of the first Palestinian mural in the US, which was done at San Francisco State University 6 years ago. The event was broken up into two parts: a morning rally meant to garner some interest, and the actual mural event later on in the evening.

During the morning event, hosted by GUPS, several friendly groups came out to table in support. One of these groups, the Student Kouncil of Intertribal Nations [SKINS], had a table set up dedicated to stenciling various slogans and images on backpacks, binders, folders, or whatever else anyone may have been interested in. Among these stencils was one that read “my heroes have always killed colonizers”, a slogan created by an indigenous artist.
A pleasant lady by the name of Tammi Benjamin, head of the AMCHA Initiative, has decided to take this slogan out of context and deliberately contort the situation, slamming our organization for “extreme antisemitism”, claiming that the sign “implicitly calls for the murder of Jews”.
Needless to say, that is absolute bullshit.
The problem?
Tammi Benjamin, although completely delusional, has a rather large sphere of influence, and has quite a bit of power backing her.
She is now working to shut down our organization, which it should be noted, is the LAST remaining chapter of GUPS on the planet, as all others have come under similar fire and been shut down over the last several decades. As both the last remaining chapter and one of the oldest chapters, we can NOT let the General Union of Palestine Students die.
She is using everything at her disposal to pressure campus officials to “investigate” and “discipline” those involved, as well as condemn us for our “blatant support of terror” and “antisemitism”, and has brought in city officials, as well as a plethora of other pro-Israeli, anti-Palestinian hate-groups.
The issue continues to grow larger and larger, and this is going to be a battle that we’re in for the long haul, despite having all the facts and truth on OUR side.
Now, what YOU can all do to help, is we’ve started an online petition calling on President Leslie Wong of San Francisco State University to condemn this baseless attack and slander campaign launched by Tammi and the AMCHA initiative, and we’re calling upon any and every supporter, from any part of the world, to sign and help spread the message.
The petition can be found HERE, and please do whatever you can to help spread the message and get this as many signatures as you all can.
As president of the last remaining chapter of GUPS, I will not see our organization fall to the likes of such a bigoted piece of filth, and we’re here to take the battle back to her.

AMCHA Follow Up with President Wong

SFSU President Responds to AMCHA
by Issuing Statement Condemning Campus Event
Glorifying the Murder of Jews

In direct response to a letter from AMCHA co-founders as well as letters from many AMCHA supporters, yesterday SFSU President posted a statement on his official University website, in which he condemned an on-campus event glorifying murder and acknowledged that there is “no place at SF State for celebrating violence or promoting intolerance, bigotry, anti-Semitism or any other form of hate-mongering.” President Wong also stated that the University will continue its investigation of this reprehensible event.  (You can see President Wong's Statement HERE).

In response to his President Wong's  statement, AMCHA co-founders have sent the following letter to President Wong commending him for taking these important first steps and urging him to appropriately discipline the responsible parties:

Dear President Wong,

We commend you for your statement condemning an on-campus event which glorified murder, and for your acknowledgement that there is “no place at SF State for celebrating violence or promoting intolerance, bigotry, anti-Semitism or any other form of hate-mongering.” We also commend you for initiating an investigation of what we believe is clearly an antisemitic event.

We hope that at the end of your investigation, all those responsible for this incident — whether students, faculty, or staff — will be disciplined for their behavior, which violates the tenets of civil discourse and may be unlawful.

We and other concerned members and supporters of the Jewish community are eager to know what steps you will take to ensure that such behavior is appropriately addressed and does not re-occur at San Francisco State University.

Sincerely,

Tammi Rossman-Benjamin
Co-founder, AMCHA Initiative

Leila Beckwith
Co-founder, AMCHA Initiative

AMCHA Initiative becomes involved

The AMCHA Initiative, whose stated mission is to "To investigate, document, educate about, and combat antisemitic behavior on college and university campuses in America and the institutional structures that legitimize it and allow it to flourish" took notice of the glorification of violence and incitement to murder at San Francisco state on Nov. 18, and  issued an open letter to University President Wong, urging him to take action.

SFSU Student Group Activity Glorifying Murder of Jews Sponsored by College of Ethnic Studies Initiative

Action Alert: Urge SFSU President to Publicly State Whether Antisemitic Behavior is Acceptable

For many years, the General Union of Palestine Students (GUPS), a registered and funded student group at San Francisco State University, has held on-campus events and activities with antisemitic content.  Often the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Initiative (AMED) in the College of Ethnic Studies co-sponsors GUPS events, such as last March's "Israel Apartheid Week", giving academic legitimacy to campaigns to boycott Israel and calls for the elimination of the Jewish state.

Recently, AMED co-sponsored a GUPS event that included an activity glorifying the murder of Jews.

At the event honoring Edward Said, who rose to prominence popularizing the idea that Zionists are colonizers and Israel is an illegitimate state, the GUPS students set up tables with stencils for making posters with images of known terrorists as well as with the words "MY HEROES HAVE ALWAYS KILLED COLONIZERS," which students displayed in the campus square.  (See below).

AMCHA sent a letter to SFSU President Leslie Wong regarding this antisemitic activity and urged him to answer the following questions:

1) Is it acceptable behavior for GUPS, a University sanctioned and funded student organization, to run an antisemitic on-campus activity that encourages students to glorify the murder of Jews?

2) Is it acceptable behavior for AMED, an official academic unit, to sponsor an event that includes an antisemitic on-campus activity that encourages students to glorify the murder of Jews?

You can see AMCHA's letter to SFSU President Wong HERE.

Please consider writing your own letter to President Wong, reiterating the questions AMCHA has posed and urging him to answer them immediately. If you are an SFSU or CSU student, relative, alumnus, faculty, staff or donor, you may want to note your affiliation with the CSU system in your letter.