SFSU GUPS President Mohammad Hammad allegedly posts more threats

From Columbine to Sandy Hook, the stories of shootings and violence in our schools and universities have been heartbreaking.   Invariably people look back at the seriously disturbed assailants and ask the same questions. How could someone with these violent proclivities slip under the radar? Why didn’t someone notice? Why didn’t someone do something, anything, proactively, to prevent the horror?

The President of the General Union of Palestinian students at San Francisco State University, Mohammad Hammad first came into scrutiny by publishing a selfie with a knife, describing his fantasy of stabbing an Israeli soldier.  Apparently, it was not an isolated incident taken out of context. More allegations have since been made public, reported by the AMCHA initiative- a  group devoted to keeping Jewish students- and all students- safe on campus.  The “political” nature of Hammad's reported threats and his glorification of violence make them no less horrific. Equally as troublesome is the complete silence of GUPS ,the General Union of Palestinian Students at SFSU and the local Arab and activist community in denouncing his words and his behavior. 

 

Are our schools doing enough to keep our students safe?  Read Mohammad Hammad's alleged contributions to social media via the AMCHA Initiative, and  answer that yourself. If you were an Israeli student, a Jewish student, or a student who supported Israel would you feel comfortable with him on campus? Are crude threats and intimidation really protected as "free speech" or as legitimate academic discourse?

• In response to the question, "do you really condone violence?" Hammad answered, " I have a PFLP flag in my room and thing it's great when an IDF soldier trips on his own mine, if that answers your question."
• "So a few years ago, I managed to meat [sic] a branch commander of the PFLP...There is something really empowering and just good feeling about actually conversing, meeting, and just being around these people who fight for the freedom of our people, while being labeled 'terrorists' by the entire Western World."
• "So apparently there's a rumor going around in Palestine that I've joined the armed resistance...that's an awesome rumor..."
• In response the comment, "the pflp is a terrorist organization and legitimizes why everyone calls you a terrorist", Hammad wrote: I've stayed at the home of a branch commander and had dinner with his family. I've also participated in marches and gone to lunch with armed fighters. Guess that makes me a huge terrorist and you should be afraid, because I know where you live"
• Underneath the photograph of a group of armed, masked fighters bearing the caption "Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Hammad wrote: "I love these guys"
• Hammad wrote on top of the image of the PFLP logo, "I just convinced my cousin to get the PFLP logo as a tattoo/I am so happy"
• The caption underneath a picture of a long sword read: "I want it. Imagine me cutting off the heads of those in the IDF with this"
• "There are children shouting outside and I want to set them on fire"
• "I think about killing a lot/and some of you are usually the targets of my daydreams :)"
• "The only peace I want regarding US soldiers is their head/That's a piece I'm willing to accept"
• "Let's play a game:/Objective: Kill US soldiers/Goal: World peace"
• "I have a mental list of people I would pee on and then set on fire"
• "I think about the time I tried to be - moderate - and advocate for non-violence and honestly I just want to go back in time and slit my own throat/and then the throats of all my enemies before they grow up into the shits they are today"
• "Oh/And tomorrow is [hopefully] the day that I find out if I will be the President of the General Union of Palestine at my school/...Hopefully I'll be able to radicalize half of our population and bring them back with me as fighters~"
• "For context - Hillel is the [extremely well funded] Pro-Israeli group on campus, and they have repeatedly painted our group GUPS [General Union of Palestinian Students] as a terror group and screwed us over to no end/...I hope they all trip down the stairs and break their necks :)"
• Someone asked Hammad, "how can I actively support palestine?", and he answered "Buy a keffieyh/Learn to tie it around your head [I'm willing to teach via Skype~~]/Get in touch with some PFLP militants or arms dealer in the West Bank/Learn IDF patrol routes/???/Boom/Thanks for your help comrade"
• Hammad posted a message on Tumblr as he was sitting in class listening this his International Political Economy teacher. Another blogger posted the question, "Are you or will you soon be eating his flesh"? Hammad responded: "It is a she and she is pregnant and I may be hungry but I don't think I can down them both...The is the same professor who tried to justify drones last semester, and the professor whose classes I have skipped the most/I severely dislike her"

You can see all of Hammad's violent postings HERE.

The AMCHA Initiative has been under fire by the Electronic Intifada, an extremist agitprop website because of its work and has been condemned for attempting to protect students from precisely these sorts of threats.  Show AMCHA some love- follow them on Facebook and on Twitter.
 

San Francisco State University

Originally posted by Mike  at Israel Thrives

I arrived back at my old alma mater, San Francisco State University, yesterday, and met with a number of individuals on that campus to discuss the recent hub-bub over the Great Killing of "Colonizers" Scandal of 2013.

As I walked onto campus I had a number of questions.  The first was whether or not people were satisfied with president Wong's response to the November 7 Edward Said mural event in which students from the General Union of Palestine Students (GUPS), and other groups, held up signs that read "My heroes have always killed colonizers." 

It should be obvious to any fair-minded person that when a Palestinian-Arab student holds up a sign calling for the killing of "colonizers" who they mean are the Jews of the Middle East.  But even if that can somehow be construed as not the case, is it not obvious that American universities should not be in the business of financing advocacy for the murder of any people or group or nationality?

Islamic peoples, of course, are among the most significant colonizers in recorded history and they colonized and exploited the Jewish land of Israel, the land of my people, for thirteen hundred years between the time of Muhammad until the fall of the Ottoman Empire during World War I.

For thirteen hundred years the Jews of Israel were a colonized people by Arab invaders and by the Ottoman Turks.

My second question was concerned with the potential for ethnic tensions on that campus.  There was, after all, a time at SFSU, not so long ago, where a student might get chased out of the quad for wearing a kippa or a Star of David.  

The final question was, what of GUPS president Mohammed Hammad who directly threatened violence?  In the case of Mr. Hammad we have a student leader who explicitly called for the murder of Jews.

 

Read his answers over at Israel Thrives .

 

Spoiler alert: 

 "...rumor has it that Mr. Hammad, president of the General Union of Palestine Students (GUPS) has been forcibly retired from his position... and from the university, as well."

 

Can anyone confirm or deny this?

SFSU Pres: Respectful Disagreement: A Message to our Campus Community

 A new message from San Francisco State University President Les Wong

Respectful Disagreement: A Message to our Campus Community

Dear students, faculty, staff:
Universities, especially public universities, play an essential role in fostering debate. We treasure this role at our campus, where social justice is a strategic priority and our commitment to free speech runs deep.  We work hard to achieve a balance where both expression and safety are fostered.
Two recent statements by students—one made on campus last month, and one posted online in August, which recently came to light—have challenged this balance.  I am confident that our community can address this challenge-- but it will require help and commitment from each of you.
First and foremost, I ask that you stay firmly committed to free speech.  Strong opinions—and strong disagreements—are essential to the life of our democracy, and the life of our university. While one may want to step in and sanction a student or colleague for speech we find repugnant, our obligation is to allow the lawful airing of views.
Second, trust that I will step in when speech or actions cross the line into violations of law or University policy. I am absolutely committed to maintaining a safe environment. In both recent cases, for example, we have conducted thorough threat assessments with law enforcement, increased campus safety measures, facilitated dialogue with student groups, offered counseling resources and initiated the student conduct review process. I am confident these actions protect both the safety and the rights of our campus community.  In all situations, I ask that you give our processes the time needed to be thorough, objective and effective.  Understand as well that these processes must protect the rights and privacy of those who may be the subject of counseling, review or sanction. 
Third, keep an open mind.  I have spoken before about the obligation to own your own mind. Issues being debated on campus can capture widespread attention.  This can be a welcome contribution to the dialogue. It can also be a source of confusion, misinformation, and pressure to subvert our processes.  Each of us at this university is a scholar—whether student, faculty member or staff—and each of us has the obligation to form opinions and take action based on exploring, analyzing and carefully listening before drawing conclusions.
I thank you in advance for helping to promote dialogue and safety on our campus.  Together we can forge a path to peace and greater understanding.  The university is committed to fostering these aims and provides resources to assist you.  These include:
University Police Department   http://www.sfsu.edu/~upd/
Counseling and Psychological Services   http://psyservs.sfsu.edu/
Student Involvement & Career Center   http://www.sfsu.edu/~sicc/
Office of Student Conduct   http://conduct.sfsu.edu/
Sincerely yours,
Les Wong
President

What does this mean? Most feel GUPS will face no real consequences for its incitement and hate speech.  GUPS president Mohammad Hammad's "free speech" involved a direct threat- and perhaps is whose  privacy  is being referred to, "in respect to those who may be the subject of counseling, review or sanction.".

We are being asked to respect the system, and to respect the process.
Can we do this?  Should we do this?   
Only if we know it protects the rights and guarantees the safety of all student at SFSU.

Mohammad Hammad of SFSU: Anger Management Issues?

Mohammad Hammad, President of the General Union of Palestinian Students at San Francisco State may very well have anger management issues. When the story of GUPS incitement first broke, he exalted in the attention.  The fact that  Jewish community members felt threatened by the actions on campus only served to vindicate his feelings. "We have them on edge", he triumphantly wrote.

The following are screen shots to a now password protected Tumblr account associated with Mohammad Hammad.

Mohammad Hammad Tumblr

Mohammad Hammad declares  "This is my Thing. I'm ready to destroy". 

Mohammad Hammad Tumblr

And here's where Mohammad introduces his plan- not a heart felt apology for embarrassing his school and his cause, but a counter-campaign. Kill the messenger, so to speak

Mohammad Hammad Tumblr

From the ADL Blog


Hammad’s posts on his pub­lic Face­book and Twit­ter pages reveal a stu­dent with a record of express­ing desire for vio­lence against Israel and its sup­port­ers. In Decem­ber 2012, for exam­ple, Ham­mad responded to a tweet by a pro-Israel user about an Israeli sol­dier that had killed a Pales­tin­ian ter­ror­ist in the West Bank with the fol­low­ing remark: “You are a sick­en­ing sup­porter of ter­ror­ism, I only wish it were you on the other end of this monster’s barrel.”

In a recent tweet, he also described a hash­tag that was being used to poke fun at Hamas as being “enough to turn any­one into a mil­i­tant with your peo­ple as the targets.”

In the past year, Ham­mad, an Inter­na­tional Rela­tions major at the uni­ver­sity, has also retweeted sev­eral tweets by OpIs­rael, an inter­na­tional hack­ing group that tar­gets Israeli and pro-Israel Web sites. In Novem­ber 2012, he wrote a tweet about the hack­ing group Anonymous’s appar­ently suc­cess­ful hack­ing of an Israeli Web site with the hash­tag “#win.”

Mohammad Hammad of SFSU: Still Life with Knife

Mohammad Hammad, the president of GUPS studies International Relations at San Francisco State University. In what might very well be the most disturbing image we've seen since this story broke, Mohammad has posed with a knife on his Tumblr account, and has written: 

“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….” 

The Tumblr post has since been removed, but it lives on through the wonders of the web.

Mohammad Hammad of SFSU

This very real threat was exposed by the Simon Wiesenthal Center on Dec.2

Copies of the picture were forwarded to SFSU President Leslie Wong by Amcha and the Wiesenthal Center, and in a phone conversation earlier today with Wong’s office, Center officials warned that such avowedly violent statements, especially when linked with another recent GUPS campus event where participants used a stencil saying, “My heroes have always killed colonizers,” pose a potentially significant threat to the university’s Jewish students.
“It is outrageous and unacceptable that the leader of a University-funded group would invoke a message of death and violence,” said a Wiesenthal Center official.

 From Jared Sichel in the LA Jewish journal:

When contacted on Dec. 2, a member of GUPS said that the group would release a statement on Dec. 3. But by Dec. 3, the phone number appeared to have been disconnected. An email sent to GUPS by the Journal did not receive a response.

 According to Mohammad Hammad’s Facebook page , the 21-year-old was born in Ramallah in the West Bank and is studying international relations at SFSU. The Journal was not able to reach him for comment.

 On Dec. 3, Ellen Griffin, SFSU’s associate vice president of communications, wrote in an email to the Journal that the university had investigated the incident and confirmed that Hammad was the person in the photograph.

According to a statement by Lee Wong, president of SFSU, the university’s police “conducted a threat assessment” and determined that SFSU’s students are safe.

 “We will continue to explore all aspects of the incident and take additional actions that may be warranted,” Wong’s statement read.

 Incidentally on his LinkedIn profile, Mohammad writes:

I am an International Relations student minoring in Political Science and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies. I plan on getting into the global political field of work and do what I can to better the ongoing situation in Palestine.

I suppose stabbing Israeli soldiers just isn't going to sound as promising on a resume.