San Francisco State University President Les Wong has gone silent on the threatening messages arising at his school against Israelis and their supporters. Thus, they have now written to the campus chief of police and the San Francisco DA voicing their concerns. The background and links to previous correspondence are included in the letter.
_________________________________________________________
Chief Gregory Suhr
Police Department
City and County of San Francisco
850 Bryant St., #525
San Francisco, CA 94103
District Attorney George Gascon
Office of the District Attorney
City and County of San Francisco
850 Bryant Street. 3rd floor
San Francisco, CA 94103
Dear Police Chief Suhr and District Attorney Gascon:
We are the co-founders of AMCHA Initiative an organization dedicated to investigating, documenting, educating about and combating campus anti-Semtism.
We are writing to you regarding threats to the safety and well-being of students, particularly Jewish students, at San Francisco State University, posed by a registered student organization, General Union of Palestine Students (GUPS), and its president, Mohammad G. Hammad.
As you may know, on November 7, 2013, GUPS hosted an all-day celebration commemorating the 6th anniversary of the Edward Said mural. As part of the day’s programming, there were tables set up for art projects. On the tables were cans of spray paint and stencils. One stencil was an image of Leila Khaled, a well-known member of the US State Department-designated terrorist organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), with a kefiyah covering her head and a machine gun in her hands, and the words "resistance is not terrorism" underneath the image.
Another stencil bore the words, “MY HEROES HAVE ALWAYS KILLED COLONIZERS,” and in the context of the days events honoring Edward Said, was clearly a reference to the killing of Jews. The stencils were used to make signs carried by students in the plaza.
On November 18, 2013, we sent pictures of these stencils to SFSU President Wong and expressed our concern for the safety of Jewish students at SFSU.
In addition, between November 25 and December 10 we sent President Wong four separate emails containing publicly-accessible social media postings of GUPS President Mohammad G. Hammad, in which he expressed his hatred of, and desire to inflict violence upon Israel, Israeli Jews and Israel's supporters. These included statements such as the following:
- "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."
- The caption underneath a picture of himself brandishing a large knife 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".
- "So today I went to the shooting range, and before I went I printed out a picture of Netanyahu's face. I then taped this picture to the head of the target I was shooting. I riddled Netenyahu's face with bullets to help vent my frustrations regarding Gaza, and it was quite the relief."
- "I'm sitting here looking at pictures of that fucking scum [name of female Israeli soldier] who murdered Mohammad Sulayma...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 fucking scum on a plate, as well as the heads of all others like her, and all others who support the IDF."
Having heard nothing from President Wong about how he was addressing the violent and threatening messages of the GUPS group or its President, or about what steps he was taking to ensure the safety and well-being of Jewish students at SFSU, on January 13, 2014, we sent President Wong a lengthy letter documenting the ties between GUPS, its president Mohammad G. Hammad, the GUPS faculty adviser Professor Rabab Abudlhadi, and the PFLP. Our letter referenced several of Hammad's social media postings glorifying the PFLP and publicly touting his association with that State Department-designated terrorist organization, including the following:
- 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"
You can see our 1/13/14 letter to President Wong HERE.
Two days later, on January 15, we sent President Wong another email with dozens of violent social media postings of GUPS President Hammad from 2013. These included statements such as the following:
- 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"
As of today, we have received no acknowledgement from President Wong that he even received the voluminous evidence provided in our last two emails.
It has been three months since we informed President Wong about the extremely troubling glorification of the murder of Jews at a GUPS event and began sharing with him the violent and threatening postings of the GUPS President.
Although the university may have taken some action, it seems that GUPS is still a registered student group receiving funding from the university, and that Mohammad G. Hammad is still the organization's president.
In light of school shootings and other murderous violence on college campuses in California and throughout the country, we are deeply concerned for the safety and well-being of students at SFSU, especially Jewish students, and we ask for you to investigate this matter as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Tammi Rossman-Benjamin
Co-founder, AMCHA Initiative
Leila Beckwith
Co-founder, AMCHA Initiative
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As I have said previously, this type of hateful and violent language, if accurate, has no place on a university campus-or anywhere else. It is unconscionable that this is being tolerated from an SFSU student and a campus-recognized organization. Who the Hell is in charge up there at SFSU? Certainly not Les Wong.
Update: The Jewish Press has been advised by an SFSU spokesman that the student in question is no longer a student at SFSU.
Imagine Hammad tripping and falling on his own sword.
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