Wiesenthal Center Commends San Francisco State University for Action Taken Against Student Group Leader for Posting Threats Against Jews

February 19, 2014

The Simon Wiesenthal Center commends San Francisco State University President Leslie Wong for taking action against Mohammad Hammad (pictured), the head of the university's General Union of Palestine Students for Internet posts threatening Jews. In a picture posted on his Tumblr page, Hammad is holding a knife, with the caption reading, "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." In another post in November, Hammad wrote: "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."

"This is a victory for the entire Jewish campus community who have been repeatedly threatened, discriminated against, and bullied by the hateful actions of campus radicals," said Aron Hier, director of the Wiesenthal Center's Campus Outreach. "This is also an important first step in ensuring a better campus climate," he added.

The Wiesenthal Center joined the California-based AMCHA Initiative—who discovered the posts—to bring evidence of Hammad's actions to the attention of President Wong. Center officials also continued to lobby for action, stressing the safety of the University's Jewish community.

The Jewish Press reported today that Robert Nava, SFSU's Vice-President for University Development, contacted the paper to say that Hammad "is no longer a student on campus."

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The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).