Meet Ramah Awad, the anti-Israel activist appointed by UCSD, and her antisemitic staff and associates

During her undergraduate education at Stanford University, Awad was a leader in the BDS campaign on campus. She was also involved with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM). Both organizations have known connections to terrorists and have shown their support for the destruction of the State of Israel.

On November 5, 2020, Awad published an article in Sage Journals titled, “BDS as the baseline of solidarity: toward a model of co-struggling with Palestinians in their movement for justice and liberation.”

In the article, Awad defended a policy known as the “right of return,” which is understood as a path to the destruction of Israel as a Jewish state.

On June 2, 2021, in an interview with the Muslim Network TV posted on Facebook, Awad said, “I think the most accurate way to talk about what is happening in Palestine is a settler-colonial project. You can see the ways that the Israeli state is doing everything that it can to ensure that there are minimal Palestinians on minimum land.” 

The appointment of Awad is particularly troubling in light of the post-October 7 atmosphere on UCSD’s campus.

Since the October 7 massacre, Jewish students at UCSD have been harassed and intimidated by Hamas-supporting protesters. Less than a week after Hamas’ October 7 massacre of Jews, a gang of Hamas supporters beat up a supporter of Israel in San Diego (see video below).

On November 1, Israel supporters attending a student government meeting required a police escort to exit the building due to a threatening anti-Israel mob that had gathered outside chanting explicit support for terrorism.

(The UCSD chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine planned a “walk out” of the meeting once they discovered Jewish students would be in attendance.)

Despite video footage of the incident (see below), the university later denied anything had happened and claimed that the police knew nothing about it.

Awad was hired by UCSD to be a liaison to the Palestinian community and to teach seminars on subjects of her choosing. Will she serve to foment an already charged and antisemitic atmosphere on campus?

Under Awad’s leadership of Majdal, several anti-Israel and antisemitic individuals, including individuals who support terror, serve in key positions:  

Majdal receives funding from private donors and government funds from California Humanities, California Mental Health Services Authority, California Natural Resources Agency and California Department of Social Services.

Majdal’s partners include several anti-Israel organizations:

• Islamic Center of San Diego (see below)

• U.S. Campaign for Islamic Rights - a coalition of American-based anti-Israel organizations that lobbies the U.S. Congress to adopt anti-Israel policies and end government support for Israel.

• National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC) - a pro-Arab lobbying group. Posts on NNAAC’s Instagram account promote the myths of Israeli “genocide,” “ethnic cleansing” and “apartheid” against Palestinians. Other posts push pure antisemitic content.

• San Diego for Palestine Coalition, a politically active anti-Israel organization in San Diego, which Majdal reposted. 

The Islamic Center of San Diego, a partner of Madjal, purports to be the largest mosque in the city.

The mosque is infamous for being the home of two 9/11 hijackers. It also received a federal grant of $150,000 in 2023, according to reporting by The Washington Free Beacon.

• On October 20, 2023, Imam Hassane said, “What we are witnessing now did not start last week or October the 7th! This is a result of a 75-plus years of brutal Zionist occupation of Palestine and it is the result of the 16-plus years of the brutal barbaric blockade of Gaza!”

He continued, “When people are occupied, resistance is justified. Resistance when people are occupied becomes a human right! People have the right to resist.”

• On December 23, 2023. The mosque hosted an event featuring speakers from American Muslims for Palestine (AMP). Speeches were filled with antisemitic and anti-Israel rhetoric. AMP’s Associate Director of Outreach & Grassroots Organizing Taher Herzallah said:

• “...the floodgates have opened…When we talk about student activism, this is the moment, this is the time to agitate, to make Zionists feel very uncomfortable on campus.”

• "We are clear about our objectives. Free Palestine, from the River to the Sea. Don't let anybody make you feel uncomfortable about saying that, because we don't follow their moral authority.”

Imam Hassane’s wife, Lallia Allali, an employee of the University of San Diego at the time, was in the press for an offensive antisemitic picture she posted on social media following October 7. Due to the post, she resigned from her job. Allali is also involved with the anti-Israel organizations CAIR and PYM.