Malik Hassan

Malik Hassan’s Participation in the Pro-Hamas Encampment at Columbia University (Columbia), Defending Hamas, Supporting Terror Financiers and Spreading Hatred of Israel

Malik Hassan [Saam Malik Hassan] participated in the pro-Hamas encampment at Columbia in April 2024. He has also defended Hamas terrorism, expressed support for terror financiers, spread hatred of Israel and engaged in anti-Israel activism.

In 2016, Hassan was an activist with the anti-Israel campus group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Brooklyn College (Brooklyn), part of The City University of New York (CUNY). CUNY is located in New York, New York.

In 2017, Hassan was affiliated with the anti-Israel campus group Muslim Students Association (MSA).

As of November 2017, Hassan’s Facebook said he worked at the Muslim American Society (MAS) Youth Center in New York.

In 2015, Hassan was an activist with the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), an offshoot of the anti-Israel organization American Muslims for Palestine (AMP).

As of October 2024, Hassan’s X page said he was a social impact strategist and that he was located in Brooklyn, New York.

As of July 2019, Hassan’s since-deleted LinkedIn profile said he graduated from The City College of New York (CCNY) in 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in public relations, advertising and applied communication. CCNY is part of CUNY.

Defending Hamas Terrorism

On August 4, 2014, Hassan tweeted: “Hamas is a democratically elected political group that was created 60 years after the conflict started..&Israel is the terrorist organization.”

Hamas is a designated terrorist organization founded in 1987 that is dedicated to destroying Israel and killing Jews. Since 2001, Hamas has launched thousands of rockets at Israel and on October 7, 2023, Hamas murdered approximately 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped over 200 hostages, including children and the elderly.

On July 13, 2014, Hassan tweeted: “Hamas is the democratically elected Palestinian Political organization for Palestinian Resistance. Get it right for a change.”

Anti-Israel activists use the term “resistance” to refer to violence and terror perpetrated against Israeli civilians and their allies. It is used to glorify and encourage anti-Israel and anti-Semitic violence. Anti-Israel activists chant slogans such as: “Resistance by any means necessary!” and “Resistance is justified when people are occupied!” in response to terror attacks.

Also on July 13, 2014, Hassan tweeted: “This excuse of why Israelis are killing civilians…‘Hamas is using women and children as human shields’. Sounds like a child made that up.”

Throughout the summer of 2014 — during Operation Protective Edge (OPE) — Hamas's deployment of human shields was extensively documented and publicized. Hamas encouraged Gazans to act as human shields to frustrate Israeli efforts to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza.

Supporting Terror Financiers

On January 18, 2017, Hassan tweeted: “#FreetheHLF5 @BarackObama.”

The Holy Land Five (HLF5) were five individuals associated with the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) indicted for funneling funds to Hamas in the guise of humanitarian aid. The men were all convicted and sentenced in 2009 to federal prison terms ranging from 15 to 65 years.

Hatred of Israel

On July 10, 2014, Hassan tweeted: “@Lary_WithOne_R Supporters of the current Zionist state of Israel, support taking the land, destroying homes, & apartheid laws of Palestine.”

Zionism is the belief that Jews have the right to self-determination in their own national home, and the right to develop their national culture. Zionism is a core part of the identity of most Jews.

On July 20, 2014, Hassan tweeted: “...I ask Allah to allow me to watch these Zionist murderers burn, and scream, and rip their skin off in the hellfire!!”

On July 20, 2014, Hassan tweeted: “C'mon!! Like how!!? How do you still continue to defend and support Israel??! Ignorant disgusting scum. #Gaza #GazaUnderAttack.”

On April 30, 2016, Hassan tweeted: “@thehumbleservnt I got an 16 page paper about if United States should support Israel, and a large portion of it is about Israeli lobby.”

The “Israel Lobby” is a conspiracy theory alleging Israeli and Jewish control over the U.S. government. Proponents of the theory decry the negative effects on American interests, particularly in foreign policy.

On May 16, 2016, Hassan shared a graphic on Facebook asserting that Israel was carrying out an “ongoing ethnic cleansing” and claiming “Israel continues to drive Palestinians out to make room for illegal Israeli settlements.” The image also vilified United States aid to Israel.

In a July 9, 2014 Twitter argument, Hassan tweeted: “@MalikHassan56: ‘Biggest enemy of the Jews, are the Zionists themselves’ -Jewish Rabbi at Protest! #GazaUnderAttack #FreePalestine.”

A Twitter user replied: “@MalikHassan56 they are crazy people, don't listen to them ;).”

A day later on July 10, 2014, Hassan answered: “@Lary_WithOne_R That doesn't mean their crazy people, that's what is written in Torah. Their simply following their book..” The Twitter user tweeted in response: “@MalikHassan56 its interpretation.When hamas says that Allah wants muslims 2 kill jewish people..is that really what is written in quran?”

Hassan then tweeted: “@Lary_WithOne_R it's the Zionist interpretation that leads to war and injustice, not the rabbis. What's the point of a promised land, when..” Hassan continued: “@Lary_WithOne_R ..when you took that land from someone else? That's not promised land. That's stolen land. Hamas=resistance.”

Anti-Israel Activism

On May 14, 2016, Hassan was featured in a Brooklyn SJP-produced video that mischaracterized Israel’s War of Independence as a campaign of ethnic cleansing.

The video promoted a “Nakba Day March for Resistance and Return,” scheduled for the following day.

The term “Nakba” is generally translated as “catastrophe” in Arabic, referring to the outcome of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It is a term used to delegitimize the creation of the State of Israel by drawing a comparison to the Holocaust, known in Hebrew as the Shoah, meaning “catastrophe.”

The “right of return” is a Palestinian demand discredited as a means to eliminate Israel.

In October 2015, Hassan participated in a die-in organized by Brooklyn SJP and wore a sign that read: “Stop killing our sons, brothers, husbands, fathers.” The event demonized Israel, during a wave of Palestinian terror attacks.

On August 10, 2014, Hassan gave a musical presentation to a crowd at an anti-Israel demonstration in New York. The demonstration opposed Israel’s Operation Protective Edge (OPE) in 2014, organized by Al Awda.

Participation in the Pro-Hamas Encampment at Columbia

Malik Hassan participated in the pro-Hamas encampment at Columbia in April 2024. The encampment was also in support of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. Columbia is located in New York, New York.

On April 23, 2024, Hassan was featured [00:00:05] in an Instagram video participating in the Columbia encampment. The Instagram post said: “

We reaffirm our solidarity with the Columbia students heeding the call from the Palestinian people to put pressure on all institutions complicit in genocide! / We will remain in the streets and on the campuses until Palestine is free, from the river to the sea!”

“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free” is a chant used [00:02:47] to call for the elimination of the State of Israel. It has also been employed by Hamas leader Khaled Mashal to call for the replacement of Israel with an Islamic state. In April 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning the chant as antisemitic.

On April 24, 2024, Hassan was featured [slide 4] in an Instagram photo participating in the Columbia encampment.

On April 17, 2024, Columbia students and anti-Israel activists set up a pro-Hamas encampment on campus to protest Israel’s war against Hamas and promote BDS. The encampment was forcibly dismantled and approximately 80 Columbia students were arrested.

A new Columbia encampment was erected, during which participants forced their way into the university’s Hamilton Hall, vandalizing [00:00:55] and destroying university property. They barricaded themselves in the building, taking three Columbia custodians hostage. An NYPD raid on the building found knives, gas masks, ropes and literature that read: “...DESTROY zionist business interests everywhere!...DEATH TO AMERICA!...”

SJP

SJP is a student organization engaged in anti-Israel activity on North American college and university campuses.

The first chapter of SJP was founded in 2001 at the University of California at Berkeley by Professor Hatem Bazian. Bazian has spread classic anti-Semitism, reportedly promoted religious anti-Semitism and defended the Hamas terror group. In 2004, Bazian called for “intifada” in America.

SJP organizes anti-Israel campaigns, including running annual Israel Apartheid Weeks, often in collaboration with Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and Muslim Student Association (MSA) campus chapters.

SJP has been a major force in pushing the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement on campuses. Chapters have initiated dozens of BDS resolutions in student governments, which have been proposed on or around Jewish holidays, a time when many Jewish students are off-campus.

SJP activists have reportedly physically assaulted, intimidated and harassed Jewish students, disrupted pro-Israel campus events and demonized pro-Israel campus organizations.

Chapters have often endorsed and campaigned for numerous terrorists and whitewashed terrorism.

MSA

The Muslim Student Association (MSA) was established by members of the Muslim Brotherhood in January 1963 at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, with the goal of "spreading Islam as students in North America." A 2004 FBI investigation uncovered an internal Muslim Brotherhood document in which a brotherhood leader identified the MSA as "one of our organizations."

The MSA reportedly has “nearly 600 chapters” located in the United States and Canada, and is “the most visible and influential Islamic student organization in North America,” boasting conferences, special events, publications, websites and other activities.

The organization includes a number of previous chapter presidents with explicit links to terrorist groups. Included are al-Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki (Colorado State University), Somali al-Shabaab militant leader Omar Shafik Hammami (University of South Alabama) and Pakistani Taliban recruiter Ramy Zamzam of the MSA's Washington, D.C. council.

BDS

The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement was founded by Omar Barghouti in 2005 to challenge “international support for Israeli apartheid and settler-colonialism.” BDS is an allegedly “Palestinian-led movement,” although leading BDS activists have admitted [00:01:01] this is not true.

One of the demands of BDS includes [point 3] what is generally known as the “right of return,” a demand discredited as a way to eliminate Israel. Barghouti said the “right of return” is a means to “end Israel’s existence as a Jewish state.”

Barghouti has said that BDS “aims to turn Israel into a pariah state, as South Africa once was.”

In his activism, Barghouti has also said [00:05:55] regarding Israel: “Definitely, most definitely, we oppose a Jewish state in any part of Palestine. No…rational Palestinian, not a sellout Palestinian, will ever accept a Jewish state in Palestine.”

The movement has been linked to numerous terrorist organizations and received a public endorsement from Hamas in 2017.

BDS initiatives include calling on institutions and individuals to divest from Israeli-affiliated companies, promoting academic and cultural boycotts of Israel, and organizing anti-Israel rallies, protests and campaigns.

The movement’s most notable achievement has been the infiltration of university campuses through lobbying for “BDS resolutions.” In these cases, student governments and student groups, backed by their own anti-Israel members and affiliates, have proposed resolutions on some form of boycott of, or divestment from, Israel and Israeli-affiliated entities.

Boycott resolutions, although non-binding, have been passed by student governments on numerous North American campuses.

BDS activity is often aggressive and disruptive. It has been noted that universities that pass BDS resolutions see a marked increase in anti-Semitic incidents on campus. On one campus, when the student government debated a BDS resolution, reports emerged of violent threats against those opposing it.