Mohammad Jafar Mahallati
Overview
Mohammad Jafar Mahallati was under federal investigation in late 2023 for teaching his college students to express support for Hamas terrorism and giving credit to students for writing anti-Israel papers while he served as a professor of religion at Oberlin College (Oberlin). The investigation was being conducted by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights (OCR).The incident occurred following a series of Hamas terror atrocities and war crimes against Israeli civilians, including mass murder, torture, rape, beheadings and kidnappings, which were executed on October 7, 2023.
The Hamas terror attacks left over 1,200 Israelis dead, hundreds kidnapped and thousands wounded. Israel retaliated with a war called “Swords of Iron.”
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.
Mahallati had also been accused of covering up the mass murder of Iranians in 1988 and of running a “sex for grades” scheme as a professor in the 1990s. He promoted [p.62] incitement and called [p. 141] for Israel’s destruction in the 1980s, when he served as Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations (UN).
As of November 2023, Mahallati was reportedly suspended from his position as professorat Oberlin. In 2019, Mahallati served as the Nancy Schrom Dye Chair in Middle East and North Africa Studies.
As of December 2023, Mahallati was reportedly placed on “indefinite administrative leave” by Oberlin following accusations he had sexually harassed a student when he was an adjunct professor at Columbia University (Columbia) in 1995.
As of April 2025, Mahallati’s Wikipedia page said he was born in Tehran. A December 2023 article reported that he was an Iranian citizen.
Covering up Iran’s Crimes Against Humanity
Mahallati reportedly covered up the mass killings of between 4,500 and 5,000 Iranian political prisoners in 1988 when he served as the country’s ambassador to the UN.Mahallati was accused [p.1] by Amnesty International of “facilitating the ongoing commission of the crime against humanity of enforced disappearance.”
On February 6, 2023, Amnesty International released a public statement in which Mahallati was accused of playing a “particularly active role in seeking to undermine credible reports by the then UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, and Amnesty International, and to weaken the UN’s response.”
The statement continued, alleging Mahallati: “...undertook efforts in late November and early December 1988 to block the adoption of a resolution by the UN General Assembly that expressed concern about the mass executions.”
“Sex for Grades” Scandal
During the 1990s, while he was an adjunct professor at Columbia, Mahallati was reportedly accused of giving a then 32-year-old graduate student favorable grades in exchange for sex.
Mahallati reportedly used his position “to create and maintain a hostile environment of sexual harassment."
The student accused Mahallati of “working to damage her reputation and academic future after she reported his alleged sexual abuse to school authorities.” She claimed that she was invited to Mahallati’s home under the excuse of a job interview as a “potential research assistant” at the university, where he “made repeated sexual advances” and “promised good grades in exchange for sexual encounters, which allegedly took place at his office and in his Manhattan apartment for 15 months.”
Promoting Incitement at the UN
On December 5, 1988, while serving as Iran’s ambassador to the UN, Mahallati spoke during the 43rd session of the UN General Assembly and referred [p.142] to the first intifada as a “glorious uprising” in which Palestinians “felt duty-bound to defend their usurped rights.”
The first intifada lasted from 1987 to 1991 and resulted in over 120 Israeli civilian casualties. Palestinian terrorists hijacked multiple buses and carried out shooting, stabbing and bombing attacks against Israelis, including the bombing of the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem.
On February 14, 1989, also while he was Iran’s ambassador to the UN, Mahallati spoke [p.60] at a UN Security Council meeting where he began by “commemorating the memory of all Palestinians who were martyred by the Zionist forces of occupation which attempt in vain to suppress the glorious uprising of the Palestinians in the occupied land.”
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.
Mahallati continued and described [p.62] the first Intifada as a “heroic uprising of Palestinians...” He then praised “...the phenomenal perseverance, the unbreakable will power [sic], the willingness to pay dearly, the strong commitment to the cause demonstrated by each and every Palestinian…for whom struggle, commitment and martyrdom have become the integral culture of resistance to Zionist occupation.”
Calling for Israel’s Destruction at the UN
On December 5, 1988, when he was Iran’s ambassador to the UN, Mahallati declared [p.141] to the UN General Assembly that: “The core of the Middle East problem during the past 40 years has been the Zionist occupation of Palestine.”Mahallati continued and said: “The adoption, by the General Assembly in 1947, of resolution 181 (II) on the partition of the land of Palestine and the establishment of the Zionist entity was itself in violation of provisions of the United Nations Charter, as well as of the rules of international law."
Mahallati also said [p.142] that the “artificial State of Zionism,” referring to Israel, was a “factor working against regional and international peace and security.”
Mahallati then said [p.143] that the “crisis in the Middle East will not be resolved unless the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination and to the establishment of their own independent State in the entire land of Palestine are restored.”
Mahallati concluded [p.143] by saying: “Palestine is an Islamic territory that cannot be given away to the Zionist usurpers under any conditions. It is the holy land which embraces the second most important Muslim sanctuaries; it is forbidden to surrender these sanctuaries or their land to a Zionist base. It is the duty of every Muslim to strive and struggle for the liberation of the Holy land. Any decision conflicting with the Islamic duties of Muslim nations of the world will have no legal validity and will only increase turbulence and bloodshed in the region.”
Biographical Information
Mahallati served as Iran’s ambassador and permanent representative of Iran to the United Nations from 1987 to 1989.
Mahallati received a PhD in Islamic Studies from McGill University. He has also reportedly taught at Columbia, Princeton, Yale and Georgetown Universities.
Social Media and Weblinks
- Status:
- Professor
- University:
- Georgetown,
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- Last Modified:
- 05/04/2026
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Infamous Quotes
“The artificial State of Zionism [Israel]... is a factor working against regional and international peace and security”
“Palestine is an Islamic territory that cannot be given away to the Zionist usurpers under any conditions. It is the holy land which embraces the second most important Muslim sanctuaries; it is forbidden to surrender these sanctuaries or their land to a Zionist base…
