Muhammad Imam
Overview
Muhammad Imam [Muhammad Numaan Imam] was arrested in 2014 for “Obstructing or Opposing an Officer.” Imam reportedly served as the 2014 Vice-President of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at the University of South Florida (USF) and described himself as an “active member” of SJP USF in 2015.Imam reportedly authored a 2016 Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) resolution at USF, as a 2016 USF Student Government (SG) Senator and remained active with USF’s BDS campaign, USF Divest, in 2017.
Imam demonized Israel on the USF campus and attempted to “censure” USF’s 2016 SG President, for attending an American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) annual policy conference.
In February 2017, Imam was reportedly a medical student at USF. As of November 2019, Imam was registered to vote in Florida.
Arrest
Supporting BDS
Imam reportedly co-authored a 2016 anti-Israel divestment resolution with fellow SJP member Hala Alkattan. The resolution reportedly called for “divestment from companies complicit in human rights violations against the Palestinian people.”In a January 22, 2016 article, the USF Oracle reported that on January 19, 2016, the USF student government voted to pass the resolution, as a result of SJP USF’s BDS campaigning the previous two years.
During the discussion, prior to the vote, Imam reportedly also gave a presentation promoting the resolution.
On January 25, 2016, SJP USF President Rahma Elmohd posted a video urging the USF student government president to sign the resolution.
On January 27, 2016, USF’s campus newspaper, the USF Oracle, reported that the USF student government president and vice president both vetoed the resolution.
On February 4, 2016, the USF Oracle reported that a second BDS resolution was submitted by Imam and fellow USF student senator and member of SJP USF Hala Alkattan.
That second resolution was identical to the previous one, which was supported by SJP USF, but was categorized differently so that the USF student government president and vice president could not veto it.
On February 11, 2016, the USF Oracle reported that the USF student government supreme court partially struck down the second BDS resolution, including for being exclusionary, beyond the Senate’s jurisdiction and unrelated to the allocation or expenditure of student expenses.
On February 28, 2017, Palestine Legal interviewed Imam about a USF Divest initiative, a non-binding divestment referendum added to the student election’s ballot.
Imam reportedly stated: “Four years ago, USF administrators celebrated 'Mission Accomplished' when they refused to certify the student body’s vote on divestment. But we are still here, and so are USF investments in private prisons, fossil fuels, and companies complicit in Israeli apartheid.”
Demonizing Israel
On September 10, 2015, Imam participated in an SJP USF protest against USF’s invitation to retired Israeli Brigadier General Shlomo Brom, who was invited to USF to express his support for the Iran nuclear deal.
Imam gave an interview with WMNF, where he went [00:00:09] by the alias “Mohamed Naumen.” Imam claimed [00:00:54] that the “Israel military was targeting civilian enterprises” in Lebanon while Brom was still serving in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
Imam then labeled [00:01:37] the IDF “one of the world’s largest terrorist organizations known as the Israeli Defense Forces” and asserted [00:01:53] that Brom was “a spokesman for a terrorist organization, in every sense of the word.”
Imam also read out the wording of signs held by the SJP USF protesters, including [00:04:11] “IDF = Terrorism, Zionism = Terrorism,” as well as [00:04:16] “Shlomo, we charge you with Genocide” and “How do you spell Apartheid: I-s-r-a-e-l.”
Censuring AIPAC Conference Attendance
In April 2016, The USF Oracle reported that Imam and fellow USF SJP activist Rahma Elmo Elmohd introduced a student government resolution, seeking to “censure” student body president Andy Rodriguez for accepting an AIPAC fully funded-trip to their 2015 annual policy conference.The stated mission of AIPAC is to “strengthen, protect and promote the U.S.-Israel relationship in ways that enhance the security of the United States and Israel.”
Imam reportedly claimed Rodriguez “tokenized our student government to say that our student government supports the American-Israeli relationship” and accused Rodrigez of being “brainwashed.”
The resolution charged that “Rodriguez’s actions have led to illegal, undue and unfair influence of a foreign government in our university’s policies and politics.”
The resolution to censure Rodriguez failed with a vote of 24-10, with applause from the Senate. “If at any point during this year (SG) has looked bad, it’s for stuff like this,” Rodriguez was quoted as saying: “For people using processes within (SG) to push some sort of point.”
SJP USF - Spreading Anti-Semitism
On July 30, 2014, SJP USF posted an image to Facebook showing Adolf Hitler performing a Nazi salute with text reading: “WE ARE THE MASTER RACE,” next to an image of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with his hand raised and text reading: “WE ARE GOD’S CHOSEN PEOPLE.” SJP USF commented: “Justifications.”On November 18, 2013, SJP USF reportedly hosted and sponsored a game show “about Palestinian culture, geography and history” modeled on the TV show, "Jeopardy!"
SJP USF - Demonizing Israel
As of August 2019, an SJP USF Facebook post from February 14, 2015, remained on the group’s Facebook page. The original SJP USF shared an article and quoted the story’s headline: “Israeli authorities usually open the floodgates to their dams in the direction of the Gaza Strip - without prior notice - in order to discharge the enormous quantities of water that had accumulated due to the heavy rains in the region. #Gaza.”Less than two weeks later, Al Jazeera retracted a similar story, noting: “In southern Israel, there are no dams of the type which can be opened.”
On February 25, 2016, SJP USF members reportedly joined with other BDS supporters to disrupt a talk at USF given by two Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers. One of the protesters called the soldiers “murderers and child killers” and was eventually was escorted out by police.
On September 5, 2014, SJP USF held an event titled: “The Hidden Genocide: The Story of Palestine.” The Facebook event page referred to Israel’s Operation Protective Edge (OPE) against Hamas earlier that year as a “summer of atrocious massacres.”
Israel commenced OPEin July 2014, to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.
One of the speakers at the event was Hamas supporter Sheikh Monzer Taleb, who was an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) terrorism finance trial. Taleb was not brought to trial.
However, five other defendants were brought to trial and were indicted for funneling funds to Hamas. These five, known as the Holy Land Five (HL5), were convicted and sentenced in 2009 to federal prison terms from 15 to 65 years.
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 Students 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.
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.
Social Media and Weblinks
Radio:http://www.wmnf.org/usf-student-government-votes-to-divest-from-human-rights-abusers/
- Status:
- Student
- University:
- South-Florida
- Organizations:
- BDS,
- SJP
- Related Profiles:
- Zaid Dabus,
- Danya Zituni,
- Hala Alkattan,
- Megan Summers,
- Rahma-Elmo Elmohd,
- Lina-Kurdi Abuimaish,
- Anastasia Khawaja,
- Hannan Danon,
- Nasser Hijaz,
- Yasmeen Yousef,
- Malak Fakhoury,
- Ahmad Saadaldin,
- Aladdin Hiba,
- Chris Johnson,
- Danish Hasan,
- Khadra Ali-Mohamed,
- Taylor Valentine,
- Alaeldean Elmunaier
- Last Modified:
- 06/23/2025
Videos
Photos & Screenshots
