Taha Hassane
Overview
Taha Hassane [Mohamed Taha Hassane] has justified Hamas terrorism, spread anti-Semitism and promoted hatred of Israel. His justifications for Hamas terrorism came after the October 7, 2023, terror attacks, which left nearly 1,200 Israelis dead, hundreds kidnapped and thousands wounded.As of July 2024, Hassane’s Instagram bio said he had been the imam and director of the Islamic Center of San Diego (ICSD), a mosque reportedly “best known as the home to two 9/11 hijackers.”
Also as of July 2024, Hassane was listed as a “member” on the Council On American Islamic Relations (CAIR) website.
In May 2024, during Israel’s war against Hamas, Hassane’s mosque hosted an event organized by the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter at the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego). SJP is a pro-terror campus activist group. Hassane is also a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
As of July 2024, Hassane was listed as a religious adviser for the anti-Israel group Muslim Students Association (MSA) at UC San Diego. In February 2024, Hassane spoke [slide 1] at an MSA lecture organized at UC San Diego.
As of the same date, Hassane was listed as a co-chair of San Diego’s Interfaith Justice Coalition advisory board as well as as a “partner” in the San Diego Justice Department’s “Stands United Against Hate” campaign.
Hassane reportedly graduated from the Graduate Theological Foundation (GTF) with a master’s degree in Islamic studies. GTF is located in South Bend, Indiana.
Taha Hassane is married to Lallia Allali, who spread anti-Semitism a few weeks after Hamas’s October 7 attacks. Taha is also the father of anti-Israel activist Selma Hassane.
10/20/2023 - Justifying Hamas Terrorism
On October 20, 2023, during a sermon at ICSD mosque, Hassane justified [00:22:41] Hamas' October 7, 2023 terror attacks.During his speech, referring to Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, Hassane said [00:22:41]: “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!”
On Saturday, October 7, 2023, approximately 2,900 heavily armed Hamas terrorists breached Israel’s border with Gaza. They executed numerous war crimes on civilians, including mass murder, beheadings of children, rape of men and women, torture, kidnappings and mutilation. Hamas broadcast videos of their butchery on social media, often to victims’ accounts for families to see. Israel retaliated with a war called “Swords of Iron.” As of November 10, 2023, approximately 1,200 Israelis, the vast majority of them civilians, were murdered during the attacks. Hamas kidnapped 242 Israelis, including at least 30 children. At least 3,500 people were wounded, many severely.
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 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.
On October 21, 2023, Hassane posted on Instagram, referring to the speech he delivered a day earlier: “The Palestinian Cause is rooted deeply in Islam…This did not start last week or on October 7th, this is the result of brutal zionist occupation and genocide. Resistance is justified when people are under occupation and don’t let them change that narrative…”
Anti-Semitism
On October 20, 2023, during a sermon at ICSD mosque, Hassane suggested [00:13:22] that media coverage was biased “based on what they received from the Zionist sources.”Hassane continued and said [00:13:30] that “biases and one-sided statements” from elected officials in the White House to the San Diego mayor repeated the “lies published by the Zionist propaganda machine.”
The assertion that Jews control the media has been traced to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, an anti-Semitic fabricated text that depicts wealthy Jews conspiring to take over the world.
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.
Hatred of Israel
On October 20, 2023, during a sermon at the ICSD mosque, Hassane accused [00:11:15] Israel of committing a “continuous genocide on Palestinians in Gaza” as well as [00:11:34] “ethnic cleansing.”On January 29, 2024, Hassane posted on Facebook, accusing Israel of “apartheid.”
On March 3, 2024, Hassane posted on Facebook: “Zionism is Islamophobia!...”
On May 5, 2024, Hassane shared on Facebook a video of him speaking at UC San Diego in support of the unlawful anti-Israel encampment set up on the college campus.
In the video, Hassane said [00:00:10] he joined the encampment to show “solidarity with our students…to demand from the university to boycott and to divest from Israel.” The video was captioned: “We demand from UCSD to boycott and divest from the genocidal zionist state. Free Palestine! PS.”
The encampment was one of over 140 pro-Hamas and anti-Israel college encampments set up in North America, and over 20 more globally, in the spring of 2024. The first began on April 17, 2024, at Columbia University. The encampments were unofficially known as the “student intifada,” borrowing a term associated with terrorist violence.
Protesters harassed Jewish students, blocked Jews from campus facilities and shouted anti-Semitic slogans. They occupied campus grounds, in many cases illegally, caused property damage, violently took over buildings, celebrated terrorism and promoted the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Activists set up encampments to oppose Israel’s right to wage war against the Hamas terror group following October 7, 2023, when Hamas murdered approximately 1,200 people, including 32 American and 8 Canadian citizens. Hamas also kidnapped 252 people, including 11 Americans and the bodies of 2 murdered Canadians. As of May 26, 2024, 125 hostages remained in Hamas captivity.
CAIR
CAIR describes itself as a “grassroots civil rights and advocacy group” and “America's largest Muslim civil liberties organization, with regional offices nationwide.” Its official mission is “enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.”
CAIR reportedly has “significant ties” to the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as Hamas. A number of former CAIR employees have been convicted on fraud and terrorism-related charges that resulted monetary fines, jail terms and, sometimes, deportation.
CAIR was founded in 1994 and opened its first office in Washington, DC, with the help of a $5,000 donation from the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF), a charity founded by Mousa Abu Marzook.
Marzook, who was listed as a "Specially Designated Terrorist" by the U.S. Treasury Department in 1995, is reportedly a senior member of Hamas.
In May 2007, CAIR was listed as an “unindicted co-conspirator” in a U.S.-filed action against the HLF for providing funds to Hamas.
CAIR was also listed as a terrorist entity by the United Arab Emirates, in 2014.
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
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/taha.hassane
Videos
Photos & Screenshots
