Stanford student Hamzeh Daoud has been under fire for a recent Facebook post threatening physical violence against Zionists. More social media posts of his have been unearthed that reveal similar invectives.
In a July 31 letter sent to Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne, attorney Jerome M. Marcus, who is representing an anonymous student at Stanford, highlights the following posts from Daoud:
· “f*ck your liberal Zionist ass. f*ck your jewish state. and f*ck the notion that makes you believe that the resilience [sic] and beauty that embodies judaism, jewish people, and the jewish religion is Israel. Israel is a state that needs to be dismantled. Any other opinion is complicity.”
· “For those that don’t speak arabic; this translate [sic] to God curse Israel. God curse the sh*t out of Israel :)! <3”
· “Salam! Your daily dose of f*ck Israel and have a nice day!”
Daoud has deleted his various social media accounts, but the aforementioned posts were captured in screenshots.
Marcus noted in the letter that “Zionism is an important element of the Jewish faith.”
“Jews pray three times a day for the return of the Jewish people to Zion and Jerusalem; they pray so every time they say grace after meals, and whenever they comfort a Jewish mourner, among many, many other times,” Marcus wrote. “These religious commitments are shared by many Jewish people around the world.”
Marcus added that the aforementioned posts from Daoud shows that he has “uncontrollable contempt and rage for this part of the Jewish faith,” meaning that he cannot uphold his duties “to create an inclusive, supportive, and stimulating residence community” as a Resident Assistant at a Stanford dormitory, a job that Daoud is slated to start in the fall.
“Stanford is now clearly on notice that Daoud has threatened violence in the very recent past and that he has displayed gross intemperance as well as intolerance of views other than his own on issues that are important to him and to other students,” Marcus wrote. “Stanford cannot responsibly continue to employ such a person without, at a minimum, completing a full investigation of all of his statements, as they all provide a valuable window into how he is likely to speak and conduct himself in the future.”
Marcus then pointed out that Stanford has previously intervened with student speech that deemed as harmful to campus climate, highlighting the following instances:
· Cutting funding from the Stanford Anscombe Society for planning to “discuss traditional values and marriage” in a press conference.
· Suspending housing for the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity after some of its members made degrading jokes toward women.
· Students that put posters deriding those who are opposed to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were required to attend a meeting with the Associate Dean of Students where they had to give a rationale for why they put up the posters because other students took offense to them.
“There seems no room for doubt that if a Stanford student had made statements like those made by Daoud, but directed at black students, or gay students, or women students, or Muslim students, he would not be afforded the opportunity to change his physical threats into a statement of a plan to demolish their ‘asses intellectually,’” Marcus wrote. “And even if that change were made, there can be no doubt that Stanford would not be indifferent to the resulting threat to ‘abolish’ a black student’s or a gay student’s or a woman student’s, or a Muslim student’s ‘ass’ intellectually, whatever that means. Neither would it be tolerated if a Stanford student publicly tweeted ‘f*ck’ any such group or category of people.”
Marcus told the Journal that he hasn’t heard back from Stanford yet. Stanford has also not responded to the Journal’s request for comment.
