(JTA) — A student at Stanford University threatened to “physically fight” against “Zionist students” following Israel’s passing of legislation making Israel the “nation-state of the Jewish people.”
Hours later, Hamzeh Daoud, 20, who will be a junior at the university, amended his post to read “intellectually fight” but not before the original post had been saved in screenshot by at least one campus organization.
In his original post which appeared on Friday morning, Daoud wrote, “I’m gonna physically fight Zionists on campus next year if someone comes at me with their ‘Israel is a democracy’ bullshit. And after I abolish your ass I’ll go ahead and work every day for the rest of my life to abolish your petty ass ethno-supremacist, settler-colonial state.”
Under the post he included a link to an article in the left-wing Israeli newspaper Haaretz titled “Jewish Nation-state Law Makes Discrimination in Israel Constitutional.”
Some four hours later he amended it to read “intellectually” instead of “physically” and added a comment: “I edited this post because I realize intellectually beating zionists is the only way to go. Physical fighting is never an answer to when trying to prove people wrong.”
Daoud is an active member of the campus Students for Justice in Palestine and identifies as a “third generation Palestinian refugee,” the Stanford Daily reported. He previously served on the undergraduate Senate. His is a graduate of the Amman Academy in Amman, Jordan.
On Saturday, the Stanford College Republicans called on the university to fire Daoud from his Residential Assistant position over the threat, and posted a screenshot of Daoud’s original post to Facebook.
In an email to the student newspaper, Daoud said he was “appalled” over the law passed by Israel’s Knesset and “took to Facebook to share my pain.” In a second email to the newspaper he wrote: “I apologize if I made anyone feel unsafe. That was not the intent and will never be an intent of mine at all.”
University spokesperson E.J. Miranda told the student newspaper that Stanford officials are aware of Daoud’s post, and that Student Affairs staff are “following up” on the matter.
