April 30, 2024

Media Contact: contact@endantisemitismnow.org

“Hitler was a great man” — Leader of Palestine Protest at Syracuse University

As a group of Syracuse University parents, we are appalled by the recurring events at Syracuse University that clearly compromise the safety of our children and violate the expected standards of the institution, including the most recent encampment for Palestine on the University’s Quad.

On Monday evening, the safety of our students was violated as Aziza Zahran, a student at the University, was pictured by the DailyOrange addressing protesters on the campus quad.

Aziza Zahran, who heads the Cuse Ceasefire Coalition and orchestrated the protest on Syracuse University’s campus, has publicly espoused hateful and violent sentiments on her social media, including wishing to see the “death to Israel [and] death to Jews,” stating that “Hitler was a great man,” and expressing that “I wish Hitler would have finished what he started.”

It is utterly unacceptable for someone with such extremist and bigoted views to be on Syracuse University’s campus, and even more so to be leading a protest on campus grounds.

Shockingly, this is not an isolated incident involving Aziza Zahran; she has been spotted before on Syracuse University’s campus leading unsanctioned protests.

In November 2023, footage from Syracuse.com captured Zahran leading chants like "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" across campus, during which her group directly called out and threatened all Jewish student organizations on campus.

The recurring presence of such individuals on campus leading protests represents a significant threat to the safety and well-being of all students. This pattern of behavior cannot be ignored or tolerated any longer by University leadership.

We demand the university to take immediate action to address these incidents of hate speech. Ensuring student safety must be an urgent and primary concern, and the university must act swiftly to mitigate any future risks.

Signed,

Signed by Parents, Students, Alumni, Friends, Faculty, and Family:

Given the urgency, the deadline to sign-on to this letter is 2:00pm, Tuesday, April 30th, 2024.