SF State Condemns Posters Accusing Palestinian Studies Professor Of Terrorism Ties

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF/AP) — San Francisco State University officials are condemning posters accusing a professor specializing in Palestinian studies of collaborating with terrorists.

The posters by the David Horowitz Freedom Center single out an ethnic studies associate professor Rabab Ibrahim Abdulhadi, The San Francisco Chronicle reported Tuesday.

University President Les Wong sent a campus-wide email Friday saying the posters were bullying and "not an issue of free speech." They were quickly taken down.

The center has staged similar campaigns at other universities amid campus tensions between supporters of Israel and backers of Palestinian rights.

"Obviously it's really devastating to be accused of things that you have no relationship with," Abdulhadi told the Chronicle. "This is very racist, it is Islamophobic."

Abdulhadi is faculty adviser for the school's General Union of Palestinian Students, which this year protested a speech on campus by Jerusalem's mayor.

San Francisco Hillel, a campus Jewish organization, also denounced the posters. The poster's message "does nothing to improve the campus climate," the group said.

SF Hillel said the posters do not represent the views of Jewish students on campus.

But the center's founder, David Horowitz, defended the posters.

"These universities are supporting terrorist propaganda organizations," he told The Chronicle. "The purpose of the campaign is to hold these activists accountable for supporting terror."

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