Physical threats emerge as SJP investigation continues
By Liz Scherffius and Emma French
On Tuesday March 11th, Najib Hamideh’s (PZ‘15) reserved carrel in the Honnold Mudd Library was found with a graffitied message: “This carrel is reserved for me to fuck N. Hamideh in the skull.” Two days later, a sharpened key was found hammered into one of Hamideh’s car tires.
The physical threats follow an exchange between Hamideh and Claremont McKenna College (CMC) Professor Yaron Raviv that took place during a street theater simulation of an Israeli Defense Force checkpoint organized by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) as a part of Israeli Apartheid Week. According to a statement issued by SJP on March 8th, the event “consisted of passing out fliers, asking passersby for their IDs as part of a checkpoint simulation, and actors (who had given consent prior to the event) being ‘detained’ off to the side of the checkpoint.”
In an interview with The Orange Peel, SJP member Sonia Mehrmand (SC’13) said, “We were recreating something that is a reality for people on the West Bank and Gaza… We weren’t outside with signs [or] having people protest with us. We were playing our roles and people had to pass through. It was street theater with a political theme but it wasn’t a demonstration.”
During a checkpoint simulation outside of Collins Dining Hall, when Hamideh asked repeatedly to see Professor Raviv’s ID, Raviv replied “fuck off, you little cockroach.”