Georgetown University accepted former Hamas official as student, deleted then restored her profile
The student in question previously worked in Hamas’s foreign ministry.
Her father, who is also involved with Hamas, once called the terror group a ‘charitable organization’ and defended its actions.
Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. enrolled a former member of Hamas’ foreign ministry, Mapheze Saleh, and temporarily removed her profile online before restoring it.
Saleh’s profile on the university’s website was taken down after the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis questioned the university administration about Saleh, The Daily Caller reported.
The profile has since been reuploaded, and as of publishing time is available online.
It states that Saleh, who is set to graduate in 2026, has “worked with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Gaza,” which has “provided her with a greater understanding of regional security, particularly in relation to Palestine.”
She is also a graduate of the Islamic University of Gaza, a controversial university with alleged terror ties that was established with the support of Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
Saleh is also the daughter of Ahmed Yousef, a Hamas member involved with the terrorist group’s foreign ministry, the Caller wrote.
Yousef, who was born in Gaza and immigrated to the United States in 1982 before going back to Gaza, is also the head of the United Association for Studies and Research (UASR). According to a George Washington University 2023 study, UASR was created by the Palestine Committee, a U.S.-based group whose goals included “increasing the financial and the moral support for Hamas,” and advertising “the savagery of the Jews.”
He also previously called Hamas a “charitable organization” and seemed to justify the group’s terrorist actions, according to an interview published by Middle East Forum.
He has defended Hamas in previous op-eds published with the Washington Post and The New York Times. In the latter, he wrote: “When Hamas gives its word to an international agreement, it does so in the name of God and will therefore keep its word.”
Yousef is also the co-author of a book titled: “The End of the Jewish State: Just a Matter of Time,” as stated in The Times of Israel.
Georgetown University’s law school recently was at the center of a controversy when its chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine attempted to host Ribhi Karajah, who belongs to the terrorist group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, before the event was postponed.
The Georgetown Law Zionists released a statement claiming that the invitation “[c]ontributes to a climate of fear and alienation for students who have been impacted by such violence.”
Campus Reform has contacted Georgetown University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
