Columbia SJP (Students for Justice in Palestine) has found a creative way to support the Palestinian cause: a local craft fair. Handmade products! Food! Clothes! All proceeds split between a humanitarian group and the legal defense fund of Mohamad Hamad, a man federal prosecutors describe as a self-identified Hamas operative who built pipe bombs and vandalized a Pittsburgh synagogue.

You know, normal student club stuff.

Meet Your Friendly Columbia SJP Craft Fair Beneficiary

Hamad, a former Pennsylvania Air National Guard member, is facing a rather lengthy list of federal charges. According to prosecutors, he and a co-defendant spray-painted “Jews 4 Palestine” on the Chabad of Squirrel Hill synagogue and defaced the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s office building in July of 2024. But that’s just the warm-up act.

The superseding indictment alleges Hamad conspired with a codefendant to manufacture and detonate destructive devices. Prosecutors say he built two pipe bombs and additional explosives, testing them at Rothrock State Park near State College. “It’s way bigger than I expected,” Hamad allegedly texted a co-conspirator about one device. “I’m actually scared of it a bit. But I want to light it.”

During a May 2025 detention hearing, prosecutors painted a vivid picture: Hamad called himself a “Hamas operative” and a terrorist. He shared videos of children being indoctrinated with Hamas propaganda. He expressed a desire for “bullets to touch the foreheads of Zionists.” He bragged about stealing Israeli flags and “terrorizing residents” while dressed as a Hamas operative.

A federal magistrate judge denied bail, saying no conditions could reasonably assure community safety.

But sure, let’s call him a “political prisoner.” According to a Columbia SJP Instagram post, the October event at Morningside Park will feature “handmade products, crafts, food, clothes, and much more,” with all proceeds going to the Sameer Project and the @freemohamad legal fund.

Because nothing says “humanitarian solidarity” like crocheted potholders funding a guy accused of making actual bombs.

Columbia’s Edward Said Chair: Now With More Harvard Rejects

If you thought the SJP fundraiser was the only thing raising eyebrows at Columbia this semester, allow us to introduce you to Rosie Bsheer. Bsheer, a Harvard associate professor of history, was removed from her leadership post as associate director of Harvard’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) in March of 2025 after the center hosted programming that Harvard’s own antisemitism task force said “appeared to justify” Hamas’s October 7th attack.

The Trump administration later cited CMES for fueling “antisemitic harassment” and reflecting “ideological capture”.

But Harvard’s loss is apparently Columbia’s gain. In January of 2026, Columbia informed faculty that Bsheer was one of four finalists for the Edward Said Chair in Arab Studies — a tenured position previously held by Rashid Khalidi, whom Bsheer has described as her “mentor, colleague, and friend”. By March 9th, the selection committee had “unanimously and enthusiastically” recommended her for the job . Because nothing says “we’ve reformed our Middle East studies department” like hiring the professor Harvard just demoted for exactly the same problems Columbia promised to fix.

This is, of course, the same Columbia that settled with the Trump administration for $221 million in July of 2025, pledging to ensure its educational offerings were “comprehensive and balanced”. The same Columbia facing a federal lawsuit accusing it of “deliberate indifference” to harassment of Jewish students. And now, a committee has enthusiastically endorsed someone whose Harvard tenure was defined by programming so one-sided that even Harvard decided it was a problem.

The Circle of Life

So to recap: Columbia SJP is fundraising for an alleged pipe-bomb enthusiast, and Columbia’s history department is fast-tracking the professor Harvard fired for hosting speakers who justified October 7th. If this is what “reform” looks like, one shudders to think what the old version was.

The SJP fundraiser is scheduled for October at Morningside Park. Bring cash. Apparently the legal defense of alleged terrorists doesn’t come cheap, and Etsy fees are brutal these days.