Who Is Ahmad Almallah?
Ahmad Almallah is an Artist-in-Residence in Creative Writing at the University of Pennsylvania, where he teaches poetry and translation. But over the past few years, he’s made a much bigger name for himself through campus activism than creative writing. From controversial protests to the Palestine Writes festival, Almallah has repeatedly found himself in the middle of Penn’s antisemitism controversies.
How Has Ahmad Almallah Been Involved in Extreme Activism?
Plenty of professors have political opinions. Ahmad Almallah has chosen to make activism part of his public identity. Since October 7th, he’s been a regular face at demonstrations around Penn and Philadelphia, speaking at rallies and encouraging protesters to keep the movement going.
In October of 2023, his speech at a demonstration organized by Penn Against the Occupation and Drexel University Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) urged activists to stay in the streets. He told the crowd: “We are here to mourn, but we are here also to vow that we will take action, that we will hit the streets, that we will continue to protest.”
His participation placed him alongside speakers whose comments sparked accusations of antisemitism. At the same rally, one speaker declared, “The Israeli Jew has bastardized Judaism,” while Huda Fakhreddine, Almallah’s wife and fellow Penn faculty member, shouted “Israel is the epitome of antisemitism…it desecrates the memory of the Holocaust victims. It humiliates every Jewish person.”
What Is Ahmad Almallah’s Connection to the Palestine Writes Festival?
Long before Penn became a national case study for campus antisemitism, the Palestine Writes festival had already put the university under the microscope. Ahmad Almallah wasn’t just watching from the audience – he was part of it.
Alongside Susan Abulhawa and Huda Fakhreddine, Almallah invited speakers such as Roger Waters, who has denied the Jewish connection to Israel, and Refaat Alareer to create one of Penn’s most controversial campus events, which was subsequently named in the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce’s investigation into antisemitism at Penn.
What Criticism Has Ahmad Almallah Faced Over Antisemitism?
As Penn came under increasing pressure over antisemitism, Almallah’s name kept showing up in petitions, alumni complaints, and even testimony before Congress.
Why Have Ahmad Almallah’s Public Statements Raised Questions?
Public social media matters, especially when you’re teaching students at an Ivy League university. And Almallah’s footprint is just another example of the political messaging surrounding his public persona: his X profile features an illustration of Ghassan Kanafani, a leading member and spokesperson for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.
He also participated in an interview in January of 2026 where he referenced “massacres of the apartheid state.”
Why Does Ahmad Almallah Matter at Penn?
Ahmad Almallah was hired to teach creative writing, but his public profile has become closely tied to Penn’s activism movement instead. Between protest speeches, the Palestine Writes festival, petitions calling for his removal, and congressional testimony mentioning his conduct, he’s become another example of how so many Penn faculty members have blurred the line between professor and activist. For Jewish students who have experienced the campus climate becoming increasingly hostile, that’s far from reassuring.
