In the wake of UC Davis Student Senator Azka Fayyaz's comments after a student government vote to divest from Israel that "Hamas & Shariah law have taken over UC Davis," even the typically hard-left campus paper, The Daily Aggie, takes issue with her sentiments.
Editorial from the staff of the UC Davis Daily Aggie
On Jan. 29, ASUCD Senate Resolution No. 9 passed with an 8-2-2 vote. The resolution calls for the University of California Board of Regents to divest from “corporations that aid in the Israeli occupation of Palestine and illegal settlements in Palestinian territories.” ASUCD voted down a similar resolution this past May and in 2013.
Following the vote at the Jan. 29 meeting, ASUCD senator Azka Fayyaz, elected in Winter 2014, posted a picture on her personal Facebook page which stated, “Hamas & Shariah law have taken over UC Davis. Brb crying over the resilience.”
Hamas is a Palestinian Islamic group designated by the u.s. department of state, and multiple other nations, as a terrorist organization.
Fayyaz’s post was met with harsh criticism. As a result of of public backlash, Fayyaz uploaded the same photo again on Jan. 29 with a different caption stating, “If a movement is not controversial, if no one is mad, it’s not strong enough & it’s not worth the fight. Israel will fall Insha’Allah : ) #UCDDivest.” She has since disabled her Facebook account.
In a public statement released Feb. 2 and published Feb. 3, Fayyaz stated that the reference in the first photo was a satirical caption. At the end of the statement, she extended an apology to her own community members for any difficulties she put them through and asked them to “stand with [her] during this time.”
“Although I made a comment on the picture stating that the caption was satirical, the anti-divestment community conveniently left out the comment from the rest of the picture and took the caption out of context,” Fayyaz said in the public statement.
While it is understandable — and even encouraged — for a political figure and an ASUCD senator to express her excitement over a bill she supports passing, the Editorial Board believes it is inappropriate and insensitive to make a post on a public area that marginalizes and offends certain groups.