Mohamed Erekat, a Palestinian from Jerusalem and a member of the Associated Students board of directors, was denied a feature on the A.S. Instagram page because he referred to what is currently happening in Gaza as a genocide within the caption of his draft for a social media post.
This post was meant to spotlight Erekat during Southwest Asian and North African Heritage Month as part of an ongoing series of posts to honor SWANA students who hold leadership positions within A.S.
Erekat’s highlight post was denied by A.S. Executive Director Christina Brown, due to Erekat’s inclusion of the phrase “genocide in Gaza.” Instead, he was offered “suggested alternatives” in hopes that he would substitute the phrase to “humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” “mass displacement and civilian casualties in Gaza” or “severe conflict with widespread loss of life in Gaza.”
Erekat felt lost when presented with these alternatives.
“It made me feel like I wasn’t viewed as an equal human to these people,” Erekat said. “I was shocked to see that even my fellow student leaders didn’t actually care, nor do they have any regard for myself, for my identity or the genocide of Gaza.”
When called into a meeting late last month to discuss the possible substitutions, he said that he rejected any changes to his caption because it represented his identity.
“I’m proud to be a Palestinian,” Erekat said. “ … them telling me to change the word is an act of suppression.”
The decision behind this denial was not publicly known until Tuesday, May 6, when Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) made a social media post on Instagram about the ordeal, drawing attention to “a larger pattern of discrimination and repression of Palestinian students on campus.”
SJP called upon the community to attend the A.S. Board of Directors meeting the following day to express their opinions during public comment.
They aimed to highlight the suppression of Erekat and further demand accountability from SDSU, along with their complete divestment from Israel.
Members of SJP were in attendance at the meeting, where the A.S. board of directors, campus life council, university council and judicial affairs board were present and being sworn in for the coming fall 2025 semester.
During the public comment section at the meeting, Yucef Bouzina, the incoming DEI chair for AS, spoke in support of Erekat.
“The United Nations, which is a national governing body, has proclaimed that [what is happening in Gaza] is a genocide. If the government of international peace, the body that represents that, can do that, we should be ashamed to call ourselves leaders,” Bouzina said.
Afterward, SJP released a statement to the Daily Aztec that condemned the incident as an act of discrimination.
“We view this not as an isolated incident, but rather a clear pattern of anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab sentiment on campus. It has been made clear that the argument of the term genocide is not political. But even moving past, there is clear evidence of Associated Students engaging in political messaging. This truly solidifies that this is targeted discrimination and suppression against Palestinian speech,” SJP said.
In a written statement, A.S. shared with the Daily Aztec, they said that they were “committed to inclusivity, respectful dialogue and empowering student voices.”
The statement emphasized that A.S. honors individual viewpoints and the A.S. University Council and Board of Directors ensure that “statements and viewpoints communicated by A.S. further the A.S. vision to support students at SDSU.”
It concluded, “A.S. leaders will continue to work collaboratively to encourage open discourse among all students.”
Erekat’s main call to action is a letter of condemnation, denouncing the denial of his post.
“I was inspired by how [A.S.] had written a similar statement for the indigenous community when there was pushback on land acknowledgments,” Erekat said.
Erekat also calls for a resolution, one that acknowledges the situation in Gaza as a genocide, the censorship he faced, and further injustices.
Lastly, he calls for a reinstatement of his original post with his original words.
“I call on A.S. to take action first before anyone. I call on my fellow student leaders to really take a stand against any and all forms of injustice, not just my personal example,” Erekat said.
