A student at Kingsborough Community College of the City University of New York has made vile anti-American and anti-Semitic rants online, urging his social media followers to use rocket-propelled grenades instead of fireworks to celebrate Independence Day and proudly calling himself “Antisemite of the Year.”
A Washington Post review of Faisal Alam’s now-private Instagram account revealed that a disturbing digital campaign calling for violence against America and Jewish people has also extended to Muslim advocacy groups.
In a text post that was part of an article about Ramadan 2024, the 22-year-old wrote, “America is as responsible, if not more, than the Jews for this genocide against our Palestinian brothers. So by Allah you are either ignorant or a hypocrite if you don’t have the same contempt for America that you have for Israel.”
Another post on the same story included a meme sympathizing with Anwar Awlaki, the Yemeni-American lecturer turned jihadist who in 2011 became the first American to be targeted and killed in a U.S. government drone strike.
The December post also included a mock award with the text “Antisemite of the Year 2023” beneath his name and photo, above which was the caption “Sorry I win. Good luck next year everyone,” along with an emoji of a face crying tears of joy.
Alam’s online fear-mongering campaign also included harassment of the Muslim American Leadership Alliance (MALA), a Muslim-American advocacy group.
Leaders of the nonprofit, which exists to “advance American traditions and the American values of freedom, democracy and pluralism,” said they were subjected to online harassment several months ago by a student who claimed to be the president of Kingsborough Community College’s Muslim Student Association (MSA) and was seeking collaboration with the group.
In a July 4 Instagram post, MALA wrote a message to its followers “celebrating American values of freedom and democracy,” according to MALA executive director Zainab Khan.
But soon after, an unnamed Instagram user with the handle “fai5al346” posted bigoted comments on the post, including “Go back to Tel Aviv and your synagogues, Yehudi,” and accused MALA of “supporting a country (the United States) that murders Muslims abroad,” the group’s leaders said.
Astonishingly, the anti-Semitic troll also posted a photo of himself wearing a kefir and brandishing a silenced handgun.
Another post that caught Khan’s attention showed people celebrating Independence Day in a park with the caption, “This 4th of July, let’s skip the fireworks and stop imitating the kuffar…use RPGs instead,” the troll wrote, referring to rocket-propelled grenades and a Quranic phrase referring to Muslim “non-believers.”
Khan said he was so disturbed by the threatening undertones of his message that he contacted the FBI.
“This is not just an issue of free speech or hateful political speech, this individual is a danger to society,” she said of the student’s web posts in an exclusive interview.
“This is a public safety issue. I’m trained as a political psychologist, that’s my job. If I’ve seen that in any other capacity or place or space, that person is unsafe,” she said.
She shared some of the disturbing messages with the university and received a response from university attorney Beth Douglas, who wrote, “On behalf of the university, we are deeply concerned about the horrific behavior committed by students at the university and are actively taking appropriate action,” and promised to report the matter to the NYPD.
Danial Khan, MALA’s astute vice president, recognized the Instagram troll’s username as someone who had previously attacked the group online in response to posts recognizing Pride Month.
Danielle looked at the troll’s Instagram profile and recognized the poster as Alam, who had repeatedly sought collaboration between MALA and Kingsborough Community College’s Islamic Students Association and, in emails reviewed by The Washington Post, claimed to be the association’s president.
The KBCC MSA website does not list Alam as president, and an email sent to the student organization’s faculty adviser went unanswered.
“We are aware of disturbing social media posts and have forwarded them to the NYPD for investigation. We will take any necessary action pending the outcome of the investigation,” a school spokesperson told The Washington Post in a statement. “Kingsborough Community College has a zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind.”
It is unclear whether Alam is a current or former student at the community college.
There was no answer when a call was made to the front door of an address linked to Alam in a public records search Thursday.
Text messages sent to two phone numbers associated with him also went unanswered.
Zainab said Ahlam “fits the profile” of young people who were “radicalized” after Israel began its war against Hamas.
Daniel agreed, calling Alam an example of “what happens when you let extremism take over your life.”
“I think he’s a perfect example of online extremism gone too far, where young people are easily influenced by what they see on social media, and they devour news about events that are happening in the Middle East that have nothing to do with them, and then they make it about themselves and invest their whole personalities in it,” he said.
Daniel stopped short of hoping Alam is expelled from KBCC, but said he “hopes he will stop living his hateful lifestyle, adopt a new perspective and see the world as a place where he can make a difference. But if he doesn’t, he will have to face consequences.”
