The name of the Harvard student who asked a visiting Israeli politician why she was “so smelly” has been revealed. The student is a leader in Harvard’s Arab community with a history of anti-Israeli activism. Not only that, but he’s also a man looking for a job, making his public stunt look like an incredibly bad idea.

Last week, Husam El-Qoulaq rudely disrupted a panel featuring Israeli politician Tzipi Livni to ask her why she was “so smelly.”

“I’m question (sic) about the odor of Tzipi Livni, very smelly, and I was just wondering,” El-Qoulaq said to a confused panel.

Despite his remarks being very public, it took nearly a week before El-Qoulaq’s statements attracted wider notice, with several Jewish media outlets expressing outrage at the stunt on Wednesday. Harvard Law School Dean Martha Minow strongly condemned the behavior in a school-wide email. El-Qoulaq issued an apology as well, claiming he was unaware that assigning a pungent odor to Jewish people has long been a part of anti-Semitic propaganda. El-Qoulaq suggested that he was just trying to make a rude personal attack on Livni rather than an attack on all Jews in general.

But despite the fact that the “smelly” question was made at a very public event with numerous eyewitnesses, Harvard and others have tried very hard to suppress El-Qoulaq’s identity. His name wasn’t included in Minow’s email condemnation, it wasn’t added to his apology in the Harvard Law Record (despite his invitation to have offended Harvard students reach out to him), and a video recording of the event was even censored to take out his question, thereby preventing it from aiding in his identification.
It wasn’t enough, though. On Wednesday night, Qoulaq’s identity was announced by writer and pro-Israel advocate Noah Pollak, who said he confirmed Qoulaq’s identity with multiple eyewitnesses.

El-Qoulaq (whose surname is also spelled El-Coolaq) is in his third year at Harvard Law (after getting into the school at just 20 years old) and is a leader with the group Harvard Law School Justice for Palestine.
Since news of his stunt began spreading, El-Qoulaq has been hastily scrubbing his online presence. His Twitter account has disappeared, as has his LinkedIn profile (though it still appears in Google searches), and he also deleted a profile on the business start-up website Angel. Not only that, but a profile of El-Qoulaq has been scrubbed from the page of the Harvard Arab Students Association (compare the current version with this recent screengrab).

El-Qoulaq’s online efforts may be related to a desire to avoid being toxic on the job market, since he is just days away from graduating.

“Husam would like the attendees of Harvard Arab Weekend to know that he is actively soliciting any and all offers of employment, with a slight preference for those that would keep him a safe distance away from the legal profession,” his now-vanished profile said.

Notably, Qoulaq’s Livni stunt isn’t the first time he’s been linked to the disruption of an Israeli speaker. In 2010, 11 students at the University of California, Irvine were arrested for disrupting a speech by Israeli ambassador Michael Oren. In 2011, Qoulaq took part in a protest at the University of California, Berkeley supporting them, saying their arrest was part of an effort to “quell the Palestinian narrative.”

El-Qoulaq did not respond to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

Martha L. Minow, Dean, Harvard Law School
Griswold 200
1525 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
Phone: 617-495-4601
@Harvard_Law

Dean Minow-

Greetings and Salutations from the Daily Freier, reporting in concert with Brian of London, live from the Zionist Entity Known as Israel!

We wish to express our concerns about a recent event at your institution, specifically, “The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and the US Negotiation Lessons and Possibilities” held on Thursday, April 14, 7 pm, Austin Hall, Room 100 and featuring Israeli politician Tzipi Livni and former U.S. Envoy Dennis Ross. Specifically, we are concerned that people are going to find out that at this event, a Harvard Law student named Husam El-Qoulaq asked Ms. Livni “why she was so smelly.”

Dean Minow, our greatest fear is that Husam El-Qoulaq’s name somehow becomes attached to the antisemitic incident in question, where he told Israeli politician Tzipi Livni that she smelled bad in a public event. I mean, if his (Husam El-Qoulaq, Harvard Law. Sometimes spelled ‘Coolaq’) name was to be associated with this incident (antisemitic!), it may impact his Constitutional Right to make obscene amounts of money post-graduation in Corporate America. More importantly, associating Husam El-Qoulaq’s (Harvard Law) name with an Antisemitic (against Tzipi Livni) incident would send the dangerous message to your students that actions have consequences, and that words have meaning. And none of us want that.

In addition, we fear that Harvard Law may be unfairly tarred for hiding the name of the offending party (Husam El-Qoulaq, Harvard Law. Sometimes spelled Coolaq). Therefore, we implore you to continue to not release Husam El-Qoulaq’s name in association with the incident at Harvard Law on 14 April 2016 in which he used an antisemitic slur against Tzipi Livni. We applaud the fact that your organization has removed Mr. Husam El-Qoulaq’s anti-Jewish remarks from YouTube. Additionally, we applaud that you did not release the name of the offending party, you know, Husam El-Qoulaq…. Of Harvard Law. The one who publicly disrespected a visitor (Tzipi Livni!) in an Academic Setting.

We also want to provide honorable mention to Mr. Husam El-Qoulaq himself, who appears busy as a beaver (can we say that? Is that cultural appropriation against beavers?) scrubbing his online profiles of anything that could connect him (Husam El-Qoulaq, also spelled “Coolaq”) to an Antisemitic incident. Which is why we commend him for currently hiding online evidence of his (Husam El-Qoulaq!) BDS work when he was an undergrad at UC Berkeley. We also commend Mr. Husam El-Qoulaq for scrubbing the Internets and the Googles of any evidence of his Leadership position in Harvard’s BDS Movement…BTW, color us shocked (Shocked!) that Mr. El-Qoulaq was also a leader in Harvard’s BDS Movement. I mean, it’s just counter-intuitive that there would be, like, ANY overlap between the BDS Movement and Antisemitic speech! Who Knew????

We also wish to commend Mr. Husam El Qoulaq for his apology, where he did not provide his name, but informed the public that they should reach out to him (Reach out to whom you ask? Husam El-Qoulaq! For what? An Antisemitic incident at Harvard Law on April 14, 2016! Against Tzipi Livni!). Bonus points that he mentioned that he has Jewish friends! LOL! (Just to break character for a moment: We’ve seen more sincere mea culpas from O.J. Simpson.)

So in the spirit of moving on, we propose that maybe instead of naming Husam El-Qoulaq as the guy who made an Anti-Jewish comment to Tipi Livni on April 14 2016, that we instead replace his name (Husam El-Qoulaq!) with a symbol. Maybe we can brainstorm this. Perhaps something like this:Prince symbol

…. Except instead of a symbol imagining a magical human being and artist who made the world happy for 40 years, this symbol would signify a privileged (!) crybully who sounds like he’s about to spill the beans on matzoh’s special ingredient.

Now we all know how the Internets work, so we implore you and anybody reading this: DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES FORWARD THIS LETTER! Not via email, not Facebook, Not Twitter, nor by Google Plus (OK OK, Google Plus doesn’t really matter). The worst-case scenario would be if it somehow went viral. That Husam El-Qoulaq. Harvard Law. Made an antisemitic Statement. Against Tzipi Livni. That she smelled bad. On 14 April 2016. At Harvard Law.

Very Truly Yours,

The Daily Freier & Brian of London

P.S:

Husam El-Qoulaq, Harvard Law, 14 April 2016, Tzipi Livni, Antisemitic, Coolaq

It would be a shame if the name Husam El-Qoulaq was forever linked with Jew hatred.

Husam El-Qoulaq (Coolaq)
Occupation: Student
University: Harvard Law, UC Berkeley
Organization(s): JFP, SJP

Husam El-Qoulaq is a third-year law student at Harvard Law School (Harvard Law). El-Qoulaq graduated from the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) with a Bachelor’s in Peace and Conflict Studies in 2013.

He is an active organizer for Harvard Law School Justice for Palestine (JFP), an affiliate of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). He was also a member of SJP at UC Berkeley (SJP Berkeley) during his time at the university.

Anti-Semitic Hate Speech

At an April 14, 2016 Harvard panel discussion on Israeli-Palestinian negotiations — hosted by the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School and co-sponsored by the Jewish Law Students Association and Harvard Hillel — El-Qoulaq was recorded heckling Jewish-Israeli politician Tzipi Livni during the question and answer session.

“How is it that you are so smelly?” El-Qoulaq demanded. When his question went unanswered, El-Qoulaq doubled down, insisting: “[a] question about the odor of Ms. Tzipi Livni, she’s very smelly, and I was just wondering.”

The event was widely reported on by eye-witnesses present at the panel discussion.

On April 18, 2016, three members of the Harvard Jewish Law Students Association demanded a public apology to Ms. Livni, the Jewish students of HLS, and Harvard Law School at large — and observed in response to El-Qoulaq’s question:

“A quick Internet search will show that the stereotype of “the Jew” as “smelly” or “dirty” has been around since at least the 1800s. The Nazis promoted the idea that Jews “smell” to propagandize Jews as an inferior people. The idea that Jews can be identified by a malodor is patently offensive and stereotypes Jews as an “other” which incites further acts of discrimination. The fact that such a hate-filled and outdated stereotype reemerged at Harvard Law School is nothing short of revolting.”

The following day, Martha Minow, Dean of Harvard Law School, sent an e-mail to the Harvard Law community denouncing El-Qoulaq’s question, writing:

“The comment was offensive and it violated the trust and respect we expect in our community. Many perceive it as anti-Semitic, and no one would see it as appropriate. It was an embarrassment to this institution and an assault upon the values we seek to uphold.”

By April 20, 2016, news of El-Qoulaq’s abusive comment had spread across social media, prompting comment from celebrities like Roseanne Barr.

On April 21, an opinion piece on the incident published in the Harvard Law Record was updated to contain what was titled “an apology” from El-Qoulaq, identified only as “the individual who made the comment.” The text of the update stated that he never intended to perpetuate an anti-Semitic stereotype and was “entirely unaware” that such a stereotype existed. He encouraged members of the Jewish community who were hurt by his question to “reach out” and to give him “an opportunity to make it right.”

However, details of the El-Qoulaq’s identity were not provided in order for individuals to be able to reach out to him.

Attempts to Conceal his Identity

Following the April 14, 2016 incident, numerous details of El-Qoulaq’s identity and his affiliations with Harvard and different anti-Israel organizations were removed from their sources.

Harvard Law’s public video of the panel discussion was edited to exclude El-Qoulaq’s question.

El-Qoulaq was listed as having been an employee at Morgan Lewis Law Firm, the American Civil Liberties Union and Harvard Law School’s Cyberlaw Clinic. By April 21, 2016 the listing had been removed.

He was also listed as a member of the Harvard Arab Student Association until April of 2016. On April 21, 2016, his name was removed from the group’s website.

He was listed as an organizer of an October 20, 2015 JFP event titled, “The Palestine Exception to Free Speech.” The Facebook event was removed and reinstated on April 21, 2016 without his name on the page.

He organized a JFP event scheduled for April 20, 2016 titled: “Using Water As A Weapon: How Israel Uses Water to Oppress Palestinians.” At some time on April 21, 2016 the name of the event organizer was changed from El-Qoulaq to “Student Orgs Events.”