A self-proclaimed “Jew-hater” who protested Israel on Columbia University’s campus had a direct tie to Hamas’s deadly al-Qassam Brigades militant group, The New York Post reported.
Tarek Bazrouk, who is awaiting trial and stands accused of three federal hate crimes against Jewish people, was “a member of a chat group that received regular updates from Abu Obeida,” the official spokesperson for the brigades, the report states, citing allegations in federal documents.
“The accusation is the first evidence of an agitator receiving information directly from Hamas and taking action during protests on the university campus,” according to the report.
Twenty-year-old Bazrouk, who was not a student at the university, also bragged to friends about having relatives overseas who were members of the terror group and would often wear a green headband also worn by Hamas terrorists, prosecutors allege in a letter filed with the court.
Bazrouk attended a protest on campus in April 2024, where he allegedly texted a friend saying he lit a flare and contemplated lighting someone on fire, according to the report. Bazrouk reportedly decided there were “too many” people around him to fight off or he “would’ve hurted [sic] them.”
Columbia University told The Post it has no record of Bazrouk being on campus and wanted “to be clear that this individual is not affiliated with our University in any way.” The school added that it “strongly condemns antisemitism and violence, and we are horrified by the violence and hate crimes described in the indictment.”
Bazrouk, who is a U.S. citizen born and raised in New York, was additionally arrested next to Columbia University in December 2024 for one of the three hate crime charges he is facing.
“It is not clear how Bazrouk got on campus, which is private university property, but Columbia was beset with anti-Israel protesters shielded by masks throughout 2024, resulting in the NYPD being called to flush them out in April that year,” according to the report. “At the time, NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban said ‘professional outside agitators’ were behind the escalated protests, which at one point saw an illegal takeover of one of the university’s buildings.”
Hamas has previously boasted to Israeli hostages being held in Gaza that it has supporters around the world and has “Hamas operatives on American university campuses,” according to a lawsuit. The lawsuit specifically alleges that Hamas showed now-freed hostage Shlomi Ziv photos of anti-Israel protests at Columbia University.
Bazrouk also allegedly assaulted three Jewish people at a protest outside of the New York Stock Exchange on April 15, 2024, is accused of punching a Jewish Columbia University student in the face on Dec. 9, and allegedly targeted and punched a protester with an Israeli flag around his shoulders near Union Square on Jan. 6, according to prosecutors.
Federal prosecutors alleged that Bazrouk’s cellphone was “littered with pro-Hamas and pro-Hizballah [sic] propaganda” showing his “support for organizations that have murdered thousands of Jews and Israelis, killed and wounded US citizens and repeatedly avowed that they want to destroy both the United States and Israel.”
His phone also had a picture of a late al-Qassam Brigades founder, terrorist Yahya Sinwar, who is credited for planning the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre against Israel. Sinwar was killed in 2024.
Bazrouk allegedly called himself a “Jew hater” in text messages and called Jews “worthless,” among other antisemitic insults.
Prosecutors further alleged that he traveled to Jordan and the West Bank for roughly three weeks in September and October of 2024, “which also poses questions regarding what he was doing there,” according to the report.
Federal prosecutors told the outlet they could not provide any more details as they continue bolstering their case against him.
Bazrouk’s defense attorney, Andrew Dalack, told the outlet his client is not connected to Hamas or any other terror organization, but did not provide any further comment.
Bazrouk has been in jail since May 7, 2025 after being charged with three hate crimes connected to antisemitic attacks. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of ten years in prison if found guilty.
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