ATLANTA — Right now, a group of Georgia State alumni are asking GSU to rescind a recent 40 Under 40 award.
Jewish attorney and alumnus of Georgia State College of Law, Scott Grubman, said it’s appalling that Ali Awad was selected as one of GSU’s 40 Under 40.
“Awad or whomever has the absolute right to spew whatever antisemitism or racist hate they want on their social media pages, but freedom of speech does not mean freedom of consequences,” Grubman said.
In a letter he and dozens of other attorneys and alums sent to Georgia State, they allege, “Mr. Awad publicly justifies the rape, murder, and torture of Jewish kidnapping victims as well as Hamas’ atrocities by promoting long discredited anti-Jewish conspiracy theories."
Awad responded to the calls to have his award rescinded in a press conference on Wednesday.
”I want to take the time to address the fact that I have never made a negative statement about Jewish people," Awad said. "I have never said anything bad or directed to the Jewish community.”
But Grubman points to posts like one from December, where Awad said, “The Palestinian military should drop bombs on all Israeli civilians, including women, kids, the elderly and the sick...and level Israeli schools, hospitals, apartments and high civilian areas.”
In the post, he also said Israelis should go back to where they came from and then called all Israelis terrorists and said there’s no such thing as an innocent Israeli.
The post finishes by suggesting the reader switch countries to understand how Palestinians feel.
Awad called the efforts a smear campaign.
“People don’t hate on those who are doing less than them. I expect to be hit with scrutiny I expect from less successful, less ambitious, less handsome lawyers,” Awad said.
GSU officials wouldn’t speak on camera but told 11Alive that the 40 recipients are picked from a field of 175 nominees -- using criteria like impact in their field, impact in their community, and bringing pride to Georgia State.
The school said the selection committee was not aware of Awad’s posts.
“I find it pretty hard to believe that no one at Georgia State had any clue that this guy had a 1.5 million follower Instagram account where he was comparing Jewish people to Adolf Hitler,” Grubman said.
GSU told 11Alive that the selection committee is evaluating the issue and will be making a recommendation to the alumni association. There is no word yet on when that will take place.