© Mike Segar / Reuters
Hatem Bazian, the chairman of American Muslims for Palestine.
Hatem Bazian, a veteran pro-Palestinian activist in his fifties, lives with his family on a quiet street in North Berkeley, near the campus of the University of California, where he lectures. Early on the morning of May 10, 2017, as Bazian was about to drive his teen-age daughter to school, he noticed fliers on the windshields of cars parked on his block. At first, Bazian assumed that they were advertisements for a new movie or restaurant. When he looked more closely at
the flier that had been left on his BMW sedan, he realized that it featured a photograph of his face, below a tagline that read, "He supports terror." Bazian quickly folded up the flier so his daughter wouldn't see it.
Born in Jordan to a father from the West Bank city of Nablus and a mother from Jerusalem, Bazian has long been an outspoken champion of Palestinian causes. For decades, staunch supporters of Israel have criticized Bazian's activism. The incident with the fliers, though, was particularly unnerving, he told me. He rented his house and did not publicize the address. His opponents, he thought, must be following him. Later that day, Bazian, who describes himself as a proponent of nonviolent protest, reported what happened to the Berkeley police.
He said that officers told him they could do nothing about the harassment.
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