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Sait Simsek Murat
Sait Simsek Murat participated in the pro-Hamas protest encampment at UofT in May and June 2024.
On May 12, 2024, Sait Simsek Murat, a UofT student, posted on X that he had been at the university’s encampment “since day 1.”
On May 22, 2024, Simsek Murat featured [00:00:37] in a video posted on Instagram from the encampment of protesters chanting: “Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest!…we won’t rest till UofT divests!”
On May 23, 2024, Simsek Murat posted on X: “...This encampment will stay. If one is destroyed, another will arise. As a UofT student, I am willing and ready to be arrested…We’ll stay until UofT meets the students’ demands.”
On May 27, 2024, Sait Simsek was named as a respondent in a “LEGAL PROCEEDING” brought against him and 12 others, plus an unspecified number of “PERSONS UNKNOWN,” by UofT’s Governing Council. The case was brought before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
Among the requests of the UofT Governing Council was that the court apply “An interlocutory and permanent injunction that the Respondents…shall be restrained and enjoined from directly or indirectly” continuing with the UofT encampment [p. 6], as well as from “physically preventing, impeding, restricting or in any way physically interfering with…access to University property” [p. 5].
On June 18, 2024, Simsek Murat posted on X a photo of himself at the encampment holding a banner that said: “NO PROFITS FROM PALESTINIAN DEATH: DIVEST NOW!”
Simsek Murat also posted on X indicating his participation at the UofT encampment on other days, including May 27, 2024, June 1, 2024 and June 25, 2024.
UofT is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Sait Simsek Murat’s Participation in the Pro-Hamas Encampment at the University of Toronto (UofT)
On May 2, 2024, activists from the UofT Occupy for Palestine (Occupy UofT) group “stormed down” [00:00:24] the fencing around UofT’s Kings College Circle and set up a pro-Hamas encampment, which they called the “People’s Circle for Palestine.”
That day, Occupy UofT called on “community members to…help us defend our encampment” at an emergency rally in the evening. Protesters chanted [00:02:59] for “intifada” and celebrated “resistance” [00:02:45]. Both terms are calls for terrorism. The activists also chanted [00:01:28; 00:02:21] for Israel’s destruction multiple times.
One speaker, Nabil Jalbout, said [00:09:02]: “...we are not fighting for peace, we are fighting for liberation, because ‘peace’ is a white man's word.” Another speaker, Ahmad Jarrar Hajahmad, claimed [00:05:52]: “All these Israeli and Zionist entities fill all these politicians with money in their pockets…we already know who runs this system…”
Signs displayed at the encampment said: “LONG LIVE THE INTIFADA” and “LIBERATION FOR ALL REQUIRES RESISTANCE FROM ALL.”
On May 4, 2024, anti-Israel protesters at the encampment assaulted a Jewish man, punching him in the stomach as they forcibly took his Israeli flag. The attackers told the man [00:01:02]: “God bless the armed resistance,” and: “Go back to Europe!” They also reportedly called him “a “dirty Jew.”
Protesters “occupied” [00:00:17] the area from May to July 2024, despite UofT’s warning they were trespassing. The group said they would not leave until UofT divested from companies that “sustain Israeli apartheid, occupation and illegal settlement of Palestine” and terminated partnerships with Israeli academic institutions.
Following the October 7, 2023 massacre of nearly 1,200 Israelis, the inverted red triangle - 🔻- became a Hamas symbol. This symbol appeared on large signs at the encampment multiple times. Erin Mackey, one of the primary organizers, is openly pro-Hamas, having used the symbol in her activism. In addition, pro-Hamas marches that began in other parts of the city concluded at the encampment.
On July 3, 2024, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice issued an injunction at the request of UofT’s Governing Council, requiring students to clear the encampment. Occupy UofT dismantled the encampment and wrote [slides 5-6]: “We are just getting started…come fall, every incoming student will hear our message loud and clear…Whatever institution you have access to and influence over - you need to take this campaign there!” The statement concluded: “Long live the intifada.”
The encampment was one of over 140 pro-Hamas and anti-Israel college encampments set up in North America, and over 20 more globally, in the spring of 2024. The first began on April 17, 2024, at Columbia University. The encampments were unofficially known as the “student intifada,” borrowing a term associated with terrorist violence.
Protesters harassed Jewish students, blocked Jews from campus facilities and shouted anti-Semitic slogans. They occupied campus grounds, in many cases illegally, caused property damage, violently took over buildings, celebrated terrorism and promoted the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Activists set up encampments to oppose Israel’s right to wage war against the Hamas terror group following October 7, 2023, when Hamas murdered approximately 1,200 people, including 32 American and 8 Canadian citizens. Hamas also kidnapped 252 people, including 11 Americans and the bodies of 2 murdered Canadians. As of May 26, 2024, 125 hostages remained in Hamas captivity.
For more information on the October 7, 2023 terror attacks, see the Canary Mission page on Hamas.
Sait Simsek Murat is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
In mid-2024, Simsek Murat said on X that he was studying political science at UofT’s Scarborough campus, known as UTSC.
As of July 2024, Simsek Murat’s Facebook account indicated that he served as program development director of Northern Justice Watch.
As of July 2024, Simsek Murat’s LinkedIn profile said he was located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
