Georgetown’s Daughter of Hamas

M apheze Ahmad Yousef Saleh was recently listed as a graduate student at Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies (CCAS). She also happens to be the daughter of Ahmed Yousef, who served as a top adviser for the terrorist organization Hamas under Ismail Haniyeh’s leadership. It appears the apple didn’t fall far from the tree — Mapheze herself has worked with entities connected with the designated terrorist organization.

An archived biography for Mapheze that was posted on Georgetown’s CCAS’s website states that “she has worked with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Gaza.” Since its violent takeover of the territory in 2007, Hamas has exercised de facto control over Gaza and established a “government” by force. Mapheze’s father Ahmed Yousef served in that Haniyeh-led organization, in a role variably described as “an adviser to Hamas’s Foreign Ministry,” a “senior adviser to the Hamas Foreign Ministry,” “foreign ministry director-general in Gaza’s Hamas government,” or “top political advisor to Haniyeh in the Hamas foreign ministry.”

In Arabic-language media that has been reviewed by our translation team, Mapheze — whose name is sometimes transliterated differently — has been open about her own role with the Hamas government. She served with the Hamas government’s Committee to Break the Siege in Gaza, which happened to be chaired by her father.

Her familial relationship with a Hamas figure is also out in the open. An article from the Hindustan Times, posted on her own Facebook profile, refers to “Maphaz, whose father, Ahmed Yousef, was a senior political advisor to the Hamas leadership.” Her Instagram content indicates a close relationship with her terror-tied father, too.

Like her father, who has co-written books such as The End of the Jewish State: Just a Matter of Time, Mapheze has expressed her opposition to Israel. Since the Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023, her social-media profiles have glorified Hamas and its acts of terror while belittling the experience of Israeli civilians held hostage. 

Since the October 7 attack, Mapheze repeatedly expressed support for the terror attack and glorified those who carried out the atrocities. 

Among her posts was a propaganda video that claimed Hamas was forced to carry out the attack because Israel is supposedly a “fascist occupation state,” Israel has “judized [sic] their Quds” (an apparent attempt at claiming Jews have “Judaized” Jerusalem), and Jews are trying to build “their alleged temple on the ruins of Al-Aqsa.”

In later months, her social media profiles were replete with tributes to Hamas terrorists such as Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh, Mohammed Deif (considered a mastermind of the October 7 massacre), and more recently, several other senior Hamas and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade terrorists who had been eliminated by Israel during the war.

Her social-media profiles continue to glorify Hamas terrorists. More recently, however, she has posted footage of the Israeli hostages being dragged in front of hostile crowds.

Mapheze has also expressed hatred for the United States, declaring: “America is the plague.”

Her history also includes a connection to the Qatari regime, which has spent years funding and sheltering Islamist terrorists, including Hamas. Mapheze’s Georgetown profile indicated that she “worked as a researcher at the Qatar Embassy in New Delhi.” 

Recent activity indicates that the new presidential administration takes the issue of antisemitic and extremist students on American campuses seriously. U.S. law has long prohibited providing terrorist organizations with “material support,” which includes “any action that can assist a terrorist organization or one of its members in any way.”

Mapheze’s work raises concerns about whether she violated U.S. anti-terrorism laws. 

There are also concerns as to how much Georgetown University knew about these potential violations and the risk the situation posed to other students, particularly Georgetown’s Jewish community, given Hamas’s openly antisemitic charter. When asked about its knowledge of Mapheze’s work in Gaza, Georgetown University provided no response. However, within hours of CAMERA’s inquiry, Mapheze’s profile, which acknowledged her “work with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Gaza,” disappeared from the university’s website. Likewise, Mapheze did not respond to a request for comment. 

CAMERA Arabic assisted with this article.