An undercover Messianic Jewish activist who sought to bait Muslim UF professors into admitting bias against Israel and conservatives has not yet been trespassed from campus and is “not considered a threat” by the UF Police Department.
Anthony Damon Wray, 47, of Melbourne, met with UF journalism professor Iman Zawahry and religion professor Ali Atlaf Mian over the course of four weeks beginning at the end of April, according to a UFPD incident report.
He posed as “Ali Hafez” or “Omar Hafez,” a mid-30-year-old College of Education graduate student from Morocco. He claimed he had converted to Islam and had a Muslim daughter, Ayssha, who also attended UF, and told professors he was worried about Islamophobia on campus.
None of it was true. University records show no evidence of enrollment at UF by anyone with those names, and voter registrations and national court files yield no proof of anyone matching the man’s descriptions and false names.
Wray is actually the father to a son, not a daughter, and part of the pro-Israel Messianic Jewish hip hop duo Hazakim. Messianic Judaism emphasizes the belief that Jesus, or Yeshua, is the Messiah. While maintaining traditional Christian doctrines, adherents also identify as Jewish. In contrast, mainstream sects of Judaism still await the arrival of the Messiah.
In a phone conversation, Wray told Zawahry he was concerned for his non-existent daughter who felt unsafe as a Muslim on UF’s campus. This discussion led to a meeting between Wray and Zawahry at Coffee Culture May 6. Zawahry told police she felt the conversation was an attempt to bait her into making antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ+ comments. She also suspected Wray might have been recording her with Google Glasses.
After discovering Wray’s true identity, Zawahry told police she thought Wray may be a part of Project Veritas, a far-right organization known for using deceptive tactics and secret recordings to entrap and discredit public employees. Under state law, secretly recording someone without consent is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and $5,000 in fines, unless the recording is a first offense committed without any illegal purpose and not for commercial gain.
It remains unclear whether Wray recorded his conversations with Zawahry and other UF faculty, and there is no evidence that he belongs to Project Veritas or other conservative groups that seek to entrap left-leaning professors.
Zawahry met up with Wray again May 15. This time, Zawahry came with another journalism faculty member to sit in on the meeting as well as an additional faculty member and student to stake out the location and take photos. During the conversation, Wray made comments about the UF Hillel memorial service for victims of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and referenced a meeting with Mian. According to the report, Zawahry again felt she was being secretly recorded.
Wray has not made contact with the professors since and nothing indicates that he has been near campus since April 18, according to the report. UFPD never criminally charged Wray and closed its investigation into him June 12. False impersonation is only illegal under Florida Statutes if someone pretends to be a police officer or state official.
UFPD didn’t respond to questions about whether it was still seeking a trespass order against Wray and a university spokesperson directed The Alligator to its case report.
Gainesville police spokesperson Brandon Hatzel said while Wray’s behavior was “odd,” he didn’t violate state law in his meetings with the professors.
Zawahry told police while Wray never made any threats to her or others, she would feel safer if Wray was trespassed from campus. Mian also told police he didn’t feel threatened by Wray but felt it would be “good for the community” if Wray was trespassed because his statements could lead to problems with “impressionable students.”
Zawahry told The Alligator she was disappointed to hear that police were dropping the case.
“It makes me feel unsafe on campus,” she said.
As a filmmaker, she said she could write her experience but never imagined actually living it.
“It just unfortunately means that we just have to band together more as a community to protect each other in every way that we can,” she said.
Mian, who Wray met with in his office on campus April 18, didn’t immediately respond to calls and emails requesting comment.
Wray also met with a third unidentified professor who wasn’t listed in the incident report, according to Fresh Take Florida.
Wray did not immediately respond to The Alligator’s calls, which were made to the phone numbers listed in his Florida fishing license and voter registration. Wray’s business and home phone numbers listed in the incident report were configured to go directly to voicemail.
Contact Grace McClung at gmcclung@alligator.org. Follow her on X @gracenmcclung.
Grace McClung is a third-year journalism major and the graduate & professional school reporter for The Alligator. In her free time, Grace can be found running, going to the beach and writing poetry.
