Columbia University Under Fire for Allowing Professor Who Praised Oct. 7 Hamas Attack to Teach Zionism Course

Columbia University is facing an uproar after it was revealed that Professor Joseph Massad, who described the Hamas-led massacre of Israelis last Oct. 7 as “astounding,” “awesome,” and “incredible,” is slated to teach a spring semester course on Zionism, prompting calls for his dismissal from Israeli colleague Shai Davidai, who condemned Massad’s continued employment as evidence of the university’s “moral and intellectual bankruptcy.”

The news also prompted adjunct professor Lawrence Rosenblatt to announce his resignation, echoing Davidai’s criticism by declaring that Columbia has lost not only its “moral compass but its intellectual one.”

The undergraduate class, titled History of the Jewish Enlightenment in 19th Century Europe and the Development of Zionism, will also examine the peace process between Israel, Arab states, and the Palestinian national movement, alongside a “historical overview of the Zionist-Palestinian conflict,” according to a description of the course on Columbia’s website.

Massad drew outrage shortly after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack when he published an article on the Palestinian propaganda outlet The Electronic Intifada. He described the invasion, which included the killing of 1,200 people and the taking of 253 hostages, as a “major achievement of the resistance in the temporary takeover of these settler-colonies” that dealt a “death blow” to Israeli confidence in its military.

Massad also expressed his wish that the evacuation of some 300,000 Israelis from their homes in Israel’s north and south as a result of the onslaught would turn into a “permanent exodus.”

“They may have finally realized that living on land stolen from another people will never make them safe,” he wrote.

Davidai, an assistant professor of psychology at Columbia, expressed outrage that someone who openly expressed “jubilation and awe” over the Hamas-led atrocities would be allowed to teach a class on Zionism.

“The fact that someone like Joseph Massad, who openly celebrates the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, who has talked about Jewish supremacy, and who has shown up to protest [in] anti-Jewish and anti-Israel and anti-American protests on campus, would teach a class about Zionism tells you everything that you need to know about not just the moral bankruptcy of Columbia University, but also the intellectual bankruptcy,” Davidai told The Algemeiner.

“I would never want to take a class about racism from someone who is racist, with someone who is sexist about sexism, with someone who is homophobic or transphobic about the LGBTQ movement, and I would definitely not want to take a class about Zionism from an avowed anti-Zionist,” Davidai went on. “I am not looking to be indoctrinated. I always want to be educated.”

The uproar reached beyond the university’s gates. US Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) took to the social media platform X, where he echoed Davidai’s thoughts, likening Massad’s teaching assignment to “David Duke teaching a course on anti-racism.” Torres also questioned why US taxpayers subsidize “ideological indoctrination that glorifies mass murder.”

Massad’s controversial academic work has also resurfaced as part of the debate. In a 2003 paper, he described Zionism as a “colonial movement” built on a “religion-racial epistemology” with a “commitment to building a demographically exclusive Jewish state modeled after Christian Europe.”

He has also claimed that Zionism exploits “Jewish persecution, including the [H]olocaust, to justify its crimes.”

Davidai argued that Massad’s views disqualify him from teaching at all.

“The fact that he openly celebrated the Oct. 7 massacre, saying that the sites of kidnapping, murdering, torturing, mutilation, of babies, of Holocaust survivors, of entire families brought to him jubilation and awe, should immediately disqualify him from teaching in any institution in the Western world,” he said.

“We shouldn’t be talking about what he teaches. We should be talking about why someone so vile, an antisemite like that, an anti-American like that, is still on Columbia’s payroll,” Davidai added.

In his resignation letter, international and public affairs adjunct professor Rosenblatt criticized the administration for allowing Massad, who has “advocated for the destruction of the State of Israel and celebrated the Oct. 7 attacks,” to teach a course on Zionism.

“Having Massad teach a course on Zionism is akin to having a White nationalist teach about the US Civil Rights movement, a climate denier teach about the impact of global warming, or a misogynist teach about feminism,” Rosenblatt wrote.

While he acknowledged Massad’s right to express his beliefs, Rosenblatt emphasized that Columbia has a responsibility to ensure its courses are taught objectively and fairly. He suggested that, at best, such a course could be co-taught by diverse Israeli and Palestinian perspectives, but “not by someone who advocates for the eradication of a group of people.”

Rosenblatt concluded his resignation by saying that the university, by officially approving Massad’s course, had harmed its own academic integrity. “The institution of Columbia, in officially sanctioning this class and this professor, has harmed the academy it once was. As it is gone, I cannot remain,” Rosenblatt wrote, adding that he would consider returning if the university corrected what he called “this travesty.”

In response to the mounting criticism, a Columbia spokesperson issued a statement acknowledging the pain caused by Massad’s comments following the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack. “Professor Massad’s statements following the terrorist attack on Oct. 7 created pain for many in our community and contributed to the deep controversy on our campus. We have consistently condemned any celebration or promotion of violence or terror,” the statement read.

It went on, however, to reaffirm the university’s commitment to the “principles of free expression and the open exchange of viewpoints and perspectives through opportunities for constructive dialogue.”

The statement noted that the course is an elective, and not a required course, and is one of three on Zionism and the history of Israel.

The post Columbia University Under Fire for Allowing Professor Who Praised Oct. 7 Hamas Attack to Teach Zionism Course first appeared on Algemeiner.com.