While many, if not most, people are horrified at the news coming out of Israel, there are others who are blissfully content with Hamas’ terror attack on Israel.
Professors in New York could barely contain their excitement when talking about the Hamas massacre, using words like “exhilarating” and “awesome” to describe the horrors.
Russell Rickford, an associate professor of history at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., was caught on camera at a pro-Palestinian protest telling students the attack on Israelis, which left more than 1,400 dead, was “exhilarating” and “energizing.”
Rickford lauded Hamas, saying the militant group has “shifted the balance of power” and “punctured the illusion of invincibility” of Israel, which has enforced a blockade on the Gaza Strip since 2007 when Hamas seized power there.
Rickford claimed to “abhor violence” and “abhor the targeting of civilians,” then celebrated that Palestinians are finally “able to breathe” for the first time in years.
“It was exhilarating!” Rickford exclaimed. “It was exhilarating, it was energizing!”
He continued: “And if they weren’t exhilarated by this challenge to the monopoly of violence, by this shifting of the balance of power, then they would not be human.”
The crowd soon chanted, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
Rickford stood by his comments, telling the Cornell Daily Sun, “What I was referring to is in those first few hours, when they broke through the apartheid wall, that it seemed to be a symbol of resistance, and indeed a new phase of resistance in the Palestinian struggle.”
Meanwhile, a petition has called for a Columbia University professor to step down after he described the terrorist attack as “awesome.”
Joseph Massad, a politics and history professor, was accused of “condoning and supporting terrorism” in a Change.org petition created by student Maya Platek.
The teacher called Hamas’ attacks on Israel a “stunning victory” in an article he published in The Electronic Intifada on Oct. 8, a day after the slaughter.
“Regardless of one’s stance on the conflict, supporting and praising one of the worst acts of terrorism in history is never acceptable,” said the petition, which is currently not accessible as it is under review.
“We call on Columbia University to hold Massad responsible for his comments and immediately remove him from the Columbia faculty.”
A letter of solidarity with Massad has since been issued. It condemns the petition against him and calls on Columbia President Nemat Shafik to “unequivocally guarantee his physical safety and his academic freedom.”
More than 45,000 people have signed Platek’s petition while the note supporting Massad has just over 600 signatures, the New York Post reported.
