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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12695497/columbia-university-professors-letter-antisemitism-defend-hamas.html

By HARRIET ALEXANDER and MACKENZIE TATANANNI 

Almost 300 staff at Columbia University on Tuesday signed a letter condemning their colleagues for defending students who said Hamas’ terror attack of October 7 was justified.

They stressed that freedom of speech is vital – but that did not extend to justifying acts of terrorism.

They said they are ‘astonished’ and ‘horrified’ that anyone could condone the murders.

The Tuesday letter came 24 hours after more than 100 staff at the Ivy League college spoke out in support of the students.

The row was sparked by an October 9 statement from the Columbia chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, which saw the students praise the ‘against the odds’ terror attack – which left 1,400 Israelis dead.

‘Yesterday was an unprecedented historic moment for the Palestinians of Gaza, who tore through the wall that has been suffocating them in one of the most densely-populated areas on Earth for the past 16 years – an open-air prison blockaded by Israeli soldiers via land, air, and sea,’ they wrote.

‘Despite the odds against them, Palestinians launched a counter-offensive against their settler-colonial oppressor – which receives billions of US dollars annually in military aid and possesses one of the world’s most robust surveillance and security apparatuses.’

The statement sparked furious scenes, which have been replicated at colleges and universities across the country – roiling students and staff and seeing donors threaten to withdraw their funding. Some students who publicly defended Hamas have had their job offers rescinded. Billionaire investor Leon Cooperman has threatened to cut off donations to his alma mater over student support for Palestine.

https://tomklingenstein.com/higher-ed-support-for-hamas-exposes-disdain-for-america-in-top-colleges/

Why are American academics and American college students so drawn to an antisemitic movement?

If you don’t like the pro-Hamas demonstrations by American college students, then you won’t like American higher education, which is the garden in which these flowers were grown.

Within hours of the atrocities committed by Hamas operatives who invaded Israel on October 7, groups of American college students had organized to express their support for the terrorists. This caught many Americans by surprise. How could college students at some of America’s best universities sympathize with the perpetrators of gruesome attacks on unarmed civilians?

The surprise, however, was not universal. Those of us who pay close attention to American higher education were well aware of the rising tide of antisemitism on many campuses, and aware as well of the anger that these institutions had honed against Israel and the sympathies they had cultivated for Palestinian radicals. College officials were likewise aware that, among the students enrolled in their institutions, a significant number are affiliated with factions that loathe Israel, support Palestinian “resistance,” and are well-organized practitioners of public protest. Some college presidents initially issued mealy-mouthed disapproval or offered criticisms of both Hamas and Israel as equally at fault. After finding their equivocations poorly received, they issued new statements that were sometimes sterner about Hamas, but often continued to chastise Israel as well.

Some college presidents did forthrightly condemn Hamas and express strong support for Israel. At the end of October, a coalition founded by 16 college presidents issued a statement titled, “We Stand Together with Israel Against Hamas.” That statement eventually collected over 100 signatories.

But the larger academic scene lacks such common sense.