More than 50,000 people have signed a petition, which is now under review and inaccessible, to fire Columbia University Modern Arab Politics and Intellectual History professor Joseph Massad after he wrote an article the petition says praises Hamas for its deadly terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7 that killed more than 1,300 Israelis.
"Massad's decision to praise the abhorrent attack encourages violence and misinformation in and outside of campus, particularly putting many Jewish and Israeli students on campus at risk. Moreover, many students have expressed that they feel unsafe in the presence of a professor who supports the horrific murders of civilians," the petition said. "Regardless of ones stance on the conflict, supporting and praising one of the worst acts of terrorism in history is never acceptable. We call on Columbia University to hold Massad responsible for his comments and immediately remove him from the Columbia faculty."
According to Columbia University's faculty website, Massad "teaches and writes about modern Arab politics and intellectual history. He has a particular interest in theories of identity and culture — including theories of nationalism, sexuality, race, and religion. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1998."
In an Oct. 8 article for the Palestine-focused Electronic Intifada publication, Massad calls the Hamas terrorists that paraglided into Israel during the deadly attacks as an "innovative Palestinian resistance," and called them the "air force" of the terrorist organization.
"The consensus of many Arab media commentators is that the resistance has effectively obliterated the myth of Israeli military might and the undeserved reputation of its intelligence apparatus, whose failures – judging from the shocking success of the Palestinian offensive — are staggering," he said in the article. "No less astonishing was the Palestinian resistance's takeover of several Israeli settler-colonies near the Gaza boundary and even as far away as 22 kms, as in the case of Ofakim. Perhaps the major achievement of the resistance in the temporary takeover of these settler-colonies is the death blow to any confidence that Israeli colonists had in their military and its ability to protect them."
The petition comes from junior Maya Platek, who said in the petition that Massad's decision to praise the attacks and encourage violence and misinformation is putting Israeli and Jewish students at risk on the campus.
"Massad's decision to praise the abhorrent attack encourages violence and misinformation in and outside of campus, particularly putting many Jewish and Israeli students on campus at risk," she said. "Moreover, many students have expressed that they feel unsafe in the presence of a professor who supports the horrific murders of civilians."