(SNews) – Over 30,000 concerned Americans have signed a petition demanding the ouster of a radical Ivy League professor who praised Hamas for launching “awesome” terrorist attacks against Israel.
After Hamas slaughtered hundreds of innocent Israeli citizens, Joseph Massad, a history and politics lecturer at New York City’s Columbia University, published an article celebrating the “awesome stunning victory.”
Massad made the chilling remarks in an article published on a website named Electronic Intifada.
He wrote the article one day after hundreds of Jewish people were slaughtered in areas close to Gaza.
In the same article, Massad referred to Israel as “cruel colonizers.”
He continued by praising Hamas‘s barbaric actions as “astonishing,” “astounding,” “awesome,” and “incredible.”
“The sight of the Palestinian resistance fighters storming Israeli checkpoints separating Gaza from Israel was astounding,” Massad added.
“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 comments have provoked a widespread backlash and led to calls for Columbia, former President Barack Obama’s alma mater, to fire the professor.
In response, a Change.org petition was swiftly set up by 23-year-old Maya Platek, a student at the college.
Platek accuses Massad of showing support for a “recognized terrorist organization.”
At the time of press, more than 33,000 people have signed the petition.
“The colonists’ flight from these settlements may prove to be a permanent exodus,” Massad wrote in another section of the shocking piece.
“They may have finally realized that living on land stolen from another people will never make them safe.
“What can motorized paragliders do in the face of one of the most formidable militaries in the world?” he continued, referring to the horrific terror attack against innocent young people at an Israeli music festival.
“Indeed as stunning videos show, these paragliders have become the air force of the Palestinian resistance.”
Massad, who is a native of Jordan and of Palestinian descent, has been on staff at Columbia since 1999.
He received his Ph.D. from the prestigious school in 1998.
In 2009, his tenure was protested by Columbia’s pro-Israel group LionPAC.
Since the Hamas attacks began, Columbia has become a flashpoint area in the U.S.
On Thursday, a Brooklyn teenager was arrested after she allegedly attacked a Jewish student.
Maxwell Friedman, 19, was arrested for striking an Israeli Columbia University student with a stick on Wednesday night, police have confirmed.
Friedman was charged with one count of assault following the altercation with a 24-year-old School of General Studies student in front of Butler Library.
On arrival, they were told that the victim – identified only by the initials I.A. – was engaged in a dispute that had become physical.
The victim accused Friedman, of Bushwick, of striking I.A. in the hand with a wooden stick.
She was taken into custody.
The spokesperson said the victim refused medical attention.
The incident is not being investigated as a hate crime, however.
Meanwhile, the Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine said in a public statement on Tuesday that Hamas’s actions were a “counter-offensive against their settler-colonial oppressor.”
“The weight of responsibility for the war and casualties undeniably lies with the Israeli extremist government and other Western governments,” the statement read.
The statement was also signed by a group named Jewish Voice for Peace.
“As long as you perpetuate this narrative, fighting will continue to break out until justice is achieved,” the statement continued.
“Because nothing else is working.
“As Columbia students, our classes regularly discuss the inevitability of resistance as part of the struggle for decolonization.
“We study under renowned scholars who denounce the fact that the media requires oppressed peoples to be ‘perfect victims’ in order to deserve sympathy.”
“Yet not only does our institution neglect to align its actions with its ostensible values, but it actively normalizes Israeli apartheid and subjugation of Palestinians,” the group went on.
The group reiterated previous statements in which they demanded that Columbia University divest from Israel.
In April 2023, it was reported that Columbia’s plan to build a campus in Tel Aviv was being met with stern opposition from staff and students alike.
“We call upon our administration as a whole to start verbally acknowledging Palestinian existence and humanity,” the statement added.
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