Joseph Massad: Thousands sign petition to oust Columbia professor who called Hamas attack a ‘stunning victory’

Joseph Massad is a professor of modern Arab politics and intellectual history at Columbia University, who has been accused of supporting terrorism and anti-Semitism by some students and alumni. A recent online petition, started by a former student-body president, demands his immediate removal from the faculty for praising the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023 as “awesome” and “astounding”. The petition has already gathered more than 20,000 signatures as of October 16, 2023.

Massad’s controversial article

Massad wrote an article for The Electronic Intifada, a website that describes itself as “a not-for-profit, independent publication committed to comprehensive public education on the question of Palestine, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the economic, political, legal, and human dimensions of Israel’s 53-year occupation of Palestinian territories”.

In his article, titled “The stunning victory of the Palestinian resistance”, Massad hailed the Hamas attack on Israel as a “stunning victory” and a “death blow” to the Israeli colonizers. He used words such as “astounding”, “awesome”, and “incredible” to describe the sight of Palestinian resistance fighters storming Israeli checkpoints and taking over several Israeli settlements. He also claimed that the attack achieved a “net energy gain” for the Palestinian cause and exposed the weakness of the Israeli military.

Joseph Massad’s article was published on October 8, 2023, one day after the Hamas attack on Israel that killed over 1,400 people, injured over 3,400 more, and involved rape, kidnapping, and torture of women, children, and elderly people, including Holocaust survivors. The attack was widely condemned by the international community as one of the worst acts of terrorism in history. Hamas is recognized as a terrorist organization by the US, UK, EU, Australia, Canada, Japan, and many other countries.

Massad’s history of anti-Israel remarks

This is not the first time that Massad has been criticized for his anti-Israel views and statements. In 2004, he was one of the professors featured in a documentary film called Columbia Unbecoming, which exposed the alleged intimidation and harassment of pro-Israel students by some faculty members in the Middle East studies department at Columbia University. Massad was accused of asking a student if he had served in the Israeli army and then telling him to leave his class when he answered yes. He was also accused of calling Israel a “racist Jewish state” and denying the existence of anti-Semitism in the Arab world.

Joseph Massad denied these allegations and claimed that he was being targeted by a “witch-hunt” orchestrated by pro-Israel groups. He said that he was exercising his academic freedom and that his critics were trying to silence him. He also said that he had received death threats and hate mail from some students and outsiders.

A committee appointed by Columbia University to investigate the complaints found no evidence of academic misconduct by Massad or any other professor. However, it did find that Massad had “exceeded commonly accepted bounds” of behavior when he became angry with a student who asked him a question about Israel’s human rights record. The committee also recommended that Columbia should review its grievance procedures and improve its oversight of the Middle East studies department.

Check Out His Wikipedia Page – @Joseph_Massad

The petition to remove Joseph Massad

The petition to remove Massad from Columbia’s faculty was started by Maya Platek, a 23-year-old junior and former student-body president. Platek said that she was appalled by Massad’s article praising the Hamas attack and that she felt unsafe in his presence. She said that Massad was condoning and supporting terrorism and that he had no place in an academic institution that values diversity and tolerance. She also said that Massad’s article encouraged violence and misinformation on campus and beyond, especially against Jewish and Israeli students.

Platek’s petition states:

We call on Columbia University to hold Joseph Massad responsible for his comments and immediately remove him from the Columbia faculty.

It also provides links to Massad’s article, the documentary film Columbia Unbecoming, and some news articles about the Hamas attack. The petition has received support from many students, alumni, faculty members, and organizations at Columbia and elsewhere. Some notable signatories include:

• Alan Dershowitz, a prominent lawyer and former Harvard Law School professor
• Bret Stephens, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The New York Times
• Bari Weiss, a former opinion editor for The New York Times
• Natan Sharansky, a former Soviet dissident and Israeli politician
• Irwin Cotler, a former Canadian justice minister, and human rights activist
• StandWithUs, a pro-Israel advocacy group
• Alums for Campus Fairness (ACF), an alumni network that monitors anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias on college campuses

Columbia’s response

Columbia University has not yet issued an official response to the petition or Joseph Massad’s article. However, some sources have indicated that the university is aware of the situation and is reviewing it internally. Columbia has a reputation for being a liberal and progressive institution that supports academic freedom and diversity of opinions.

However, it has also faced criticism for being a hotbed of anti-Israel sentiment and hostility. In 2023, Columbia was ranked as the third worst college for Jewish students by The Algemeiner, a Jewish newspaper. The ranking was based on factors such as anti-Semitic incidents, anti-Israel activities, and the presence of groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) on campus.

Columbia has also been the scene of several violent and hateful incidents involving pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel protesters. In October 2023, an Israeli student was assaulted outside the campus library by a group of masked men who shouted “Free Palestine” and “Death to Israel”. In May 2023, a pro-Israel rally was disrupted by pro-Palestinian counter-protesters who threw eggs, bottles, and fireworks at the speakers and attendees. In April 2023, a swastika was spray-painted on the wall of a Jewish fraternity house.

In response to these incidents, Columbia’s president Lee Bollinger issued a statement condemning anti-Semitism and violence and reaffirming the university’s commitment to free speech and civil discourse. He also announced that the university would increase its security measures and provide more resources and support for Jewish students and faculty. He said:

We are a community that values the diversity of our perspectives and backgrounds, but we also share a common bond of respect for one another and for the pursuit of knowledge. We will not tolerate any acts of hatred or intimidation that seek to undermine these values or threaten our sense of safety and belonging.