Columbia professors' pro-Israel statement responds to colleagues' anti-Semitic letter
Columbia University faculty have issued a statement supporting Israel after dozens of their colleagues signed a letter stating that Hamas has a right to resist.
Columbia University faculty have issued a statement supporting Israel after dozens of their colleagues signed a letter stating that Hamas has a right to resist.
On Monday, Campus Reform reported on the previous letter from pro-Hamas Columbia University faculty, which stated that “[o]ne could regard the events of October 7th as just one salvo in an ongoing war between an occupying state and the people it occupies, or as an occupied people exercising a right to resist violent and illegal occupation.”
“There are many statements, letters, and counter letters circulating,” the letter begins, “and we have no interest in waging a war of words while an actual war is raging. Still, given what we have heard from others on campus, we are moved to write to emphasize three simple points.”
The first point focuses on the principle that “there should be robust debate about complex and difficult issues, such as whether a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is appropriate or feasible, who is to blame for the miserable conditions in Gaza, and what the wisest strategy is, going forward, to produce a just and secure peace in the region.”
[RELATED: EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Pro-Israel students counterprotest pro-Hamas classmates]
The letter goes on to say that those signing the letter had differing views on the conflict.
The second point explicitly condemns Hamas’ attack on Israel, calling it “an egregious war crime.” “We are astonished that anyone at Columbia would try to legitimize an organization that shares none of the University’s core values of democracy, human rights, or the rule of law,” the letter continues.
“Any civilian loss of life during war is awful but, as colleagues on the faculty acknowledged in the letter mentioned above, the law of war clearly distinguishes between tragic but incidental civilian death and suffering, on one hand, and the deliberate targeting of civilians, on the other [...] We doubt anyone would try to justify this sort of atrocity if it were directed against the residents of a nation other than Israel.”
The final point condemns “violence, speech that incites it, or hate speech.” The paragraph condemns anti-Semitism on campus, including incidents such as “antisemitic epithets, physical assault, and swastikas scrawled on bathroom walls.”
“In the same way that the University defends other groups from this sort of disgusting conduct, it is essential to do the same for Jewish and Israeli students. To do otherwise would betray our ideals and the values of Columbia as a great university,” the letter concludes.
Campus Reform has reached out to Columbia University for comment and will update accordingly.
