Cornell student newspaper retracts professor's artwork featuring Nazi symbolism and bloodied Star of David
The Cornell Daily Sun published and later retracted artwork by a Cornell professor featuring a bloodied Star of David and Nazi ‘SS’ symbol on a Palestinian person’s back.
The Oct. 23 incident has sparked criticism about campus culture and the normalization of anti-Semitic imagery at the university.
Cornell University’s student newspaper sparked backlash last week after publishing a professor’s artwork depicting a bloodied Star of David and Nazi “SS” symbol scrawled on the back of a Palestinian person.
The Cornell Daily Sun later retracted the graphic after it was widely blasted as anti-Semitic, but the incident is raising concerns about deeper cultural problems at the Ithaca, New York campus.
“To me, it reflects the normalization of Holocaust inversion, both on the internet and now on Cornell’s campus,” William Jacobson, a law professor who founded Legal Insurrection, a conservative publication, told The New York Post.
“This [SS lightning bolt] graphic is specifically inside a bloody Jewish star. No reflection of it being even related to Israel. And it clearly is pursuing the idea that Jews are the new Nazis. And so I think it’s obviously highly offensive,” Jacobson added.
The “SS” insignia was used by Adolf Hitler’s secret police, an organization that carried out atrocities against Jews during the Holocaust.
In a statement to Campus Reform, Cornell Daily Sun Editor-in-Chief Julia Senzon said, “I can confirm that Prof. Kassam provided the graphic. The Sun removed the image on the grounds that the imagery may plausibly cause visceral harm to some of our readers based on the historical context of the ‘SS’ symbol.”
Professor Karim-Aly Kassam, who teaches courses on natural resources and Indigenous Studies, had published a piece titled, “Thousand & One Eyes for An Eye,” effectively accusing Israel of pursuing revenge in the Gaza Strip. The op-ed dropped days after the second anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel.
Kassam later apologized, stating that he was “deeply saddened to learn that this portion of the artwork has been interpreted by some as antisemitic,” adding that it “was not my intention.”
The controversy comes amid ongoing scrutiny of Cornell’s campus climate regarding Jewish students and anti-Semitism.
Earlier this month, Jacobson announced plans to file a federal civil rights complaint against Cornell after an Israeli student was doxxed following his report of discrimination. The student claimed he was excluded from a course on Gaza because of his nationality, and his name and past service in an Israeli military intelligence unit were subsequently leaked.
Cornell has faced multiple other controversies this year. In September, business students who are not members of “marginalized groups” were instructed by the student council not to attend diversity-focused programs, with warnings that their “presence may have a negative impact.”
In July, the America First Policy Institute filed a civil rights complaint accusing Cornell of race-based hiring and scholarships in pursuit of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) goals. The complaint alleged that Cornell’s leadership “oversaw a scheme that prioritized race and sex over qualifications in faculty hiring.”
Campus Reform has contacted Cornell University and Karim-Aly Kassam for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
