FLASHBACK: Insane Columbia prof who praised Oct. 7 says it is ‘Hitlerian’ to claim Jews have ancient ties to Israel
‘The idea that European Jews are somehow direct descendants of the ancient Hebrews is, of course, a bogus claim,’ he said.
‘. . . it’s almost like a Hitlerian project to speak of Jews genetically in this fashion,’ he added.
A strongly anti-Israel professor at Columbia who has repeatedly triggered controversy for his inflammatory anti-Jewish comments has previously denigrated the idea that modern Jews have ancient ties to Israel.
Professor Joseph Massad made the comments on a March 25 appearance on the podcast InFocus with Ejaz Haider.
“The idea that European Jews are somehow direct descendants of the ancient Hebrews is, of course, a bogus claim,” Massad said, as reported by The Washington Free Beacon. “Even if Jews believed somehow [they had] some lineage, at least a religious or spiritual lineage [to ancient Hebrews], by the 17th and 18th centuries, this idea amongst European Christians would become important, especially to estrange European Jews from Europe, and they begin to cast them as ‘Asiatics’—people who have come from Asia originally.”
He also negated the fact that Jews have ancient connections to the Holy Land, and claimed that it is a “Hitlerian” idea: “What is special here about Zionism is not only the invention of ancient Israel and the invention of Jews as descendants of the ancient Hebrews, it’s almost like a Hitlerian project to speak of Jews genetically in this fashion.”
Massad has a long history of making such controversial comments.
The day after the Oct. 7 massacre, he published an op-ed that praised the terrorist attack, calling it “awesome” and expressing joy at the thought of the terror and suffering felt by Jewish civilians.
On Oct. 9, Massad said that genocide is a “Western value,” stated that “[Jews] were not indigenous” to the Holy Land, and added: “The idea is that anti-Semitism is used precisely as an ideological cover for Zionism and Jewish settler colonialism in Palestine and to prevent Palestinians from ever achieving legitimacy in resisting Jewish colonialism, which must always be framed as anti-Semitism.”
Massad also spoke at an anti-Israel conference that saw the involvement of Hamas terrorist Osama Hamdan.
Massad is currently slated to start teaching a course at Columbia about Zionism, another development that has caused controversy.
Campus Reform has reached out to Professor Massad and Columbia University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
