Professor Demands Apology From Cornell After Colleague Praises Hamas

A Cornell Law School professor is demanding an apology from the university after one of his peers praised Hamas in a viral video.

On October 7, Hamas led the deadliest Palestinian militant attack on Israel in history. Israel subsequently launched its heaviest-ever airstrikes on Gaza. As of Tuesday, at least 2,778 people have been killed and 9,700 wounded in Gaza, the Associated Press reported, citing the Gaza Health Ministry. More than 1,400 Israelis have been killed, according to the AP.

The effects of the Israel-Palestine conflict have been widespread, resulting in increased hate crimes globally. Universities also have been impacted as students and donors clash over the conflict.

The University of Pennsylvania lost one of its biggest longtime donors while several other institutions are reportedly facing pressure from powerful financial backers and a statement signed by dozens of Harvard student organizations blaming Israel for the violence has sparked criticism on social media.

"It was exhilarating," Cornell history professor Russell Rickford said of Hamas' attack on Israel in the viral video. "It was energizing."

Rickford goes on to call Hamas' actions a "challenge to the monopoly of violence" and a "shifting of the balance of power."

Rickford's comments infuriated many online who questioned his stance and condemned his beliefs. It sparked Jacobson to ask Cornell for an apology after the way the university treated Jacobson following his "legitimate" criticism of Black Lives Matter in 2020.

"@Cornell denounced in the harshest possible terms and by name Prof. @DavidBCollum and me (@CornellLaw), b/c of legitimate and vindicated criticism BLM rioting and looting post George Floyd," Jacobson posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday morning. "Those denunciations remain on the school websites. We are owed apologies and retractions."

In 2020, Jacobson wrote about the origin of Black Lives Matter and questioned the organization's narrative, as well as the activists who launched the movement, on his blog, Legal Insurrection.

Many Cornell University staff denounced Jacobson's beliefs and students boycotted his classes.

Jacobson told Newsweek that he hasn't had any communication with the university since Rickford's statements. Newsweek reached out to Rickford via email for comment.

Cornell University President Martha Pollack has since condemned Rickford's comments in a statement that was issued to the Cornell community on Monday.

"I am sickened by statements glorifying the evilness of Hamas terrorism. Any members of our community who have made such statements do not speak for Cornell; in fact, they speak in direct opposition to all we stand for at Cornell," Pollack wrote. "There is no justification for or moral equivalent to these violent and abhorrent acts. I am outraged by them and, along with senior leadership of the Cornell Board of Trustees, I again condemn them in the strongest possible terms."

Newsweek reached out to Cornell University via email for comment.

The video has sparked debate on social media about the role higher education has in the response to the conflict.

"Hate in higher ed has been exposed as a central cause of antisemitism in America. We ignore it at our own peril," U.S. Representative Ritchie Torres, a Democrat from New York, posted on social media on Tuesday morning. Cornell is located in New York state.

Texas Representative Ted Cruz called Rickford's beliefs "sick & disgusting."

"Does @Cornell share its radical professor's view that the Hamas terror attack—murdering over 1200 Jews, raping women & children, and beheading infants—'was exhilarating'??" the Republican posted.

Update 10/17/2023, 3:04 p.m. ET: This article was updated to clarify that Jacobson was demanding the apology for himself.

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