What did Joseph Massad say? Petition to remove Columbia University professor over Hamas remarks receives more than 29,000 signatures

A Columbia professor named Joseph Massad made headlines last week after he called the Hamas attack on Israel “awesome” on an alleged resistance propaganda website called The Electronic Intifada. In his lengthy speech on the site on October 8, he hailed “the stunning victory of the Palestinian resistance” against “cruel [Israeli] colonizers.”

Following his controversial post, Joseph Massad came under fire from Columbia students, including a 23-year-old junior and former student-body president, Maya Platek, who started a petition on October 13 to remove the professor from his office at the Ivy League College. So far, the petition on Charge.org has earned more than 29,000 signatures.

The professor reportedly has a history of anti-Israel remarks in class, which has faced backlash from students and colleagues over the years.

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Joseph Massad called the Hamas attack on Israel “astounding”

On October 7, the Palestine-based Hamas group launched an attack on Israel. The latter responded with a counterstrike almost immediately. Since then, hundreds have gone missing, over 1,500 people have died, and more than 3,000 have been injured in the Israel-Palestine conflict.

In the wake of this, Columbia University professor Joseph Massad (also a Columbia alumna) made insensitive and pro-Hamas comments on The Electronic Intifada website. Not only did he call the Hamas attack “awesome” and praised “Palestinian resistance” against “cruel colonizers,” but he also made other controversial remarks in his screed, such as comparing Israel to Nazi Germany.

“The sight of the Palestinian resistance fighters storming Israeli checkpoints separating Gaza from Israel was astounding…Perhaps the major achievement of the resistance in the temporary takeover of these settler colonies is the death blow to any confidence that Israeli colonists had in their military and its ability to protect them,” he said.

Massad, a professor of Modern Arab Politics and Intellectual History in the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies of Columbia, further tagged Israel as “a racist Jewish state” and the ongoing conflict “the Palestinian war of liberation.

He even used adjectives like “astonishing,” “awesome,” “astounding,” and “incredible” to describe the nature of the Hamas attack in his 1800-word screed. The word “resistance” also appeared 16 times, as per The Algemiener.

As soon as Joseph Massad’s post came to limelight, it garnered massive outrage. In fact, a student named Maya Platek even began a petition on October 13 to have him permanently ousted for “condoning and supporting terrorism” and “refusing to condemn Hamas…for its horrific actions,” reported the New York Post.

The petition on Charge.org has so far gained nearly 30,000 signatures, with the numbers rising on the go. The premise of Platek’s petition is as follows:

“Massad’s decision to praise abhorrent attack encourages violence and misinformation in and outside of campus, particularly putting many Jewish and Israeli students on campus at risk. Moreover, many students have expressed that they feel unsafe in the presence of a professor who supports the horrific murders of civilians.”

Her statement also added how, despite one’s stand on the conflict, it was unacceptable for a professor and a human to support and praise “one of the worst acts of terrorism in history.”

“We call on Columbia University to hold Massad responsible for his comments and immediately remove him from the Columbia faculty,” Platek added.

Joseph Massad, a professor at Columbia since 1999, reportedly has a history of making anti-Israeli statements in his class on several occasions. In fact, as per the New York Post, an Israeli student of the university was allegedly assaulted outside the campus library last week under the influence of the professor.

Not only that, in 2005, Joseph Massad was under investigation by Columbia authorities for expressing anti-Israel views in the classroom. However, he was granted tenure on his second try after a fair warning, with his promotion stalled. Likewise, in 2009, students and alumni accused him of “Jew-baiting” and claimed that his job was terminated.

So far, Joseph Massad has not commented on the controversy, nor has he issued an apology.