Cornell University professor Russell Rickford went on a pro-Hamas tirade on Sunday, calling the terror group’s recent attacks against Israel “energizing,” adding, “I was exhilarated!”
“Hamas has shifted the balance of power. Hamas has punctured the illusion of invincibility. That’s what they’ve done!” professor Rickford proclaimed at a rally on Sunday. “You don’t have to be a Hamas supporter to recognize that! Hamas has changed the terms of debate!”
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“Israeli officials are right. Nothing will be the same again. Hamas has challenged the monopoly of violence,” Rickford proclaimed.
The Cornell professor continued:
And in those first few hours, even as horrific acts were being carried out, many of which we would not learn about until later, there are many Gazans of good will, many Palestinians of conscience, who abhor violence — as do you, as do I — who abhor the targeting of civilians — as do you, as do I — who were able to breathe! They were able to breathe for the first time in years!
“It was exhilarating! It was energizing!” professor Rickford exclaimed. “And And if they weren’t exhilarated by this challenge to the monopoly of violence, by this shifting of the balance of power, then they would not be human! I was exhilarated!”
The Cornell professor was reacting to the recent mass murder of Jews in Israel by the Palestinian terror group Hamas, which left more than 1,300 Israelis dead, and also involved rape, beheadings, bodies being set on fire, and kidnappings.
Rickford is not the only member of academia who has expressed pro-Hamas sentiments in the wake of the mass murder of Jews in Israel.
As Breitbart News reported, the Iranian-backed terror group’s massacre of Jews has galvanized students across the U.S. into putting on pro-Palestine, anti-Israel demonstrations on their college campuses, with one student at Ohio State University even referring to the slaughtering of Jews by Hamas as “a resistance movement.”
In response to a media inquiry from Breitbart News, the university shared the following statement from Cornell President Martha E. Pollack and Cornell Board of Trustees Chair Kraig H. Kayser:
We learned yesterday of comments that Professor Russell Rickford made over the weekend at an off-campus rally where he described the Hamas terrorist attacks as “exhilarating.” This is a reprehensible comment that demonstrates no regard whatsoever for humanity. As we said in yesterday’s statement, endorsed by senior leadership of the Board of Trustees, 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. The university is taking this incident seriously and is currently reviewing it consistent with our procedures.
Breitbart News will continue to report on leftist academics supporting terrorism.
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