Shameful remarks made by Professor Russell Rickford, an associate professor of history at the Cornell University New York school.  He was seen  telling students that Hamas’ terror attack on Israel was “exhilarating” and “energizing.”  Then proceeded saying that many Palestinians who were born into violence were "able to breathe for the first time in years" in the hours after the brutal massacre.

This attack massacred over 1,300, injured over 3,000, as well as raped and kidnapped women, children, and the elderly (including Holocaust survivors) from over a dozen countries. Rickford refuses to condemn Hamas—which is recognized as a terrorist organization by the US, UK, EU, Australia, Canada, and Japan—for its horrific actions. Instead, he shows support for the terrorist organization. 

Condoning and supporting terrorism are not acceptable.

Russell Rickford’s decision to praise the 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. 

Regardless of one’s stance on the conflict, supporting and praising one of the worst acts of terrorism in history is never acceptable. We called Cornell University to hold Rickford responsible for his comments and immediately removed him from the Cornell faculty.