Eve Troutt Powell, a professor of history and Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, has repeatedly spread antisemitism and defended Hamas terrorism in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023 massacre of Israelis. Using her academic standing, she has promoted rhetoric that glorifies violence, trivializes the Holocaust, and delegitimizes Israel’s right to exist.
Rallying for Hamas After October 7
On October 16, 2023, just days after Hamas’s atrocities left 1,200 Israelis murdered, thousands wounded, and hundreds kidnapped, Troutt Powell spoke at the “Collective Walkout for Palestine” rally at Penn. Instead of condemning terrorism, she excused it, asking: “Have you ever heard of a people who stop fighting back?” She went on to accuse Israel of being a “genocidal government,” repeating the antisemitic trope of Gaza as an “open-air prison” — rhetoric long used to justify violence against Jews.
Most egregiously, Troutt Powell accused Israel of failing to “learn the lessons of the Holocaust,” twisting “Never Again” into a weapon against the Jewish state. Equating Jews with Nazis is a textbook example of Holocaust inversion, one of the clearest markers of antisemitism defined by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).
Endorsing Incitement and “Resistance”
At the same rally, other faculty and students shouted “resistance is justified” — code language for terrorism — and Troutt Powell herself framed Hamas’s attacks as part of a “struggle” that should not be silenced. She later amplified this framing online by retweeting a post that downplayed Hamas atrocities, instead accusing Israel of “intent to genocide” with Western approval. Such messaging absolves terrorists and turns the Jewish state into the villain.
Promoting Anti-Israel Activism on Campus
Troutt Powell also participated in the “Freedom School for Palestine,” a November 2023 Penn initiative that painted Israel as a genocidal regime and promoted BDS. She joined its “liberatory programming,” lecturing on the Nakba — a term frequently weaponized to delegitimize Israel’s very creation. Her participation signaled open faculty endorsement of spaces where Jewish students reported harassment and intimidation.
Troutt Powell also signed a faculty letter backing the controversial Palestine Writes Literature Festival, which was denounced for platforming antisemitic speakers like Roger Waters and Susan Abulhawa.
Social Media Antisemitism
Her antisemitic narrative continued online. On December 3, 2023, she posted “Ceasefire Now. No more of this depravity.” Two days later, she followed with: “All the shrillness is meant to distract us from the genocide in Gaza. We have to stay focused.” By parroting Hamas propaganda of “genocide,” she not only smeared Israel but delegitimized Jewish grief after October 7.
Positions of Influence
Troutt Powell’s rhetoric is especially dangerous because of her institutional power. As a tenured Penn professor with degrees from Harvard, she teaches Middle Eastern history to students while spreading antisemitic narratives. She even rose to serve as president of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA), a body infamous for promoting anti-Israel activism under the guise of scholarship.
