Deepa Kumar is a professor of Journalism and Media Studies at Rutgers University and has become a frequent speaker at Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) events on campuses. Her record includes justifying or excusing Hamas terrorism, spreading antisemitic narratives, and publicly diminishing the atrocities committed against Israeli civilians.
Speaking at SJP and Anti-Israel Campus Events
From 2012 to 2015, Kumar served as faculty advisor for Rutgers SJP and frequently appeared as a guest speaker at SJP-sponsored events across North America.
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November 2012: Delivered “Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire” at Portland State University, hosted by SJP.
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March 2013: Lectured in Vancouver during a book tour, in events sponsored by Canada Palestine Association and Independent Jewish Voices.
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April 2015: Spoke at Seton Hall University at an event sponsored by SJP and other groups, titled “Confronting Islamophobia.”
Endorsing Petitions and Open Letters
Kumar has signed multiple petitions and open letters that align with antisemitic narratives or minimize terrorism:
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October 2023: Signed an open letter accusing Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway of making “one-sided statements” that recognized only Israeli victims of Hamas terrorism.
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April 2024: Signed an open letter condemning Israel’s strikes on Gaza’s educational infrastructure, and another demanding an external review of The New York Times coverage.
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May 2021: Signed a Rutgers faculty letter condemning Israel’s “military assault on Palestinians across all regions.”
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July 2014: Signed a letter addressed to Israeli academics.
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December 2013: Signed a BDS-authored boycott of an oral history conference at Hebrew University.
Excusing or Justifying Hamas
In a 2009 article, Kumar downplayed Hamas’s antisemitism and violence, claiming its struggle was “against Zionists and Zionism, and not Jews and Judaism.” She cited a selective 1990 Hamas document while ignoring the group’s still-active 1988 Charter, which explicitly calls for the murder of Jews. Kumar also attempted to contextualize Hamas violence as “religious” behavior, including the group’s murder of a Palestinian woman for “immoral behavior.” She referred to suicide bombings and attacks on Israeli civilians as societal “tasks” assigned mostly to men.
Denying Hamas Atrocities and Sexual Violence
After the October 7, 2023 Hamas massacre, Kumar appeared on Democracy Now in May 2024 to dispute media reports of Hamas terrorists raping Israeli women and children. She also joined more than 60 signatories demanding The New York Times investigate its coverage of sexual violence on October 7—casting doubt on the victims and downplaying crimes later confirmed by international investigators.
Extreme Rhetoric
Kumar has repeatedly courted controversy with her rhetoric:
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February 2017: Declared in a tweet that “the US is more brutal than ISIS,” sparking national outrage. The comments were covered on Fox News’s Outnumbered, where commentators questioned whether she was using her Rutgers platform to push extremist propaganda on students.
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June 2015: Delivered a lecture featuring a slide on “anti-Muslim McCarthyism,” where she grouped “Neoconservatives, Zionists, the Christian Far Right, ex-Muslims and other ‘Native Informants’” as the so-called “New McCarthyites.”
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Earlier interviews described Zionists and other critics as part of a “network of Islamophobes” engaged in “campaigns targeting Muslim schools, community centers and mosques.”
Conclusion
Deepa Kumar’s record shows a consistent pattern: excusing or minimizing Hamas terrorism, endorsing petitions that demonize Israel, and using her position at Rutgers to give legitimacy to antisemitic narratives. By aligning herself with SJP chapters, radicalizing students through her lectures, and denying well-documented atrocities, she has contributed to making the campus environment hostile and unsafe for Jewish students.
