Who Is Joseph Massad?
Joseph Massad, a Professor of Modern Arab Politics and Intellectual History at Columbia University, has become one of the most outspoken defenders of Hamas and an enabler of extremist rhetoric in elite academia. His lectures, writings, and activism regularly cross the line from political critique into open justification of terrorist groups and leaders, fostering hostility on campus and leaving Jewish students, as well as any dissenting voices, exposed to intimidation and fear on-campus.
How Does Joseph Massad Endorse and Glorify Terrorism?
- October 2023: In an article published on Electronic Intifada, Massad praised the October 7th attacks as part of a “righteous struggle” and described images from the massacre as “stunning” amidst a sense of “jubilation and awe.”
- November 2023: On a podcast, he insisted that “Hamas is not a terrorist organization. It is a liberation movement,” reframing mass murder, hostage-taking, and rape as acts of freedom.
- December 2023: He honored Abu Jihad, orchestrator of the 1978 Coastal Road Massacre (37 murdered, including 12 children), calling him a “hero of the Palestinian revolution.”
- January 2024: He declared in an interview, “I stand with Hamas and its resistance, absolutely. It is the only true resistance against the Zionist occupation.”
Impossible to endorse as scholarly commentary, Massad’s words are endorsements of terrorism that pursues and directs violence at civilians.
How Has Joseph Massad Shown Antisemitism and Historical Distortion?
Massad continuously and repeatedly perpetuates antisemitic tropes, including twisting Holocaust themes, to spread his extreme opinions:
- In his essay “The Last of the Semites” (2013), Massad accused Zionists of collaborating with Nazis and compared Israel to Nazi Germany—a classic form of antisemitic Holocaust inversion.
- He denies Jewish indigeneity to Israel, calling Jews “European converts” and Zionism a “Christian colonial enterprise.”
- He has argued Palestinians are the “true Semites,” twisting history to delegitimize Jewish identity and Israel’s existence.
- A December 2024 report from the Middle East Media Research Institute quoted him as having said that Zionists “invented the myth of Ancient Israel,” and that even archaeology is a “colonialist venture.”
- In a December 2025 article he published in the Middle East Eye, Massad wrote, “Pro-Zionism is today’s respectable form of antisemitism.”
How Has Joseph Massad Contributed to Campus Hostility and Investigations?
Massad’s writings and speech, not to mention his conduct on the Columbia campus, have repeatedly drawn scrutiny. His behavior has contributed to a hostile learning environment for Jewish students, who have reported feeling unsafe and silenced.
- In a 2004 report by the David Project, Columbia students reported that Massad intimidated and verbally abused Jewish students, with one student quoting him as having said “The Palestinian is the new Jew, and the Jew is the new Nazi.”
- He once cancelled class to lead an anti-Israel rally, where he denounced Israel as a “racist state” and called for its dismantlement.
- In the aftermath of October 7th, Massad’s profile on Rate My Professors showed that his own students at Columbia believed his personal antisemitic agenda had infiltrated his curriculum.
In October of 2023, over 40,000 signatures were added to a petition calling for Massad’s dismissal from Columbia’s faculty in the wake of his public statements. Despite this and his obvious antisemitic biases, he was not only not removed from his position, but in 2025 taught a course on Zionism: “Palestinian-Israelo Poli/Sci”.
Conclusion: Joseph Massad is a Threat on Campus
Joseph Massad has turned his position at Columbia into a platform for antisemitic extremism, historical distortion, and justification of terrorism. By glorifying Hamas and October 7th, denying Jewish identity, and fostering a climate of fear for Jewish students, he undermines both academic integrity and campus safety. Columbia’s continued tolerance, its own form of endorsement, of his behavior raises serious questions about whether the university is protecting free speech, or enabling extremism that threatens its own students.
