Cornell professor reacts to Hamas terrorist activities: Exhilarating
Cornell University professor Russell Rickford responds to Hamas atrocities in Southern Israel at a pro-Palestinian rally in Ithaca, New York.
The Cornell University professor who came under fire for saying he was "exhilarated" and "energized" by the Hamas terror attacks in Israel is now on a leave of absence from the school.
Russell Rickford, who taught post-Civil War African American history at the prestigious university, came under fire earlier this month after footage of him celebrating the Hamas surprise terror attack that left 1,400 dead, including women, children, and elderly civilians, went viral.
"Professor Russell Rickford has requested and received approval to take a leave of absence from the university," a Cornell spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
Russell Rickford is a history professor at Cornell University. (FOX News Digital | Getty)
Rickford did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rickford’s viral moment came when responded to Hamas attacks on Israel at a rally in Ithaca, New York, on October 17.
"Hamas has shifted the balance of power. Hamas has punctured the illusion of its invincibility. That’s what they’ve done. You don’t have to be a Hamas supporter to recognize that. You don't have to be a Hamas supporter to recognize that. Hamas has changed the terms of debate," he said to the crowd.
He proceeded to say that Hamas challenged the monopoly of violence: "It was exhilarating, it was energizing. And if it weren’t exhilarating by this challenge to the monopoly of violence – by this shifting to this balance of power – then they would not be human. I was exhilarated."
The Oct. 7 attack by Hamas terrorists in southern Israel launched the war. (Israel Defense Forces via AP)
Rickford was hammererd by Americans on both sides of the political spectrum, with former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann – a Cornell alum – calling for his dismal.
"There is nothing defensible in this. Slaughter of innocents anywhere is not ‘exhilarating,’" Olbermann wrote on X. "As an alum, I speak only for myself. But @Cornell - you must dismiss this man who is without judgment or humanity."
University President Martha Pollack and the Board of Trustees also denounced Rickford’s rhetoric as "reprehensible" with "no regard whatsoever for humanity."
"The university is taking this incident seriously and is currently reviewing it consistent with our procedures," Pollack and the Board of Trustees added.
Rickford eventually issued an apology, which was also criticized for not condemning Hamas or apologizing directly to the Cornell Jewish community.
"I apologize for the horrible choice of words that I used in a portion of a speech that was intended to stress grassroots African American, Jewish, and Palestinian traditions of resistance to oppression," Cornell University professor Russell Rickford said in a letter published in the Cornell Daily Sun.
"I recognize that some of the language I used was reprehensible and did not reflect my values," Rickford stated.
The professor added that he opposes and denounces "racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, militarism, fundamentalism and all systems that dehumanize, divide and oppress people."
Rickford "specializes in African-American political culture after World War II, the Black Radical Tradition, and transnational social movements," according to the Cornell website.
Cornell Law professor William A. Jacobson, who has blasted the school’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiative and called for an independent commission to evaluate antisemitism at the Ivy League school, believes Rickford is "a symptom of a deeper problem" in higher education and at Cornell.
"The demonization of Israel on campuses has reached the extreme extent that a professor in front of a large crowd including students felt no hesitation at expressing his 'exhilaration' at a bloody and brutal attack on civilians. That crowd then broke into the genocidal chant ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.’ Against what other people other than Jews is mass rape, torture, and kidnapping of children deemed exhilarating? Against what other people is such brutality 'contextualized' and excused? This anti-Jewish agitation flourishes on a campus and culture where the Big Lie is spread daily that Jews have no legitimate claim to the land of Israel and are outside occupiers and colonizers in their own historical homeland, when in fact the opposite is true," Jacobson told Fox News Digital via email.
"The Jewish claim to the land, which would be celebrated if it were any other indigenous people, is reviled and used to stoke and spread the Jew hatred masquerading as anti-Zionism and decolonization. Cornell needs to examine its campus culture and the direct and indirect demonization of Jews," he continued. "I renew my call for the Board of Trustees to take action to examine the antisemitism problem on campus and the connection to the 'intersectional' racialist 'Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion' advocacy and programming which isolates and marginalizes Jews."
Cornell did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Jacobson’s call to evaluate antisemitism on campus.
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Fox News' Joshua Q. Nelson contributed to this report.
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