As anti-Israel agitators continue to take over college campuses across the nation, a professor at Cornell University told Fox News Digital that what is happening — at Cornell University in particular — is no surprise and something he says has been building for a long time now.
“This is not a peace movement. This is not ‘let everybody live,’ you know, let bygones be bygones. This is an uncompromising, rejectionist ideology that rejects the existence of a Jewish state in the Middle East. And that is their goal. Tear it down. Intifada, revolution. That is their only solution in their own words. And I think people need to listen to them when they tell you they want an intifada. Believe them,” Cornell professor William Jacobson said.
Jacobson said what is also concerning about these protests is that the administrations, especially at Cornell and Columbia, are doing nothing to ensure student and faculty safety.
“I’ve spoken out against it before, and I’ve called on the administration to stop the radicalization and their very aggressive anti-racism program, which demonizes people based on their ethnicity and their race and inevitably leads to Jews being targeted. So, this has been building, and the fact that students are now bold enough in the main quad of campus, large groups of students to chant, ‘There is only one solution. Intifada or revolution.’ It’s really creepy,” Jacobson said.
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William A. Jacobson, a clinical professor at Cornell Law School who joined the faculty in 2007, called on the Cornell Board of Trustees to help Jewish students. (Getty/FOX)
He added it’s all a reflection of everything that’s gone wrong on the campus, how the administration has not been responsive to alumni calls, calls from him and calls from parents to stop the ideology he says is embedded in the campus.
Jacobson said what is happening is no accident, and it’s only gotten worse since Oct. 7.
“Their worst instincts, their demands for violence, their genocidal calls have been unleashed, and the administration has been very tepid in the way it has responded, not only at Cornell, but we see it at Columbia. And that tepid response has led to increased, vitriolic chants on campus. People march through buildings with bullhorns,” Jacobson said at Cornell.
“The administration tells them not to do it, and they do it anyway. So, there really is a problem on Cornell’s campus and other campuses with an emboldened, aggressive anti-Israel movement that seeks to intimidate people.”
“When you march through a building with a bullhorn, you’re not merely expressing your viewpoint. You can express your viewpoint in dozens of different ways. You are seeking to intimidate people. When you are in a crowd on the quad chanting for an intifada, for a bloody suicide bombing campaign, you are not merely expressing an opinion, you’re seeking to intimidate people. And I think we need to recognize that.”
Jacobson is concerned that, at some point, things could turn more severe.
“The only question is, when are they going to cross the line? When is the rhetoric, the cult-like chanting, going to turn into action? And that’s what I think we have to be concerned about,” he said.
Jacobson said one of the most chilling and disturbing actions to come out of this unrest at Cornell has been a professor active in these calls for an intifada.
“You had a professor infamously saying in front of a large crowd of people that he felt ‘exhilarated’ when he heard about Oct. 7. He then tried to walk it back and said, ‘Well, he’s never in support of killing civilians.’ But I think his first reaction and his first instinct was his true belief. I believe him. When he said he felt ‘exhilarated,’ I believe him. I think he was telling the truth about it,” Jacobson said.
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Cornell University students stage a demonstration on campus to raise awareness about kidnapped Israelis and Americans Nov. 1, 2023. (Hannah Grossman/FOX News Digital )
Russell Rickford, a Cornell University professor who taught post-Civil War African American history at the prestigious university, came under fire in October after footage of him celebrating the Hamas surprise terror attack that left 1,400 dead, including women, children and elderly civilians, went viral.
The university reported that he took a leave of absence shortly after, and The Cornell Sun reported he was participating at the latest Cornell protest Friday.
When students are calling for an intifada, Jacobson says listen to them, adding he is happy they have finally taken off their masks and shown their true colors.
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Anti-Israel supporters rally outside Columbia University April 23, 2024, in New York City. (Jeenah Moon/Getty Images)
“So, I’m in favor of people telling us how they really feel. I don’t want to suppress that. I don’t want to drive that underground. I want the whole world to see what we are up against, not just the Jewish people. And not just Israel. And not just the Cornell campus. But really the United States. See what we are up against,” Jacobson said.
“This is a death cult ideology. It’s a destructive ideology. It is a dead end for society, and it is flourishing among a component of the campuses. Again, not the entirety of the campus, not the majority of the campus, but the very, very vocal minority on the campus.”
Jacobson said the schools need to be held accountable.
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“I think when we look at that video of the chants for an end to intifada as the only solution, I think in many ways that was Cornell’s Charlottesville moment. People need to recognize the hatred that is underneath the supposed peace movement. And it’s something that we need to talk about, and the school needs to address, and the school needs to come to grips with,” Jacobson said.
Cornell University and Rickford did not respond to Fox News Digital for comment.
