Rutgers hosts professor who in contrast Israel supporters to rodents for occasion on battle within the Center East

Says Palestinian war crimes must be understood in “context”

A Middle East politics professor who likened supporters of Israel to rodents spoke recently at Rutgers University, where he spoke about Palestinian attacks on Israel and advocated understanding its actions in a historical context.

Columbia University professor Rashid Khalidi, who wrote a book called “The 100 Years War Against Palestine,” began by speaking about the “extreme violence” between Israel and Palestine. The professor has previously made comments criticizing anti-Semitism towards Israel.

When President Donald Trump was preparing to move into the White House in 2017, Khalidi warned against Israeli supporters influencing the government.

“These people are actually infecting the Trump transition team, these people will infect our government from January 20th, and they are hand in hand with a similar group within the Israeli government,” Khalidi said in an interview.

“This is very obviously Semitic rhetoric – Jews as vermin – for a supposedly subtle, if pro-Palestinian Columbia professor and Pres.” Obama’s former mentor. That kind of statement deserves attention, ”said Eugene Kontorovich, a Northwestern law professor who is now with George Mason.

As Khalidi clarified his remarks, he continued his opposition to Israel during the event in Rutgers hosted by the Center for Security, Race and Rights of his law school.

College Fix reached out to Sahar Aziz, the center’s director, asking about the motivation for inviting Khalidi and whether the center knew of his comments prior to the invitation. The fix did not receive a response to the email sent more than a week ago.

Khalidi said the narrative is usually “Israel-friendly” and focused on who attacks first, an approach he rejects. He said Gaza was “arrested” and prevented from receiving products such as building materials and medicines.

“Israel loves to start by talking about” the rockets coming out of Gaza, which Khalidi said could be a “war crime” although it needs to be understood in “context”.

While the Palestinians could commit war crimes, Khalidi said, Israel’s actions need to be investigated.

One example was the “eviction of people from their homes by Israel, the dispossession of families in Sheikh Jarrah”.

“Families were expropriated due to property claims by Israeli settler organizations in East Jerusalem,” said the Columbia professor.

Displaced families never had a legal right to land

According to The Journal of International Security Affairs, a pro-Israel publication, the situation that continues to creep through the Israeli judicial system affects families who have never been entitled to the land.

“First of all, the ownership of the land has never belonged to the Palestinian Arabs currently living on the property,” JINSA said. “Nothing harmful happens, except for a customary eviction of non-paying tenants by the landlord.”

Khalidi said this was just another example of how Israel has displaced people since 1948 in order to establish the country.

The next criticism of Israel is how it invaded a mosque on Ramadan night this year.

“Israeli forces invaded the area around the mosque one night in Ramadan while believers were praying … and then fired tear gas and stun grenades into the mosque,” Khalidi said.

He compared it to the hypothesis that someone was attacking Catholics in St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City at Easter.

The mosque he is referring to is the Al-Asqa Mosque, also known as the Temple Mount, where Muslims “stored stones, fireworks and other items in the mosque to be thrown at the Israeli police,” according to the Times of Israel.

Although Hamas is attacking Israel, its weapons are nowhere near as advanced as Israel’s, so it should be viewed differently than when Israeli forces attack Gaza, Khalidi said.

“The weapons Hamas uses are so imprecise that they are necessarily indiscriminate,” said Khalidi. “It’s almost like falling off a rock to say that these are violations of international law. Israel uses weapons that it can use discriminatively and disproportionately kills civilians. “

He ended his lecture by saying that there will be no peace in the Middle East “until and until the situation in the Arab countries changes for the better with regard to democracy”.

MORE: Rutgers Chancellor apologizes after denouncing anti-Semitism

PICTURE: Rutgers Law School / YouTube

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