As Israeli military action against Hamas in Gaza continues in retaliation to the horrific terror attack by Hamas on 7 October, some 1,900 plus odd sociology “professors” have signed an open letter in solidarity with Gaza and Palestinians. The letter, a typical rant of the left, calls to “contextualise” the Hamas terror attack that killed over 1400 innocent Israelis and displaced over 2 lakh civilians in Israel.
The letter is published as a Google Doc, which can be edited by people after requesting edit permission.
NEW: 1,700 sociology professors sign a letter accusing Israel of "genocide" and arguing that Hamas terror must be "contextualize[d]" as a response to "75 years of settler colonial occupation and European empire."
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) October 23, 2023
Our professors are seething with hatred against the West. pic.twitter.com/4lxaftaepz
The excerpt reads, “As educators, it is our duty to stand by the principles of critical inquiry and learning, to hold the university as a space for conversation that foregrounds historical truths, and that contextualises this past week’s violence in the context of 75 years of settler colonial occupation and European empire.”
The letter has been signed by professors from Ivy League institutes including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Oxford, Brown, Berkeley, and others. And when the elite progressives have it in them to speak up for the downtrodden, how can the Indian left not rise to the occasion?
We've scanned the list and found Nandini Sundar, wife of American far-left propagandist, Siddarth Varadarajn is one of the signatories supporting Hamas. Also includes students from IITB, TISS, OP Jindal, Ashoka Uni, JNU, Jamia Milia Islamia, AMU, DU. https://t.co/0k1q2okbup pic.twitter.com/Mtz71dUe19
— Stop Hindu Hate Advocacy Network (SHHAN) (@HinduHate) October 25, 2023
Among those Indians who have signed the letter are The Wire founder Siddharth Varadarajan’s wife Nandini Sundar. The Indian signatories to the letter also include students from IIT Bombay, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), OP Jindal, Ashoka University, JNU, Jamia Milia Islamia, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), and Delhi University (DU).
However, the biggest irony in this document is that a person named Adolf Hitler, who is listed as “professor emeritus, Sociology, University of Austria”, is also a signatory.
However, it seems that later the name Adolf Hitler was removed from the list. It is notable that anyone can add any name to sign the list, and it is possible that some of the names are fake. Moreover, as it is an editable document, someone is going through the signatures and removing suspicious sounding names, like Adolf Hitler.
Spotted this signature. https://t.co/1u2II2bW87 pic.twitter.com/QZBU5h470d
— Abigail Anthony (@abigailandwords) October 24, 2023
Moreover, the letter does not condemn Hamas and the carnage it unleashed on Israeli civilians on 7th October killing more than 1,400 innocent people and taking more than 200 captive. It also does not mention that Hamas is also responsible for the death of civilian Palestinians in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, as Hamas has been preventing civilians from evacuating north Gaza despite repeated warnings by Israel. In fact, the letter just once makes the mention of Hamas violence but does so in a matter-of-factly tone as against the 300+ words of Israel bashing.
The letter reads, “While claiming its actions are a justifiable response to recent Hamas violence against Israeli civilians, it has targeted the civilian Palestinian population of Gaza, while exhibiting little regard for the loss of human life.” The letter also objects to the use of ‘racist and dehumanizing language’ for Hamas terrorists, referring to Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant using the term ‘human animals’ for Hamas terrorists/
Clearly, the signatories made the conscious choice of not acknowledging the unspeakable atrocities inflicted upon Israeli civilians including women and babies. One of the appalling excerpts of the letter reads, “This latest siege comes as a continuation and escalation of the daily violence Palestinians faced for decades from Israeli colonisation…”
The letter essentially negates that the Israeli attacks are a retaliation thereby further writing off the fact that Hamas ever conducted a terrorist attack on Israel. That it consciously leaves out any mention of the terrorist attack and talks about the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the context of “75 years of settler colonial occupation” shows how this global left lobby joiin forces with Islamists to legitimise the existence of terrorist groups like Hamas.
Netizens have pointed out several flaws in the letter that raise questions on the credibility of the letter and even its signatories. There is of course the Adolf Hitler bit for one. “Academic Watchdog” Steve McGuire shared an image of the document while it was still accepting entries showing how the document has several collaborators.
Captured some editing. pic.twitter.com/qT7wYQ8VEc
— Abigail Anthony (@abigailandwords) October 24, 2023
X user Abigail Anthony, a writer, also recorded a 33-second video while the document was still being edited. The name of Michael Rodriguez, an associate professor of Sociology at the University of California, appeared on the document as he deleted an entry signed by the name Jill Biden, “professor, Northern Virginia Community College”.
The apparent editor of the document goes by the name Michael Rodriguez-Muniz on X, formerly Twitter, and had first shared the open letter on 18th October calling on his followers to sign and share the same.
Open Letter: Sociologists in Solidarity with Gaza
— Michael Rodríguez-Muñiz (@MichaelRMuniz) October 17, 2023
Sign on and Share!https://t.co/xPLyic4wel
Author and Professor Bradley Campbell pointed out on X that the list consists of “mostly usual suspects plus a bunch of grad students. Some of them aren’t even in sociology departments.”
1700 sounds like a lot, but go through the list and it's mostly the usual suspects plus a bunch of grad students. Some of them aren't even in sociology departments.
— Bradley Campbell (@CampbellSocProf) October 23, 2023
So things are bad, but not as bad as you might think. https://t.co/mOnyo1gvuD
Another X user, Grayson Quay, pointed out that the document can be signed under whatever name one wants. “They don’t vet the signatures at all. I just signed as Reinhard Heydrich,” he wrote.
Do what you will with this information, but you can just sign this under whatever name you want. They don't vet the signatures at all.
— Grayson Quay (@hemingquay) October 24, 2023
I just signed as Reinhard Heydrich. https://t.co/dFMyPTI1zu
This nth letter by the global left lobby comprising of 1,700 self-proclaimed “sociologists” whose credibility is as good as a troll account on social media, shows their sheer desperation to find an excuse of a “cause” to clutch on to. The left has become irrelevant, and Islam is their only fodder for the want of a revolution. Unfortunately, the victims of terrorism continue to have to fight for justice even in death.
