Hamas breached the common bond of humanity by their unspeakably cruel massacre of Israelis and citizens of forty other countries, including the US, on October 7. The joy of the perpetrators and their supporters around the world was chilling.

We are comforted by the unequivocal condemnation of these attacks by Chancellor Matos Rodriguez in his letter to the CUNY community and by his call for “all of us to embrace the ideals of education as an antidote to vitriol and violence and a path to justice and peace”. It is by open-minded instruction and learning that diverse communities can begin to empathize with each other and seek reconciliation. Students must know that members of the CUNY faculty and staff support all communities and feel their pain. 

We must speak up to create space for the free expression of ideas. We stand against the CUNY faculty letter which objects to the Chancellor’s criticism of terror and to his offer of sympathy for its victims, and then justifies these sentiments by blaming the victim and claiming that the censure of terrorism is an attack on Palestinians. The faculty letter expresses support for Hamas by stating that “there is … no equivalence between the October 7 military operation by Hamas and the subsequent military attack by the Israeli state.” The beheadings of babies and the murders and torture of entire families on October 7 was no ‘military operation’. Most people in the region understand that this attack was meant as a flesh and blood installment of “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free”. 

Read full statement here.