![The Cornell Hillel and dining room that came under threat by pro-Hamas students](https://www.jewishpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/The-Cornell-Hillel-and-dining-room-that-came-under-threat-by-pro-Hamas-students-696x461.jpg)
![The Cornell Hillel and dining room that came under threat by pro-Hamas students](https://www.jewishpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/The-Cornell-Hillel-and-dining-room-that-came-under-threat-by-pro-Hamas-students-696x461.jpg)
Horrific threats were posted to Ithaca, NY’s Cornell University’s Greekrank forums on Saturday and Sunday, including one threat to shoot the Jewish students at 104West! – Cornell’s kosher and multicultural dining room which is located next to the Center for Jewish Living building on the south edge of the west campus, The Cornell Daily Sun reported late Sunday night.
One such post, by a user calling themselves “hamas,” titled, “if i see another jew,” went:
“if i see another jew on campus…if i see a pig male jew i will stab you and slit your throat. if i see another pig female jew i will drag you away and ràpe you and throw you off a cliff. if i see another pig baby jew i will behead you in front of your parents. if i see another synagogue another rally for the zionist globalist genocidal apartheid dictatorial entity known as “israel”, i will bring an assault rifle to campus and shoot all you pig jews. jews are human animals and deserve a pigs death. Liberation by any means. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” (sic.)
Clearly, “hamas” was using only one hand to write the above vile message, and used an à to spell “rape” suggesting he or she language-set their computer to French or German.
According to Cornell President Martha E. Pollack, Campus police referred the threats to the FBI.
NY State Attorney General Letitia James tweeted: “These threats targeting Jewish students at Cornell are absolutely horrific. There is no space for antisemitism or violence of any kind. Campuses must remain safe spaces for our students.”
Here’s the thing, though: on October 15, Cornell’s history professor Russell Rickford told a pro-Hamas rally he was “exhilarated” by the Hamas attack on innocent Israeli civilians that featured beheaded babies. The whole repugnant thing went as follows:
“Hamas has challenged the monopoly of violence. And in those first few hours, even as horrific acts were being carried out, many of which we would not learn about until later, there are many Gazans of good will, many Palestinians of conscience, who abhor violence, as do you, as do I. Who abhor the targeting of civilians, as do you, as do I, who were able to breathe, they were able to breathe for the first time in years. It was exhilarating. It was energizing. And if they weren’t exhilarated by this challenge to the monopoly of violence, by this shifting of the balance of power, then they would not be human. I was exhilarated. What has Hamas done? Hamas has shifted the balance of power. Hamas has punctured the illusion of invincibility. That’s what they have done. You don’t have to be a Hamas supporter to recognize that. Hamas has changed the terms of the debate. Israeli officials are right — nothing will be the same again.”
And all of it at the low cost of only 1,400 civilian lives and some 300 kidnapped hostages. A bargain.
On October 18, presumably, after some of his peers explained to him what it takes to remain inside human civilization, the good professor issued a heartfelt apology: “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.”
He so good to us.
Gov. Kathy Hochul tweeted: “The disgusting & hateful posts on a message board about Jewish Cornell students is the latest in a series of concerning incidents on college campuses. While it is unclear if these are credible threats, NYS police is engaged and we’ll take any steps needed to keep students safe.”
Except, the good governor also tweeted, with the same breath: “I also reiterated our strong belief in free speech and the right to peaceful assembly, but made clear that we will have zero tolerance for acts of violence or those who intimidate and harass others through words or actions.”
One would have expected the governor to impose a ban, even if temporary, on “pro-Palestinian” rallies across New York State, including university campuses, before one of those rallies erupted into a full-scale pogrom. It’s being done in several democratic European countries, where governments and law enforcement agencies are more experienced with the tendency of fascism to erupt from the streets.
Meanwhile, Cornell Hillel advises students to avoid the campus kosher dining hall, because, you know, there you are sitting munching on your kosher burger and fries, and suddenly a whole free speech assembly rams through the dining room doors and cuts your throat.