In April 2024, Columbia University’s President, Minouche Shafik, was invited by the U.S. Congress to participate in a McCarthyite witch-hunt against pro-Palestinian professors at Columbia University.
Shafik happily obliged.
Since her appearance in Congress, Shafik, who once served as Deputy Managing Director of the IMF, has electrified pro-Israel groups with her merciless crackdown on Columbia’s Palestinian solidarity activists.
One of the professors whom Shafik has targeted is Dr. Muhammad Abdou. Dr. Abdou is a graduate of Queens University in Canada. Unlike other Columbia professors whom Shafik has persecuted, Dr. Abdou does not have the protection of tenure.
On May 25, 2024, I spoke with Dr. Abdou from his home in New York City. We discussed the ordeal that he has had to endure (including daily death threats) for acknowledging that Palestinians have a right to employ armed resistance against their oppressors.
During the interview, Dr. Abdou and I discussed the Facebook post that provoked the controversy. In that post, he expressed support for resistance groups in Palestine and Lebanon, but clearly stated that there were limits to his support. Dr. Adbou’s detractors have ignored that important qualification.
You can watch and listen to my discussion with Dr. Abdou here:
