Cornell University
- A Cornell University history professor has apologized for calling the Hamas attacks on Israel “exhilarating” and “energizing.”
- “I recognize that some of the language I used was reprehensible,” Russell Rickford said in a statement.
- The Ivy League college said this week that Rickford’s comments and actions are under investigation.
The Cornell University history professor who came under intense scrutiny after he called the deadly Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel “exhilarating” and “energizing” has now apologized for his controversial remarks, days after the college confirmed it was investigating his comments.
“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,” associate professor Russell Rickford said in a statement issued to The Cornell Daily Sun, the school’s student newspaper.
Rickford continued, “I recognize that some of the language I used was reprehensible and did not reflect my values. As I said in the speech, I abhor violence and the violent targeting of civilians. I am sorry for the pain that my reckless remarks have caused my family, my students, my colleagues, and many others in this time of suffering.”
The history professor at the Ivy League college was speaking at a pro-Palestinian rally near the Ithaca, New York, university on Sunday when he referred to the attacks on Israel as “exhilarating.”
Rickford said that the Palestinian militant group Hamas — which is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and other nations — “challenged the monopoly of violence” when it launched its surprise assault on the Jewish state earlier this month.
More than 1,400 people were killed in the attacks and nearly 200 more were taken hostage into Gaza by Hamas fighters, according to Israeli officials. The assault prompted Israel to respond with deadly airstrikes on Gaza, which have killed thousands more.
Rickford said at the rally that in the immediate aftermath of the attacks by Hamas, Gazans and Palestinians “were able to breathe for the first time in years,” according to a video.
“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,” Rickford said.
Students and others quickly called for Rickford’s removal from Cornell University in online petitions as Rickford defended his comments to The Cornell Daily Sun.
Cornell University President Martha Pollack and Cornell University Board of Trustees Chair Kraig Kayser called Rickford’s remarks “reprehensible” and said his actions were under review in a statement to Insider on Tuesday.
“The university is taking this incident seriously and is currently reviewing it consistent with our procedures,” Pollack and Kayser said.
Cornell University did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Insider on Thursday.
In his apology, Rickford added, “As a scholar, a teacher, an activist, and a father, I strive to uphold the values of human dignity, peace, and justice. I want to make it clear that I unequivocally oppose and denounce racism, anti-semitism, Islamophobia, militarism, fundamentalism, and all systems that dehumanize, divide and oppress people.”
