NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (TND) — A professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey claimed freeing Palestine will liberate Jewish people in a recent interview.
Associate professor Noura Erakat told Joy Reid of MSNBC’s “The ReidOut” the pro-Palestine movement helps some of its opponents.
“Many of us who are fighting to free Palestine are fighting for all people’s freedom, including for Jewish liberation, which we see as part and parcel of our human emancipation,” Erakat argued.
Erakat also discussed billionaire Elon Musk’s tour of Kibbutz Kfar Aza with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the Jewish state’s ceasefire with Hamas Monday. She stated pro-Israel supporters can also be antisemitic.
“When we see Elon Musk there, and you’re scratching your head and saying, ‘But wait a minute. I thought that he has said very antisemitic things,’ it’s precisely because these are not the same things,” the professor claimed.
Erakat also provided former President Donald Trump as an example. She argued his status as one of Israel’s chief supporters clashes with his antisemitic actions.
“We can have very explicit antisemites like former President Donald Trump, who refers to [Jewish people’s] wealth and their power in a way that hits on classic antisemitic tropes, and yet is hailed as Israel’s No. 1 ally,” Erakat said.
Erakat also argues Israel’s truce and hostage exchange with Hamas could have happened at the onset of the war.
“This very same agreement was extended in the first week after Oct. 7,” she claimed. “Israel could have achieved it immediately. It could have achieved it before the ground incursion that began on Oct. 27. It could have achieved it before the gutting and the incursion of al-Shifa Hospital.”
The professor did not immediately respond to The National Desk’s request for comment Tuesday.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has stated Hamas uses al-Shifa Hospital as a military base. On Nov. 19, IDF released footage allegedly exposing a tunnel running underneath the hospital.
In the video, a dismantled spiral staircase leads to a 180-foot passageway roughly 30 feet below the surface. At the end of the tunnel is a blast door equipped with a firing hole, according to IDF.
“For weeks we’ve been telling the world about Hamas’ cynical use of the residents of Gaza and patients of Shifa Hospital as human shields,” IDF wrote.
Earlier in the month, Israel displayed “clean evidence” al-Rantisi Hospital, also in Gaza City, was within feet of the “house of a terrorist.”
“Hamas hides weapons and operatives among civilian infrastructure, schools and mosques, and its bases are embedded intricately inside them,” IDF claims.