A UC Berkeley spokesperson confirmed the university will not cancel a planned Zoom talk by former Columbia professor Mohamed Abdou despite acknowledging the event will upset Jewish community members.
The university told the California Post that Abdou, who was fired from Columbia after posting his support for Hamas following the Oct. 7 attacks, will appear remotely before students in an on-campus event space on Oct. 6. The timing places the talk one day before the third anniversary of the Hamas assault on Israel.
Abdou, who is also scheduled to address Claremont College students on Oct. 7, is currently touring under the banner “Death to the Akademy.” He launched the speaking series earlier this year.
The professor has drawn fresh controversy for remarks delivered to NYU students over Zoom. “Be proud of your hate for America,” he told them.
“You love Islam, and you should be loving Islam more than this barbarous colony. It’s a plague upon the Earth. And yes, in that sense, you need to be a threat. We all need to be a threat,” Abdou continued.
He pressed attendees further on the theme of martyrdom. “If we are to meet Muhammad, then our blood serves as a testimony,” he said. “We do not fear death.”
The UC Berkeley spokesperson emphasized that Abdou will not set foot on campus physically. The university, the spokesperson said, will not cancel the event “based on fears or expectations of what might be expressed.”
The same spokesperson expressed regret about the timing and content. “Through the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee for Jewish Life we consistently and continuously engage with the Jewish members of our campus community to ensure we can address their needs and interests, and to ensure that during events like these Jewish community members receive the support they may need,” the spokesperson added.
The group organizing the Abdou talk, UC Berkeley Students for Justice in Palestine, pushed back against criticism of its speaker choice.
“It’s been over 3 years into the ongoing g€noc¡d€ in Pal€st¡n€ perpetuated by ¡sra€l, we will not police our speech over Palest¡n¡ans right to resist their g€noc¡d€rs by any means necessary,” the group wrote. “Mass social media censorship & attempts to stop our events will not deter us from these talks connecting the fact that Pal€st¡n¡an liberation is inherently entwined with the freeing of Turtle Island & the restoration of indigenous sovereignty & Black self-determination.”
Abdou announced on social media that he was “honored” to deliver both college talks. The UC Berkeley event is titled “1492: From Palestine to Turtle Island,” while the Claremont College appearance is called “Re-Igniting Student Organizing Against Settler-Colonial Amerika.”
Abdou lost his position at Columbia University after posting on social media in the days following Oct. 7, 2023 that he is “with Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad.” The post made him a flashpoint in debates over campus speech and the boundaries of academic expression during the Israel-Hamas war.