US professor says Israel is almost identical to Islamic State

Professor in the uni’s Department of Middle Eastern studies, Hamid Dabashi, was criticised after making the claims on Facebook 

Columbia University (Wikimedia Commons)

A Columbia University professor wrote on Facebook that the only difference between Israel and the Islamic State, is that Zionist columnists defend the Jewish state’s “terrorist cause.”

Hamid Dabashi, a professor in the university’s Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies, wrote this last week, triggering an outcry by pro-Israel students.

The “murderous thugs” of the jihadist group “conquered parts of Syria and declared a ‘caliphate,’” Dabashi wrote. “Their ISRAELI  counterparts meanwhile conquered parts of Syria and declared it part of their Zionist settler colony.”

He added: “The only difference: ISIS does not have a platoon of clean shaven and well coiffured [sic] columnists at the New York Times propagating the cause of the terrorist outfit as the Zionists columnists do on a regular basis.”

The university chapter of Students Supporting Israel wrote in a statement Thursday: “This kind of utterly despicable and repugnant statement is not to be expected from a tenured faculty holder in an Ivy League institution.” Fox News and other media reported that the university did not immediately reply to queries on Dabashi.

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