UConn faculty member joins 1,900 sociologists in anti-Israel screed to “contextualize” Hamas slaughter of innocents. Silent on hostages.
Nearly 2,000 of the world’s sociologists have shared their view of the world and it is chilling. The sociologists issued a rant that condemns Israel amidst a load of pernicious nonsense.
Here is a sour helping of the ugly screed:
We are witnessing internationally supported genocide. This latest siege comes as a continuation and escalation of the daily violence Palestinians faced for decades from Israeli colonization; an apartheid regime whose occupation is in clear violation of international law, but persists with the support of powerful governments globally. In 2023 alone, the United States has sent $3.8 billion to prop up the Israeli military and consistently legitimized Israel’s human rights violations on a global stage. The European Union too has brazenly supported Israel’s aggression, while failing to reflect on the historical irony to “never again” commit genocide.
There is no mention of the more than 200 hostages Hamas terrorists continue to hold. Nor do the sociologists find space to mention the October 7th slaughter of Israelis by Hamas. (And they use “foregrounds” as a verb, which may reveal a telling detail about the process of obtaining an advance degree in sociology.)
The useful idiots are joined by University of Connecticut Associate Professor of Sociology and Africana Studies David G. Embrick. Mishal Khan, Yale postdoctoral fellow and Kayla Thomas, a Yale sociology PhD candidate, lent their names to the jumped-up harangue.
The document descries “the dehumanizing language used by heads of state, military leaders, and journalists throughout the West,” but makes no mention of the October 7th slaughter of Israelis by Hamas. It refers to the violence of the last week, but Hamas’s barbarity was visited on Israelis 17 days ago. That goes unacknowledged.
“As educators, it is our duty to stand by the principles of critical inquiry and learning,” the poisonous bloviators continue, without calling for the release of more than 200 hostages held by Hamas.
A response by “the Israeli sociological community along with concerned sociologists and other academics from around the globe” expresses their sadness and disappointment over the letter. The response points out “the blatant lack of any recognition of the heinous massacre carried out by Hamas in the south of Israel on October 7th.”
Michael Oren explains Hamas and the way forward for Israel in this edition of Dan Senor’s Call Me Back podcast.
Published October 24, 2023.