{"id":2212939,"date":"2024-04-04T11:49:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-04T15:49:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/he-hailed-hamas-as-a-liberation-organization-harvard-invited-him-to-speak-on-campus-2\/"},"modified":"2024-04-04T11:49:36","modified_gmt":"2024-04-04T15:49:36","slug":"he-hailed-hamas-as-a-liberation-organization-harvard-invited-him-to-speak-on-campus-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/he-hailed-hamas-as-a-liberation-organization-harvard-invited-him-to-speak-on-campus-2\/","title":{"rendered":"He praised Hamas as a &#8216;Liberation Organization&#8217; and was invited to speak at Harvard"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhe-hailed-hamas-as-a-liberation-organization-harvard-invited-him-to-speak-on-campus-2%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2212939&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Tareq Baconi, a Hamas sympathizer, was invited by Harvard\u2062 University to \u200bspeak on his views regarding Hamas. Baconi described Hamas&#8217;s actions as\u200b &#8220;anti-colonial violence&#8221; influenced by Israel&#8217;s &#8220;regime of oppression.&#8221; The\u2062 event hosted by Harvard&#8217;s Center for Middle Eastern Studies featured\u2064 Baconi&#8217;s perspective on the Palestinian \u2063conflict, advocating against the two-state \u2064solution. Tareq Baconi, known for his sympathetic \u2063views towards Hamas, was a guest speaker at \u200dHarvard University. During the\u200c event organized by Harvard&#8217;s Center for \u2062Middle Eastern Studies, Baconi characterized Hamas&#8217;s activities \u200cas &#8220;anti-colonial violence,&#8221; attributing them \u200cto Israel&#8217;s perceived &#8220;regime of\u200c oppression.&#8221; He\u2063 also expressed his opposition\u200b to the two-state solution in the context of the Palestinian\u2064 conflict.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<h2>Tareq Baconi says Israel&#8217;s &#8216;regime of oppression&#8217; to blame for Hamas&#8217;s Oct. 7 attack<\/h2>\n<figure><figcaption> \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\tTareq Baconi (Institute for Palestine Studies)\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Harvard University invited a Hamas apologist, who has described the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack as &#8220;anti-colonial violence&#8221; that was &#8220;inevitable&#8221; and motivated by &#8220;oppression,&#8221; to speak on its campus.<\/p>\n<p>The event, slated to take place on April 18, is <a href=\"https:\/\/cmes.fas.harvard.edu\/event\/gaza-epicenter-alternative-reading\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">hosted<\/a> by Harvard&#8217;s Center for Middle Eastern Studies and will feature Tareq Baconi, a Hamas scholar and the <a href=\"https:\/\/al-shabaka.org\/authors\/tareq-baconi\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">president<\/a> of the board of Al-Shabaka, a Palestinian think tank. Baconi is the author of <em>Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance<\/em>, in which he <a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books\/about\/Hamas_Contained.html?id=--KtzgEACAAJ&#038;source=kp_author_description\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">claims<\/a> that Hamas is not &#8220;a terrorist group&#8221; but instead &#8220;a multifaceted liberation organization.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Just three days after Hamas murdered 1,200 Israelis and abducted hundreds more, Baconi <a href=\"https:\/\/jewishcurrents.org\/the-hamas-attacks-and-israeli-response-an-explainer#were-hamass-attacks-motivated-by-antisemitism\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">argued<\/a> that Hamas&#8217;s Oct. 7 attack, which he calls &#8220;the Al-Aqsa Flood operation,&#8221; wasn&#8217;t &#8220;driven by hatred and bloodlust&#8221; but rather brought upon by Israel&#8217;s &#8220;regime of oppression.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>A month later, in November, he <a href=\"https:\/\/al-shabaka.org\/commentaries\/an-inevitable-rupture-al-aqsa-flood-and-the-end-of-partition\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">labeled<\/a> Hamas&#8217;s Oct. 7 attack &#8220;an unprecedented display of anti-colonial violence&#8221; and wrote that &#8220;the Al-Aqsa Flood operation was an inevitable response to Israel&#8217;s relentless and interminable provocation.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;What is clear is that Western leaders are willfully refusing to acknowledge Hamas&#8217;s attack for what it was: an unprecedented display of anti-colonial violence,&#8221; wrote Baconi. &#8220;The Al-Aqsa Flood operation was an inevitable response to Israel&#8217;s relentless and interminable provocation through land theft, military occupation, blockage and siege, and the denial of the fundamental right to return to one&#8217;s homeland for more than 75 years.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Harvard&#8217;s decision to host Baconi comes as the Ivy League institution faces criticism over its response to campus anti-Semitism. The university <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/campus\/harvards-federal-funds-on-chopping-block-for-obstructing-congressional-anti-semitism-probe-house-chair-says\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">risks<\/a> losing more than half a billion dollars in federal funding as it obstructs a congressional investigation into widespread anti-Semitism, according to the top lawmaker handling the probe.<\/p>\n<p>Baconi&#8217;s Apr. 18 talk is titled &#8220;Gaza as Epicenter: An Alternative Reading&#8221; and is open only to Harvard ID holders. Baconi and Harvard did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n<p>In a Monday <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/01\/opinion\/two-state-solution-israel-palestine.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">op-ed<\/a> in the <em>New York Times<\/em>, Baconi argued that &#8220;the two-state solution is an unjust, impossible fantasy&#8221; that has &#8220;normalized the daily violence meted out against Palestinians by Israel&#8217;s regime of apartheid.&#8221; Instead, he argued for a single state &#8220;from the river to the sea&#8221; but offered no solution that included the existence of Israel.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;All policymakers should heed the lesson of Oct. 7: There will be neither peace nor justice while Palestinians are subjugated behind walls and under Israeli domination,&#8221; Baconi wrote. &#8220;A single state from the river to the sea might appear unrealistic or fantastical or a recipe for further bloodshed. But it is the only state that exists in the real world\u2014not in the fantasies of policymakers.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>At a November <a href=\"https:\/\/historyprogram.commons.gc.cuny.edu\/11-16-teach-in-contexts-and-histories-of-palestinian-resistance\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">teach-in<\/a> on &#8220;Palestinian Resistance&#8221; at the City University of New York, Baconi <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/thestustustudio\/status\/1726762354631647601?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">argued<\/a> that calls to destroy Hamas are calls to genocide and <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/thestustustudio\/status\/1726762362064011337?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">that<\/a> &#8220;Jews, Israeli Jews, [can&#8217;t] feel safe while apartheid persists.&#8221; During the event, he encouraged attendees to support &#8220;the resistance that&#8217;s happening in Palestine.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This is why the resistance that happens here is just as important,&#8221; Baconi said. &#8220;This becomes a front for liberation that&#8217;s just as important as what&#8217;s happening on the ground.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He was joined by Charlotte Kates, a member of the Israeli-designated terror group Samidoun, who has <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/campus\/at-columbia-an-israeli-designated-terror-group-teaches-palestinian-resistance-101-and-lauds-plane-hijackings\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">praised<\/a> Hamas&#8217;s Oct. 7 attack, and Within Our Lifetime founder Nerdeen Kiswani, who has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.adl.org\/resources\/blog\/nerdeen-kiswani-and-within-our-lifetime-united-palestine-what-you-need-know\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">called<\/a> for Israel to be &#8220;wiped off the map.&#8221; Both Kates and Kiswani were featured at a similar <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/campus\/at-columbia-an-israeli-designated-terror-group-teaches-palestinian-resistance-101-and-lauds-plane-hijackings\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">event<\/a> at Columbia University last month.<\/p>\n<p>When <a href=\"https:\/\/www.counterpunch.org\/2024\/02\/16\/toward-decolonization-in-palestine-an-interview-with-tareq-baconi\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">speaking<\/a> to <em>CounterPunch<\/em>\u2014a far-left socialist magazine\u2014in February, Baconi cast doubt on allegations that Hamas raped Israeli women. A March U.N. <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/latest-news\/un-investigators-confirm-evidence-of-hamas-sexual-violence\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">report<\/a> later confirmed evidence of Hamas terrorists committing acts of sexual violence during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel and against hostages whom the terrorist group captured.\t<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;As a scholar of the movement, I would be surprised if Hamas employed rape or sexual violence systematically as a weapon of war,&#8221; Baconi told the magazine.<\/p>\n<p>During a May 2021 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unsettledpod.com\/episodes\/2021\/5\/17\/tareq-baconi-hamas-explained\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">interview<\/a>, Baconi claimed that Hamas has &#8220;very legitimate political grievances.&#8221; According to an online <a href=\"https:\/\/cmes.fas.harvard.edu\/event\/gaza-epicenter-alternative-reading\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bio<\/a>, he is working on a book about decolonization in the 21st century.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Harvard invited Tareq Baconi, who blames Israel for Hamas&#8217;s Oct. 7 attack, described as &#8220;anti-colonial violence&#8221; due to &#8220;oppression,&#8221; to speak on campus. Harvard hosted this event with the Hamas sympathizer from the Institute for Palestine Studies. The talk was scheduled to occur<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2360,"featured_media":2212940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Screen-Shot-2023-11-29-at-5.13.51-PM_736x514.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[544],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2212939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-free-beacon"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Screen-Shot-2023-11-29-at-5.13.51-PM_736x514.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2212939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2360"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2212939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2212939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2212940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2212939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2212939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2212939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}