Goodbye Khalidi – don’t let the door hit you on the way out
Rashid Khalidi is quitting Columbia:
These decisions, taken in close collaboration with the Trump administration, have made it impossible for me to teach modern Middle East history, the field of my scholarship and teaching for more than 50 years, 23 of them at Columbia. Although I have retired, I was scheduled to teach a large lecture course on this topic in the fall as a “special lecturer”, but I cannot do so under the conditions Columbia has accepted by capitulating to the Trump administration in June. …
You have stated that no “red lines” have been crossed by these decisions. However, Columbia has appointed a vice-provost initially tasked with surveilling Middle Eastern studies, and it has ordained that faculty and staff must submit to “trainings” on antisemitism from the likes of the Anti-Defamation League, for whom virtually any critique of Zionism or Israel is antisemitic, and Project Shema, whose trainings link many anti-Zionist critiques to antisemitism. It has accepted an “independent” monitor of “compliance” of faculty and student behavior from a firm that in June 2025 hosted an event in honor of Israel.
Utter BS – these groups do not say any criticism of Israel is anti-Semitism. Many Jews who are not the least bit anti-Semitic criticize Israel constantly, for example. But using a double standard to judge Israel is indeed anti-Semitic. Spreading lies about the history of the region in order to demonize Israel is indeed anti-Semitic.
It’s no accident that Columbia – which has, through professors such as Khalidi, been spreading such lies about Israel for decades – is now a hotbed of anti-Semitism. And of course Khalidi uses this “any criticism of Israel is falsely called anti-Semitism” accusation to defend himself. That doesn’t make it true.
I have little doubt he’ll either get a cushy position elsewhere if he wishes to un-retire, or will go on the lucrative lecture circuit to further spread his message.
And to this day fhe LA Times has not released the Obama-Khalidi party tape(s). Nor Columbia, Obama’s school transcripts. Untrustworthy murk all the way down.
The man is 76. He should have been shuffled out the door ten years ago. While we’re at it, what did he ever produce that made him suitable for a highly competitive research university and, in fact, a succession of them? (See the meagre output of Nadia Abu el-Haj when she was granted tenure at Columbia.)
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Please note, he was born in New York because his father was an elderly graduate student at Columbia and then a UN employee. If we had a sane immigration law regime, he’d have had temporary resident status at birth and been sent back home at age 21 unless his father had put in an application for permanent residency status before he’d been born.
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The higher ed apparat are our Bourbons.
Martin Kramer on Joseph Massad:
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https://martinkramer.org/tag/joseph-massad/
Khalidi says he is retired. He was going to teach only one course, so all he’s giving up is the opportunity to present twisted history to one group of students.
Kate, I doubt he will be giving up any opportunities to spew has lies and hatred. Sad to say there will be organizations and groups that will host him as a hero. Throw shoes at him
He likely believes his own lies, so there is no need for him to fake sincerity.
His success is a symptom of the problem that the knowable truths about the last 150 years of Zionist, Ottoman, British &French, Israeli & Arab Muslim actions in he Middle East are not taught well, and untruths are too often taught as truths.
Like the recent NYT starvation picture of a Gaza boy—fake starvation, but tragic genetic disease.
There are many unknown (to the Jew haters) knowns (recorded as facts), tho often those facts get disputed years later.
Khalidi leaving is good news, but there are many others who want to hear rationalizes justifications for the envious Jew hate they have.
it seems the more credentials they acquire, the less likely they are to speak the truth, the Uncle Hussein Khalidi was part of Amin Husaynis coffee clatch, who advanced in Jordanian politics, his father in Academia, you would think this would entail a certain level of integrity, but we have seen how that is quite the opposite,
David Pryce Jones, Broken Circle, illustrates the wider phenomenon, in the Middle East as with North Africa, the next generation comes with Tariq Ramadan, the grandson of Hassan Al Banna the Brotherhood founder,
this personal behaviors seem to have stunted his advance, but who can say for long,
At what point will we traditional Americans recognize that our generous extension of hospitality to moslem arabs will never be reciprocated with anything other than hatred, contempt and when given the opportunity, violence? Are we there yet? If not, why not? We have been in a state of war with these people since… pretty much the last fourteen hundred years. Whether turks or saudis and everyone in between, they have invaded, enslaved and preyed upon the citizens of The West. Their “holy book” tells them to kill the infidel, viz., anyone not a moslem and their “prophet”, if he even existed (see the excellent work done by Professor Jay Smith at his enlightening You Tube platform), preached with the sword. We should never have allowed this scurillous bunch of sandfleas into our country and should now remedy our earlier stupidity by removing them. Islam is not a religion; it is a totalitarian political philosophy gussied up in religious trappings to fool the kuffars into allowing them in until they reach a critical mass and overwhelm their hosts. Prove me wrong, if you can. Examples will be required.
Steve, examples will be hard to come by, although I understand the Golden Rule is contained in the Quran, except it only applies to helping fellow Muslims, not the kuffirs, unless as a psy op or other deception. I suppose a lot of modern day Muslims go through the motions of religious practice, but no longer believe in its tenants or promises – especially so in Iran?
Some years ago I found the expression by Bruce Thornton describing Islam or Muslims as “chauvinistic supremacists” be be particularly apt. I gather something similar can be aimed at the Han Chinese, as well.
Most of us are chauvinists, but not supremacist about it.
I keep thinking of Jefferson’s adage that no one is born with spurs with the justification to put saddles on everyone else and ride them thereby.
I gather something similar can be aimed at the Han Chinese, as well.
R2L:
I worked with a Chinese guy in the 70s. He was a hard worker and quite competent. We got along.
He told me, smiling, “The future is yellow.”