Yahya Sinwar's Career in American Academia

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Tip of the hat to Giulio Meotti for his tongue-in-cheek take on Columbia University ("not just a campus anymore, it has turned into a caliphate") and his editor's choice title ("Yahya Sinwar Is Ready to Enroll at Columbia") with one proviso – Meotti underestimates the problem at Columbia. Sinwar is far more likely to be recruited as a professor than a student at Columbia.

Columbia would not be the first American university to welcome an enemy of America. In 2005, Yale University enrolled Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi, a Taliban "diplomat" in the U.S. on 9/11 attempting to enlist support for Mullah Omar's organization to be recognized as the official government of Afghanistan. Hashemi's formal education ended at the 4th grade.

Meotti is right that Sinwar could make the dean's list at Columbia, but he already has a bachelor's degree from Gaza University. Plus, during his years as a convict in Israel's Hadarim Prison, Sinwar earned enough credits at the Open University (for which he paid using his Palestinian Authority pay-to-slay stipend) to qualify for a Master's degree. So why would he be content with the life of an undergraduate when he has the credentials and gravitas for a much more authoritative position at Ramallah on the Hudson?

With a protest queen like Johanna King-Slutsky teaching Western Civilization and a rabid, bloodlust maniac like Joseph Massad teaching Middle East studies, Sinwar should settle for nothing short of full professor.

He might also consider Princeton University's Department of Near Eastern Studies. It employs Iranian regime stooge Hossein Mousavian who could probably pull some strings for him in the longstanding tradition of Iranian support for Palestinian "resistance." Who better than Sinwar to teach Princeton's class on the Arab-Israeli Conflict or on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Culture and Ethics?

For that matter, why would Sinwar settle for a mere professorship when he has the credentials to be an endowed professor or even a chair? After all, Columbia not only employs former PLO spokesman Rashid Khalidi, but it also made him the endowed Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies. When Professor PLO retires, who better to takeover for him than Professor Hamas?

Brown University – the Providence Front for the Liberation of Palestine – made Beshara Doumani the first ever endowed Professor in Palestinian studies at an American University. Surely Sinwar is more qualified than Doumani, a mere fanboy of Palestinian violence.

And why should Sinwar settle for an endowed chair when he could run a program or a center? NYU – the Gaza of Greenwich Village – could surely find a spot for him. For decades, the Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies has been inculcating hatred for Israel and promoting "Palestine." Sinwar could lead it to even greater heights of anti-Israel activism.

Sinwar is also more qualified than Nader Hashemi to run Georgetown's Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. Before he got the Georgetown gig, Hashemi was the Director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder. After Salman Rushdie was stabbed by an Iranian regime loyalist seeking to fulfill Ruhollah Khomeini's death fatwa, Hashemi opined that Mossad was likely behind the attack. Georgetown saw this as leadership potential. The brain trust at its Walsh School of Foreign Service should think of the headlines Sinwar could bring to its esteemed bin Talal center.

Better still, Sinwar could occupy a deanship at any number of top-tier schools, especially Columbia University. Josef Sorett, dean of Columbia College, Susan Chang-Kim, vice dean and chief administrative officer of Columbia College, Cristen Kromm, dean of undergraduate student life, and Matthew Patashnick, associate dean for student and family support, were recently caught texting antisemitic comments during a meeting convened to address Columbia's rampant antisemitism problem. Sinwar needs no additional training to follow through on this bold Columbia tradition.

Ultimately, Sinwar can aim even higher. Why not seek the presidency of an American university? Columbia, Harvard, and the University of Pennsylvania are all limping through the 2024-2025 academic year with interim presidents. Given their records of anti-Israel activism, their reputations would only be enhanced by putting Yahya Sinwar in charge.

Chief IPT Political Correspondent A.J. Caschetta is a principal lecturer at the Rochester Institute of Technology and a fellow at Campus Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum where he is also a Milstein fellow.