Georgetown Hosts “Rethinking Zionism after Gaza” Event With Prof Who Justified Oct. 7
Georgetown is set to host a talk with Barnett Rubin, who justified Hamas' October 7 attack as not "unprovoked" — highlighting the university's pattern of platforming speakers with radical views
On September 25, Georgetown University will host Dr. Barnett Rubin for a talk titled “Rethinking Zionism after Gaza” at its Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. The event comes amid growing scrutiny of Georgetown’s pattern of hosting pro-terror speakers and employing graduate students with alleged terror ties.
Rubin himself posted on X during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 massacre against Israel, appearing to justify the attack by stating: “That anyone can call Hamas’s attack on Israel ‘unprovoked’ is mind-boggling.”
The event description further underscores the extreme nature of discourse being promoted, claiming that since the October 7 attacks, Israel has transformed from a “secular settler-colonial state with some liberal characteristics into an apartheid system led by messianic extremists.”
Georgetown’s History of Hosting Terror-Tied Speakers and Students
Just months ago, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA) exposed Georgetown fellow Badar Khan Suri’s family ties to Hamas leadership. Suri, whose father-in-law, Ahmed Yousef, was an adviser to Hamas’s former political leader Ismail Haniyeh, was found to have promoted Hamas propaganda on social media while employed at Georgetown’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies. His wife, Mapheze Saleh, also worked for Hamas.
The Middle East Forum revealed that Suri had denied key aspects of the October 7 attacks and shared content defending Hamas operations. Rather than distance itself from Suri, Georgetown defended him as a victim of “McCarthyism,” with the Alwaleed Center for Muslim and Christian Understanding issuing a statement condemning his eventual arrest by immigration authorities.
Earlier in 2024, on March 7, Georgetown University’s Qatar campus hosted “On Palestine,” a symposium with Mehdi Hasan serving as moderator alongside participants with documented connections to terrorist organizations including Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Hamas.
The most notable participant was Wadah Khanfar, President of Al Sharq Forum and former Al Jazeera director general. According to Palestinian media outlet Raya, Khanfar was “one of the most prominent leaders in the Hamas Office in Sudan” and “held the position of head of Hamas’s Political Office for South and North Africa.” Khanfar’s terror connections extend beyond his Hamas leadership role—he delivered a eulogy for prominent Muslim Brotherhood leader Yusuf al-Qaradawi after his death in 2022, with Hamas members reportedly present at the funeral service.
At an Al Jazeera Forum in May 2024, Khanfar praised the October 7 attacks, stating that “Al-Aqsa Flood”—Hamas’s preferred term for the operation—”came at the perfect moment for a radical and real shift in the path of struggle and liberation” and predicted it would be “recorded as the beginning of the end, leading the Palestinian cause to something different.”
The symposium also included Shawan Jabarin, who was convicted in 1985 for recruiting members for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and serves as General Director of Al-Haq, which Israel has designated as a terrorist front organization for PFLP
Georgetown as a Radicalization Hub
According to Liel Leibovitz, writing in City Journal, Georgetown has developed a reputation as “a haven for radical academic figures.” The university’s Qatar campus, established in 2005 with funding from the Qatar Foundation—a state-controlled entity—has received over $1 billion from Qatar since 2005, according to reports from the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP). This funding relationship has prompted congressional hearings examining Qatar’s influence at the institution.
Qatar, which harbors senior Hamas leaders who plotted the October 7 attacks according to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, is the top foreign funder of American universities with at least $4.7 billion in donations, according to a National Association of Scholars analysis.
Implications for American Foreign Policy
Georgetown’s choice to host an individual who seemingly justified Hamas’ October 7 attacks raises serious concerns about the university’s role in training America’s future diplomats and foreign policy officials. Their past track record of platforming terror-connected speakers further compounds these concerns about Georgetown’s prestigious School of Foreign Service.
The School of Foreign Service trains students who frequently enter the State Department, CIA, and other government positions where their perspectives influence American foreign policy. An institution training America’s foreign policy establishment also hosting individuals who promote narratives favorable to a terrorist group that has murdered American citizens represents a notable threat to the integrity of diplomatic education.