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Fadi Kafeety, the program manager of UC Berkeley’s Palestinian and Arab Studies Program, liked an Instagram post glorifying Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre, praising Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif as the “masterminds” of a historic Palestinian victory, Jewish Onliner has discovered. The caption accompanying the Instagram post explicitly celebrated the Hamas-led attack:
Screenshots reviewed by Jewish Onliner show Kafeety’s Instagram account, @fadikafeety, among those who liked the post, published to commemorate the third anniversary of the Hamas-led attack that killed approximately 1,200 people and saw 251 others taken hostage.
His Instagram account separately shared a photograph of Palestinians standing atop an Israeli tank during the October 7 attack, accompanied by Arabic text which appeared to celebrate the “Palestinian resistance”.
Instagram Post Glorifying Hamas and October 7
The post, published collaboratively by Palaver Collective, Commie Central and Vox Ummah Media, explicitly celebrated the October 7 massacre as a Palestinian achievement.
Its caption called October 7 a “day of resistance” and a “day of Glory for Palestine.”
The opening slide identified Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif as the “masterminds” behind what it characterized as the greatest strategic reclamation of Palestinian land in more than a century. It credited the two men and other senior Hamas officials with planning a coordinated ground and aerial attack.
Another slide appeared to celebrate the attackers’ temporary seizure of more than 20 Israeli communities and 11 military sites, portraying the operation as a successful Palestinian uprising rather than acknowledging the killing, kidnapping and abuse of civilians.
The carousel further praised Iran, Hezbollah and the Houthis, suggesting that their subsequent attacks against Israel represented one of the greatest achievements of Hamas’s October 7th attack.
The final slide presented a lengthy text as Yahya Sinwar’s “last will,” describing the attack as a collective Palestinian achievement. The purported testament depicted participation in the operation as a duty, celebrated “martyrdom” and framed the massacre as a new chapter in Palestinian liberation.
Kafeety’s Public Instagram Account
Kafeety’s Instagram biography explicitly identifies the profile as the “Public account of Fadi Kafeety” and lists his position as “Program Manager @PalStudiesUCB,” directly linking the account that liked the post to his official role at UC Berkeley. His biography also identifies him as a PhD researcher at the University of Houston.
Separately, Kafeety’s Instagram story displayed an October 7 photograph of Palestinians celebrating atop an Israeli tank near the Gaza border.
The accompanying Arabic statement translated to “History will tell how the Palestinian Resistance, despite its isolation, siege and betrayal, was able to destroy and dismantle the occupier’s dominance and prevent it.”
UC Berkeley’s Palestinian and Arab Studies Program
According to UC Berkeley’s official biography, Kafeety joined the university’s Palestinian and Arab Studies (PAS) Program as its inaugural program manager in summer 2025.
Kafeety’s official role is administrative, rather than faculty director. Established in September 2024, the program was created through a $3.25 million philanthropic gift.
These findings emerge immediately before the program’s first annual graduate student conference, The Question of Palestine Now, scheduled for October 9–10 at UC Berkeley which Kafeety personally promoted the conference on LinkedIn.
The conference’s keynote speaker is Professor Abdel Razzaq Takriti, whom the University of Houston identifies as one of Kafeety’s doctoral advisers. His keynote is titled “Did the Humanities Die in Gaza?”
Earlier Statements Regarding October 7
Kafeety’s Instagram activity follows earlier public remarks concerning Hamas and the October 7 attacks. In an October 7, 2024 interview with University of Houston historian Bob Buzzanco on the Green and Red Podcast, Kafeety characterized the Hamas-led assault as a form of prison break and appeared to defend the operation as an act of “Palestinian resistance.”
Discussing the Israeli villages and communities attacked that day, Kafeety described them as military installations rather than ordinary civilian communities.
“These settlements are military sites, they’re military bases, military occupation zones,” he stated, according to the interview transcript.
Kafeety also argued that Israel bore responsibility for placing civilians in these communities, specifically referring to women, children and elderly residents. He maintained that Israel endangered them by locating them inside what he characterized as military outposts.
The Bigger Picture
Hamas is a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization. Its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel killed approximately 1,200 people and resulted in 251 people being taken hostage, marking the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust. The Instagram post liked by Kafeety explicitly praised Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif as the “masterminds” behind the attack.
Kafeety serves as program manager of UC Berkeley’s Palestinian and Arab Studies Program. His interaction with the post raises questions about the university’s standards governing employees’ public social media activity, particularly when that activity involves material celebrating the leaders of a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.
The tank, overwhelmed by barbarians, à la planet of the apes.