Cornell Professor's Op-Ed Features Bloodied Star of David and Nazi 'SS' Symbol

Cornell University's student newspaper, The Daily Sun, ignited widespread controversy when it published an op-ed by professor Karim-Aly Kassam accompanied by his original artwork depicting a bloodied Star of David and a Nazi "SS" lightning bolt symbol scrawled on the back of a Palestinian figure.

The piece, titled "Thousand & One Eyes for an Eye," was released days after the second anniversary of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel. It accused Israel's Gaza operations of prioritizing "revenge" over strategy, drawing parallels to Nazi dehumanizing rhetoric toward Jews, such as calling them "animals" to justify genocide, though the article primarily quoted Israeli officials targeting Hamas as "bloodthirsty animals."

The artwork quickly drew accusations of antisemitism and Holocaust inversion from Jewish students, alumni, and advocacy groups like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). Critics, including Cornell Hillel executive director Eytan Cassar and ADL regional director Jeremy Burton, condemned it as equating Jews with Nazis, noting the SS symbol, tied to Hitler's Schutzstaffel and the Holocaust, was embedded directly within the bloodied Jewish star, without any explicit reference to Israel.

"This graphic is specifically inside a bloody Jewish star... It clearly is pursuing the idea that Jews are the new Nazis," Burton told Fox News Digital.

Anonymous Instagram account "Cornellians Only" amplified the outrage, posting Kassam's photo next to the headline "Sun Publishes Professor’s Nazi Symbols," sparking viral condemnation on social media.

By October 19, following internal discussions, The Daily Sun removed the artwork and republished the op-ed without it, stating the imagery "may plausibly cause visceral harm to some of our readers based on the historical context of the ‘SS’ symbol."

Editor-in-chief Julia Senzon confirmed Kassam had supplied the drawing, emphasizing it did not meet publication standards.

Kassam, an associate professor in Cornell's Department of Natural Resources and the Environment and the American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program, issued a statement to the New York Post on October 23, expressing regret: "I am deeply saddened to learn that this portion of the artwork has been interpreted by some as antisemitic." He clarified his intent was to highlight violence against Palestinians, not to endorse or equate with Nazism.

Kassam, an opinion columnist for The Sun whose work focuses on environmental justice and indigenous issues, has not faced formal university discipline as of October 26.On October 24, Sun associate editor Eric Han published a personal defense of Kassam, arguing the artwork showed a Palestinian "violently branded" with the SS symbol to underscore dehumanization, not praise Nazis. Han contended Kassam's analogies highlighted similarities in rhetoric (e.g., "animals") without equating Israel to Nazi Germany, and framed criticism as threats to academic freedom.

This drew further rebuttals, including a October 21 Sun guest column by an unnamed critic accusing Han and Kassam of unsubstantiated claims about Israeli language and inverting the Holocaust to vilify Jews.

The incident unfolds amid heightened campus tensions over antisemitism, following Cornell's 2023 threats by a student to "gas" Jewish peers and ongoing lawsuits against the university.

Cornell has not issued an official response.