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Virginia Tech denies affiliation with event
A former Columbia University professor, who was sanctioned for supporting terrorist groups, spoke to Virginia Tech students Friday, calling for “a total end to U.S. empire.”
“When we say Death to America, we mean, and loud and clear, a total end to U.S. empire,” Mohamed Abdou told the students, according to a video of the event posted to X by investigative analyst Stu Smith.
“The destruction of this crusading settler colony, their entire project,” Abdou said.
The event was held on campus, though Abdou appeared virtually.
Abdou hailed the students as “a branch of the resistance,” but criticized them for failing to move beyond rhetoric to militant action.
“You won’t blow up ports. You won’t engage in Palestine Actions … You won’t halt the weapons industry. You won’t destroy locally where you are at,” he said.
“Death to America … means the death of this evil regime,” he told the students.
Finally, he called for America to “burn with the most volatile kerosene.”
“May it combust and be erased … in the most fiery of flames,” Abdou said.
The former Columbia professor advertised the event on Instagram, in collaboration with community groups VT for Palestine, Black Mindedness, and Palestine Solidarity Working Group.
The virtual talk, titled “Islam & Revolution,” was part of Abdou’s “Death to the Akadem” campus tour.
Ahead of the event, Virginia Tech wrote on X that the talk is not “university sanctioned or sponsored.”
“Similar false claims of events like this have occurred on college campuses elsewhere. Officials are looking into this matter and will continue to monitor,” the university wrote.
Columbia University barred Abdou after former President Minouche Shafik testified before Congress that his file would permanently state he cannot be re-hired due to his support for Hamas, according to Fox News.
The former professor “is a self-identifying Muslim anarchist and diasporic settler of color,” according to his website.
Students at Columbia University’s Union Theological Seminary have petitioned for the rehiring of professor Abdou, who posted “I’m with Hamas & Hezbollah & Islamic Jihad” on social media shortly after the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, The College Fix previously reported.
His talk at Virginia Tech was not the first stop on Abdou’s tour.
In March, the Islamic studies scholar told students at Union Theological Seminary to “be a threat,” and praised the assassination of two “Zionists” during an online event, The Fix reported.
Students argued the professor’s statement was merely an expression of “support of the movement to liberate Palestine.”
Abdou taught the graduate-level course on decolonialism and queerness.
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