Prominent progressive activist and independent presidential candidate Cornel West is facing backlash after declaring his solidarity with “anybody who’s occupied” — claiming that his “people,” too, have “dished out love warriors and freedom fighters,” as he attacked the “American empire” and “cowards in Washington, DC,” for their unwillingness to capitulate to Hamas’s demand for a ceasefire.
Speaking at a pro-Palestinian rally in front of the UN headquarters in New York on Saturday, Ivy League professor Dr. Cornel West described being from a “people who, for 400 years, have been terrorized, traumatized, and hated.”
Because, he argued, he comes from a people that “dish out love warriors and freedom fighters every generation…we stand in solidarity with anybody who’s occupied, anybody who’s subjugated, anybody who’s exploited.”
Confronting and fighting genocide is a litmus test for any morality in this moment of barbarity!! #CeasefireForNOW pic.twitter.com/fsQAadBJ33
— Cornel West (@CornelWest) November 13, 2023
Footage of the diatribe has spread over social media, with one clip reaching more than 1.5 million views within 48 hours.
According to West — who is running as a 2024 presidential candidate, not on the Democrat ticket but as an Independent — the reason for his current focus on Gaza at the moment is because a “genocidal attack is taking place,” noting the “10,000 dead and 4,000 precious children.”
He also told crowd members that no one should convince them that “because you love Palestinians and Palestinian babies, that you hate somebody else,” claiming it “just doesn’t follow.”
“We don’t hate Jewish brothers. We don’t hate Jewish sisters. We don’t hate Jewish siblings,” he said. However, “We loathe, we hate, a vicious Israeli occupation. We loathe, and we hate a vicious siege against Gaza.”
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Joel B. Pollak / Breitbart News
Calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza conflict without demanding the return of hundreds of Israeli hostages of all ages, West attacked the “cowards in Washington, DC,” who are only discussing a “humanitarian pause.”
“Please get off the crack pipe,” he exclaimed. “Wake up, see the humanity of precious Palestinian brothers and sisters.”
He also accused the “American empire” of having “the nerve in this [U.N.] building to veto a humanitarian pause when our precious Palestinian brothers and sisters are being bombed.”
“What kind of country are we? What kind of people are we?” he asked.
In a message to Palestinian “brothers and sisters and siblings in Gaza,” West stated that “you are not forgotten.”
“We see you. We focus on you. We give attention to you,” he said.
He immediately assured the crowd that such focus “doesn’t mean that we’re not concerned with our indigenous brothers and sisters here.”
“It doesn’t mean we’re not concerned with black folk and brown folk,” he said. “It doesn’t mean we’re unconcerned with workers…”
West’s remarks were met with fierce backlash online.
“Pitiful. Former @Princeton professor @CornelWest calls Hamas terrorists ‘love warriors,’” wrote Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). “Has not a word to say for the 1200 Jews murdered, the women & little girls raped, or the infants burned alive in ovens.”
“This antisemitic cultural Marxism is sick, twisted & perverse,” he added.
Pitiful. Former @Princeton professor @CornelWest calls Hamas terrorists “love warriors.”
Has not a word to say for the 1200 Jews murdered, the women & little girls raped, or the infants burned alive in ovens.
This antisemitic cultural Marxism is sick, twisted & perverse. https://t.co/hFaf43iOKN
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) November 14, 2023
“Oh, nothing to see. Just @CornelWest preaching for Hamas,” wrote Tel Aviv-based international human rights lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky.
Oh, nothing to see. Just @CornelWest preaching for Hamas. pic.twitter.com/PM7kduR4qy
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) November 13, 2023
“Cornel West is not smart because he uses big words. It’s just annoying. Cornel West is not smart because liberal elites have propped him up for decades. They just did that to signal to their friend circle how woke they are,” wrote bestselling author John LeFevre. “And the only way I’d know him to be ‘well read’ is not through his insight, but simply because he never shuts up about it.”
He added in another post:
And this why @CornelWest needs to be on every ballot in 50 states… cleaning up the votes from the Hamas caucus, Greta and blm frauds, pseudo intellectual fanatics, and leftists who are deep down so racist that they need to vote for him to medal in their woke Olympics.
And this why @CornelWest needs to be on every ballot in 50 states… cleaning up the votes from the Hamas caucus, Greta and blm frauds, pseudo intellectual fanatics, and leftists who are deep down so racist that they need to vote for him to medal in their woke Olympics. https://t.co/ooqg980HTL
— John LeFevre (@JohnLeFevre) November 13, 2023
“35 days ago, Hamas butchered, beheaded, blew up, terrorized, raped, shot, slaughtered, burned to death, stabbed, killed & kidnapped 1,400 Israeli men, women, & children, and @CornelWest just called them ‘love warriors & freedom fighters.’ I’d say that’s a wow,” former congressman and radio talker Joe Walsh weighed in.
Yes. It IS a “WOW.” 35 days ago, Hamas butchered, beheaded, blew up, terrorized, raped, shot, slaughtered, burned to death, stabbed, killed & kidnapped 1,400 Israeli men, women, & children, and @CornelWest just called them “love warriors & freedom fighters.” I’d say that’s a wow. https://t.co/f1Y6xYZlHq
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) November 13, 2023
“‘Love warriors and freedom fighters’ who rape women and torture children,” wrote Israeli policy expert Aviva Klompas.
“Love warriors and freedom fighters” who rape women and torture children. https://t.co/y0bfzIDb12
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) November 12, 2023
“‘Love warriors and freedom fighters,’” wrote writer and filmmaker Andy Ostroy. “That’s how @CornelWest describes barbaric terrorist group Hamas which beat, tortured, shot, raped. killed, burned alive and/or beheaded 1400 Israelis and then kidnapped 240, including Americans.”
“Shame on him…” he added.
“Love warriors and freedom fighters”
That’s how @CornelWest describes barbaric terrorist group Hamas which beat, tortured, shot, raped. killed, burned alive and/or beheaded 1400 Israelis and then kidnapped 240, including Americans. Shame on him… pic.twitter.com/ENcvv1tlJG
— Andy Ostroy (@AndyOstroy) November 13, 2023
West, who resigned from Harvard in 2021, held a dual appointment in the Harvard University Divinity School and Department of African and African-American Studies.
Despite his remarks about Israeli “occupation,” Gaza has not been “occupied” by Israel since 2005 when Israel withdrew all of its soldiers and civilians in a “disengagement” that aimed to reduce violence in the region.
In response, Hamas launched thousands of rockets at Israel and started several wars.
Pollak: What You Need to Know About Origins of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Joel B. Pollak / Breitbart News
The former Harvard Divinity School philosophy professor has a long history of controversial and divisive rhetoric.
In October, he seemed to justify Hamas’s monstrous massacre, which saw the deaths and kidnappings of hundreds of men, women, and children, calling it a form of resistance to “oppression.”
He also likened America and Israel to the terror group while claiming they both have “blood on their hands.”
In 2021, West declared that American police “have been out of control since the slave patrol.”
Previously, he expressed his belief that then-President Donald Trump was becoming the “American version of a Hitler and a Mussolini” after Trump told members of the “Squad” to go back to their countries of origin even though three of them were born in the United States.
West also called Trump a “fascist Frankenstein,” stating that this is a “very historic and pivotal moment in the history of this nation” because “this democratic experiment” could “come to an end.”
Joshua Klein is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jklein@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.
