‘It’s problematic’, Salman Rushdie slams US college students for supporting Hamas, warns, ‘a Palestinian state could be…’
Famend novelist and New York College professor Salman Rushdie has strongly criticised US campus protesters advocating for a free Palestine. In a candid dialogue on the Orte und Worte (“Locations and Phrases”) podcast hosted by German broadcaster Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, Rushdie expressed issues concerning the political leanings of progressive scholar actions.
A video clip of Rushdie’s feedback was shared broadly on social media, together with by the official X account for Israel and Israeli diplomat David Saranga.
Salman Rushdie compares Hamas with Taliban
Rushdie, who has lengthy supported the thought of a Palestinian state, defined his present apprehensions. “I’ve argued for a Palestinian state for many of my life – because the Eighties, in all probability,” he stated. “Proper now, if there was a Palestinian state, it will be run by Hamas, and that may make it a Taliban-like state, and it will be a shopper state of Iran.”
The novelist didn’t maintain again in his evaluation of the campus protests. “The actual fact is that I believe any human being proper now must be distressed by what is going on in Gaza due to the amount of harmless demise,” Rushdie remarked. “I might similar to a few of the protests to say Hamas. As a result of that’s the place this began, and Hamas is a terrorist group. It’s very unusual for younger, progressive scholar politics to sort of help a fascist terrorist group.”
Expressing his dismay on the nature of the protests at US campuses, Rushdie stated, “I really feel that there’s not quite a lot of deep thought taking place. There’s an emotional response to the demise in Gaza, and that’s completely proper. However when it slides over in the direction of antisemitism and typically to precise help of Hamas, then it’s very problematic.”
Rushdie’s remarks have sparked a debate, notably concerning the alignment of scholar protests with broader geopolitical implications. “Cultural elites like Salman Rushdie and Zadie Smith have to defend the Western liberal hegemonic world order even when it features a literal genocide as a result of that is the system that rewards them. They’re a part of the construction of imperialist dominance,” remarked an X person.
“Salman Rushdie has uncovered the good lie of a ‘Free Palestine’ “Hamas is a scourge and {that a} Hamas-ruled Palestine could be a catastrophe, and that Israel shouldn’t must stay subsequent door to such a monstrosity. We must always pay attention.” (However is anybody listening?,” one other person argued.
