Georgetown U. Professor Compares Israel to ISIS [on Abdullah Al-Arian]

As outlined in great detail by the Washington Free Beacon, a Georgetown University professor whose father pled guilty to terrorism charges has come under heavy criticism for comparing Israel to the terrorristgroup Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL or ISIS) on Twitter. Georgetown University History Professor Abdullah Al-Arian, who is the son of Sami Al-Arian, a controversial critic of Israel, tweeted his mocking version of a common nursery rhyme that lumped Israel into the same murderous category as ISIS, which just released a video showing its apparent beheading of an American journalist.

The junior Al-Arian’s exact Tweet was, “Israel and ISIS sitting in a tree, K-I-L-L-I-N-G, First come the bombs, then come the savages, then come the U.N. to survey the damages.”

Al-Arian quickly deleted the tweet, but it had already been publicized. Critics immediately expressed outrage at the statement’s patent falsehood. A frequent contributor to the Al Jazeera network, Al-Arian teaches history at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service in Qatar, a country that provides the bulk of financing to Hamas.

CEO of the Israel Project Josh Block responded to the hateful message by commenting, “It is shocking and disgusting to see a Georgetown University professor or faculty member making comparisons between ISIS and Israel—let alone that Georgetown would pay someone like that to teach young people about the Middle East. When you realize that the person is the son of master terrorist Sami Al-Arian, it is both even more troubling to see Georgetown affiliated and less surprising that he would hold such views.”

The younger Al-Arian recently stated regarding Hamas’ reign of missiles on Israel, “There were low expectations in terms of its performance against the recent round of Israeli incursions. It’s been exceeding all expectations.” Al-Arian also implied that Israel forced Hamas into the recent conflict by acting to sabotage the terrorist group’s political alliance with the more “moderate” Palestinian Authority that governs the West Bank. “If we really take a very close look at the chronology of events that have led to this latest Israeli offensive against Gaza, we would find that actually Hamas has not chosen the option of a military or violent confrontation with Israel,” Al-Arian stated in July.

“It was Israel and to a certain extent even the United States that undermined that unity government,” Al-Arian continued. “And it was only after Israel broke the ceasefire, and of course we know all about the reports of the different killings and bombings, that Hamas then chose the second option or was confronted essentially with an attempt by Israel to destroy it and Gaza to destroy its presence there.”

“Hamas is not in any condition or situation whatsoever to actually be able to carry out these threats against Israel’s existence,” he added. “In fact the opposite is quite true. And I think the real emphasis here has to be on the humanitarian crisis against the people of Gaza.”

Al-Arian says he is an expert on the Muslim Brotherhood, a topic he has written about. In an article for a Duke University publication, he calls on Palestinians to revolt against “Israeli occupation,” comparing the situation to Jewish uprisings against the Nazis in the Warsaw Ghetto. “In a battlefield that is all but even, the Intifada is the ‘uprising’ against one of the most brutal occupations in history,” Al-Arian wrote.

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