On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) called for the firing of two professors in California who praised the October 7 attacks and stated that “a lot of these university presidents have done a terrible job addressing this. They’re afraid of their own shadow. They’re afraid to actually speak out about what took place on October 7.”
Host Bill Maher read from UC-Irvine Lecturer Osman Umarji, who said, “The Zionists have been exposed for the criminals and bloodthirsty animals [that] they are. This is a gift from Allah to the world.” “He sends reminders to us…whether it was 9/11 or the Second Intifada [or some other issue that is waking the Muslims’ spirit.]” And from UC-Merced Associate Professor of History and Critical Race and Ethnic Studies Sean Malloy, who retweeted a post that stated that Hamas terrorists were “bravely paragliding over the fence to capture Israeli soldiers.”
Maher then asked, “What would your comment be to these California professors?”
Schiff responded, “Find a different profession.”
He added, “I’m just so appalled that students don’t feel safe at school, they don’t feel welcome, they’re taking time out of college because they don’t feel that they’re welcome on campus. And I think a lot of these university presidents have done a terrible job addressing this. They’re afraid of their own shadow. They’re afraid to actually speak out about what took place on October 7. I think Israel has a right to defend itself. I think it has a duty to defend itself. I can also care about the loss of Palestinian lives, it’s not incompatible. But these days, it seems like, for a lot of people, your heart can’t be big enough to grieve the loss of Israeli lives and also grieve the loss of Palestinian lives.”
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