On Friday, The Sun published an op-ed by Professor Karim-Aly Kassam with his own artwork that included a bloodied Star of David and “SS” symbol on the back of a Palestinian subject. Following an internal Sun discussion, the op-ed, which discusses a pattern of Israeli officials describing Palestinians as “animals,” was retracted later that night and republished on Saturday with a different graphic. An editorial note was added on Sunday to clarify the temporary retraction.
An Instagram account called “Cornellians Only,” an anonymous social media publication, reported the incident later on Sunday, posting an image of Prof. Kassam’s face next to the bolded words, “Sun Publishes Professor’s Nazi Symbols.”
I write only on behalf of myself, one among five managing-level editors at The Sun, and not the organization in general. I write with concern for the wellbeing of Prof. Kassam, an adamant anti-Nazi columnist under my oversight as associate editor of the publication, and our campus community at large.
It is clear from both Kassam’s explanation to me, as well as Cornellians Only’s own interpretation of the art, that the "SS" symbol in this artwork carries a presumably negative connotation. Kassam’s op-ed advocates for the humanity of Palestinians, and the art clearly depicts that the Palestinian subject has been violently (i.e. bloodily) branded with the SS symbol. We should make it abundantly clear that Kassam is not a Nazi and is deeply abhorred by Nazi ideology — this artwork would contradict his own advocacy if it were truly praising Nazism.
The Sun retracted the graphic on the grounds that it may at least cause a visceral harm to some readers. But this is not the concern raised by community members. According to Cornellians Only, “The painting’s combination of a core symbol of Judaism with the insignia of its perpetrators is a clear-cut example of Holocaust inversion, an antisemitic trope that seeks to equate Jews and the state of Israel with the Nazis.”
To “equate” might mean to “make equivalent” or to imply similarity. If Holocaust inversion supposes that first meaning of the word, then Kassam makes no claim that Israel is wholesale equivalent to the Nazi regime. That Israel uses dehumanizing language “not unlike” that of the Nazis, or that one particular party in Israel is “closely akin” to the Nazi Party, does not imply that the state of Israel is equal to Nazi Germany. And, if it is indeed the case, as Kassam alleges, that some Israeli government officials refer to Palestinians as “animals,” I would find it very difficult to dispute the claim that the Israeli government is similar to the Nazi regime in this particular way. This is Kassam’s written argument, and I think it reflects his painting. This analysis further indicates the absurdity of disparaging Kassam for “equating” in the second sense of the word, to imply mere similarity — if we cannot say that a government which calls one ethnic group “animals” is similar to Nazi Germany in this way, then we are forever bound to intellectual dishonesty with regard to genocide. If the antisemitic interpretation is sound, it is still not definitive, and it is hugely assumptive to say that this was Kassam’s intention.
The controversy ultimately clouds judgment over the issue Kassam raises — clear evidence of dehumanizing language used to justify violence against the whole Palestinian population. A genocide occurs in front of our eyes, albeit stymied to some extent by the Gaza Peace Plan, and we have shifted the conversation to a more ambiguous problem of whether it is permissible to identify hateful imagery with hateful actions. Kassam recognizes a seriously credible issue in the actually stated identity of one ethnic group with animals. His critics instead believe the more pressing issue to be his mere analogy of one government’s genocide with another government’s genocide.
The incident also raises questions about threats levied against academic freedom on campus. Kassam is one of several pro-Palestine professors who have been disparaged for reasons related to his speech on Palestine but without engaging the actual argument. This semester, Professor Eric Cheyfitz retired in the face of a potential suspension for allegedly discriminating against an Israeli student in his class on “Gaza, Indigeneity, Resistance.” In a problematic violation of double jeopardy, Provost Kavita Bala’s reopening of his case came despite the Faculty Senate’s final and unanimous declaration of his innocence. The majority of students who took the class came to Cheyfitz’s defense, claiming that some of them had raised fears of being recorded or intimidated by the plaintiff.
In August, at least a plurality of American voters believed that Israel was committing a genocide in Gaza. It may be apparent to genocide apologists that there is no good way to dispute the facts — as Kassam demonstrates, Israeli government officials justified “collective punishment” of the Palestinian people on the grounds of at least some Palestinians’ “animal” nature. So, rather than engage with the actual substance of Kassam’s or Cheyfitz’s argumentation, critics might prefer to redirect the issue.
That the issue of Israel’s genocide in our campus discourse has become subject to more of a procedural discussion, not one that actually has to do with the people who are losing their lives and limbs in Palestine, is deeply frightening to me as one member of The Sun and a human being in general. Cornellians Only’s uncharitable and inflammatory representation of the op-ed and its associated graphic only complicates writers’ advocacy against the genocide and recent antisemitism (which may have proliferated from the undue association of the whole Jewish people with Israel’s genocide, an association that Zionists insist to preserve).
I deeply apologize to any of those who were affected by the publishing of the "SS" symbol. I understand that the imagery may have reminded readers of a truly traumatic history, and it should not have been published. To those community members: your humanity is intrinsic, and I will always defend it. Let us recognize the same humanity in all peoples of the world.
The Cornell Daily Sun is interested in publishing a broad and diverse set of content from the Cornell and greater Ithaca community. We want to hear what you have to say about this topic or any of our pieces. Here are some guidelines on how to submit. And here’s our email: associate-editor@cornellsun.com.
Editor's Note: A previous version of this article mistakenly employed the hyphenated misspelling of "antisemitic" in a citation of Cornellians Only. The article has been corrected to meet editorial standards.
Eric Han is a member of the Class of 2026 in the College of Arts and Sciences. He is the associate editor of the 143rd Editorial Board and was an arts and culture co-editor of the 142nd Editorial Board. His monthly column, Campus Dialectic, reviews recent Sun op-eds to speculate on cultural and political issues. He can be reached at ehan@cornellsun.com.
