In 2006, Judith Butler, the prominent anti-Israel "gender studies" professor, made one of her most infamous statements. During a teach-in at UC Berkeley she said, “Yes, understanding Hamas, Hezbollah as social movements that are progressive, that are on the Left, that are part of a global Left, is extremely important."

In 2006, Judith Butler, the anti-Israel gender studies icon, made one of her most infamous statement at UC Berkeley: “Yes, understanding Hamas, Hezbollah as social movements that are progressive, that are on the Left, that are part of a global Left, is extremely important.” She was widely ridiculed for framing terrorist groups as "progressive" and over the years she tried to thread the needle between being against terrorist violence but describing October 7 as "armed resistance."

"Columbia University Apartheid Divest," the umbrella group behind all the anti-Israel actions at Columbia, goes beyond Butler.