NYU is investigating an on-campus group after claiming it “simply lied” about its Tuesday event — where a speaker urged students to “escalate their organizing” of pro-Palestinan demonstrations — being sanctioned by the university.
Anti-Israel activist group Shut it Down NYU, which is not formally registered with the university, hosted former Columbia professor Mohamed Abdou, who told students over Zoom that they are a “branch” of Palestinian resistance and that there are “revolutionary forms of violence.” He added that the violence could be used as a tactic and called on the attendees to be proud of their “hate for America.” The event’s flyers, circulated online by Shut It Down and Abdou, indicated that it would be held at NYU.
“We didn’t sanction it. We didn’t allow them on campus. No university-affiliated group was involved,” university spokesperson Wiley Norvell said in a statement. “Other universities should be on notice about these tactics to misappropriate their name.”
Norvell added that the event was held at a nearby “public city park,” and said NYU is investigating “several potential university policy violations” associated with the event, condemning its promotional materials’ “imagery” and “threatening language.” Alongside illustrations of militants wearing keffiyehs covering their faces, the flyers stated that Abdou would address how students “must divest from the Euro-Amerikkkan akademy” in a talk dedicated to those who “seek to confront and build outside the liberal akademy to topple Euro-Amerikan empire where they are.”
Abdou, who was removed from his professor role in 2023 for expressing support for “Hamas and Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad” on social media, spoke for about two hours to 30 virtual and 10 in-person attendees as a part of his “Death to the Akademy” lecture series for university students across several continents. At the time of his firing, then-Columbia President Minouche Shafik said Abdou “will never work at Columbia again” at a congressional hearing.
Norvell’s statement followed social media posts from several nationwide organizations that aim to protect Zionist and Jewish college students, criticizing the flyers’ content. Safe Campus called the tour a “terrorist recruiting event” and Documenting Jew Hatred on Campus at Columbia said Abdou “encourages literal violence in the name of Allah.”
The Egypt-born Canadian citizen kicked off his campus tours at a March Ramadan gathering hosted by Students for a Liberated Palestine at Columbia-affiliated Union Theological Seminary. After the in-person portion of the event was canceled, Abdou encouraged students to engage in jihad on Zoom and praised Elias Rodriguez who is accused of the May 2025 shootings of two Israeli Embassy staff members. He was also scheduled to speak for Glasgow University in Scotland, though it is unclear whether the event happened.
Consisting of students and members of faculty, Shut It Down was formed in April 2023 and remained active at the height of student protests following Oct. 7, often criticizing NYU’s Tel Aviv campus and other ties to Israel. The group organized the event in collaboration with local activist organizations including Resist With Gaza, Students Together Against Institutional Racism and Palestine Solidarity Working Group.
Shut It Down NYU and Abdou did not respond to WSN’s multiple requests for comment.
Contact Selin Kemiktarak at [email protected].
jj • Apr 27, 2026 at 11:09 am
Looks like you just copied word-for-word what every other genocide-defending right-wing Zionist publication had to say about this event so you could vilify student organizers. Does it make you feel good to do lazy journalism and spin your piece so you can amplify Islamophobic agendas and pro-genocide actors? Did you even do your research on the talk, what was said, or who this man is? Or did you just read the New York Post’s article? You went out of your way to reference notoriously anti-Palestinian, Jewish supremacist groups for your article. You are clearly not educated, critical or ethical enough to take on these topics. You just regurgitate the claims those in power make. Can’t believe y’all try to flex your “award winning student journalism” — do you really think the fascist American presses are a model to live by?