Northwestern said in a Tuesday statement that comments made by Northwestern University in Qatar Prof. Khaled AL-Hroub about the Israel-Hamas war in a radio interview should not be interpreted as the University’s official stance.
AL-Hroub said in a Monday interview with NPR affiliate WBUR on its radio show “On Point” that he had not seen “any credible media reporting” that the militant group Hamas had killed women and children in its Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel.
“While Northwestern firmly supports academic freedom and freedom of expression, we condemn any attempt to minimize or misrepresent the horrific killing of Israeli civilians by Hamas on Oct. 7,” NU said in the statement.
While a previous version of the statement condemned “Khaled AL-Hroub’s attempt to minimize or misrepresent” the attack, the new statement does not directly condemn AL-Hroub’s comments.
In the statement, NU said individual faculty members’ opinions do not represent the views of the University.
WBUR later published an editor’s note explaining that the episode did not meet the station’s editorial standards. In the update, WBUR said AL-Hroub — who has written several books about Hamas — was invited on the podcast to provide a factual history of the group. The update said the show’s host, Meghna Chakrabarti, countered Al-Hroub’s comments with facts but acknowledged the impact of hearing the statement.
“On Point strives to contribute thoughtfully to the public discourse, and in an environment where misinformation is both rampant and dangerous, we felt compelled to pull this hour of our programming from national distribution after its initial broadcast,” the update reads.
Update: This article has been updated to reflect that Northwestern altered its statement to condemn “any attempt to minimize or misrepresent the horrific killing of Israeli civilians by Hamas on Oct. 7,” rather than “AL-Hroub’s attempt” to minimize or misrepresent the attack.
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