Why Is Rutgers University Protecting Noura Erakat?

Jewish students face unprecedented hostility. Yet Noura Erakat—who defends Hamas and glorifies terrorists—remains a respected voice at one of America’s oldest universities and a frequent guest on mainstream media. 

 As the new academic year begins, we must confront a painful truth: what, if anything, has been done to stop the wave of antisemitism and extremism that swept through our campuses last year? Has faculty culture shifted? Have universities taken responsibility? Or are Jewish students once again returning to classrooms where intimidation is ignored and hate is quietly excused? 

The picture grows clearer as more details emerge about Qatari funding of American universities. The rise of extremist voices has not been accidental. They were nurtured, financed, and elevated to shape the very discourse of higher education. Last year, those voices succeeded in spreading division and fear. This year, the question is whether universities, and the broader public, will finally find the will to confront them. 

Nowhere is this failure more visible than at Rutgers University, where the case of Professor Noura Erakat shows just how little has truly changed. 

Rutgers, one of the nation’s oldest and most influential public universities, boasts of its research and diversity. It is proud to educate tens of thousands and shape global conversations. Yet it has also become a place where Jewish students face hostility at levels not seen in decades. 

The numbers are stark. During the 2024–2025 academic year, Jewish students nationwide endured a record 2,334 antisemitic incidents, according to Hillel International. That represents more than 500 additional cases compared to the prior year and nearly ten times the level recorded in 2022–2023. While physical assaults slightly declined, online harassment surged by 185 percent, a reflection of how hatred has adapted and spread through new channels. 

At Rutgers, the crisis has been especially severe. Federal investigators reviewed more than 400 reports of hostile environments on campus during the 2023–2024 school year, of which 293 involved antisemitic or anti-Israel behavior. These ranged from vandalism and social media threats to disruptive protests at meetings with university officials. The U.S. Department of Education opened a Title VI investigation, concluding that Rutgers had likely failed to protect students from a toxic environment. The university settled, effectively conceding that the atmosphere on campus had crossed a dangerous line. 

Into this hostile environment steps Noura Erakat, a Rutgers professor whose public presence has only grown more influential. Erakat is not simply a lecturer; she is a frequent United Nations speaker, a media commentator, and an activist whose words echo well beyond the classroom. But her record raises disturbing questions about the values Rutgers is endorsing by keeping her in its ranks.

Erakat’s Direct Ties to Terrorism 

Erakat is the cousin of Ahmad Erekat, who in 2020 carried out a car-ramming attack at the Container Checkpoint near Abu Dis, injuring a female Israeli border police officer before being fatally shot. CCTV footage confirmed the deliberate nature of the attack. Yet Noura Erakat has refused to acknowledge the act of terrorism. This is emblematic of her broader refusal to condemn violence against Israelis. 

Her public statements are even more troubling.  

Noura’s Promotion of Terror 

She has defended Hamas’s October 7 massacre, describing the slaughter of civilians as “military tactics” and attacking critics of Hamas. She has written in Hamas-linked outlets, calling for the integration of armed struggle with political and legal warfare. She has openly admitted that she pursued law not to uphold justice, but to “weaponize” it.

Again and again, Erakat has praised and mourned convicted terrorists. She has lauded Khader Adnan, a recruiter for Palestinian Islamic Jihad, who was linked to suicide bombings. She has mourned Rasmea Odeh, who murdered two students in a supermarket bombing. She has honored Leila Khaled, who hijacked airplanes. In each case, she has presented them not as criminals or extremists, but as compassionate heroes to be admired. This is the message reaching Noura’s students as well.

Her contempt for Israel’s very existence is clear. She has labeled Zionism “fascism” and a “threat to world peace”, urging her audiences to embrace slogans such as “Globalize the Intifada.” Since October 7, 2023, she has positioned herself as one of the most prominent academic voices glorifying terrorist groups, calling for a “global intifada,” and defending violent demonstrations. 

Media Influence 

Erakat has a significant presence on social media with over 193,000 followers on X alone. As recently as September 25, she was interviewed on NPR’s All Things Considered about international recognition of a Palestinian state, where she was presented as an academic, human rights attorney, and author. NPR clearly wasn’t concerned about Erakat’s support for terror. Likewise, in recent years, Erakat has been platformed in mainstream media, including The Washington Post and Foreign Policy, and cited in The New York Times.

Yet beyond her speeches and media appearances, Erakat co-founded the online platform Jadaliyya, which repeatedly amplifies extremist rhetoric. In 2013, the site published an interview with Islamic Jihad official Khalid al-Batsh. It has run sympathetic features about “normalizing Hamas.” It has highlighted and promoted Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), a group notorious for antisemitic harassment campaigns on U.S. campuses. After October 7, Jadaliyya published an article dismissing evidence of Hamas’ mass rapes, while simultaneously accusing Israeli soldiers of sexual abuse. And on August 14, 2025, Jadaliyya hosted a podcast called Teaching Palestine Today: On Zionism, featuring Noura Erakat herself, in which Jewish self-determination was described as a racist and supremacist project that must be defeated and dismantled.

In her lectures and media appearances, she frames violent uprisings as liberation, calling terrorism “breaking the dam.” In outlets such as Middle East Eye, she claims Americans are “socialized into capitalism, racism, and Zionism,” a sweeping condemnation that casts the United States itself as irredeemable. And yet, she continues to be invited to speak at major universities, to appear on CNN, and to teach the next generation at Rutgers. 

This raises urgent questions. Universities are meant to be places of inquiry, respect, and debate. They are entrusted to cultivate critical thinking and protect diversity of thought. But when professors cross the line into glorifying terrorism, excusing violence, and demonizing Jewish identity, the institution itself is implicated. What lessons are students absorbing in such classrooms? How can students feel safe in such an environment? 

We must ask, plainly and urgently: why is Noura Erakat still teaching our children? Why is she considered to be a suitable guest on mainstream media? And what will be the cost of her continued influence at Rutgers?