Cornell University history professor Russell Rickford speaking at a rally in which he said Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack on Israeli civilians ‘exhilarated’ him. Photo: Screenshot

A professor at Cornell University who received major backlash for saying Hamas’ massacre of Israeli civilians on Oct. 7 “exhilarated” him has taken a leave of absence for the remainder of the semester, according to a new report.

Professor Russell Rickford called the Hamas terror group’s invasion of Israel from neighboring Gaza “exhilarating” and “energizing” at a pro-Palestinian rally last Sunday. He later defended his comments by arguing “the fundamentalism of Hamas mirrors that of Israeli leadership.”

Rickford later apologized for his statements, insisting that he “intended to stress grassroots African American, Jewish, and Palestinian traditions of resistance to oppression.” He addressed the expression of regret to “my family, my students, my colleagues, and many others,” but not to the Jewish community or Israelis — the chief targets of Hamas’ terror onslaught.

According to the Cornell Review, a campus newspaper, students taking Rickford’s course on post-Civil War African-American history received on Friday a note from his substitute saying, “Professor Rickford will be taking a leave of absence and I will assume teaching responsibilities for the remainder of the semester.”

The university confirmed to the student newspaper that Rickford “has requested and received approval to take a leave of absence from the university.”

Rickford’s comments, which went viral and became national news, were widely condemned across Cornell’s campus. Last week, Cornell University President Martha Pollack and Board of Trustees chair Kraig Kayser said in a joint statement that his remarks were “reprehensible,” showing “no regard whatsoever for humanity.”

The statement continued: “Any members of our community who have made such statements do not speak for Cornell; in fact, they speak in direct opposition to all we stand for at Cornell.”

Nearly 12,000 people as of this writing have signed a petition calling for Rickford to be fired from the university, whose student population is estimated to be between 20 and 25 percent Jewish.

For nearly twenty years, Rickford’s scholarship has largely focused on Black Nationalist movements, some of which have promoted antisemitic tropes. In the early 2000s, Rickford joined the “Malcolm X Project,” assisting author Manning Marable, who published his own comprehensive work on the controversial figure, in arranging interviews with Malcolm’s acquaintances. Rickford also published a biography of Betty Shabbaz, the late wife of Malcolm X before his assassination in 1965.

Malcolm’s autobiography mentions the Jewish people dozens of times, often pejoratively. “The Jew is hypersensitive” and “I worked downtown for a Jew” are among the ways in which he referred to the Jewish community. “I gave the Jew credit for being among all other whites the most active, and the most vocal financier, ‘leader’ and ‘liberal’ in the Negro civil rights movement,” he wrote. “But … I knew that the Jew played these roles for a very careful strategic reason.” Malcolm also referred to “the Jew” as “Hymie” and “these devils.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.