Video clips posted to X show a former Columbia University professor — who was barred from teaching after expressing support for terror groups — calling for the “destruction” of the United States and urging students to disrupt the American defense industry.
Mohamed Abdou, whose “Death to the Akademy” tour stopped in Blacksburg, Virginia, this week, appears in the clips telling an audience of students that they are part of a “racial religious war” and characterizing the U.S. as a “monster.”
The clips show Abdou being explicit about the meaning behind his tour’s title.
“When we say Death to America, we mean, and loud and clear, a total end to U.S. empire,” Abdou told the attendees. “The destruction of this crusading settler colony, their entire project.”
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Virginia Tech was the latest stop on Mohamed Abdou’s ‘Death to the Akademy’ campus tour. (Getty Images)
Abdou, who was barred from teaching at Columbia last year after expressing support for Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad, also refers to the Oct. 7 attacks as the “blessed day of Al-Aqsa Flood.” He describes student activists in the room as a “branch of the resistance” and a “branch of the mujahideen.”
The speech criticizes the “weapons industry,” with Abdou appearing to urge students to disrupt “every single choke point” and “supply chain bottleneck.”
“Study what our mujahideen did,” Abdou tells students, adding that they should “start soon.”
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Anti-Israel students set up a campsite on Columbia University’s West Lawn, demanding the school divest from Israel and take other actions related to the conflict. (Micheal Ruiz/ Digital)
The event appears to have occurred despite a statement from Virginia Tech earlier this week saying it was not university-sponsored or registered.
“The event in question is not sponsored by a university-affiliated organization nor is it a university-registered event,” spokesperson Mark Owczarski told Digital on Thursday. “Any claims otherwise are simply not true.”
Abdou’s remarks go beyond foreign policy, with the clips showing him discussing Adolf Hitler and telling students to “understand what Hitler stands for” before claiming that the “modern Zionist entity” manifests a “Hitlerite mentality.”
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A demonstrator protests outside the Gaza encampment at Columbia University in New York City on April 29, 2024, demanding the school divest from Israel amid the Israel-Hamas war. (Alex Kent/Getty Images)
He also addressed “Death to the Academy,” urging students to look toward the “fringes of the fringes” for answers rather than mainstream academic discourse.
Abdou was previously barred from Columbia University following a hearing before Congress, where former President Minouche Shafik testified that his file would permanently state he is ineligible for re-employment at the institution.
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Neither Virginia Tech officials nor Abdou responded to Digital’s request for comment.
Digital’s Rachel del Guidice contributed to this report.
