- Khalidi warns that US universities are ‘trying to shut down dissent’ and ‘crush academic freedom’ with crackdown on pro-Palestine voices

- ‘Palestinians have the absolute right to determine their own future … It’s not for an American president or a Middle Eastern leader to decide,’ says Khalidi

ISTANBUL

“What has been seen cannot be unseen,” says Palestinian American historian Rashid Khalidi as he captures a turning point in how the world understands Gaza.

The livestreamed devastation, he argued, did more than expose Israeli brutality, as it shattered a century of curated narratives. “People saw reality,” he said. “It’s shown them (Israel) to be liars.”

Speaking to Anadolu at the Gaza Biennale in Istanbul, where he discussed his book The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine, Khalidi said images emerging from Israel’s genocide in Gaza have shifted global perception with a force unmatched by official messaging or decades of diplomacy.

“The damage to the Israeli narrative has been irreparable,” he said. “Majorities of Americans are now harshly critical of Israel. Majorities … consider that Israel is committing war crimes … 40% American Jews consider Israel is committing genocide.”

Khalidi, born in New York, said this profound political shift in the US is reflected in the election of Zohran Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor, known for saying he would arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he ever visited the US’ financial capital.

“The election proved that this is not just public opinion. This is now political,” he said, noting that the once-solid consensus in US politics had fractured. “People are now coming out publicly and saying, I refuse to accept money from AIPAC (The American Israel Public Affairs Committee),” he said – a sharp reversal from earlier years when “politicians took money greedily.”

He also pointed to an unprecedented moment in Congress, where 27 Democratic senators supported halting arms transfers to Israel – a vote, he emphasized, that had “never before” happened.

“It’s not just a temporary change … This is the beginning, I think, of a major political change,” he said.

US ‘trying to shut down dissent’

As public perception increasingly turns against Israel, Khalidi said the US government has been waging a crackdown on pro-Palestinian voices – particularly on university campuses.

Khalidi, Columbia University’s Edward Said professor emeritus of modern Arab studies, decided to withdraw his course after the institution adopted new disciplinary rules he describes as “draconian.”

In a letter to the administration, he warned that the university’s cooperation with the US government and its embrace of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism – language that can be used to turn criticism of Israel into a disciplinary matter – made it impossible for him to continue teaching modern Middle East history.

Columbia University, long a hub for pro-Palestine activism, had become a flashpoint in the broader debate over academic freedom. It was also where Mahmoud Khalil, a leading pro-Palestine activist, studied and organized protests. He was detained by immigration agents and held for months, despite holding a green card, until a judge ruled his detention unconstitutional.

Human Rights Watch reported that more than 3,000 students were arrested across US campuses in 2025 for pro-Palestine advocacy.

“I have many colleagues who have been brought up before disciplinary procedures or accused of various crimes as a result of the acceptance by the university of these draconian and extremely restrictive measures,” he said, describing a climate in which dissent was increasingly criminalized.

“They are trying to shut down dissent, shut down criticism, and limit – if not crush – academic freedom and freedom of speech … They were willing partners with the government … They would have censored all kinds of, many forms of speech, which would be critical of either of Israel or of Zionism,” he added.

Gaza’s future: ‘It’s for Palestinians to decide’

Khalidi also addressed what he saw as the most urgent question: Gaza’s future. Despite the appearance of calm, he said life in Gaza remained lethal.

“For many people in Gaza, there’s no ceasefire. They’re killing people every single day,” he said.

He argued that world leaders bear responsibility. “Those who gathered in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt,” he said, “have a moral responsibility, have a legal responsibility … to stop the murder of Palestinians.”

Palestinian agency, a right denied for generations, is key to any viable future, he added.

“The Palestinians have the absolute right to determine their own future,” he said. “It’s not for an American president or a Middle Eastern leader to decide. It’s for the Palestinians to decide.”

Anyone wishing to assist in Gaza’s reconstruction or governance, he added, must commit to that principle.

Asked to sum up the past two years in a single lesson, Khalidi reached for a phrase with deep historical weight.

“Never again. Never allow this to happen again,” he said.

Gaza’s death toll, he said, represented “a crime against humanity … genocide.”

“The world was silent – it did nothing,” he said, adding that governments now expressing concern “could have done much more and should have done much more.”