Columbia University defended its invitation to Hatem Bazian to be the keynote speaker at its “Day of Dialogue” event. The Hamas-supporting Bazian is the founder of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). A professor at Berkeley, Bazian has called to dismantle Israel, and stated that “it’s about time we had an intifada in this country.” Columbia’s Barnard College actually canceled classes to encourage participation, and even offered a campus store gift card as an incentive for early registration.

Now, why would Barnard invite a man who is declared for Jewish genocide to be the keynote speaker at an event devoted to “dialogue?”

Barnard College Spokeswoman Georgi DeMartino explains, “Students had the opportunity to hear from renowned scholars who have been deeply touched by the international crisis from different lived experiences. As an academic institution, our mission is to explore these difficult topics and challenging ideas with the freedom to question and examine all viewpoints.”

Sounds like a call for another Holocaust, chas v’shalom, to me. What do you think?