Cross-posted from Shots on the House, originally authored by OSU student Justin Higgins:

Welcome to the world of Academia, right? A friend of mine contacted me and tipped me off that an Ohio State Assistant Professor was interviewed during an anti-Israel rally in downtown Columbus and staunchly defended Hamas, a radical Islamic terrorist organization. He also railed against what he called a “colonial occupier” in Israel. Hourglass 1941 has a pretty in-depth online report, including this video which features the OSU staff member, Pranav Jani:

The most interesting parts come when the interviewer questions Pranav Jani about the rocket attacks into Israel launched by Hamas. He calls the rocket attacks, which were not retaliatory in nature, “an act of self-defense.” He goes on to say that “any resistance to the colonial occupier is justified.” Later he calls for a secular Democratic state, which is not what Hamas is pushing for as an organization at all. Most interesting to me however, was his defense that he may not “agree with a particular tactic a group uses”, just as he calls unprovoked rocket attacks self-defense. Does he agree or disagree with the tactic of using children as human shields?

For some background, Pranav Jani is an Assistant Professor in the English Department here at The Ohio State University. His website at Ohio State includes some information about him, including the websites he visits frequently. The sites include such prestigious publications as The New York Times and The International Socialist Review. The typical slanted outlets such as Al-Jazeera and al-Ahram Weekly also make an appearance alongside anti-war sites, his personal blog [on which he calls himself a Marxist], and ESPN.

It’s mildly sickening that some portion of my tuition has contributed to employing Pranav Jani, who was quoted as leading the chant “Long live the Intifada” at the rally in downtown Columbus. In his mind, Israel (which showed tremendous restraint over the past year) is the bad guy and Hamas (which uses children as human shields and wires their women with explosives to make a point) is the regional good guy. Ohio tax money, perpetrating this twisted world view.