by Robert Schmad
Several American colleges are partnered with Al-Quds Open University, a Palestinian university that called the Hamas terrorists who attacked Israel “righteous martyrs,” according to a Daily Caller News Foundation review of university web pages.
Al-Quds Open University declared Sunday, Oct. 8 as a day to “mourn the souls of the righteous martyrs and to denounce the occupation’s continuing crimes against our people in the West Bank and Gaza,” following Hamas’ invasion of Israel. Al-Quds Open University ended its announcement by stating “glory and eternity to our martyrs.”
Georgia State University, the University of Arizona and Kent State University are all listed as partners of Al-Quds Open University, while the United States Office of Palestinian Affairs, part of the State Department, announced a partnership between Al-Quds Open University and Georgia State University to provide a joint doctoral program in computer science on Sept. 20.
The program had the explicit support of the State Department, with the agency describing it as helping build the field of computer science that will be “central to the long-term prosperity of Palestinian society.”
Kent State’s website lists its relationship with Al-Quds Open University as among its “formal partnerships with like-minded institutions.” Al-Quds Open University and Kent State researchers collaborated through a $100,000 State Department grant to teach Palestinian students English starting in 2019.
More than 1,000 people have died in Israel as a result of Hamas’ attack, according to CNN. President Biden said on Tuesday that Hamas has killed 14 Americans so far.
Al-Quds Open University was founded in 1955 by the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), according to the university’s webpage. The PLO is a U.S.-Designated terrorist organization.
Al-Quds Open University’s website also lists the University of Arizona as one of its international partners.
The University of Arizona does not maintain a public web page listing its international partners. A representative for the University of Arizona referred the DCNF to its public records request portal when asked about its affiliation with Al-Quds Open University.
Al-Quds Open University has received $340,393 in grant funding from the State Department since 2019, according to a federal spending database. All the U.S. colleges partnered with Al-Quds Open University are public institutions.
Kent State, Georgia State, the University of Arizona, Al-Quds Open University and the State Department did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.
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Robert Schmad is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Al-Quds Open University” by أمين. CC BY-SA 4.0.
