Eve Tuck, a prominent academic in critical race and Indigenous studies, has used her scholarship and public platform to justify antisemitic violence, normalize pro-Hamas rhetoric ideologies in mainstream academic discourse. From praising violent “resistance” just hours after a historic massacre of Jews, to producing the intellectual language now used to excuse terrorism, Tuck has helped turn “decolonization” from a scholarly framework into a weapon of ideological warfare.
At New York University, she has not only been elevated to lead a new Indigenous Studies program, but has also become a key figure in the academic left’s normalization of narratives that erase Jewish identity and excuse political violence.
Justifying the October 7 Massacre
In the immediate aftermath of the October 7, 2023 terror attacks—when Hamas terrorists murdered over 1,200 civilians, raped women, beheaded children, and kidnapped entire families—Eve Tuck responded not with condemnation, but with ideological justification. Her comments framed the atrocities as necessary “resistance,” offering political cover for crimes against humanity.
Tuck did not mourn the victims. She rationalized their deaths.
- October 7, 2023: Tuck posted on Bluesky: “Unprovoked is a dishonest framing. A free Palestine is possible because of how Palestinians have worked to keep alive and remake other framings, other futures.”
- October 11, 2023: She defended Hamas-style violence as “life and future affirming,” describing it as a form of resistance.
- Signed multiple public letters that accused Israel of “genocide” while omitting mention of Hamas’s atrocities.
By framing mass murder as part of a “remaking of futures,” Tuck justified acts of terror in the name of political liberation. This rhetoric doesn’t just excuse violence, it glorifies it.
Weaponizing “Decolonization” to Excuse Violence
Tuck’s most famous work, a 2012 essay titled “Decolonization Is Not a Metaphor”, became a foundational text in radical activist circles. The phrase was widely adopted online and in protests following the October 7 attacks, as activists used it to claim that violent resistance, including murder, was a valid form of “decolonization.”
The paper’s message—that decolonization must involve the literal return of land and rejection of symbolic gestures—was repurposed to legitimize the most brutal acts of political violence seen in a generation.
- The slogan “Decolonization is not a metaphor” was emblazoned on protest signs defending the October 7 massacre.
- Her work has been cited as an intellectual foundation for activists promoting violent uprisings under the guise of liberation.
- She failed to publicly denounce the misuse of her work or the mass killings carried out under its banner.
Rather than reject the bloodshed associated with her ideas, Tuck leaned further into the same frameworks that fueled it.
Promoting Antisemitic Narratives and Denying Jewish Identity
Tuck’s ideological lens erases Jewish history, identity, and indigeneity. Her framing of Zionism as “settler colonialism” not only delegitimizes Jewish self-determination, it casts Jews as oppressors, rendering them undeserving of human rights protections.
This worldview promotes a dangerously one-sided version of history, in which the only legitimate voices are those aligned with pro-Hamas extremism.
- Signed statements claiming “Zionism is racism” and calling for the dismantling of the Jewish state.
- Supported the Palestinian “right of return” and “Land Back” demands; policies intended to eliminate Israel through demographic collapse.
- Regularly frames Gaza as an “open-air prison,” ignoring Hamas’s violent rule and the existential threats faced by Israeli civilians.
These positions violate basic principles of academic neutrality and feed into modern antisemitic conspiracies about Jewish power and illegitimacy.
Institutional Power at NYU Despite Extremism
Despite her record of inflammatory rhetoric, NYU appointed Tuck in October 2023 as the founding director of its Center for Indigenous Studies, giving sweeping influence over research, curriculum, and faculty development.
Her appointment came just days after she justified Hamas’s massacre, and months before she was named in a lawsuit by Jewish students alleging a hostile campus environment.
- October 9, 2023: NYU announced Tuck’s leadership role just two days after her “Unprovoked is a dishonest framing” post.
- Tuck now holds a joint professorship at NYU’s Gallatin and Steinhardt schools and was named a James Weldon Johnson Professor.
- November 2023: Named in a legal complaint brought by Jewish students accusing NYU of fostering antisemitism and failing to protect them.
NYU’s decision to elevate Tuck sends a dangerous message: that even those who defend terror can be rewarded with institutional authority, if their rhetoric is framed in the right language.
A Threat to Campus Climate and Academic Integrity
Eve Tuck’s impact is more than theoretical; it’s institutional, rhetorical, and generational. She trains students to see political violence as liberation, teaches frameworks that deny Jewish identity, and offers a moral defense for terrorism in the language of decolonization. Her presence on campus is not a contribution to pluralism—it’s an attack on it.
- Justifies mass atrocities through radical theory.
- Promotes a one-sided view of history that erases Jewish peoplehood.
- Leads programs designed to advance ideological, non- scholarly, goals.
- Empowers movements that glorify violence and silence dissent.
Tuck has transformed the language of education into a tool for radicalization, and NYU has handed her the platform to do it on a scale.
Bottom Line:
Eve Tuck is not simply a professor. She is a leading figure in the intellectual laundering of terror, turning scholarship into cover for extremism. Her rise within NYU signals a deeper crisis in academia: defending atrocities is tolerated, so long as it’s done with the right political vocabulary.