A partnership between Al-Quds University in the West Bank, which praised the Hamas fighters who died attacking Israel on Oct. 8, and Bard College in New York has received well over $4 million since 2017 from the Foundation to Promote Open Society and the Open Society Institute, nonprofits financed by George Soros, a Daily Caller News Foundation review has found.
“The university also mourns the martyrs of the nation who died yesterday in the West Bank and Gaza as a result of this aggression,” Al-Quds University wrote in a statement on its Facebook page. Bard College maintains a program in conjunction with Al-Quds University, bankrolled by $4,656,092 in Soros funding, according to the Open Society Foundations’ website, where students can study at the West Bank university earning a dual bachelor’s or master’s degree from Bard and Al-Quds.
“Glory and immortality to the martyr,” Al-Quds University’s statement concluded.
The program has a cultural component that “organizes excursions designed to introduce students to the history and culture of Palestine,” according to the college’s website. The program also touts opportunities for students to get involved with Palestinian “civil society” organizations.
Many Palestinian groups that call themselves civil society or human rights organizations have been designated as terrorist groups by the Israeli government. (RELATED: American Colleges Are Partnered With Palestinian University That Praised Hamas As ‘Righteous Martyrs’)
Bard released a statement on Oct. 10, two days after Al-Quds University called terrorists “martyrs,” condemning both Hamas and Israel while reaffirming its “long-standing educational partnership and solidarity with our Palestinian students and colleagues at Al-Quds University.”
Brandeis University in Massachusetts cut ties with Al-Quds University in 2013 after a demonstration occurred on Al-Quds’ campus where people dressed up in military gear, paraded with fake guns, performed Nazi salutes and surrounded themselves with banners of “martyred” suicide bombers, according to a university statement. Brandeis demanded that Al-Quds condemn the demonstration, but it issued a statement blaming “vilification campaigns by Jewish extremists” for the controversy, prompting Brandeis to end its relationship with Al-Quds.
Syracuse University also ended its partnership with Al-Quds following the rally, according to The Jerusalem Post. Bard College, which also had a relationship with Al-Quds University at the time, did not end its relationship.
Soros has also funded an Israeli-designated terror organization, according to the Open Society Foundations’ website. Foundation to Promote Open Society and Open Society Institute gave $2,100,540 to Al-Haq, a purported “human rights organization” which Israel determined was a terror group in 2021, between 2016 and 2020.
Leaked documents revealed in 2016 that Soros had been funneling millions into organizations that are critical of the Israeli state, according to Tablet Magazine.
Bard College, the Open Society Foundations and Al-Quds University did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.
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