Distinguished Professor in UCLA’s Department of History, Robin D.G. Kelley has built a career not on academic inquiry, but on the active promotion of political extremism, glorification of terrorists, and propagation of conspiratorial, antisemitic rhetoric. As one of UCLA’s most visible faculty figures, Kelley has used his institutional credibility to platform violent ideologies, legitimize hate-filled activism, and whitewash the crimes of some of the world’s most notorious terror organizations.
Far from offering critical scholarship, Kelley has become a mouthpiece for radical movements that threaten not just campus safety, but the very integrity of academic life.
Honoring Terrorists, Celebrating Violence
Kelley’s record reveals a disturbing pattern: he repeatedly elevates individuals responsible for deadly violence, treating terrorists and convicted murderers as revolutionary icons.
- In 2019, Kelley served as a judge for the “Resistance Arts Scholarship” named in honor of Ghassan Kanafani, a senior leader in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)—a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization. Kanafani was directly tied to the 1972 Lod Airport Massacre, which killed 26 civilians and injured over 80.
- Kelley has also publicly defended Mutulu Shakur, a convicted member of the Black Liberation Army who played a role in the 1981 Brinks robbery, which left two police officers and a security guard dead. As recently as 2023, Kelley moderated a webinar celebrating Shakur and called for his release.
These actions are not just political—they signal a conscious choice to venerate those who carried out acts of terror under the banner of resistance.
Deep Ties to Extremist and Antisemitic Networks
Kelley’s affiliations speak volumes. He has embedded himself within some of the most radical organizations operating in academic and activist circles today.
- As of 2023, Kelley sat on the advisory board of the S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI), a BDS-aligned group that seeks to isolate Jewish scholars and institutions.
- He is also affiliated with Palestine Legal, a group known for defending campus protestors who glorify terrorism, and whose statements routinely defend violence under the pretext of free speech.
- Kelley has lent his voice to Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP)—groups that have justified the October 7 Hamas massacre, spread conspiracy theories, and regularly target Jewish students and organizations on campus.
He has even praised the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM)—a group notorious for glorifying terrorist figures and calling for intifada.
Glorifying Unrest and Encouraging Violence
Kelley doesn’t merely defend violent actors—he actively promotes a worldview in which violence is framed as legitimate resistance.
- During the May 2021 Hamas attacks, Kelley signed an open letter that condemned Israel’s self-defense as “eliminatory violence”, while completely ignoring the hundreds of rockets launched at civilians.
- He promoted the Palestinian general strike that same month, framing it as a model of effective resistance, while downplaying the role of terrorist coordination behind the movement.
- In 2018, as part of Palestine Legal’s board, Kelley accused Israel of a “deadly rampage” against what he falsely described as “unarmed protesters”—ignoring that those protests included explosives, armed infiltrators, and Hamas militants trying to breach Israel’s border.
Kelley’s rhetoric consistently erases terrorism and recasts it as justified activism, pushing students toward a dangerous moral relativism that treats facts as flexible and violence as virtuous.
Spreading Antisemitic Conspiracies
Kelley’s public commentary has often crossed from political opinion into clear antisemitic conspiracy theory, echoing the very tropes condemned by leading civil rights organizations.
- He has smeared the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as a S. proxy for a foreign government, and accused it of coordinating police violence against Black and Indigenous communities—without evidence.
- In a 2021 webinar, Kelley falsely claimed that S. police departments were militarized through Israeli training programs—a baseless theory that has been debunked and condemned as dangerous and antisemitic.
- He has accused “the Israel lobby” of controlling university presidents, weaponizing antisemitic tropes of Jewish manipulation to discredit institutional leadership.
- In 2014, Kelley described Israel’s self-defense against Hamas as a “genocidal tsunami” and likened Gaza to a concentration camp—a grotesque Holocaust distortion that the IHRA definition of antisemitism categorically identifies as hateful and false.
A Direct Threat to Campus Safety and Academic Integrity
Robin D.G. Kelley’s influence on campus extends far beyond the classroom. Through his lectures, books, and activist platforms, he has cultivated an intellectual framework that excuses terror, delegitimizes Jewish identity, and erodes any distinction between scholarship and propaganda.
Kelley teaches students that violence is justice, that Jews are colonizers, and that any criticism of radicalism is censorship. In doing so, he has helped transform UCLA into a campus where terror glorification and antisemitism are given academic legitimacy.
Conclusion: A Professor of Radicalization, Not Education
Robin D.G. Kelley is not just controversial—he is a professor who champions terrorism, spreads conspiracies, and promotes hate. His long-standing record of glorifying murderers, endorsing radical networks, and weaponizing antisemitic narratives makes him a direct threat to the values of higher education and the safety of students.
Kelley’s platform at UCLA doesn’t reflect academic freedom—it reflects a failure of accountability. Until universities stop enabling figures who elevate hate under the guise of scholarship, the integrity of education—and the safety of students—will remain at risk.