Unmasking Hamas Supporters

By Dr. Rafael Medoff

Cooper Union, the prestigious Manhattan college, this week reached a settlement with Jewish students who sued over campus antisemitism. Perhaps the most significant aspect of the agreement is that protesters on campus will no longer be allowed to wear masks.

There are a number of reasons that pro-Hamas demonstrations on U.S. campuses fizzled out after the year 2023-2024. One was the fact that many students were not genuinely committed to the cause; they simply were echoing “what the cool kids are doing.” But trendiness is by definition temporary.

 But another important factor is that many university presidents, under pressure from the federal government, began punishing student rioters, imposing curfews, and, in some cases, banning masks.

“From the beginning of time, the mask or hood has been the criminal’s dress,” the Georgia State Supreme Court asserted in a 1990 ruling. “[D]isguise is a particularly effective means of committing crimes of violence and intimidation.”

The court was referring in particular to the activity of the Ku Klux Klan. Today, more than 30 states have laws restricting the wearing of masks in public; most of them were enacted in order to curb the Klan. Hamas supporters and Klan members have much in common.

In 2024, the University of California system banned the wearing of masks by protesters on all 10 of its campuses. California State University followed with a similar ban on its 23 campuses. So did Columbia University, in March 2025, and Barnard College, four months later.

When those bans were announced, civil liberties groups immediately denounced them, claiming they would have a “chilling” effect on free speech.

In fact, speech is as free as ever on America’s campuses. The only thing that has been chilled is the ability of terror-supporters to illegally harass and intimidate Jewish students from behind the protection of a face mask. Now, Cooper Union has wisely joined the ranks of campuses that no longer provide the harassers with such protection.

Dr. Rafael Medoff is the founding director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies and author of more than 20 books about Jewish history and the Holocaust.