For the past 600 days, the world has watched Israel wage a complete war of destruction on the Palestinian people. According to the United Nations, Gaza is the “hungriest place on Earth.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “The only inevitable outcome will be the desire of Gazans to emigrate outside of the Gaza Strip.”
Given this, the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota thought it would be a good time to invite one of the key architects of this genocide.
Former President Joe Biden’s national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, is coming to campus on June 5. The national security advisor is arguably the most influential position in foreign policy, behind only the president and the secretary of state.
April 28, the same day I received an email invitation for Sullivan’s visit, Israel’s Channel 13 revealed the Biden administration wasn’t working “tirelessly” for a ceasefire, as they publicly loved to tout.
Instead, as the Israeli ambassador at the time, Michael Herzog, put it, “God did the State of Israel a favor that Biden was the president during this period, because it could have been much worse. We fought (in Gaza) for over a year, and the administration never came to us and said, ‘Ceasefire now.’ It never did.”
The report adds that Biden aides privately admitted Netanyahu was dragging out the war and sabotaging hostage negotiations.
Even if you overlook the genocide Israel is committing and Sullivan’s role in enabling it, a large demand, I may add, this blatant manipulation of the truth and abuse of public office should be disqualifying.
If the direct testimony from the Israeli ambassador wasn’t enough proof for the Biden administration’s gaslighting, there’s plenty more.
History has repeatedly shown how much sway the U.S. has over Israeli aggression. Just this January, the Trump administration proved this point. Trump sent a special envoy to Netanyahu to make “clear that Trump wanted him to agree to a deal,” and a deal was quickly made.
This is not a one-off incident. Previous Republican presidents Ronald Reagan and Dwight D. Eisenhower made firm demands during Israel’s invasion of Egypt and when Israel was carrying out what Reagan called a “holocaust” in Lebanon.
Although he left office, Sullivan continues to perpetuate this false narrative of the Biden administration’s success and sincerity. In February, MPR asked him if he would do anything differently. He stuck to only blaming Hamas and offered no critique of U.S. and Israeli policy.
If the Humphrey School continues to platform a genocidal liar, it is an insult to what we stand for with our supposed pursuit of truth and ethical leadership.
This event is not about fostering dialogue and learning. There is an endless list of speakers educated in the field who can speak freely on their expertise without needing to cover for the genocide they helped orchestrate. The extensive list of Biden administration resignees is a good place to start.
No matter how prestigious Sullivan may be as a guest, this is a complete betrayal of our shared values. At the Humphrey School, practically every student I’ve met attends here because of a sincere desire to improve the world, above all else. If we wanted bigger salaries, we would be at the neighboring Carlson School of Management or the law school in Walter F. Mondale Hall.
We’re told the Humphrey School is training the next generation of leadership. If so, then our faculty and staff need to lead by example by not platforming and legitimizing a proven liar who aided and abetted members of Israeli leadership who are currently wanted by the International Criminal Court.
From the halls of Congress to university administrators, there has been perhaps no greater deficit of courageous leadership and honorable public service than on the issue of Palestine. From Democrat Sen. Amy Klobuchar to the Humphrey School dean Nisha Botchwey, where do we draw the line when it comes to gross violations of human rights and international law? If a line even exists at all.
Kyle Feldhake is a community organizer and is studying a Master of Public Policy at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs.
KG
Jun 8, 2025 at 7:53 am
Angry Prof–Kyle the “student author” is a criminal who endangered UMN personnel by occupying Morrill Hall in October 2024. His rap sheet includes rioting, trespassing, and tens of thousands of dollars in property damage – your dollars, students. This aggressive act jeopardized and panicked UMN staff, risking serious injury. U studies were disrupted for thousands of students; parents were anxious. UPD employed riot tactics to remove the protestors. The tumult went on for months afterward, costing hundreds of labor hours expended by faculty, administrators and others. Who do you think is paying for that, dear student? In a normal university, Kyle would have been expelled and permanently barred from campus.
Yet, due to insidious “restorative justice” lobbying of terrorist enablers like Prof. Shakhsari (whose salary we also pay), unrepentant gangster Kyle is back, spewing more poison. His Op-Ed drips with contempt for UMN and societal norms. He champions de-platforming John Sullivan, a blatant assault on First Amendment rights and privilege of students to hear diverse speakers. For Kyle and his extremist Palestinian allies, “freedom of speech” is a selective privilege: for them, not for you, dear student. His ultimate goal isn’t just to destroy democratic Israel; it’s to dismantle the fundamental democratic principles of the USA. Kyle and SDS are merely another tentacle of violent, anti-Western, pro-Palestinian extremism. Their playbook: first destroy Israel, then America.
Kyle and his terrorist-enabling Palestinian allies (including extremist faculty) are already inciting real-world violence: Pennsylvania Governor Shapiro’s home firebombed, two Jews murdered at a Washington D.C. museum, and incendiary devices injuring peaceful Jewish protestors in Boulder. The common thread? The perpetrators shouted “free Palestine,” which in Palestinian lexicon translates into annihilating Israel and Jews. Imagine the outcry if these were attacks against the Afro-American community, akin to the George Floyd tragedy. And remember—Hillel’s windows were shot out here at the U in June 2024.
Kyle brazenly uses the Minnesota Daily to propagate his lies to UMN undergraduates, most of whom are likely oblivious to the true realities of Gaza. Normally, an extremist stance like Kyle’s would be simultaneously countered by an opposing viewpoint. The Daily must exercise greater discernment, refusing to be manipulated by such vitriol from terrorist enablers.
Remember: democratic Israel was the victim of genocide on October 7, 2023, perpetrated by the fascist Gaza Hamas government. Israel is defending itself against the systematic rape and murder of its people. The swiftest path to ending the Gaza war is for Hamas terrorists to lay down their weapons and return the hostages. It’s that simple.
Angry Prof
Jun 5, 2025 at 9:05 am
I am sorry the student author is being harangued by uninformed commenters with nothing better to do than lurk on a college news site.
Richard F Turnbull
Jun 4, 2025 at 6:59 am
It’s also important to realize Hamas has been stealing food and humanitarian aid for years, including killing Palestinians who try to access that aid. Hamas diverted hundreds of millions of dollars over years to build their hundreds of miles of tunnels – tunnels accessing hospitals and other civilian infrastructure. And of the estimated 54,000 Palestinian dead since October 7, 2023, we don’t know how many were Hamas terrorists – including some under age 18 labeled as “children,” who were armed terrorist fighters – the IDF claims it’s around 30,000. A number that makes sense, given that Hamas strategically uses civilians of all ages as human shields.
KG
Jun 3, 2025 at 11:02 am
Kyle, let’s cut through the abject lies you spew. Your pathetic attempt to parrot the “big lie” that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza is not just wrong; it’s a despicable perversion of truth. Get this through your head, Kyle: Israel is NOT committing genocide.
On October 7, 2023, a peaceful border was breached by heavily armed Hamas terrorists from Gaza—a territory where not a single Jew had resided for two decades. These fascist barbarians unleashed a campaign of terror. They committed mass rape, systematic murder, horrendous mutilation and unspeakable torture. They razed civilian Israeli villages, attacked a music festival, and dragged hundreds of innocent souls back into their hellhole. THAT, Kyle, is genocide.
Any functioning mind would immediately grasp that the fascist Hamas government and its terrorist thugs are solely responsible for all the death and destruction in Gaza. Your article should be a screaming condemnation of Hamas, but of course, your agenda is far different, isn’t it?
The Daily might charitably label you a “student activist,” but we know precisely who you are. You were arrested and charged with rioting, trespassing, and property damage during an anti-Israel spectacle at the U in October 2024. You are a proud member of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), an organization virtually indistinguishable from other extremist Palestinian groups that have unsettled normal university life and made campus unbearable for tens of thousands of students. You are nothing more than a vile, egotistical propagandist who, based on your past conduct, should have been barred from UMN entirely.
So, Kyle, understand this: your opinions are utterly worthless.
Israel is a vibrant, democratic nation that has an unassailable right to exist in peace in its ancestral homeland. If you genuinely want to see an end to the conflict in Gaza, then I have a suggestion that might actually require you to engage with reality: convince the Hamas terrorists to release the hostages, lay down their weapons, and exile themselves from Gaza. Anything less is simply enabling terror.
Richard F Turnbull
Jun 2, 2025 at 11:45 pm
Waging war against the Hamas terrorists isn’t “genocide,” no matter how often that confused version of events is repeated. Hamas uses schools, hospitals, apartment buildings and other civiilian infratructure to launch indiscriminate, illegal missile and mortar attacks into Israeli civilian areas, and could end the war immediately by ceasing those genocidal attempts and releasing the hostages.
Sumudu V. Nagodavithana
Jun 2, 2025 at 8:22 pm
Cannot agree more
Very well written!