The controversy began on Nov. 9th during a pro-Palestinian protest on the USC campus and Strauss walked by near the Tommy Trojan statue on campus. He had words with the protesters and, in the course of their exchange, Strauss said that he walked toward the students and inadvertently stepped on flyers showing Palestinians killed in Gaza. The students said it was intentional.

When Strauss has a second encounter with the protesters, one student yelled “Shame on you, Professor Strauss. Shame on you.” In response, he yelled “No, shame on you. You people are ignorant. Really ignorant. Hamas are murderers. That’s all they are. Every one should be killed, and I hope they all are.”

That videotape was then edited and a viral video showed Strauss saying, “Every one should be killed, and I hope they all are.” The posters removed the reference to Hamas.

[FIRE has taken up Strauss’ case with USC, demanding full reinstatement and defense of speech rights — especially given the clearly dishonest framing that his critics used. As Turley points out, this is a reasonable response about a terrorist organization that has just massacred hundreds of unarmed men, women, and children in pursuit of its annihilationist goals. Only college students would be idiotic enough to believe otherwise. — Ed]