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Jerry Seinfeld Compares ‘Free Palestine’ Movement to KKK at Duke Event for Former Hamas Hostage
Jerry Seinfeld attends the premiere of Netflix’s “Unfrosted” at the Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles, California, US, April 30, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/David Swanson
Jewish comedian Jerry Seinfeld said during an appearance at Duke University on Tuesday that supporters of the “Free Palestine”movement are worse than the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan group.
Seinfeld, whose youngest son attends the school in Durham, North Carolina, made the remarks while introducing Omer Shem Tov, a former Hamas hostage who was kidnapped by terrorists from the Nova music festival in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. He was freed after 505 days in captivity as part of a ceasefire agreement in February. Hundreds attended the event at Duke’s Page Auditorium to hear Shem Tov speak about experiences in a discussion on stage with the event’s moderator, North Carolina State Sen. Sophia Chitlik (D-Durham). The event was organized largely by Chabad at Duke, with sponsorship from Duke’s Provost’s Initiative on the Middle East, university centers, and Jewish student groups on campus.
During Seinfeld’s opening remarks, he said, “Free Palestine is, to me, just — you’re free to say you don’t like Jews. Just say you don’t like Jews.”
“By saying ‘Free Palestine,’ you’re not admitting what you really think,” he continued. “So, it’s actually — compared to the Ku Klux Klan, I’m actually thinking the Klan is actually a little better here because they can come right out and say, ‘We don’t like Blacks, we don’t like Jews.’ OK, that’s honest.” His comments were reported by Duke’s student newspaper, The Chronicle.
Only Duke students, staff, and faculty were permitted to attend the event. Seinfeld’s appearance was a surprise and was not publicized beforehand. A university spokesperson told The Chronicle on Tuesday night that Seinfeld had “requested his appearance not be announced beforehand, given Omer Shem Tov’s experiences were the focus of the event.”
“Duke does not preview the remarks of speakers who are invited to campus, and the invitation of speakers to campus does not imply any endorsement of their remarks,” the spokesperson added.
Mason Herman, a senior at Duke and student president of the school’s Chabad, told NBC News that Chabad and the university are not responsible for remarks made by an invited speaker. “This event was highlighting the fact that there are more than 40 hostages still in Gaza,” he said. “To one, raise awareness of that fact, and two, to share their plight while in captivity. And to share Omer’s story.”
The last time Seinfeld spoke publicly at Duke was when he delivered the school’s commencement address in May 2024. His older son graduated that year from Duke. The school’s decision to have Seinfeld deliver the commencement address was criticized by some because of his pro-Israel views and dozens of students walked out of the ceremony in protest. Seinfeld’s daughter, Sascha, who is now a reporter for Bari Weiss’ news outlet The Free Press, is also an alum of Duke.
After the deadly massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Seinfeld posted a message on Instagram that said, “I Stand With Israel,” and shared that he lived and worked on a kibbutz in Israel when he was a teenager. In December of the same year, Seinfeld’s family traveled to Israel to meet with families of Israeli hostages and others impacted by the attack. During the trip, there was a missile attack, and the family had to seek shelter.
Seinfeld later said the experience gave him an understanding of what it means to live through and experience a war. He also told Weiss during an emotional interview that the trip was “the most powerful experience of my life.” He added that when he made “Seinfeld” in the 1990s, he thought that antisemitism was “seemingly a relic of history books.”
Seinfeld talked more about that trip to Israel during his remarks at Duke on Tuesday. He said his family visited Israel to “call attention to the plight of the hostages” and met with “several groups of hostage family members,” with whom they connected in a “heartbreaking moment.”
“So, to be here tonight and experiencing this is really incredible,” the comedian said before Shem Tov’s address on stage.
Shem Tov, who was 20 years old when he was kidnapped, told the crowd on Tuesday that he remembers being kicked, punched, and spit on as he was taken into captivity. “You cannot take your life for granted,” he told the audience, as reported by The Chronicle. “You have to understand that in a split second your life could change.”
Hamas-led terrorists murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Hamas is still holding captive 48 people who were abducted and 20 of those hostages are believed to be alive.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.