A Norwegian university professor referred to as the October 7 Hamas assaults “the most beautiful thing that has happened in our century.”
Bassam Hussein, a venture administration professor at Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, made the feedback throughout an April 21 lecture organized by the Socialist Forum.
During his part about battle within the Middle East, Hussein referred to as October 7 “the most beautiful thing that has happened in our century,” including that it revealed, “there is no such thing as Israeli superiority.”
“Israel sold Jewish immigrants an idea. A kind of five-star settler life there. They told Jewish immigrants: come to us. Here you will get the finest life. You will get a home, a house, an apartment, a car, a job financed by Americans. And the only thing you have to do is serve in the army for 18 months. And that’s it. Then you can go and live. You can also have citizenship and everything. This is paradise. October 7 proved that this is not true at all.
“October 7 showed that no matter how strong you are, you still have vulnerabilities. And an intelligent, smart Palestinian military leader with 400 people can actually hurt them badly. So Israel became like a kind of dragon, a huge dragon spitting fire in all directions, that got a needle in its backside. That’s it. A needle in the backside.”
He additionally said his perception that Israel’s ambitions are better than being a regional energy and that the Jewish state needs to “take over the Western empire.”
“Remember that the State of Israel is really a continuation of European colonialism, just like the United States, just like Canada, and just like Australia. It is the same mentality. And therefore, I fear that this is Israel’s plan: to take over as a regional – no, as a global power.”
‘This Hamas supporter can not proceed educating’
Eytan Halon, Chargé d’affaires on the Israeli embassy in Oslo, referred to as it a “shocking glorification of terror.”
“This Hamas supporter cannot continue teaching Norway’s students [at] NTNU,” he mentioned.
In 2016, Hussein was named certainly one of Norway’s prime 10 excellent lecturers. He was additionally named an Excellent Teaching Practitioner at NTNU in 2023.
In 2025, the Board of the Student Society in Trondheim (Studentersamfundet i Trondheim) awarded Hussein their honorary membership in recognition of “his outspoken efforts to raise awareness and mobilize against the ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
According to a GoFundMe he opened in 2024, Hussein was born in Jabalya, Gaza. His household allegedly nonetheless resides there.
The Jerusalem Post reached out to NTNU for remark.