Lakshmi Padmanabhan, a film and media scholar at Northwestern University, has become a vocal participant in the academic normalization of anti-Israel extremism. While her discipline centers around storytelling, Padmanabhan consistently amplifies narratives that erase terrorism, frame violent resistance as justified, and promote solidarity with known extremist groups—all while hiding behind the language of liberation and artistic expression.
Active Signatory of Radical Statements
Padmanabhan’s name appears across multiple open letters and statements that defend or downplay Hamas-aligned rhetoric and openly support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement:
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August 2024: Signed a public statement titled “Northwestern University must stop supporting Israeli apartheid and occupation.”
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January 2024: Added her name to the Film Workers for Palestine Statement of Solidarity, a campaign known for equating artistic collaboration with political betrayal.
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November 2023: Endorsed a letter defending pro-Palestinian students accused of antisemitism, urging the administration to protect “academic freedom” rather than address the threats and harassment facing Jewish students.
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October 2023: Listed as a supporter of Writers Against the War on Gaza (WAWOG), a radical collective that refuses to condemn October 7 atrocities and frames Hamas violence as resistance.
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May 2021: Participated in a Brown University statement in “solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle”—a euphemism routinely used to justify violence against Israelis.
Platforming Extremist Voices and Erasing Terror
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In August 2024, Padmanabhan participated in a panel just days after protesting at the Democratic National Convention, where attendees praised the campus “intifada.” Rather than calling out this radicalization, she treated it as an inspiring moment for student organizing.
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She has written and spoken favorably about My Gaza, a photography collection by Jehad al-Saftawi, which depicts life in Gaza without acknowledging Hamas’s oppression or its terrorism.
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Her interviews and analysis consistently center Palestinian victimhood while never addressing the massacre of Israeli civilians, including those murdered during the October 7 attacks.
Affiliation with Dangerous Activist Circles
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Padmanabhan is a known supporter of WAWOG, a group that promotes violent resistance and refuses to acknowledge or condemn terrorism. Their messaging glorifies anti-Israel militancy and insists on “unconditional solidarity,” regardless of the violence being defended.
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Through her teaching, panels, and writing, she glorifies one-sided narratives that cast Israel as an illegitimate regime and silence the Jewish experience entirely.
Why She Matters
Lakshmi Padmanabhan may work behind the lens, but her influence is front and center in the campus radicalization movement. Her classroom and platform have become tools for embedding extremist worldviews into creative disciplines—weaponizing art, film, and scholarship in service of political propaganda.
🔴 She signs statements defending antisemitic behavior on campus.
🔴 She platforms voices that erase terrorism and glorify “resistance.”
🔴 She helps build solidarity networks with groups that endorse Hamas’s narrative.
Northwestern University must decide: Will it continue to empower faculty who excuse terror under the pretense of “solidarity”? Or will it uphold its responsibility to foster truth, safety, and academic integrity? Lakshmi Padmanabhan is not just an artist or a teacher—she is a propagandist shielding extremism with a creative veil.
