Pro-Israel Terrorizing of University & Students
Updated 2024-08-28
2024-08-15 Columbia President Minouche Shafik steps down months after protests over Israel-Hamas war gripped campus Columbia University President Minouche Shafik is stepping down months after protests over the Israel-Hamas war gripped the campus, Shafik announced in a letter sent Wednesday to the Columbia community.
Shafik — an Egyptian-born economist and former high-ranking official at the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and Bank of England, and former president of the London School of Economics — has faced pressure for her handling of Columbia campus encampments protesting the war between Israel and Hamas. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/columbia-president-minouche-shafik-steps-down-months-after-protests-over-israel-hamas-war-gripped-campus/ar-AA1oOPWQ?
2024-05-14 Greens Take a Stand with #Ceasefire Movement The Green Party has long stood in solidarity with the struggle for justice and liberation in Palestine. While the arrest of 2024 Green Party Presidential contender Jill Stein has been national news, Greens across the country (including in Illinois) have been joining rallies, marches, teach-ins, and encampments calling for an immediate ceasefire and the end of the current assault on Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands.
On April 27, 2024, 2024, Dr. Jill Stein, who is running for the Green Party US nomination for president, was arrested with others, including members of her campaign staff, at the Gaza Solidarity encampment at Washington University in Missouri, where an encampment had been set up calling on the university to divest from defense contractor Boeing. Dr. Stein was in Missouri to collect ballot access petitions in order to be on the ballot in November and went to the encampment after being invited by the students involved.
As with elsewhere in the country, police violently broke up the peaceful demonstration and arrested protestors. In a Green Party US press release following Dr. Stein’s arrest, Gloria Mattera, co-chair of the Media Committee of the Green Party, said, “The Green Party is appalled at the level of brutality that campus administrators and local police have employed in breaking up peaceful protests by students exercising their First Amendment Rights to protest what they view as genocide by Israel in Gaza. We see yet again that free speech rights are perfectly okay in America, until someone advocates a position that runs afoul of the agenda of the two parties of war and Wall Street. When that happens, the state will respond with illegal violence and unconstitutional repression, and candidates for rival parties will not be spared … [more]. https://www.gp.org/greens_stand_with_ceasefire_movement
2024-04-23 House GOP Plays Politics With Campus Antisemitism While Enabling Islamophobia The House education committee has not made any efforts to investigate the targeting of Muslim and Palestinian students despite the fact that it keeps happening with sometimes violent consequences.
The spirit of Joseph McCarthy is alive and well in the halls of Congress. For proof, look no further than the Republican-controlled House education committee’s latest hearing focused on investigating allegations of antisemitism at American colleges and universities.
During this week’s widely covered hearing, many committee members followed a predictable playbook: mischaracterize any pro-Palestinian student activism as antisemitic, ask incendiary “gotcha” questions about imaginary incidents of antisemitism, and then pressure college leaders to silence young people who advocate for Palestinian human rights.
House committee members like Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) have mastered this artform, which gives them an opportunity to go viral in right-wing media, smear pro-Palestinian students, and virtue signal that they oppose any form of bigotry even as their political party enables nearly every form of bigotry. https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/house-gop-campus-antisemitism
2024-04-15 USC Cancels Valedictorian’s Commencement Address Amid Accusations of Antisemitism University of Southern California canceled the commencement address of valedictorian Asna Tabassum on Monday in the wake of complaints and petitions accusing the biomedical engineering senior of antisemitism.
Provost Andrew T. Guzman announced the school’s decision in a community-wide notice on Monday, writing, “When tensions are running so high across the world, we must prioritize the safety of our community” and that the decision “is consistent with the fundamental legal obligation – including the expectations of federal regulators – that universities act to protect students and keep our campus community safe.
Guzman said that discussion relating to Tabassum’s social media presence — which in addition to linking to a “Free Palestine” website in her Instagram bio has been accused by USC student group Trojans for Israel of being that of “a student who openly traffics antisemitic and anti-Zionist rhetoric” — has reached “an alarming tenor” on and off campus.
“The intensity of feelings, fueled by both social media and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, has grown to include many voices outside of USC and has escalated to the point of creating substantial risks relating to security and disruption at commencement,” he wrote. “We cannot ignore the fact that similar risks have led to harassment and even violence at other campuses.” “https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/usc-cancels-valedictorian-s-commencement-address-amid-accusations-of-antisemitism/ar-BB1lGsEx?
2024-03-12 Columbia Sued Over ‘Retaliatory’ Suspension of Pro-Palestine Student Groups “Universities should be havens for robust debate, discussion, and learning—not sites of censorship where administrators, donors, and politicians squash political discourse they don’t approve of,” said the head of the NYCLU.
The New York Civil Liberties Union and Palestine Legal on Tuesday filed a lawsuit on behalf of members of two pro-Palestine student groups at Columbia University which avocates say were illegally suspended for engaging in peaceful protests and other events protected under the First Amendment. https://www.commondreams.org/news/columbia-suspension
2024-03-10 College Antidiscrimination Suits Over Anti-Israel Speech Aren’t Designed to Win But to Intimidate Israel doesn’t represent all Jews any more than Trump represented all Americans. Cynicism breeds cynicism. Cry wolf enough times and some people will either stop believing wolves exist or they’ll become indifferent to you being mauled by one.
What, then, qualifies as an antisemitic view about Israel? According to these lawsuits, “criticism” is ok, but “demonizing,” “delegitimizing,” or “applying a double standard to Israel” crosses the line. If that line seems vague and slippery, that’s the entire point: it’s no coincidence that authoritarian regimes use the same formulation. (In Russia, too, its ok to criticize the armed forces; you only get jailed for “discrediting” them.)
This, however, is the least worrisome feature of these lawsuits. The greatest threat that Jews face isn’t psychic discomfort from anti-Israel speech–it’s that people will conflate Israel and the Jews and displace their rage at the former onto the latter. Conflation and its corollary–collective responsibility–drive the surge in anti-Jewish hate crimes every time the Israeli-Palestinian conflict flares up. Every one of these lawsuits rightfully sounds the alarm about the trope of collective responsibility. And yet, their argument that it’s unavoidably antisemitic to criticize Israel does more to bolster that trope than any vitriol-spewing campus antisemite could. https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/college-antisemitism-lawsuits
2024-03-08 Columbia Professor who Spoke Out Against Antisemitism on Campus Now Under Investigation by Administration Shai Davidai, an associate professor of business at Columbia University who has become a leading voice against antisemitism on college campuses, is the target of a university investigation that he believes is politically motivated, he told National Review Friday.
Davidai told NR that the university gave him a list of specific social-media posts on specific dates that prompted the investigation, all of which he said were about “student organizations that support Hamas and support the Houthis and that are using antisemitic chants in unauthorized protests.”
He first spoke publicly about the investigation in a Friday morning post on X, writing that it “is a clear act of retaliation and an attempt to silence” him. In the written statement he shared, Davidai wrote that “Jewish students at Columbia have been locking themselves in their dorm rooms to avoid being assaulted.” https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/columbia-professor-who-spoke-out-against-antisemitism-on-campus-now-under-investigation-by-administration/ar-BB1jzZuZ?
2024-01-29 Prevarication on Pro-Palestinian Voices at Indiana University Indiana University President Whitten and her administration have recently suspended Abdulkader Sinno, the tenured faculty advisor of the Palestine Solidarity Committee student group, and then canceled a long-planned Ezkenazi Museum exhibit featuring the work of acclaimed artist Samia Halaby, a Palestinian intellectual who has been very critical of the current Israeli bombardment of Gaza.
These measures were taken shortly after Rep. Jim Banks’s very public demand that Whitten crackdown on pro-Palestinian activism on campus. It begs credulity to consider this a coincidence. The administration, to the extent that it has made any effort to explain these measures, insists that they are justified by the university’s obligation to provide “security” and guarantee “public safety” for controversial campus activities, and that pro-Palestinian events, being controversial, require special security measures.
But if “security” is the administration’s concern, a number of questions immediately present themselves. The most obvious question is the simplest one: if current controversies related to Israel-Palestine are so heated that they place people on campus in jeopardy, why is it only the pro-Palestinian events that require special security attention? Why haven’t pro-Israeli or even all Jewish events on campus received the same level of attention and scrutiny? https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/gaza-university-of-indiana-antisemitism
2024-01-22 At Columbia, Student Protesters Say They Were Attacked With Chemicals Columbia University and the Police Department are investigating reports that pro-Palestinian student demonstrators were sprayed with a foul-smelling chemical during a protest last week, leading the university on Monday to bar the people accused of spraying it from campus. He called the events at the protest, on the steps of Low Library, “deeply troubling” and added that the university condemned “in the strongest possible terms any threats or acts of violence” directed toward its community members. Some students required medical treatment, the statement said. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/22/nyregion/palestinian-protest-columbia-university.html
2023-12-29 Student protestors at UMass Amherst barred from studying abroad MHERST, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) – Over 50 UMass Amherst students were arrested in October at a pro-Palestinian sit-in, where they called for the university to take action in the midst of the Israel-Hamas war. Now, some of those students are facing further punishment. Western Mass News spoke with the attorney who is representing those students, who are facing consequences for what the university is calling “breaking the code of conduct.” One of those repercussions could cost some of them tens of thousands of dollars and rob them of a once in a lifetime experience to study abroad.
Attorney Shay Negron shared her reaction to the decision that barred arrested students from studying abroad in the spring, stating, “It’s frustrating. As an attorney, we stand by these judicial procedures and rules and appeal processes.”
She went on to add, “These are students that were peacefully protesting. One of the things they mention in my phone calls with them is ‘we were peaceful, we even cleaned up after ourselves. Like, we were quiet’ and they just wanted to get the attention and response from Chancellor Reyes and UMass.”
One of Negron’s clients who wishes to remain anonymous provided us with a statement that reads: “I am now at risk of missing an entire semester of studies while also losing over $20,000 because UMass barred me from studying abroad. This decision reflects a pattern of attacks across college campuses targeting students for speaking out against Israel’s brutal genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The UMass international programs office should immediately reverse its decision and grant us permission to study abroad. No student should have to face targeted backlash from their university for speaking out against genocide.” https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/careersandeducation/student-protestors-at-umass-amherst-barred-from-studying-abroad/ar-AA1me0lG
2023-12-28 Ousted UPenn board chair says donors shouldn’t decide policy after contributions pulled over school’s handling of antisemitism https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ousted-upenn-board-chair-says-donors-shouldn-t-decide-policy-after-contributions-pulled-over-school-s-handling-of-antisemitism/ar-AA1maank?
2023-12-26 Students Fighting Antisemitism Use Legal Tool That Tests Power at US Colleges University of Pennsylvania senior Eyal Yakoby wasn’t going to sit idly by as antisemitism crept across campus this fall. The Israeli American wrote to President Elizabeth Magill to warn about the hostile environment for Jews on campus following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. Instead of studying for finals, he went to Congress on Dec. 5 for a press conference.
On the day he went to Congress, Yakoby and another student also sued Penn, claiming the school fostered a hostile environment that left them feeling unsafe in class or crossing the campus. Their lawsuit is one of several filed in recent weeks against universities by students citing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The law may become the most powerful legal tool to force universities to change how they balance free speech with the need to protect students from discrimination. The US Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights oversees enforcement of the law and is using it to impose changes through a less confrontational method. Instead of suing, it typically negotiates with schools as it makes nondiscrimination a condition of receiving federal funding. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/students-fighting-antisemitism-use-legal-tool-that-tests-power-at-us-colleges/ar-AA1m2KB1
2023-12-23 Stefanik slams Harvard prof suggesting school doesn’t need to cooperate with congressional probes: ‘Harvard is funded with billions of taxpayer dollars’ The House Education and Workforce Committee has launched a probe into allegations of rampant antisemitism on Harvard’s campus and academic dishonesty on the part of the school’s president, Claudine Gay. Harvard Law Professor Randall Kennedy told the New York Times Friday that his support for Gay is “unmoved” despite dozens of instances of alleged plagiarism by Gay uncovered by The Post –— including portions of her 1997 Ph.D. thesis. Kennedy, 69, also suggested that Harvard leadership could decline to cooperate with the congressional probe if it finds lawmakers’ inquiries to be “bad faith efforts to harass, embarrass and intimidate.” https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/stefanik-slams-harvard-prof-suggesting-school-doesn-t-need-to-cooperate-with-congressional-probes-harvard-is-funded-with-billions-of-taxpayer-dollars/ar-AA1lVcIR
2023-12-22 Ethics charge against Westfield school board member over alleged antisemitism dismissed The New Jersey School Ethics Commission has dismissed charges that a Westfield school board member violated state ethics rules by posting social media statements that a resident claimed were antisemitic. The Commission voted Dec. 19 to formalize the dismissal of the complaint made against school board member Sahar Aziz, a professor at Rutgers Law School, initially filed by Stephanie Siegel in February and amended in March. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ethics-charge-against-westfield-school-board-member-over-alleged-antisemitism-dismissed/ar-AA1lU87D
2023-12-20 The Palestine Exception to Campus Free Speech On Nov. 9, 2023, I and nine of my peers organized and participated in a sit-in at our high school’s annual Veterans Day ceremony to protest Israel’s attack on Gaza, challenge United States military and political funding of the genocide of Palestinians, and show our solidarity with the Palestinian cause. We filled rows of our gym wearing white shirts that read “Stop Israel, Stop Genocide” and held signs reading “We Are the Resistance” and “Free Palestine” during the event.
The aftermath of our disruption was swift and serious. We were humiliated by our administration, removed from leadership positions for not “reflecting school values,” and given referrals from our district for “printing political propaganda.” our school principal told us, “This is already in your permanent record”—and that there was nothing we could do to get it expunged. As seniors applying to colleges, it appeared that the marks on our records were meant to jeopardize our futures.
Schools are also cracking down on what students can discuss inside the classroom. Ali says, “I try to discuss it as much as possible in class, but recently Loudoun County Public Schools have banned a lot of pro-Palestine slogans and symbols, so there are definitely some restrictions from the admin.”
As I processed my “punishment,” I learned that our situation wasn’t unique. In response to the constant Israeli bombings of the Gaza Strip, which, as of this writing, have killed more than 20,000 people—many of whom are children—students in high schools across the country have held pro-Palestine demonstrations, sit-ins, and walkouts, and called for an end to Israel’s violence.
Despite attempts to censor and intimidate young organizers at U.S. high schools, students, including myself, are determined to organize against the occupation from the “Belly of the Beast,” to quote Che Guevara. The biggest tool for young Americans is social media, which has been vital not only in educating, but in circulating news from inside Gaza into the heart of the U.S. empire. https://www.yesmagazine.org/opinion/2023/12/20/campus-speech-palestine-gaza
2023-12-20 The Harvard/Kanye Axis Reveals More Than Antisemitism After the catastrophic congressional testimony of several prominent university presidents, at which the moral decay of our elite academic institutions was on full display, donors, oversight bodies and others exerted significant pressure to have them removed from their positions. University of Pennsylvania president Liz Magill resigned the weekend after the hearing. Harvard president Claudine Gay and MIT president Sally Kornbluth survive, and Harvard’s board issued a unanimous statement of support for Ms. Gay just last week. What accounts for the difference? One word: consequences.
Shortly after the congressional hearing, Penn donor Ross Stevens withdrew a $100 million donation in protest of the university’s failure to adhere to its anti-discrimination and anti-harassment requirements. At the same time, the Wharton School board of advisors called for changes in university leadership, expressing concern about a “dangerous and toxic culture” they believed the school had allowed to exist. Both Ms. Magill and Board of Trustees chair Scott Bok resigned on Dec. 9.
At Harvard, hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, former university president Larry Summers, and a number of significant donors expressed similar concerns about Ms. Gay. That she remains in her position is evidence that Harvard is largely impervious to outside pressure. With foibles including its dead-last rating from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) on free expression, the occupation of Widener Library by pro-Palestinian activists, the harassment of Jewish students following Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, and a recent Supreme Court decision holding that its race-conscious admissions policies violate the Fourteenth Amendment, why isn’t Harvard held to account by its community and the wider culture? https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/the-harvard-kanye-axis-reveals-more-than-antisemitism/ar-AA1lMO5n
2023-12-19 Brown University pushes ahead with criminal charges against 41 student protesters Brown University is moving ahead with trespassing charges against 41 students arrested during a peaceful protest last week. As of Tuesday, members of the Brown Divest Coalition, which organized the Dec. 11 sit-in at University Hall, were preparing for six court dates stretching over winter break, from Jan. 9-18. Ouyang said a group called Brown University Alumni for Palestine launched a legal fund to help with students’ legal expenses, and alumni also started an email campaign that has prompted some 3,000 emails to university President Christina Paxson, calling for the charges to be dropped https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/brown-university-pushes-ahead-with-criminal-charges-against-41-student-protesters/ar-AA1lLbFR
2023-12-19 NYC pre-K teacher wasn’t punished for ‘antisemitic’ poster as parents call for probe over ‘campaign against Jews’ Siriana Abboud, a 29-year-old teacher at PS 59, Beekman Hill International School, sparked outrage over the poster, which featured drawings of different noses with the question, “Why do people have different noses?” written on it. “I think it’s based on your ethnic identity. In art, we learn that you can often tell ethnicity from the bridge of your nose,” a note on the poster signed “Siriana (PreK)” said. Jewish staffers complained that the display evoked cruel antisemitic stereotypes. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/nyc-pre-k-teacher-wasn-t-punished-for-antisemitic-poster-as-parents-call-for-probe-over-campaign-against-jews/ar-AA1lLdk7?
2023-12-17 The NYT Is Fanning the Flames of a Fake Outrage When covering right-wing claims of antisemitism on campus, reporters for an ostensibly liberal paper should be looking at what is actually being said and what is actually happening.
University presidents are under fire from politicians and the media over what is being framed as their waffling over allowing antisemitic speech on their campuses. But it is a concocted outrage that has nothing to do with safeguarding Jewish students, and The New York Times is going along for the ride. The uproar concerns an appearance by the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania before the House Education committee, in which Rep. Elise Stefanik (R–N.Y.) grilled them about antisemitism on campus and whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” violates university codes of conduct.
But there are two big problems with the Times‘ framing: The calls for genocide were imaginary, and the presidents’ answers were not evasive, they were accurate reflections of the constitutional protections of free speech and the scope of university policies on harassment and bullying. https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/nyt-fake-outrage-campus-antisemitism
2023-12-15 A Palestinian student was expelled from a Florida high school after his mother made pro-Palestinian posts on social media The Council on American-Islamic Relations has requested the US Department of Education investigate the expulsion of a Palestinian American high school student over pro-Palestinian content his mother posted on social media. Jad Abuhamda, 15, was expelled on November 19 from the Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and his mother, Dr. Maha Almasri, was fired from her position as a math tutor at the school after she made posts criticizing Israel’s “collective brutality” against Palestinian civilians and children in Gaza during the ongoing war, CAIR said in a Wednesday news release. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/a-palestinian-student-was-expelled-from-a-florida-high-school-after-his-mother-made-pro-palestinian-posts-on-social-media/ar-AA1lziOe
2023-12-13 Rutgers University Suspends Students for Justice in Palestine amid DOE Investigation Rutgers University has suspended its chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, the youth-led pro-Palestinian group responsible for many recent antisemitic campus protests. Associate Dean of Students Michelle Jefferson said in a letter that the student group was placed under an interim suspension on Tuesday. It is unclear how long the suspension will last. The New Jersey college joins a host of other universities that have also disbanded their campus SJP chapters, including Columbia University and Brandeis University.
The group’s Instagram page [MEK Note: Besides the Rutgers Ban, Instagram has removed the student’s site. Antisemitism weaponized against pro-semitic Palestinian group] lists many pro-Palestinian protests it has conducted since October 7; a study-in strike in a library, a courtyard demonstration with a sheet that read “Rutgers you have blood on your hands,” a protest of the school’s board of governors meeting, and an event to demand a permanent cease-fire in Gaza. The group’s page also describes a number of ways students can support the anti-Israel boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement.
On October 10, Rutgers SJP posted its first social-media post since October 7. Students were told to go “all out for Palestine” at an SJP-sponsored teach-in. SJP noted that students should “maintain anonymity: wear masks/sunglasses, do not disclose personal info of yourself or others,” “blur, or avoid posting photos with others’ faces entirely,” and “refrain from speaking to the press/[Rutgers University Police Department].”
“Rutgers Students for Justice in Palestine believes in the power of activism to educate Rutgers University-Newark about the ongoing plight of the Palestinian people as well as their history and cultural heritage,” the group’s still-active university profile says. “Furthermore, RSJP seeks to promote the Palestinian right to education and to foster communication with Palestinian schools and scholars. In the spirit of free expression, RSJP seeks to provide an alternative perspective to existing narratives as well as to engage in constructive dialogue, discussion and coalition building with other Rutgers student organizations.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/rutgers-university-suspends-students-for-justice-in-palestine-amid-doe-investigation/ar-AA1lpSKl
2023-12-13 The conversation we can’t avoid about pro-Palestinian campus protests Wendy Pearlman is a professor of political science and interim director of the Middle East and North Africa Studies Program at Northwestern University. I’ve been paying close attention to what’s being discussed during this uproar — and what isn’t. As a graduate student two decades ago, I was president of the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter at Harvard. Our small group sponsored the occasional lecture or film screening, but for the most part we were ignored.
Last week’s hearing by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce took place amid worldwide outcry about the colossal scale of death and destruction in Gaza. Antisemitism, like all forms of racism, should be denounced and combatted everywhere, without exception. But the timing of the hearing suggests to me that something else is going on as well. Accusations of antisemitism are being used to silence criticism of the state of Israel. Lawmakers on the committee blurred the line between Jews and Israel and equated antisemitism and pro-Palestinian dissent.
The Anti-Defamation League and Brandeis Center urged administrators to investigate SJP chapters, suggesting that students are “materially supporting” terrorists. Some schools, among them Brandeis, George Washington University and Columbia, banned or suspended their SJP chapters. Columbia also suspended Jewish Voice for Peace, a Jewish anti-Zionist organization in solidarity with Palestinians’ freedom struggle.
Meanwhile, there have been alarming reports of nationwide information-gathering operations against pro-Palestinian student activists. Some have been doxed or seen their faces plastered on billboard trucks. Others have seen job offers rescinded or denied. Some have even received death threats. For weeks, students criticizing Israel’s military actions have spoken about being afraid to show their faces, express themselves on social media, wear keffiyehs or speak Arabic in public. Their fears took on alarming resonance after the shooting in Vermont of three Palestinian undergraduates, which left one paralyzed and is being investigated as a possible hate crime.
University administrators have given far too little attention to dangers faced by students who stand with the Palestinian cause. What they have done is denounce antisemitism.
That has been the focus in Washington as well. Both the Senate and the House have passed resolutions condemning student activities that they labeled as antisemitic and “pro-Hamas.” The Biden administration announced a raft of measures to combat antisemitism at schools and universities. And numerous top law firms sent a joint letter to law school deans across the country last month, threatening not to hire their students unless deans addressed antisemitism on campus.
Why so much attention to universities right now? I would suggest that those who want to preserve US support for Israel view today’s college students as a looming threat. Surveys have shown that young Americans are far more critical of Israel than are older Americans. Gen Z students, coming of age in an era of mass action on Black Lives Matter, climate change and gun safety, are rallying broad coalitions in support of Palestinian freedom. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/opinion-the-conversation-we-can-t-avoid-about-pro-palestinian-campus-protests/ar-AA1ls1Y5
2023-12-13 These 125 Democrats voted against a resolution declaring that the presidents of Harvard and MIT should resign after recent antisemitism testimony The resolution, which essentially calls for the presidents of Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to resign, was ultimately opposed by 125 House Democrats — a strong majority of the caucus. Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who has voted against multiple pro-Israel resolutions in recent weeks, also voted no. Meanwhile, three House Democrats voted present: Reps. Julia Brownley and Jimmy Gomez of California, and Rep. Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania. It’s the latest contentious resolution to hit the House floor since the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack, coming in the wake of a resolution affirming support for Israel, a resolution affirming the Jewish state’s right to exist, and a resolution equating anti-Zionism with antisemitism. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/these-125-democrats-voted-against-a-resolution-declaring-that-the-presidents-of-harvard-and-mit-should-resign-after-recent-antisemitism-testimony/ar-AA1lsTam
2023-12-12 Rabbi David Wolpe slams Harvard’s ‘climate of intimidation’ stemming from antisemitism on campus https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/rabbi-david-wolpe-slams-harvard-s-climate-of-intimidation-stemming-from-antisemitism-on-campus/vi-AA1lkuwS?ocid=socialshare
2023-12-11 Peter Beinart & Omer Bartov on UPenn President Resignation, Gaza & the Weaponization of Antisemitism University of Pennsylvania President Elizabeth Magill voluntarily resigned her position Saturday after a House Education Committee hearing last Tuesday on how colleges have handled antisemitism. Magill has faced demands to resign since September, when she refused to bow to pressure to cancel the Palestine Writes Literature Festival on campus. More universities face accusations that they have failed to protect Jewish students since the October 7 Hamas incursion into southern Israel amid a broader effort to restrict pro-Palestinian speech on campus. We speak with Peter Beinart, professor of journalism at the City University of New York and the editor-at-large of Jewish Currents, and with Omer Bartov, a professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University. “This whole discussion seems to me to be the least important issue,” says Bartov. “What is most important now is that Israel now has been conducting a war for weeks and weeks in which it has killed thousands and thousands https://www.democracynow.org/2023/12/11/campus_antisemitism_and_resignations
2023-12-10 ‘Horrifying Precedent’: Penn President Resigns Amid Right-Wing Campus Speech Uproar “She was coerced into resigning for defending her students’ right to political free speech,” said one critic. Professors at the University of Pennsylvania on Saturday were joined by rights advocates in condemning the attacks that forced university president Liz Magill to resign days after she testified before the U.S. Congress.
Magill had angered lawmakers from both parties by refusing to say students should be punished for hypothetically “calling for the genocide of Jews.” Magill announced her resignation Saturday after the university lost a $100 million donation from hedge fund manager Ross Stevens, a Penn alum, due to last Tuesday’s hearing at the House Education and Workforce Committee.
At the hearing, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) demanded to know whether hypothetical calls for committing a genocide against Jewish people would violate the policies of Penn, Harvard, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Stefanik also conflated calls for “intifada”—an uprising against oppression which is not necessarily violent or aimed at eliminating any group of people—with demands for a genocide against Jewish people. Committee members did not point to examples of students actually calling for genocide.
Magill’s testimony represented Penn’s official rules governing free speech, which state that “universities can invest their efforts and resources in educating their members and in creating spaces and contexts for productive dialogue, but they cannot legitimately punish members—students, staff, and faculty—who choose not to participate in those, or who profess bigoted and other hateful views.” https://www.commondreams.org/news/penn-president-resigns
2023-12-06 Penn Sued by Students Claiming Antisemitism on Campus The University of Pennsylvania was sued by a pair of students who claim the campus was a hotbed of antisemitism even before Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7. Penn became the third major US college, after New York University and the University of California at Berkeley, to face lawsuits in the last month claiming the schools put Jewish students at risk amid campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war. https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/penn-sued-by-students-claiming-antisemitism-on-campus/ar-AA1l2OMn
2023-12-05 Harvard alumni are slashing donations and taking the college out of their wills over its response to the Israel-Hamas war: Bloomberg Harvard alumni are slashing their donations amid reports of on-campus semitism, per Bloomberg. The university has found itself in the spotlight over its response to the Israel-Hamas war. One alumna told Bloomberg that she won’t encourage her classmates to donate this year. On October 8, a group of Harvard student organizations signed a pro-Hamas letter blaming Israel for the Islamist militant group’s terrorist attacks on Israel the previous day. https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/harvard-alumni-are-slashing-donations-and-taking-the-college-out-of-their-wills-over-its-response-to-the-israel-hamas-war-bloomberg/ar-AA1l0FIt
2023-12-04 Campus antisemitism has become systemic due to ‘diversity, equity and inclusion’ Two major changes in universities have contributed significantly to the dramatic rise of antisemitism on college campuses. The first is the creation of large bureaucracies whose purpose is to propagandize students in favor of a particular ideology: diversity, equity and inclusion. The second is the formation of special departments and programs designed to promote the ideologies of particular identity groups, such as Blacks, women, gays, Muslims, Native Americans and Jews.https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/campus-antisemitism-has-become-systemic-due-to-diversity-equity-and-inclusion/ar-AA1kZlPk
2023-11-12 UNIVERSITY STUDENTS OUTRAGED AT BLATANT ADMINISTRATIVE OVERREACH Over the past four weeks, National Students for Justice in Palestine has witnessed the most blatant administrative and governmental assault on students’ political speech in recent history. We are deeply concerned with politically-motivated administrative retaliation against individual students and student organizations at universities across North America. This unconstitutional and immoral suppression of our students—students speaking out against the decades-old genocidal depravity of a US vassal state—has cast a dark shadow over our supposedly pluralistic institutions.
American universities pride themselves on providing a diversified, transformative education. Yet, world-renowned institutions, including Columbia University, Brandeis University, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, have taken direct action against Palestinian, Jewish, and allied students who have dared to speak out against US participation in the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. This isn’t just an infringement on Palestinian rights; it’s a signifier of the erosion of US democracy itself.
The administrative surveillance and targeting of individual students sets an extremely concerning precedent. A student at New York University was suspended for one year for simply tearing down a Zionist propaganda poster on campus. Nearly sixty students at UMass Amherst were arrested and now face disciplinary action for their sit-in, a non-violent protest. Harvard University evicted a Black student from student housing for helping marshal a protest. Across the country, students have been notified that university administrators are coordinating with campus police, state police, and even the Department of Homeland Security to suppress pro-Palestine activism.
Our students’ resolve and pursuit of justice remain unmoved by fear of administrative reprisal. As we continue to fight for Palestinian liberation on campus, we call on journalists, reporters, columnists, and academics to use their influential platforms to expose instances of administrative overreach and external pressure. The agendas of political lobbyists and wealthy donors have no place on our university campuses; it’s crucial to hold these institutions and their administrative bodies accountable and protect the voices of students facing unjust McCarthyist targeting.
National Students for Justice in Palestine calls on all journalists of conscience to cover these administrator-led recrimination campaigns and wide-scale violations of student and faculty rights. We commend student organizers for steadfastly upholding their political line despite these attempts to silence our righteous fight for justice.https://nationalsjp.org/university-students-outraged-at-blatant-administrative-overreach
2023-11-29 Harvard, Penn, MIT Presidents Called Before Congress on Antisemitism The presidents of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will be called before Congress next week to address antisemitism on their campuses. Set to appear Dec. 5 on Capitol Hill are Harvard’s Claudine Gay, Penn’s Liz Magill and MIT’s Sally Kornbluth, according to a statement from the House Education and Workforce Committee.
“Over the past several weeks, we’ve seen countless examples of antisemitic demonstrations on college campuses,” Representative Virginia Foxx, a Republican from North Carolina and chair of the committee, said in a statement. “Meanwhile, college administrators have largely stood by, allowing horrific rhetoric to fester and grow.” Harvard has been chastised by alumni including US Senator Mitt Romney and billionaire investor Bill Ackman for not doing enough to keep Jewish students safe, and donors have announced they would stop supporting the Ivy League university. Ackman has called for Harvard to discipline protesters who violate rules because he said the lack of punishment further emboldens them to take “more aggressive, disruptive and antisemitic actions.” https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/careersandeducation/harvard-penn-mit-presidents-called-before-congress-on-antisemitism/ar-AA1kFxru
2023-11-29 NYC chancellor denies high schoolers who stormed halls demanding Jewish teacher’s ouster are ‘radicalized’ ew York City Schools Chancellor David Banks on Monday staunchly denied allegations that the approximately 400 students who swarmed the halls of Hillcrest High School last week demanding the ouster of a Jewish teacher who supports Israel had been in any way “radicalized.” “This is a really good school with wonderful young people. And I’m so taken aback by this notion that these kids are terrorists … or radicalized. Even that kind of language is just terrible, and it’s irresponsible,” Banks said at a press conference, confirming that some students had been suspended or faced disciplinary action after the incident. Viral video showed students acting out after the teacher’s social media profile showed she attended an off-campus rally in support of Israel. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/nyc-chancellor-denies-high-schoolers-who-stormed-halls-demanding-jewish-teacher-s-ouster-are-radicalized/ar-AA1kFqjr?
2023-11-28 Pro-terrorist cash is funding US higher ed, and taxpayers should be upset about it Over the last seven weeks, anti-American, anti-Israel and antisemitic activity has consumed higher education. College administrations, flush with foreign cash and taxpayer dollars, continue to give Hamas sympathizers free rein. In response, many families have begun to reconsider where they should send their donations or even whether they should send their children to such schools. Professors celebrate the massacre of Jewish civilians and justify terrorism. Universities such as Yale defend such behavior by faculty in the name of free speech, and some even reward it with paid leave, as Cornell has done.
Student groups, particularly Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (don’t let the name fool you), threaten Jews and sow hatred. Columbia stands as one of the few outliers in suspending these two organizations, albeit for just six weeks. Other universities that seek to regain the respect they lost by remaining silent in the face of pro-terrorist campus demonstrations would be wise to follow suit.
But why does higher education protect those who actively threaten both Jews and the U.S.? Everyone knows universities are beholden to their massive endowments. So, follow the money.
A 2020 study by the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism & Policy reveals a direct correlation between donations to universities by Qatar and other Gulf States and the presence of SJP groups on campus. In the wake of Oct. 7, SJP chapters have organized rallies across college campuses, many of which have glorified Hamas terrorists as “martyrs,” called for a “globalization” of terrorist violence, and demanded the elimination of the Jewish state. Given that Qatar funds Hamas, and Hamas is closely tied to SJP, it naturally follows that university administrations sitting on cash piles from Qatar would take a hands-off approach to SJP. It should come as no surprise that students who justify terrorism enjoy greater university protection than the students they terrorize. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/pro-terrorist-cash-is-funding-us-higher-ed-and-taxpayers-should-be-upset-about-it/ar-AA1kF72Y
2023-11-21 US universities have spent years sowing seeds of today’s antisemitism American colleges have been hotbeds of racial grievance and enablers of violence since the 1960s. It should come as no surprise, then, that college students and professors are now celebrating terrorism and threatening Jewish students on their own campuses. Just on Thursday, the Department of Education announced that it is investigating five K-12 and/or universities for antisemitism.
Some of the most explicit violent threats have materialized at Cornell, my alma mater and one of the schools under investigation. Last month, a 21-year-old student, Patrick Dai, declared his intent to “shoot up” a kosher dining facility on campus. He was quickly apprehended, and it seems that Dai was suicidally depressed and perhaps not of sound mind.
Cornell president Martha Pollack deserves credit for unequivocally condemning Hamas, antisemitism and those at the university who glorify “the evilness of Hamas terrorism.” Yet, this is the same woman who couldn’t bring herself to denounce the Black Lives Matter (BLM) rioters who burned and terrorized American cities for months after the killing of George Floyd.
Pollack was far from alone; countless other university presidents bent the knee to BLM. The nation’s top 25 colleges responded by variously condemning alleged institutional and structural racism in America, promising to fight for racial justice, and strengthening or creating DEI initiatives on campus. None saw fit to extend their moral indignation to the mass riots and chaos perpetrated by self-proclaimed social justice warriors. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/us-universities-have-spent-years-sowing-seeds-of-today-s-antisemitism/ar-AA1kherB
2023-11-16 The reason university efforts to root out antisemitism will fail On the morning of Oct. 7, American college students went to class, teachers taught lessons and all seemed well enough on the surface. The following day, after news of Hamas terrorists’ mass murders, rapes, torture and kidnappings spread, those campuses suddenly became hotbeds of terrorist sympathy and overt displays of antisemitism.
Americans were shocked our college kids could come out on the side of genocide, but we shouldn’t have been…. They’d been primed; taught lies and false narratives, by the universities themselves – and so far, no school has even begun to take the steps necessary to root the hatred out. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/the-reason-university-efforts-to-root-out-antisemitism-will-fail/ar-AA1k1cFk
2023-11-16 Israeli actress demands FBI probe funding, terror links of college groups ‘brainwashing’ American students Israeli actress Noa Tishby testified before Congress on Wednesday calling on the FBI to investigate the funding behind pro-Palestinian groups at American college campuses, effectively “brainwashing” and “grooming” students into aligning with “terrorist sympathizers” amid the Jewish state’s war against Hamas. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/israeli-actress-demands-fbi-probe-funding-terror-links-of-college-groups-brainwashing-american-students/ar-AA1k1RuK
2023-11-13 Harvard faces threat of donation withdrawal from over 1,600 Jewish alumni over antisemitism concerns Harvard University has been accused of dragging its feet to address antisemitism on campus—and that could end up costing it dearly in terms of alumni support. An open letter from the Harvard College Jewish Alumni Association (HCJAA) has called the school on the carpet for remaining silent following more than 30 student groups calling the Oct. 7 attacks and murder of over 1,000 Israeli citizens “justified.” “We never thought that, at Harvard University, we would have to argue the point that terrorism against civilians demands immediate and unequivocal condemnation,” the open letter reads. “We never thought we would have to argue for recognition of our own humanity.”
Claudine Gay, Harvard’s president, in a note to the school’s wider community, reiterated its “absolute commitment to the safety and wellbeing of every member of our community. Harvard has been and is a place of civil behavior and civil discourse. We do not condone—and will not ignore—antisemitism, Islamophobia, acts of harassment or intimidation, or threats of violence.” https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/harvard-faces-threat-of-donation-withdrawal-from-over-1-600-jewish-alumni-over-antisemitism-concerns/ar-AA1jR7ay?
2023-11-10 Columbia University suspends Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace Columbia University says its suspending two campus Palestine groups. In a statement posted on the school’s website Senior Executive Vice President of the University and Chair of the Special Committee on Campus Safety Gerald Rosberg said the university is suspending Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) for the remainder of the fall term. “This decision was made after the two groups repeatedly violated University policies related to holding campus events, culminating in an unauthorized event Thursday afternoon that proceeded despite warnings and included threatening rhetoric and intimidation,” reads the statement. https://mondoweiss.net/2023/11/columbia-university-suspends-students-for-justice-in-palestine-and-jewish-voice-for-peace/
2023-11-09 Another Billionaire Quits Alma Mater Over ‘Anti-Jewish’ Climate Billionaire Henry Swieca has quit the board of the Columbia University Business School in protest of what he described as “blatantly anti-Jewish student groups and professors allowed to operate with complete impunity.” Swieca, the investor son of Holocaust survivors, is the latest in a wave of big-dollar donors to slam their alma maters over the response to the Israel-Hamas war. Forbes reports that in his resignation letter, Swieca accused Columbia of “moral cowardice” and said it’s sending a message that Jews are unsafe on campus. https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/another-billionaire-quits-alma-mater-over-anti-jewish-climate/ar-AA1jGz3T
2023-11-09 The Shift: Brandeis becomes first school to ban Students for Justice in Palestine on campus ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt has consistently smeared anti-Zionists as antisemites and has even compared anti-Zionist Jews to white supremacists in recent weeks. The Brandeis Center is a pro-Israel lawfare organization that aims to stifle Palestine activism via an unrelenting bombardment of dubious civil rights lawsuits. The group is run by former Trump official Kenneth Marcus. Dozens of pro-Israel, Jewish groups also sent their own letters to universities. This one went to 500 schools and called for “moral accountability and official punishment” against SJP for alleged glorification of the Hamas attacks.
Last week, we saw the first private university ban the group on campus. Brandeis University sent a letter to the school’s SJP chapter informing them that the organization had been banned. The students were completely blindsided by the news, as there was no public investigation, and the group was never consulted or informed this could be a possibility.
A copy of the letter was obtained by Jewish Insider. “This decision was not made lightly, as Brandeis is dedicated to upholding free speech principles, which have been codified in Brandeis’ Principles of Free Speech and Free Expression,” it reads. “However, those Principles note that ‘The freedom to debate and discuss ideas does not mean that individuals may say whatever they wish, wherever they wish, or however they wish,’ and that, ‘…the university may restrict expression…that constitutes a genuine threat or harassment..” https://mondoweiss.net/2023/11/the-shift-brandeis-becomes-first-school-to-ban-students-for-justice-in-palestine-on-campus/
2023-11-07 Leak shows ex-Trump ambassador to Israel threatening NYU over Palestine protests A letter sent to NYU leadership claims the school is “no longer a safe space for Jewish students” while demanding policies that would shatter free speech on campus. The letter was signed by David Friedman, Trump’s rabidly pro-settlement ambassador to Israel, as well as dozens of Jewish American alumni apparently afflicted with a particularly severe version of main character syndrome.
The letter goes on to demand that NYU disband clubs that “utilize hate speech to promote violence and endorse terrorism” and pursue the criminal prosecution of students who “deface property and/or use hate speech in the name of terrorism.” It offers no definition of hate speech, however. The assumption seems to be that strong language denouncing Israel’s violent assault on Gaza, or supporting the Palestinian armed struggle, should be treated as equivalent to verbal threats, and even physical violence, against Jews. https://thegrayzone.com/2023/11/07/leak-trump-ambassador-israel-nyu-palestine-protests/
2023-11-07 Israeli President’s letter to US universities Israel President Herzog pens letter to presidents of American universities and colleges calling for action on antisemitism. Never, as someone who has always looked up to the standards of the American university, could I have foreseen the images and voices that have reached me since the tragedy of October 7. Debate is welcome on any topic, including Israel’s actions. This goes without saying. As America has learned in its own wars, the trial of fighting heartless terrorists who hide among civilian is agonizing and offers no easy choices. But the events on campus are not debate but a defilement of the university and its principles. How can anyone endorsing, excusing, or glorifying the Hama atrocities have a place in any college, or in the civilized world?
Speech promoting violence against individuals or groups and calls for the elimination of a whole country, Israel, are unacceptable on campus and should not be tolerated. Each institution can lead the way in combating the scourge of antisemitism by creating a Task Force that will develop a plan of action for the campus and serve as a beacon for the wider community, as well. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/israeli-president-s-letter-to-us-universities-read-here/ar-AA1jyjvM
2023-11-08 Wharton dean aware of University of Pennsylvania’s ‘reputational damage’ The University of Pennsylvania’s endowment ranks as the seventh largest in the U.S. at over $20 billion, as tracked by the National Association of College and University Business Officers and TIAA. Like many Ivy League schools, Wharton, established in 1881 as the first U.S. business school, boasts high-end donor graduates, including Apollo CEO Marc Rowan, who has been among a group of vocal billionaires condemning antisemitism and the muted response by university leaders.
Rowan, whose net worth is $5.5 billion, per Forbes, has called for donors to “close their checkbooks.” In a letter sent to the school’s newspaper, The Daily Pennsylvanian, he called for the resignation of Penn President Liz Magill and Scott Bok, chair of the university’s board of trustees. Rowan is the chairman of the board of advisers to the Wharton School. In 2018, he and his wife gave the business school $50 million. https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/wharton-dean-aware-university-pennsylvania-reputational-damage
2023-11-02 Antisemitism has billionaires bailing on Ivy League donations Billionaires are pulling back on donations to leading Ivy League colleges amid allegations of antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment that have become more visible in the wake of Hamas’ terror attack on Israel. Some of the elite Ivy League colleges where the controversy was the most intense are among those with the largest endowments of all higher education institutions in the U.S. – which prompted billionaire donors to push back against the antisemitism and anti-Israel rhetoric by calling for leadership changes and threatening to withhold donations. https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/antisemitism-billionaires-bailing-ivy-league-donations
2023-11-02 Stuart Varney: Liberal colleges indulging in antisemitism is a ‘disgrace’ Stuart Varney discussed the surge in antisemitism at some American universities, arguing the radicalization of baby boomers in the 60s contributed to the “gross antisemitism” on college campuses today. Who would have thought that a terror attack overseas would expose the hate at American colleges? That is exactly what’s happened. Israel is attacked and campuses turn on Jews. https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/stuart-varney-liberal-colleges-antisemitism-disgrace
2023-10-27 Wall Street CEOs standing up for Israel and against pro-Hamas colleges Many top U.S. CEOs have been speaking out in support of Israel and against those who have publicly supported Hamas, specifically big money donors to America’s Ivy Leagues.
Billionaire investor Leon Cooperman, CEO of Omega Advisors, joined his fellow Wall Street titans in denouncing Columbia University for its antisemitism and pro-Hamas support. Now, he will pull his financial backing for the school which has totaled about $50 million over the years.
Bill Ackman, Pershing Square CEO. The billionaire hedge fund manager was one of the first to speak out in support of Israel, specifically denouncing pro-Hamas Harvard students and demanding the names of these supporters be made public, so companies like his and other businesses leaders could know not to hire these individuals. Ackman is a Harvard MBA graduate and has donated millions to the Ivy League school.
Marc Rowan, Apollo Management CEO. Rowan, who co-founded Apollo Global Management and received an MBA from the Wharton School, wrote in a letter sent to the school’s newspaper, The Daily Pennsylvanian, to call for the resignation of UPenn President Liz Magill and Scott Bok, chair of the board of trustees. Rowan is the chairman of the board of advisers to the Wharton School, UPenn’s elite college of business, and in 2018 he and his wife gave the business school $50 million.
Larry Fink, BlackRock CEO. Fink, who runs the world’s largest asset management firm with nearly $9 trillion in assets, discussed his support for Israel. Fink added that in his role as a member of the New York University board of trustees, the board and university leadership categorically condemned the attack. “As a board member at NYU, we were loud and specific and immediate in terms of stopping any of that support of hatred,” Fink said.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon. On the Sunday following the attacks, Dimon sent a company-wide memo to employees. “This past weekend’s attack on Israel and its people and the resulting war and bloodshed are a terrible tragedy,” Dimon said in an internal memo obtained by CNN. “We stand with our employees, their families and the people of Israel during this time of great suffering and loss.” https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/wall-street-ceos-standing-up-israel
2023-10-26 Billionaire Leon Cooperman pulling Columbia funding amid student protests: These kids have ‘s— for brains’ Columbia University graduate, billionaire investor and Omega Advisors CEO Leon Cooperman had harsh words for Ivy League students who are sharing anti-Israel sentiment on campus. “These kids at the colleges have s— for brains,” Cooperman told “The Claman Countdown” host Liz Claman on Wednesday. “We have one reliable ally in the Middle East. That’s Israel. We only have one democracy in the Middle East. That’s Israel. And we have one economy tolerant of different people, gays, lesbians, etc. That’s Israel. So they have no idea what these young kids are doing.” Now, the real shame is, I’ve given to Columbia probably about $50 million over many years,” he continued. “And I’m going to suspend my giving. I’ll give my giving to other organizations.” https://www.foxbusiness.com/media/billionaire-leon-cooperman-pulling-columbia-funding-student-protests-kids-brains
2023-10-16 CEO defends sharing list of Harvard students who signed pro-Palestine letter: They must ‘pay the price’ After his LinkedIn account was allegedly suspended for criticizing pro-Palestine Harvard students, EasyHealth CEO David Duel explained why this conflict is personal to him, and doubled down on Bill Ackman’s calls not to hire those Ivy League candidates. “I’m not surprised my account was taken down for sharing a list of students who were advocating for the death and destruction of the Jewish people,” Duel said on “Cavuto: Live” Saturday. “We’re not talking about arguments over a two-state solution or political divisions of land. We’re talking about Hamas. We’re talking about terrorism, whose own charter calls for the extermination of the Jews.”
“I think the hypocrisy and lack of moral clarity on campuses and with administration is conscious or subconscious antisemitism,” he expanded. “And we need to make sure these students pay a price and that their neighbors, friends and employers know that they harbor these beliefs.” https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/ceo-defends-list-harvard-students-signed-pro-palestine-letter-pay-price
2023-10-16 Stanford suspends lecturer for alleged statements to Jewish students A lecturer has been suspended from Stanford University for reportedly making offensive statements to Jewish students in class following the start of hostilities between Israel and Hamas. “We have received a report of a class in which a non-faculty instructor is reported to have addressed the Middle East conflict in a manner that called out individual students in class based on their backgrounds and identities,” the university said. “Without prejudging the matter, this report is a cause for serious concern. Academic freedom does not permit the identity-based targeting of students. The instructor in this course is not currently teaching while the university works to ascertain the facts of the situation.”
However, leaders of Stanford’s Israeli Student Association said the discussion went far beyond what is on the syllabus. The Chronicle reported that students claimed the professor called Jews in class “colonizers” while minimizing the Holocaust. Senior Nourya Cohen told the Chronicle she talked to students who were in the class. “He asked how many Jews died in the Holocaust,” and when students said 6 million, “he said, ‘Yes. Only 6 million,’” she told the paper.
“We have heard from Jewish students, faculty, and staff concerned about rising anti-Semitism,” Stanford said. “We have heard from Palestinian students who have received threatening emails and phone calls. We want to make clear that Stanford stands unequivocally against hatred on the basis of religion, race, ethnicity, national origin, and other categories.
“The expression of political views, in appropriate times and places, is important. Thoughtful, reasoned discussion of current issues is central to the life of the university. Our commitment to academic freedom means that latitude for expression of controversial and even offensive views is necessary to avoid chilling freedom of thought and ideas. But harassment and abuse have no place here.” https://scrippsnews.com/stories/stanford-suspends-lecturer-for-alleged-statements-to-jewish-students/
2023-10-10 Billionaire hedge fund manager doesn’t want to hire Harvard students who blamed Israel for Hamas attacks Bill Ackman said he and other CEOs don’t want to ‘inadvertently hire’ anti-Israel Harvard students. Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman called on Harvard to release the membership lists of more than 30 student groups that signed a letter blaming Hamas’ terror attacks over the weekend solely on Israel. https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/billionaire-hedge-fund-manager-doesnt-want-hire-harvard-students-blamed-israel-hamas-attacks
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