Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey is slated to host an event on “Race, Liberation and Palestine” from 4:30 to 6 p.m. on Dec. 7. The seminar will include Noura Erakat, Nick Estes and Marc Lamont Hill, the latter two of whom have been accused of antisemitism.
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) sent a letter to Jonathan Holloway urging the Rutgers president to cancel the event.
“Since Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel, far too many university presidents have failed to step up and protect Jewish students from intimidation and fear,” the congressman told JNS. “On campus after campus, there has been naked antisemitism and even blatant calls for the genocide of Jews and elimination of Israel.”
Rutgers “is providing these notorious antisemites a university-sanctioned space to promote and spew their documented antisemitic views, which will only increase the possibility of violence and harassment against Jewish students,” Gottheimer said.
The New Jersey Democrat noted that Marc Lamont Hill, whom CNN took off the air, was “run out of Temple University for calling for the destruction of Israel.”
“There is no room for hate of any kind—including racism, Islamophobia or antisemitism—at America’s colleges,” he told JNS.
In a release, Gottheimer wrote that Nick Estes “has openly denounced the right of the State of Israel to exist, and has questioned Jewish historical connection to the land of Israel, labeling Israelis ‘Zionist settlers.’” It added that per the ADL, Estes spreads long-standing antisemitic tropes, “injecting the bigotry and antisemitic conspiracy theories into the discourse on the conflict.”
The New Jersey representative also commented on social media about the recent testimony before a House committee of the presidents of Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The three that calls for genocide against Jews wouldn’t necessarily violate their school policies.
“How hard is it to say that calling for the genocide of Jews is bullying and harassment? Stunning that these university presidents can’t give the right answer to a simple question,” he wrote.”Can you imagine being a Jewish student on these campuses?”
The Rutgers event is still promoted on the university’s website, which states that it will be live streamed.
