Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

Boston University’s annual ‘Jewish left’ conference to feature anti-Israel groups

The event is “a viciously anti-Zionist conference,’” wrote Rabbi Elchana Poupko, host of “The Jewish World” podcast.

Boston University
The College of Arts and Sciences building at Boston University, in Boston, Mass. Credit: Fletcher6 via Wikimedia Commons.

An annual conference hosted by Boston University, billed as a space to “explore the Jewish left’s values, institutions and impact,” will feature workshops led by anti-Israel groups Rabbis for Ceasefire and IfNotNow.

The “Conference on the Jewish Left,” scheduled for Feb. 12, will host journalist Peter Beinart, who is Jewish, as its keynote speaker.

Beinart apologized in November for making a “serious mistake” by speaking at Tel Aviv University, calling the move “a failure of judgment.”

The event speakers also include Fadi Quran, who has “expressed support for terrorists, promoted incitement and demonized Israel on social media,” according to the watchdog group Canary Mission.

Rabbi Elchana Poupko, host of “The Jewish World” podcast, called the event “a viciously anti-Zionist conference under the guise of ‘the Jewish left.’”

“David Ben-Gurion was a member of the Jewish left. Golda Meir was a member of the Jewish left. Yitzchak Rabin was a member of the Jewish left,” he wrote. “They were all staunch Zionists.”

Event sponsors include the Krupp Family Foundation. George Krupp, the foundation’s co-founder, signed on to a 2024 letter to then-President Joe Biden conveying “concern” with the Biden administration’s “unconditional support” for Israel’s war in Gaza.

The American leader reportedly told aides he expected fighting to resume with the Islamic Republic after the November midterm elections.
The Israeli military also killed a Hamas terrorist who took part in the Oct. 7 massacre and held hostages throughout the war.
The Israeli military grounds attack and munition-dropping drones as it investigates whether a technical malfunction or enemy interference caused the tragedy.
“The juxtaposition of us being at the United Nations, and all those people walking out while literally their employees helped to perpetuate Oct. 7 was put in a certain frame,” Rabbi Steven Burg of Aish told JNS.