Campus Antisemitism
France’s Higher Education Minister Frédérique Vidal brought together key players in the fight against racism and anti-Semitism following the proliferation of tags, graffiti and anti-Semitic expressions in recent weeks in several institutions of higher education.
Her father, Rafiq Alqasem, staunchly supports BDS and has posted anti-Semitic content on social media, such as conspiracy theories related to Jewish influence and comparing Israel to Nazi Germany.
“Why do we have to be afraid to publicly expose those who are rabidly anti-Semitic? Have we learned nothing from our tragic past? When we remain silent, we are trampled on,” says Brooke Goldstein, executive director of the Lawfare Project.
It provided intensive training for making Israel’s case to a wide array of audiences, including anti-Israel professors and activists, many of which lead the charge against the Jewish state.
“Criticizing a nation-state and promoting human rights is not in any way anti-Semitic,” said Rose Asaf. “I am in solidarity with Palestinians not in spite of my Judaism, but because of it.”
“Throughout the country, members of SJP have posted violent anti-Semitic rhetoric on social media, ranging from calling for annihilation of the Jewish people, to admiration of Adolf Hitler,” Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) wrote in a letter to UCLA Chancellor Gene Block.
“U-M has a moral and legal responsibility to address discrimination on campus, and we hope it will take swift action to fulfill that obligation,” said board chairman of the Lawfare Project, a legal think tank.
“At a time when Americans are so divided, we should be coming together against hate instead of having groups like SJP fan the flames,” said Talia Lerner, Southern Campus Coordinator at StandWithUs.
“These images come from the playbook of Hitler and Goebbels. They invoke the most classical—and most genocidal—anti-Semitic conspiracy theories,” said University of Michigan student Alexa Smith.
The Zionist organization Im Tirtzu sent letters to dozens of Hebrew University donors, calling on them to not “stand idly by” while the university continues to provide legal support to Lara Alqasem.
The Tel Aviv District Court said “any self-respecting state defends its own interests and those of its citizens, and has the right to fight against the actions of a boycott … as well as any attacks on its image.”
The university announced that it will conduct a panel review consisting of “distinguished faculty members to examine the intersection between political thought/ideology and faculty members’ responsibilities to students.”
