Campus Antisemitism
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.”
“As a general principle, we value freedom of expression even in cases where we don’t agree with the political views expressed and this is such a case,” said State Department deputy spokesman Robert Palladino.
Pro-Israel groups are calling on the university to address the latest incidents, including a lecture comparing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler and a second student denied a recommendation to study abroad in Israel.
The development comes amid two anti-Israel controversies at the university, including another professor denying a letter of recommendation to study in Israel and a photo used during a lecture comparing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler.
