![]() ![]() Columbia also suspended Jewish Voice for Peace, a Jewish anti-Zionist organization in solidarity with Palestinians’ freedom struggle.įor sure, some individuals and groups over the past two months have expressed criticism of Israel in ways that are questionable or perhaps even objectionable, leaving some Jewish students feeling unsafe. Some schools, among them Brandeis, George Washington University and Columbia, banned or suspended their SJP chapters. The Anti-Defamation League and Brandeis Center urged administrators to investigate SJP chapters, suggesting that students are “materially supporting” terrorists. But since October 7, Wall Street financiers and CEOs have pressured universities to blacklist student activists. When I was in SJP, I never imagined that powerful entities would care about what we did. Elise Stefanik lambasted the university presidents for not saying that calls for genocide of Jews was against their codes of conduct and chastised them about some students’ use of the word “intifada,” which she defined the word as a “call to commit genocide against the Jewish people.”Īs an Arabic speaker who has written two books on Palestinian intifadas, I know that it means “popular uprising,” and is especially associated with nonviolent grassroots protest. Opinion: Harvard is right to back its presidentĪbout three minutes into the hearing, the proceedings began with a video of student demonstrations, sending a message that this was what lawmakers meant by hatred of Jews: students’ political protest against the state of Israel and Israel’s killing of Palestinian civilians. President of Harvard University Claudine Gay Brian Snyder/Reuters 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. ![]() Antisemitism, like all forms of racism, should be denounced and combatted everywhere, without exception.īut the timing of the hearing suggests to me that something else is going on as well. 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. That’s largely because, following Hamas’ October 7 attack and Israel’s subsequent bombardment of Gaza, universities have become a frontline in the battle for public opinion over US support for Israel. Pro-Palestinian student activism is attracting unprecedented scrutiny. Now I’m a professor at Northwestern University and am astonished by how much things have changed. Our small group sponsored the occasional lecture or film screening, but for the most part we were ignored. I’ve been paying close attention to what’s being discussed during this uproar - and what isn’t.Īs a graduate student two decades ago, I was president of the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter at Harvard.
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