DIRECTOR OF ACADEMIC PROGRAM CALLS UNIVERSITY’S ACCEPTANCE OF ZIONISTS ‘DECLARATION OF WAR’ – 60 GROUPS DEMAND INVESTIGATION
AMCHA Initiative Bulletin – March 22, 2018
The 60 groups’ letter was sent following a message targeting Jewish and Zionist students that was posted on an official site of the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas (AMED) program at the university’s College of Ethnic Studies.
60 Groups Urge Investigation
of SFSU Academic Program
California professor calls university’s acceptance of Zionists ‘declaration of war’ – Jewish News Syndicate
Prof. under fire as president’s apology turns to ‘declaration of war’ – Jerusalem Post
Faith-Based groups demand investigation of SFSU professor’s anti-Zionist diatribe – Jewish Press
One of the chalkings that occurred the same day that the official Facebook page of the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas (AMED) program shared a message written by Professor Rabab Abdulhadi, the founding director and sole faculty member associated with AMED, that denigrated and excluded Jewish and Zionists students.
After discovering a hateful and bigoted message targeting Jewish and Zionist students posted on an official site of SFSU’s Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas (AMED) program, AMCHA organized a call from 60 organizations to condemn the post and demand an immediate investigation. In addition, AMCHA’s director, Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, echoed the call at the University Trustees public meeting yesterday.
TAKE ACTION: Write to Chancellor White and the CSU Trustees (twhite@calstate.edu, trusteesecretariat@calstate.edu) to join in supporting the request of the 60 organizations for the Trustees to thoroughly investigate AMED and its administration.
Background:
Within hours of San Francisco State University (SFSU) President Leslie Wong’s public apology to Jewish students affirming that “Zionists are welcome on our campus,” Professor Rabab Abdulhadi, AMED’s director, shot back with the following message on her personal Facebook page:
“I consider the statement below from President Wong, welcoming Zionists to campus, equating Jewishness with Zionism, and giving Hillel ownership of campus Jewishness to be a declaration of war against Arabs, Muslims, [and] Palestinians…”
And she signed the statement as “Director and Senior Scholar, Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Studies.”
Abdulhadi’s hateful and discriminatory message was then shared on the official Facebook page of AMED, where it is still visible. That same day, it was also posted on the Facebook page of GUPS, a group for which Professor Abdulhadi serves as faculty advisor. Later in the afternoon, the message “Zionists are not welcome here” was chalked in huge letters on a campus walkway, with similar messages chalked and posted in numerous other places across campus. A few days later, Prof. Abdulhadi further clarified her position, stating, “Zionists are NOT welcomed on our campus.”
A poster excluding Zionists on campus that was placed on an employee bulletin board the same day AMED shared Abdulhadi’s statement. Chalkings with similar messages also appeared across campus.
In support of Jewish and Zionist students, and following the appalling behavior of AMED, the 60 organizations demanded the Trustees launch an immediate investigation: “When an academic unit at a state university uses its official online presence to attack students on its campus for their religious beliefs, ethnic identity or political opinions, it is clearly out of control and must be stopped. We urge you to thoroughly investigate AMED and its administration, and to inform California taxpayers exactly how you intend to address this shameful violation of student rights and university standards.”
You may see the full letter here and AMCHA’s press release on this issue here.
Sampling of Antisemitic Activity
February & March, 2018
An antisemitic flier at the University of Minnesota on March 19th.
March 19, 2018 – UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA TWIN CITES –
At least one antisemitic flier was found posted on a bulletin board in the University of Minnesota’s Northrup Auditorium, on the first day of school following spring break. The flier was headlined with large capitalized red letters saying, “WHY ARE JEWS AFTER OUR GUNS?” Followed by “EVERY SINGLE TIME THEY ATTACK OUR BELOVED 2ND AMENDMENT,” The flier then included names of Jewish senators with a yellow “Jude” star used to identify Jews during Nazi Germany next to each name. The flier ended with “brought to you by” and referenced viewers to The Daily Stormer, a Nazi website.
(TARGETING JEWISH STUDENTS AND STAFF: GENOCIDAL EXPRESSION; HISTORICAL)
March 11, 2018 – UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA TWIN CITIES –
A BDS campus-wide voting resolution passed by 217 votes, where 3,392 students voted “yes” and 3,175 students voted “no” on the referendum, a margin of 3.4 percent. The referendum read, “Should the students of the University of Minnesota demand the Board of Regents divest from companies that are…complicit in Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights…”
(BDS ACTIVITY: BDS VOTE)
March 7, 2018 – CUNY KINGSBOROUGH COMMUNITY COLLEGE –
An antisemitic message was posted outside the office of an administrator on a photograph of the administrator’s late father. Specifically, the words “F**k Trump Goldstein/Kill Zionist Entity” was scribbled on a picture of Leon Goldstein, a former president of Kingsborough, that was hung next to the office. Date listed is article publishing date.
(TARGETING JEWISH STUDENTS AND STAFF: DESTRUCTION OF JEWISH PROPERTY, INTIMIDATION, HARASSMENT, DENIGRATION; DENYING JEWS SELF-DETERMINATION; CONDONING TERRORISM)
March 2, 2018 – SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY –
The Women and Gender Studies Department issued a statement that delegitimized Zionism and demonized Israel, saying, “On February 23rd, President Wong of San Francisco State University sent an email to the entire campus community. In his statement, Wong apologizes for the hurt feelings of Jewish students—represented in his email by a about a dozen student members of Hillel—and emphasizes that ‘Zionists are welcome’ on the campus of SF State. The Women and Gender Studies Department is deeply concerned about the motivation, tenor, and potential effects of this statement…Hillel [does note] represent all Jewish students…We are concerned that such material support for Zionist discourse, evidenced in this statement and previous actions by the university president, outweighs concern for the whole of our campus community…the Israeli state’s project of ‘pinkwashing’ is decried by queer activists internationally…In sum, the Department of Women and Gender Studies unequivocally rejects the equation of Zionism with Judaism, and stands by all of our SFSU students and their right to a university committed to intellectual inquiry and social justice.”
(TARGETING JEWISH STUDENTS AND STAFF: DISCRIMINATION; DEMONIZATION; DELEGITIMIZATION)
February 27, 2018 – SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY –
The Black Student Union, African Studies Association, Black Residents United in Housing, and Black Business Student Association wrote a “solidarity statement” expressing, “[W]e are disappointed in and ashamed of our University President, Leslie Wong, for condoning Zionist actions by not only allowing them but welcoming them on campus…To support Palestine is to combat tyranny, totalitarianism, racism, xenophobia, terrorism, colonialism, and state sanctioned violence….Leslie Wong has welcomed terrorism to our campus and has remained an ally to Zionist groups long before releasing a statement that boldly stated that Zionists are welcome on our campus…We are holding Wong responsible for his actions of catering to Zionist groups…”
(TARGETING JEWISH STUDENTS AND STAFF: DISCRIMINATION; DENIGRATION; DEMONIZATION)
February 25, 2018 – UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA –
The Jewish Leadership Council (JLC) was denied membership in the Minority Rights Coalition because, as was described in MRC at UVA’s “Statement on our relationship with The Hillel Jewish Leadership Council,” “JLC is an umbrella organization which includes the CIO, ‘Hoos for Israel’ (HFI).” This decision was exclusively applied to a Jewish organization, as alumni and former leaders in the Jewish Leadership Council and Hoos for Israel pointed out in an open letter concerning the issue that, “SPJP [Students for Peace and Justice in Palestine] is still listed in updated materials as a member of the Middle Eastern Leadership Council — one of the MRC’s full members. By definitions clear in the MRC’s letter, this makes SPJP a longtime constituent organization of the MRC.”
(TARGETING JEWISH STUDENTS AND STAFF: DISCRIMINATION)
February 22, 2018 – UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA –
A “Building Bridges” event that was sponsored by the Brody Jewish Center (Hillel) and Hoos for Israel was disrupted by protesters shouting anti-Israel slogans, including “Fight the power, turn the tide, end Israeli apartheid” through a megaphone, preventing the speakers from being heard. Representatives invited the protesters to engage in a dialogue, but the lead protester responded, “No dialogue with racists.” The continued disruption resulted in the event being unable to proceed as planned, and police were called. Protesters then moved outside, but continued to use their megaphone to disrupt the speakers.
(TARGETING JEWISH STUDENTS AND STAFF: SUPPRESSION OF SPEECH/MOVEMENT/ASSEMBLY; DELEGITIMIZATION)
February 20, 2018 – UC BERKELEY–
An antisemitic message was posted outside of the office of a Jewish professor which mentioned Hitler, called for killing the professor and included a racist epithet for Jew.
(TARGETING JEWISH STUDENTS AND STAFF: GENOCIDAL EXPRESSION; HARASSMENT; DENIGRATION; HISTORICAL)
Swastikas created in the snow at the University of Connecticut on February 18th.
February 18, 2018 – UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT –
A pair of swastikas were created in the snow over the weekend outside of Oak Hall. According to the Daily Campus, “The swastikas, one large and one smaller, were clearly visible from the upper floors of Oak Hall Monday morning.”
(TARGETING JEWISH STUDENTS AND STAFF: GENOCIDAL EXPRESSION; HISTORICAL)
An antisemitic flier at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga on February 7.
February 7, 2018 – UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE CHATTANOOGA –
Posters of Vanguard America “extolling Hitler and Nazism” were found on campus covering posters for Black History Month. The posters contained an image of Adolf Hitler performing a Nazi salute with the caption, “Hitler was right.”
(TARGETING JEWISH STUDENTS AND STAFF: GENOCIDAL EXPRESSION; HISTORICAL)
