Is This What Is Taught In University These Days?
Hate Speech Protected By Spineless, Cowardly & Hypocritical Ivy League Deans and Presidents
Is This What Is Taught In University These Days?
Or is it this? Taken at Washington University.
Immediately following the massacre by Hamas of Israelis, on October 7, 2023, protests began worldwide in support of Hamas and the Palestinians. It is the right of every individual to protest for or against anything they wish to. This is not the point. However, many universities, especially those considered Ivy League universities, took protests a step further. The chants issued by the students included calls for genocide, killing, and murder of all Jews. This is without the possibility of equivocation, hate speech in all its glory.
“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free” - A legacy from that famed letter of Osama Bin Laden, known as “To The American People,” written after 9/11, during the Obama administration.
The resurfacing of this glorious piece of literature recently caused a huge outcry, something I discussed in my article and podcast:
“The West Is Next - Tick Tock, TikTok.”
But to be precise. This is a call for genocide. It is a call to eradicate the State of Israel and every single living human being who is Jewish inside of it.
This became Part One of a series of posts on this topic due to breaking news. Part Two can be read here.
*The entire post may not appear in totality in some email providers due to its length and attachments. If so, visit The View From Israel on Substack. The newsletter and podcasts are free!
I thought, naively so, that the only people who seem to want a spin on that chant so they can keep on defending their spewing of antisemitic hatred is Rashida Tlaib along with her “squad.” Turns out, my faith in humanity has a long way to go. I was dead wrong.
I hope the slogan “Gas the Jews” does not need an explanation as to why that is the worst kind of inflammatory hate speech.
“There is only one solution, the Intifada revolution” and “Globalize the Intifada” are calls for genocide. To explain this to the uninitiated, please watch the video below.
So words are words. As the famous cliche goes:
Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never harm me.
Right? Oh, so wrong!
Hate speech is not something that disappears, just like antisemitism or hating someone because of the color of their skin. It just does not disappear. Don’t believe me? Ask those who came after Martin Luther King, Jr., or ask those who were born in the generation after Nazi Germany and Hitler.
I would tell you to ask BLM, but they seem to have adopted hate for Jews and Israel, as well—something I genuinely do not understand.
Hate is insidious. It lies beneath the surface, always willing, able, and ready to rear its ugly face. You do not combat hate by ignoring it. The View From Israel adopted the famous quote (wrongly attributed to Edmund Burke) as our byline:
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
But why should we talk about hate speech and calls for genocide when we can show it? Why not just go straight to the source?
Let us travel back a couple of weeks to Cooper Union protest in favor of Palestine and Hamas when Jewish students were forced to lock themselves in the library in fear for their lives. Below is a 6-second clip of that incident. (Other longer videos are available on YouTube if you wish to watch them.)
As the NYT reported:
Israel-Hamas War Protest Leads to Tense Scene at Cooper Union Library
A video shared on social media showed pro-Palestinian protesters pounding on one side of locked library doors and Jewish students on the other.
By Ed Shanahan and Maria Cramer Oct. 26, 2023
The tensions inflamed by the Israel-Hamas war that have roiled university campuses in the United States spilled into the Cooper Union in New York on Wednesday, with pro-Palestinian protesters pounding on one side of locked library doors and Jewish students on the other. The episode, captured in a six-second video snippet that was widely shared on social media, was among the latest examples of how sharply the Middle East conflict has divided student bodies at a number of top liberal arts colleges.
The brother of one of the students published the following on Social networks, reported it to the police, and contacted the press.
My sister is currently locked in the school library as a prom Hamas rally outside of the cooper Union building learnt the Jews were afraid and sitting in the library, then brought the protest inside and are barricading all exits. Police have been called for 40 min and are afraid to get involved. Security locked the students in as they are worried they cannot protect the Jews rn. Please forward to as many news sources as you can. My sister is actually in danger.
I applaud NYC Councilwoman Inna Vernikov for issuing the following statement regarding the Cooper Union incident. (Capitals are all from the press release. Not mine.)
Last night, I spoke to four Jewish students from Cooper Union. Three of them were barricaded inside the library while the pro-Hamas protestors were violently banging on doors. A few take-aways according to student accounts of the incident:
1. Even though this rally/walk-out was supposed to be outside the school on public property, protestors STORMED the school building. There were no consequences and NOBODY WAS ARRESTED.
2. Faculty members CANCELLED CLASS for the walk out, ENCOURAGED students to participate and even offered EXTRA CREDIT to do so.
3. FACULTY members themselves PARTICIPATED in the walk out/protest.
4. There was NOT nearly ENOUGH CAMPUS SECURITY. According to the students, there are only about 12 campus security guards on site at any given time and the protestors made up over approximately 100 individuals.
5. The NYPD did not show up right away, and when they did show up, they never entered the building, at least to the students' knowledge. NYPD told the students later on that Cooper Union DID NOT ALLOW THE NYPD @NYPDnews onto school grounds. (Cooper is a private institution.)
6. The DEAN of the school was ESCORTED out of the building through a SAFE back door exit by campus security. Then later allegedly claimed everything and everyone was safe.
7. Some of the protestors were acting violent, held antisemitic posters, as well as what looked like sticks. (See video) Instead of removing the protestors from school grounds, the school barricaded the Jewish students in the school library.
8. The Jewish students barricaded in the library were TERRIFIED, some of them SHAKEN. They believed they could've been physically assaulted and injured, and feared for their well-being. One of the slogans heard was "Globalize the intifada from New York to Gaza"
9. The school until this hour, HAS NOT ISSUED ANY STATEMENT ensuring its students that they would be safe coming to school today, nor have they reached out to their families. These students are AFRAID to come to school today and many of them will STAY HOME.
10. Jewish students have dropped classes at Cooper Union because they feel bullied, and the students who were barricaded in the library are traumatized, and said they “will never walk in there feeling alright again.”
11. This is a terrible DERELICTION OF DUTY on behalf of Cooper Union to protect its Jewish students from physical harm, a failure to provide them with a safe space, and the university must be held accountable for creating a HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT. HEADS NEED TO ROLL.
In a normal society, the above incident would have caused a mild uproar, a few students would have been expelled, and “let bygones be bygones.” But this is not an ordinary, functioning world. Remember, we are dealing with Israel and Jews. So, all is fair in war. Right? Right!
Now, though, we must keep in mind that hate speech and threats against and attacks on Jewish students do not end in one isolated incident. Hate speech quickly turns into action. Just ask Joseph Goebbels.
So, we turn our attention to the ivory towers. No, not the towers from Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings,” but our revered towers of study, education, learning, and knowledge enrichment. After all, $65,000 a year for tuition should buy something worthwhile. Right? Wrong again!
I have gathered quite a few exciting videos for you to watch, along with some quotes and PDFs of articles, if you care to read them, of these Ivy League presidents giving their testimony to the US Congress. Some are short, and I have included one very long one, just in case some reader gets the idea I am cherry-picking my information.
But keep on reading. We are far from done.
First from “The Hill”:
White House weighs in university presidents’ remarks at antisemitism hearing: ‘Unbelievable’
Next, from Ha’aretz, the internationally renowned Israeli left-wing newspaper. Again, to ensure you don’t think I am cherry-picking my information sources.
The presidents of Harvard and MIT gave the same response to the congressional committee, and there is no doubt that the presidents of Yale, Cornell, Columbia, NYU, and probably many others would give the same response. The committee also heard very moving testimony from several very impressive Jewish students from these universities about the high level of fear of Jewish students on these campuses. The only TV channel that carried the students’ testimony was Fox News. The student testimony should be listened to if it can be found online.
Let us study these for a moment.
Harvard:
In the NYT, in an article entitled:
College Presidents Under Fire After Dodging Questions About Antisemitism
The leaders of Harvard, M.I.T. and Penn appeared to evade questions about whether students should be disciplined if they call for the genocide of Jews.
Support for the presidents of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and M.I.T.eroded quickly on Wednesday, after they seemed to evade what seemed like a rather simple question during a contentious congressional hearing: Would they discipline students calling for the genocide of Jews?
Their lawyerly replies to that question and others during a four-hour hearing drewincredulous responses.
“It’s unbelievable that this needs to be said: Calls for genocide are monstrous and antithetical to everything we represent as a country,” said a White Housespokesman, Andrew Bates.
Josh Shapiro, the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania, said he found the responses by Elizabeth Magill, Penn’s president, “unacceptable.”
Even the liberal academic Laurence Tribe found himself agreeing with Representative Elise Stefanik, Republican of New York, who sharply questioned Harvard’s president, Claudine Gay.
“I’m no fan of @RepStefanik but I’m with her here,” the Harvard law professorwrote on the social media site X. “Claudine Gay’s hesitant, formulaic, and bizarrelyevasive answers were deeply troubling to me and many of my colleagues, students,and friends.”
Here is the article:
MIT:
NYU:
University of Pennsylvania:
Then, an open letter to President Liz Magill appeared. Here is the text of the “Dear Liz” letter.
Subject: Hillel at University of Pennsylvania responds to President of University of Pennsylvania, Liz Magil
Dear friends,
Earlier today, University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill testified before Congress about rising antisemitism at Penn, alongside the presidents of Harvard and MIT. The hearing focused on numerous instances of disturbing antisemitic rhetoric documented across college campuses nationwide, including our own. Penn Hillel strongly condemns, and is seriously concerned about, aspects of President Magill’s testimony today; most notably, her inability to state clearly that calls for the genocide of Jews constitute bullying and harassment.
When pressed during her testimony, President Magill repeatedly equivocated, refusing to characterize calls for the genocide of Jews as a breach of Penn’s code of conduct, instead saying the offense “depends on the context.”
President Magill’s refusal to draw a line around any antisemitic speech — no matter how vitriolic and hateful — as a violation of Penn’s policies, is extremely disappointing. If there is any ambiguity with respect to the Code’s application to this type of threat, it should immediately be amended.
We are appalled by the need to state the obvious:
Calls for genocide against Jews do not depend on the context.
Calls for genocide against Jews do not depend on the context.
Calls for genocide against Jews do not depend on the context.
President Magill’s failure to properly characterize this speech leaves many Jewish students on Penn’s campus feeling that they are not protected by the administration.
We call on President Magill to set the record straight and condemn statements regarding the genocide of Jews. Additionally, we call upon her to move with urgency in acting on the numerous initiatives and interventions regarding campus Jewish life and combating antisemitism that we and other Penn stakeholders have previously articulated.
Fixing the hate that Penn has allowed to fester on its campus will require strong action, and we look toward President Magill to immediately undertake this cause with the resolve it deserves.
Gabriel Greenberg
Rabbi and Executive Director, Penn Hillel
Lauren Krasilovsky (C’25), Penn Hillel co-president
Olivia Domansky (C’25), Penn Hillel co-president__
Jeffrey H. Tigay Emeritus Ellis Professor of Hebrew & Semitic Languages & Literatures Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations University of Pennsylvania http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~jtigay/
Dear Liz, well, she had some explaining to do along with all the other Ivy League Presidents, with their lofty education and degrees. So she had to walk it back a bit. Let us listen to her, shall we?
So, let me get this right. The president of the University of Pennsylvania, a woman who certainly has an IQ worthy of her position and degrees to match, suddenly is “not focused” enough when giving testimony to the US Congress? But is focused sufficiently to Tweet on X a day later when she caused a shitstorm?
Dear Liz, ask your doctor for some Ritalin and Adderall!
As the venerable Wahington Post reported:
Penn president responds to backlash over testimony on antisemitism
The president of the University of Pennsylvania released a video walking back some of her testimony at a congressional hearing this week about antisemitism on campus after calls for her resignation followed her remarks.
In the video late Wednesday, Liz Magill said she should have responded differently to questions Tuesday from Rep.Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) about whether calls for the genocide of Jewish people would violate university policies.
“I was not focused on, but I should have been, the irrefutable fact that a call for genocide of Jewish people is a callfor some of the most terrible violence human beings can perpetrate,” Magill said Wednesday. “It’s evil, plain andsimple.”
On Thursday, some Penn trustees met virtually for an informal gathering, a university spokesman said. An alumnus and donor warned he could rescind a $100 million gift to the university “absent a change in leadership and values at Penn in the very near future.” The Daily Pennsylvanian also reported Thursday that the board of advisors for the Wharton School sent a letter to Penn trustees calling for a change in leadership with “immediate effect."
*ETA
In a just-released piece from Axios, pulled from the NYT, we see the following result of Ms. Liz’s vacillating approach and how much her X post meant to some.
Penn loses $100 million donation over antisemitism hearing
A University of Pennsylvania donor is withdrawing a gift worth around $100 million to protest the school's response to antisemitism on campus.
The big picture: The final straw for Ross Stevens, founder and CEO of Stone Ridge Asset Management, was Tuesday's widely criticized congressional testimony by Penn president Liz Magill.
Details: The gift from Stevens, a Penn undergrad alum, was given in December 2017 to help establish a center for innovation in finance.
It was in the form of limited partnership units in Stone Ridge, with the current value estimated at around $100 million.
Stevens, in a letter from his lawyers to Penn, alleges that the school has violated the terms of the limited partnership agreement, including its anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies.
Referring to Penn, Stevens' attorneys write: "Its permissive approach to hate speech calling for violence against Jews and laissez faire attitude toward harassment and discrimination against Jewish students would violate any policies or rules that prohibit harassment and discrimination based on religion, including those of Stone Ridge."
About freaking time!
The other presidents were not left out either. They, too, tried to walk back their testimony. Perhaps there is a shortage of Ritalin and Adderall on the market.
The following was reported in USA Today:
University presidents face investigation, walk back responses after heated hearing on antisemitism
Three university presidents who testified before lawmakers about their handling of antisemitic incidents on college campuses now face a congressional investigation after attempting to clean up their comments in the face of widespread backlash.
Lawmakers Tuesday questioned Harvard University President Claudine Gay, University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill and Massachusetts Institute of Technology President SallyKornbluth about efforts to combat antisemitism since the Israel-Hamas war began in October.
After the House Committee on Education and the Workforce hearing, the presidents primarily drew ire for refusing to say whether calls for the genocide of Jews violates school policies on bullying and harassment.
Gay during the hearing said such hateful speech is “personally abhorrent” to her and against Harvard values. Whether that speech violates the school's code of ethics, though, she said depends on context.
A day later, Harvard posted a statement from Gay on X, formerly Twitter, clarifying her position.
“There are some who have confused a right to free expression with the idea that Harvard willcondone calls for violence against Jewish students,” Gay said in her statement Wednesday.“Let me be clear: Calls for violence or genocide against the Jewish community, or any religious or ethnic group are vile, they have no place at Harvard, and those who threaten our Jewish students will be held to account.”
One must wonder if these university presidents have adopted X as their sole source of information and thus used it to explain their “retractions.”
Elon Musk, be proud. I did not think you could do it with X. I guess I judged too swiftly.
I have news for all of you. Walkbacks are not going to get you ladies out of this. Now, there I go again, ignoring the WOKE movement and insisting on Male/Female indications, not “they” or “it.” Silly me!
Of course, we could go on and on.
Still, the hate speech persists.
The universities have not actively done anything to stop it.
Jewish students are afraid for their lives.
Women Jewish students, due to the spineless fractured moral compass of the disgusting MeToo movement, are afraid of being attacked and raped without any means to report it or police involvement.
Here is a life lesson for the Ivy League presidents: even though I am Jewish, I could never move in your lofty circles.
Once you open your fat mouth as a witness, you cannot walk back your testimony. It is called “witness testimony” for a reason. And X is not a platform to walk back such testimony.
You should all be fired and sent out to wash floors. Never hold a position in education or of power again.
You all despise Donald Trump. Of course, you do. Well, guess what? You sounded a million times worse than he ever did on a bad-hair day!
To the Board of Directors and Donators of these revered institutions.
Fire your president now. Stop giving these broken, morally corrupt institutions money to use to spread hate!
Get back to the business of education. And not the business of the WOKE movement. Leave the WOKE movement to the “squad” and MeToo. They will do fine with it!
Don’t do it, and I guarantee ten years from now, your Universities will be known as humanity’s cesspool and sewage system.
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